#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