16 Jan
2019
16 Jan
'19
4:57 p.m.
Tsort was a direct reference to Knuth's recognition and
christening of topological sort as a worthy software component.
This is a typical example of the interweaving of R and D
which characterized the culture of Bell Labs. Builders
and thinkers were acutely aware of each other, and often
were two faces of one person. Grander examples may be
seen in the roles that automata theory and formal languages
played in Unix. (Alas, these are the subjects of projected
Knuthian volumes that are still over the horizon.)
Doug