Donald Knuth - My advice to young people (93/97)
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN quotes it as a source for Knuth's caution against believing something is good just because it is trendy.
What it is
A five-minute clip from Donald Knuth's Web of Stories interviews in which he gives advice to young people, including being wary when too many people adopt an idea.
Recommended by 1 HN commenters across 1 different months, 2015 to 2025.
What Hacker News said
Recommends belter · 2022-05 · on “Donald Knuth on work habits, problem solving, and happiness (2020)”
Donald Knuth interviews are so interesting, but would like to particularly highlight this little piece of advice, out of this great playlist: "Donald Knuth - My advice to young people": [this video] Complete Playlist - "Donald Knuth (Computer scientist)" [97 videos]: [LINK] Also the "Oral History of Donald Knuth" from the Computer History Museum is great. "Oral History of Donald Knuth Part 1": [LINK] "Oral History of Donald Knuth Part 2": [LINK] Plus.. "Donald Knuth Interview 2006": [LINK] "An Interview with Donald Knuth": [LINK] "Interview with Donald Knuth": [LINK] This somewhat "colourful" page also tracks a few: [LINK] PS: The story that he told Steve Jobs he was "Full of shit" is not true. "
Cites soveran · 2015-04 · on “On software popularity”
An extended version of the quote would be "Don't just believe that because something is trendy, that it's good. I would go the other extreme where if I find too many people adopting a certain idea I'd probably think it's wrong. Or if my work had become too popular I probably would think I have to change." I took it from this video: [this video]
Cites iamcreasy · 2015-06 · on “The Curse of the Pixar Universe”
Excellent. It's just like what Donald Knuth said, "Don't believe something is good just because it's trendy. I'd probably go the other extreme way. If I find too many people adopting a certain idea, I'd probably think its wrong." Source : [this video] I've always find those questions that are generally regarded as stupid party amusing. Because I think those questions showing the difference in out thought process, and instead of stigmatizing it there are valuable lessons to be learned here.
Cites sfpotter · 2025-11 · on “The Pragmatic Programmer: 20th Anniversary Edition (2023)”
Fair! Personally, I'm not sure how you can get good at something if you aren't at least a little in love with it. Here's another take: [this video]