This translation focuses on publications by Donald E. Knuth, one of the worlds leading computer programmers, that were addressed primarily to a general audience rather than to specialists. These fifteen papers discuss the history of computer science from ancient Babylon to modern times and survey the field of computer science and the nature of algorithms.
Donald E. Knuth is professor emeritus of the art of computer programming at Stanford University. Patrick Cegielski is a professor at the Senart-Fontainebleau Institute of Technology of the University Paris-Est Creteil.