Following Dr. [Donald] Knuth’s doctrine helps to ward off moronry. He is known for introducing the notion of “literate programming,” emphasizing the importance of writing code that is readable by humans as well as computers — a notion that nowadays seems almost [*]twee. Dr. Knuth has gone so far as to argue that some computer programs are, like Elizabeth Bishop’s poems and Philip Roth’s “American Pastoral,” works of literature worthy of a Pulitzer.
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“I am worried that algorithms are getting too prominent in the world, It started out that computer scientists were worried nobody was listening to us. Now I’m worried that too many people are listening.”
(Siobhan Roberts, “The Yoda of Silicon Valley,” NYTimes, 12-17-18)
(c) 2018 JMN.
