Modern computing systems of all kinds accumulate various data at an almost unimaginable rate. Alongside the advances in technology that make such storage possible has grown a realisation that buried within this mass of data there may exist some knowledge of considerable value. This could be information critical for a company's business success or something leading to a scientific or medical discovery or breakthrough. Most data is simply stored and never examined, but machine-learning technology has the potential to extract knowledge of value (i.e. data mining).

Expert and knowledge-based systems have great potential for industrial control systems, particularly in the process industries. Recognising the importance of this emerging area, the Institution of Electrical Engineers organised a Vacation School on the subject, for engineers from industry and academia, at the University of Strathclyde in September 1990.

The interviews in this volume form the nearest thing possible to an autobiography of eminent computer scientist Donald E. Knuth. Based on the English-language Companion to the Papers of Donald Knuth, also published by CSLI Publications, this book brings the highlights of that material to a Francophone audience.