#219 – Donald Knuth: Programming, Algorithms, Hard Problems & the Game of Life

Donald Knuth is a computer scientist, Turing Award winner, father of algorithm analysis, author of The Art of Computer Programming, and creator of TeX. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors: – Coinbase: https://coinbase.com/lex to get $5 in free Bitcoin – InsideTracker: https://insidetracker.com/lex and use code Lex25 to get 25% off – NetSuite: http://netsuite.com/lex to get free product tour – ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod and use code LexPod to get 3 months free – BetterHelp: https://betterhelp.com/lex to get 10% off EPISODE LINKS: Donald’s Stanford Page: https://profiles.stanford.edu/donald-knuth Donald’s Books: https://amzn.to/3heyBsC PODCAST INFO: Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8 RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/ YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips SUPPORT & CONNECT: – Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast – Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman – Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman – Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman – LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman – Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman – Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman OUTLINE: Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time. (00:00) – Introduction (07:02) – First programs (30:26) – Literate programming (33:35) – Beauty in programming (39:30) – OpenAI (48:41) – Optimization (54:46) – Consciousness (1:03:29) – Conway’s game of life (1:16:16) – Stable marriage (1:19:35) – Richard Feynman (1:30:29) – Knuth-Morris-Pratt Algorithm (1:40:02) – Hardest problem (1:57:41) – Open source (2:02:54) – Favorite symbols (2:12:27) – Productivity (2:20:08) – Meaning of life