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How a Startup from Krakow Got Mentioned in “The Art of Computer Programming”

309 pointsby mciover 7 years ago

11 comments

svatover 7 years ago
Apart from the 2016 Christmas Tree lecture [1] (which is even available in 3D [2]), Knuth also mentioned this “mysterious package from Poland” during an earlier (a week earlier) lecture at Brown University [3] (about 25 minutes in).<p>I love this talk (he gave roughly the same talk at both places, though one was more rushed than the other). He goes pretty deep into history — for example his discussion of Hamiltonian tours (knight&#x27;s tours etc.) in Sanskrit poetry is at a level of detail that I have not seen in any other published source in English. After knowing that he was interested in this topic, I requested a contemporary Sanskrit poet to write a “knight&#x27;s tour” Sanskrit poem, and gave it to Knuth as a gift. He loved it!<p>[1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=DjZB9HvddQk" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=DjZB9HvddQk</a><p>[2]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=9DrzK3Z0rg0" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=9DrzK3Z0rg0</a><p>[3]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=4UFkH5ZlVqQ" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.youtube.com&#x2F;watch?v=4UFkH5ZlVqQ</a>
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dbdrover 7 years ago
Retrospectively considering &quot;It would be nice to own a 3D-printed object like this!&quot; as an understatement (i.e. a &quot;mistake&quot; in his book) was a clever hack to create an excuse for giving them one of his famous reward checks. And kind and hilarious to boot! Prof. Knuth is amazing.
TeMPOraLover 7 years ago
Nice one, congrats!<p>(Also imagine my surprise, seeing my home town mentioned on the front page of HN this early morning! I thought for a second that sleep deprivation finally got the best of me.)<p>I wish you best of luck. I used to be in the Kraków&#x27;s 3DP commumity back in Materialination heydays. That was before you were founded, but maybe we&#x27;ve crossed paths there.
hnkainover 7 years ago
It looks like they got the N upside-down. The top of the N (the end with two serifs, as you can see here <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.identifont.com&#x2F;similar?TI" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.identifont.com&#x2F;similar?TI</a> ) is pointing to M, rather than the bottom.
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YeGoblynQueenneover 7 years ago
Of course this is exceedingly cool and the item itself is of good quality, but it should be said that it&#x27;s possible to make your own twenty-sided dice with whatever you want on their faces, by ordering blank dice on the internet and painting your desired symbols by hand. There&#x27;s also companies that can print you the diece you want.<p>In fact, gaming lore says that in the early days of pen-and-paper RPGs, gamers couldn&#x27;t find anyone selling the polyhedral dice they needed, so they ordered instead Platonic solids used for demonstration of geometric objects&#x27; properties from school supplies retailers and filled in the numbers by hand, as above. Which in no way means that any early d20s were missing a few 1&#x27;s and 2&#x27;s :|
metaphorover 7 years ago
FYI Prof. Knuth presents the problem at 16:50 into the lecture[1] linked in the blog, then shows off his Sinterit trinket at 18:30ish.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;DjZB9HvddQk?t=1010" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;youtu.be&#x2F;DjZB9HvddQk?t=1010</a>
jakozaurover 7 years ago
Startup opportunity: Custom 3D printed dice. Pick any variation (e.g. less boring than cube). Different text and order.<p>Excellent swag.
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limaoscarjulietover 7 years ago
As someone who brought a branch of a US company to Krakow (my birth place), I can only say - great job and congrats!
rkachowskiover 7 years ago
What does it say in Knuth&#x27;s response?<p>&quot;Of course you could have used the ( &lt;word here&gt; font&#x2F;foot???)&quot;
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DoreenMicheleover 7 years ago
Very fun.<p>I didn&#x27;t know what a Hamiltonian graph was: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hamiltonian_path" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Hamiltonian_path</a>
unusximmortalisover 7 years ago
:) beautiful story, thanks for sharing