spewing this quote with no context or further comment is just tedious FUD.
Unfortunately, yes. For those knowing the context, the comment is actually a compliment: comparing the authors with Knuth.
There are people on HN who don't know the context of Knuth? :(
People acquire culture, they aren't born with it.
Let's be welcoming.
It serves as a reminder that even though this implementation has been proven correct that does not rule out bugs in the proof or in the method used to create the proof.
Or that your compiler produces code equivalent to the (proven) correct C.
This was said by Donald Knuth, in case anyone here doesn't know that specific bit of trivia.
I've read the article you've referenced but am unable to find the furniture you mention. At which page should I look?
Last page, third-to-last paragraph. (i.e. Figure 10, Page 2 of van Emde Boas's response.)
3rd to last paragraph at the bottom, last page.
At $10 my guess would be a milking stool.
That was my initial guess, too, but a) IMO, that is borderline furniture and b) it would surprise me if it were typically Dutch. Google gave me zillions of patents for milking stools (bucket attachments seem popular), but no definite answer to the latter question.