Donald Knut is forced to stop writing checks for feedback
The living legend of the information technology world, Donald Knuth (Donald Knuth), is known not only for his classic monographs on programming, but also for his original sense of humor. Having exchanged the eighth decade, he did not lose his vitality, to this day regularly releasing professional jokes. What is at least aspired to the number "pi" numbering system version of the package TeX. The same category includes a one-hex dollar reward payable by him (equivalent to 256 cents, as you might guess) for every mistake discovered by readers in his books.
For the past forty years, Knut personally writes checks. And although the individual fees amounted to several hundred dollars (this time the usual American), and the total amount exceeded 20 thousand “greens” by 2005, only a few readers cashed the received check, preferring to keep it as a souvenir. Nevertheless, this fall, the master reported on the decision to stop paying.
hi-res check
Knut was forced to do this by fraudsters who had repeatedly tried to empty his bank accounts through the very same premium checks. The creator of the TeX and METAFONT systems is far from the thought that his readers were involved in this: but, in his opinion, the role was played by the fact that checks were often shown off. The numbers printed on the forms, fraudsters could use to illegally receive money. According to Donald himself, lately, as a result of such actions, he was forced to close three checking accounts.
However, the author of The Art of Programming came out of this situation with a smile. From now on, readers who have found a mistake will wait for “honor, not calculation” (in the original, “kudos, not escudos”). Instead of checks, Knut will send out personally signed depositary certificates of the same amount in the imaginary bank of the country San Serriffe organized by him, which occupies the planet Pinkus (the state of San Serriffe was the result of the April Fool's joke of the British newspaper Guardian in 1977). Also, the honorary list of recipients, updated personally by Knut, is posted in its section on the website of Stanford University. According to the scientist, the transition to virtual awards is unlikely to upset anyone, because over the past couple of years, only nine people have decided to cash the checks received.
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After a surgery to remove a malignant tumor in 2006, Knut continues to lecture, write books and develop TeX and METAFONT projects, which means that bugs continue to be received.
via computerra
original post
For the past forty years, Knut personally writes checks. And although the individual fees amounted to several hundred dollars (this time the usual American), and the total amount exceeded 20 thousand “greens” by 2005, only a few readers cashed the received check, preferring to keep it as a souvenir. Nevertheless, this fall, the master reported on the decision to stop paying.
hi-res check
Knut was forced to do this by fraudsters who had repeatedly tried to empty his bank accounts through the very same premium checks. The creator of the TeX and METAFONT systems is far from the thought that his readers were involved in this: but, in his opinion, the role was played by the fact that checks were often shown off. The numbers printed on the forms, fraudsters could use to illegally receive money. According to Donald himself, lately, as a result of such actions, he was forced to close three checking accounts.
However, the author of The Art of Programming came out of this situation with a smile. From now on, readers who have found a mistake will wait for “honor, not calculation” (in the original, “kudos, not escudos”). Instead of checks, Knut will send out personally signed depositary certificates of the same amount in the imaginary bank of the country San Serriffe organized by him, which occupies the planet Pinkus (the state of San Serriffe was the result of the April Fool's joke of the British newspaper Guardian in 1977). Also, the honorary list of recipients, updated personally by Knut, is posted in its section on the website of Stanford University. According to the scientist, the transition to virtual awards is unlikely to upset anyone, because over the past couple of years, only nine people have decided to cash the checks received.
')
After a surgery to remove a malignant tumor in 2006, Knut continues to lecture, write books and develop TeX and METAFONT projects, which means that bugs continue to be received.
via computerra
original post
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/46729/
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