Because it is of interest to hackers and rightly so. Some submittals are good because they are cutting edge, others because they touch on the fundamental - the magical - aspects of computing.

In terms is it being news, it's a bit of a feature story rather than on the scene reporting of a city council meeting or a cub's coverage of the police blotter or the Chamber of Commerce recent press release wrapped up as news.

If nothing else it's better than a blog post about the algorithm, and for me it's always helpful to be reminded what an amazing resource Wikipedia has become for computer science topics.

It's a weekend and other material surfaces.

Yup welcome to the slow hours in the weekend on HN. Personally, I like the change.

Because it takes just a few votes (4-7 in first ~45min, from my experience) to bring something up to the front page. Plus a cool name, I guess.

I personally like this kind of submission. If it's something I was familiar with, then it's a good review/reminder; if it's something I was unfamiliar with, it's a good lesson.

In addition to all the other possible reasons, Knuth-Morris-Pratt was brought up just a few days ago, in the discussion on another article about a letter Knuth wrote about software patents.

reminds me that I implemented it 10 years ago... and forgot it in the meantime. It's nice to see a good old friend.

Because people like you and me are bored enough to reply here..