Don Knuth ,1974 ACM Turing Award Recipient - Part 1

When Don Knuth, the 1974 Turing Award recipient, did this interview with Ed Feigenbaum, himself a Turing Awardee, he likely didn’t expect that it would go on for over 7 hours. The interview was split over two days and this give a convenient break point for dividing it into two files. While the topics range widely over Knuth’s whole life and work, the first part is mainly concerned with his early life and heritage, his first exposure to computers and what led him to focus his career in that area. The second part of the interview begins with some of the people who influenced him, including John Backus who had died a few days before this interview. It then goes on to Don’s work in things other than programming languages; items like his work in digital typesetting, mathematics and analysis of algorithms.