featured columns UPSILON PI EPSILON Jeffrey L. Popyack

Knuth Draws Record Crowd to

to allow maximum time for an address from Abacus Award winner Donald Knuth, to whom credit is certainly due for the UPE National record crowd. The meeting consisted of the following items. Convention I Financial report from UPE Executive Director Orlando Madrigal (Synop- sis: health excellent, investments rebounding, approximately 250 more GREETINGS! scheduled for early March in Sharm el- new inductees this year vs. last year); Sheikh, Egypt, but as the world spotlight I Report of scholarships and awards This post follows hot on the heels of the turned on the political tensions in Cairo at given in 2010 (see the December UPE (International for the the end of January, it became increasingly 2010 Inroads); Computing and Information Disciplines) obvious that the Finals could not be held I New chapters chartered in the last National Convention, held during SIGCSE as scheduled. Kudos goes to ICPC Execu- year (Saint Peter’s College, University 2011 in Dallas in early March. An exciting tive Director, William Poucher, for his quick of Wyoming, Gonzaga University, time it was! A brief synopsis follows. But, ability to relocate the contest at the end of University of San Diego, Marymount fi rst … May, in Orlando, Florida, USA. University), bringing us to 251 chapters; ACM International Collegiate 2011 UPE Convention I Chapter activity reports (presentations Programming Contest The UPE National Convention was held from 9 chapters in a miraculous 19 UPE has been a proud sponsor of the during the Friday lunch slot of the SIGCSE minutes: Abilene Christian University, ACM International Collegiate Program- Technical Symposium and an estimated College of Charleston, California ming Contest since the fi rst World Finals 500 people attended it. The business por- State University -- Chico, DePaul in 1977. This year’s competition was tion of the meeting was kept brief in order University, Florida International Uni-

30 acm Inroads 2011 June • Vol. 2 • No.2 featured columns

versity, Kettering University, University When asked how to get by without read- Games [2] and the long-awaited Volume of Nebraska – Lincoln, Southwestern ing email in today’s world, he admitted 4A [3]. He said he fi nished them both on University, St. Joseph’s College, NY); that although he stopped reading email the same day, 6 December 2010. What I Farewell to longtime Executive on Jan. 1, 1990, he does need an email a day! After explaining the theme of the Council member Robert Roggio, address now and then, to fi ll in a form. papers on fun and games, he also men- whose term expired at the end of the Regarding his most important educational tioned having written an article published convention; infl uence before the age of twelve, he in Mad Magazine as a youth. He may I Election of a new Executive Coun- credited the teacher who taught him to not have been still answering the original cil member (Angela Wu, American diagram sentences. question. University); A question about the future of Literate I Presentation of the Abacus Award to Programming may also very well have Donald E. Knuth, Professor Emeritus asked him his greatest frustration. He of The Art of Computer Program- admits to being “totally biased” as he ming at Stanford University, followed thinks it is “the best thing since sliced by an informal 50-minute interactive bread”. When he is in “teacher mode”, session with the audience, “All Your he thinks more clearly and makes fewer Questions Answered”. mistakes, because he is explaining it to somebody else. And yet, there must be Chapter reports trended toward more some reason it hasn’t caught on – some outreach than usual – to middle school people, or perhaps most people, don’t and high school students, to general com- enjoy writing. He said there are 10,000 munity service, and to university service. people who like Literate Programming as These were highly commendable and much as he does, but that is only 1% of inspirational activities indeed! all programmers. As the meeting concluded on Friday, All Your Questions Answered Prof. Knuth assured us that his break was UPE’s most prestigious award is the ending, and writing for Volume 4B was Abacus Award, for to commence on Monday (14 March). “an individual who has gained inter- Knuth confessed having driven to Perhaps it is only a coincidence that he national renown in the profession, Chico, California, a few years ago to chose Einstein’s birthday for the launch. and over a period of several years see the movie “Helvetica”, whose topic Or, perhaps because it was Pi Day? In any has provided extensive support and is what you think it is. On computing case, the countdown ticker for another leadership for student-related activi- challenges in the future, he said it would eagerly awaited volume has begun. Ir ties in the computing and informa- always be a challenge to verify our Cheers, tion disciplines.” computer programs. Regarding the many … jp distractions facing today’s youth, including The award recognizes the role of the cell phones, television, and text messag- abacus as an early personal digital as- ing, he feels that interruptions and a short References: [1] Knuth, Donald E. (1991). 3:16 : Bible Texts Illuminated. sistant. The awardee receives a specially attention span are not compatible with A-R Editions, Inc., ISBN 978-0-89579-252-5. engraved abacus. In receiving the award, anything in his whole life. He does fi nd [2] Knuth, Donald E. (2010) Selected Papers on Fun and Games. Stanford, California: Center for the Study of Lan- Prof. Knuth said he would keep it by his that certain background music helps him guage and Information, ISBN 978-1-57586-585-0 (cloth), desk, admonishing, “Never trust The though, citing Bach. But, he does not own 978-1-57586-584-3 (paperback). [3] Knuth, Donald E. (2011) The Art of Computer Program- Cloud”. He stated his approval of the font a television. He said he watched some TV ming Volume 4A: Combinatorial Algorithms, Part 1. Upper used in the inscription, which you may in his hotel room, but was not convinced Saddle River, New Jersey: Addison-Wesley, ISBN 0-201- 03804-8. safely assume was not a dot matrix. He enough to buy one. also received an honorary membership in As to what we should be teaching our UPE. freshmen, he said that everybody should Jeffrey L. Popyack Department of Questions from the audience spanned know a certain amount about comput- quite a range, from his inspiration in writ- ing (yes, he speaks fl uent italics). He also Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-2875 USA ing the book, 3:16 Bible Texts Illuminated said about one person in fi fty has grown http://www.cs.drexel.edu/~jpopyack [1] to his opinions on seventh graders up to be a “geek like me”, so we should [email protected] having cell phones. When asked whether make sure we capture that 2% of the he prefers “emacs” or “vi”, he pondered student body. a moment then replied, “The only thing His greatest success? He cited his two DOI: 10.1145/1963533.1963544 I learned about ‘vi’ was how to quit”. most recently published books, Fun and Copyright held by author.

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