tl;dr a variation of merge sort. Which is still one of the best sorting algorithms ever devised.
Pretty impressive for the first stored computer program ever.
Pretty impressive for the first stored computer program ever.
"I have sometimes wondered whether a brain like von Neumann’s does not indicate a species superior to that of man." – Hans Bethe
"von Neumann would carry on a conversation with my 3-year-old son, and the two of them would talk as equals, and I sometimes wondered if he used the same principle when he talked to the rest of us." – Edward Teller
“There was a seminar for advanced students in Zürich that I was teaching and von Neumann was in the class. I came to a certain theorem, and I said it is not proved and it may be difficult. von Neumann didn’t say anything but after five minutes he raised his hand. When I called on him he went to the blackboard and proceeded to write down the proof. After that I was afraid of von Neumann” – George Pólya
cf Kolmogorov, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40444641
Among all the things Professor Knuth is famous for is writing an Algol compiler for the Burroughs 205 in assembly on paper over one summer just after he graduated from college. There's a handwritten listing of it at the computer history museum. It's pretty interesting and shows off how he programmed and thought about programming in 1960-1961. It's probably not terribly different from how other people programmed back then but he was better at it than most.
https://www.computerhistory.org/collections/catalog/10272457...