Donald Knuth Quotes

Software Engineering might be science; but that's not what I do. I'm a hacker, not an engineer.

As a kid, I was always into art at the same time as computers, and eventually I realised I was making more interesting stuff with my keyboard than with my hands. I really enjoyed modifying computer games more than playing them, so that got me into programming.

Software is a great combination between artistry and engineering.

The manuals we got from IBM would show examples of programs and I knew I could do a heck of a lot better than that. So I thought I might have some talent.

After graduating in 1973 I went into the programming field.

As software engineers trained to turn ambiguity into absolutes and fuzzy requirements into ones and zeros, we had a 'eureka' moment when we realized that our training had broader, real-world applications.

I worked as a programmer for 16 years.

Learn when and how to use different data structures and their algorithms in your own code. This is harder as a student, as the problem assignments you'll work through just won't impart this knowledge. That's fine.

I am a programmer.

'Programming' is a four-letter word.

I got my first computer in the 6th grade or so. As soon as I got it, I was interested in finding out how it worked and how the programs worked and then figuring out how to write programs at just deeper and deeper levels within the system.

All of my friends who have younger siblings who are going to college or high school - my number one piece of advice is: You should learn how to program.

When people think about computer science, they imagine people with pocket protectors and thick glasses who code all night.

It always helps to be a good programmer. It is important to like computers and to be able to think of things people would want to do with their computers.

Writing software is a very intense, very personal thing. You have to have time to work your way through it, to understand it. Then debug it.

There was something amazingly enticing about programming.

Eventually I found it had been working all along-but didn't show anything on screen until it had the first full page of text. I inserted 30 new lines, and suddenly my toy said 'hEllO woRlD'. An hour later I understood alphabet shifting rather better!

I've been programming computers since elementary school, where they taught us, and I stuck with computer science through high school and college.

Many days I don't write any code at all, and some days I spend all day writing code.

I always considered programming as being like modern-day wizardry. You could think of things in your mind and then make them happen.

I'm thinking of going to programming school. Learn how to sit down at any computer and learn to do anything on it. That's all I have left and have interest in.

In college, before video games, we would amuse ourselves by posing programming exercises.

You might not think that programmers are artists, but programming is an extremely creative profession. It's logic-based creativity.

When you learn to code, it opens up for you to learn many other things.

If you have an analytical bent like I do, going back to my days as a programmer, you like to ask questions.