For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautiful expression

Re:For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautifu... by NateEag on Thursday April 16, 2020 @09:20PM (#22895326)

Tortured artists have produced some great work, true.

J. S. Bach had some hardships in his life, but he wasn't tortured.

J. R. R. Tolkien, similarly, was not tortured.

da Vinci's life doesn't seem to have been horrible either.

I think they stand as strong counterexamples to the idea that tortured artists make the best art.

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Re:For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautifu... by _emacsomancer_ on Friday April 17, 2020 @12:02AM (#22896087)

Tolkien wasn't tortured, but he fought in WWI.

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Re:For Donald Knuth, good coding is synonymous with beautifu... by NateEag on Friday April 17, 2020 @07:21AM (#22898030)

I guess people (particularly Tom Shippey, IIRC) do argue that's a lot of what made his work what it is. I tend to forget about that part of his history.

Certainly it would have been a traumatic experience.

Definitely a relevant point. Thanks for mentioning it.

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