I don't want Knuth to Robert Jordan/George RR Martin himself so I'm waiting for vol 5 to complete before purchasing the set
Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
11–20 of 357 posts
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#12Can someone honestly tell me if they have actually read these books AND found them useful ON TGE JOB? What do you guys do for work? I tried reading part 1?? Like ten years ago and it was pretty much assembly language or something I believe. And gave up since it wasnt something that I needed in academia back then and there were far better ways to learn DSA
IMO Volume 1 isn't that useful because it's mostly setting up the mathematical and architectural foundations. Knowing how to evaluate limits and recurrence relations isn't particularly valuable knowledge for the average programmer.
I enjoyed the dancing links stuff from a recent fascicle. I used it to build a sudoku solver in C. So it's moderately useful.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#13Can someone honestly tell me if they have actually read these books AND found them useful ON TGE JOB? What do you guys do for work? I tried reading part 1?? Like ten years ago and it was pretty much assembly language or something I believe. And gave up since it wasnt something that I needed in academia back then and there were far better ways to learn DSA
I once used them at work. I had a monitor that was too low, so putting a volume or two of Knuth under it raised it to the right height.
That's the only time I've ever used them though.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#14Can someone honestly tell me if they have actually read these books AND found them useful ON TGE JOB? What do you guys do for work? I tried reading part 1?? Like ten years ago and it was pretty much assembly language or something I believe. And gave up since it wasnt something that I needed in academia back then and there were far better ways to learn DSA
TAOCP is not job training now, if it ever was; that is trying to get the cart to pull the horse.
The point of a job, unless you're lucky enough to get a job where you can change the world, is to pay your living expenses so that you have the leisure to do things like read TAOCP and write Sudoku solvers. If that's not your idea of an enjoyable vacation, don't read it; you'll regret it.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#15Can someone honestly tell me if they have actually read these books AND found them useful ON TGE JOB? What do you guys do for work? I tried reading part 1?? Like ten years ago and it was pretty much assembly language or something I believe. And gave up since it wasnt something that I needed in academia back then and there were far better ways to learn DSA
As an algorithms researcher, I have often been reading Knuth on the job.
Most of the time, perspiring with worry that a 1960s article might have scooped me.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#16This is one of those book series that I really, really want to purchase as a beautiful, matching, leather-bound set. And, yes, I would read it for pleasure, and I would treasure it.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#17I am relatively unfamiliar with these books, but the fact that Knuth publishes them in “fascicles” is hilariously intriguing. I have a superficial understanding of Knuth’s character as a programmer but I get the impression that the work is portrayed in a folksy, arcane sort of way. Am I far off?
What's hilarious or intriguing about it? Is it just that you're not familiar with the practice of publishing things in fascicles?
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#18Can someone honestly tell me if they have actually read these books AND found them useful ON TGE JOB? What do you guys do for work? I tried reading part 1?? Like ten years ago and it was pretty much assembly language or something I believe. And gave up since it wasnt something that I needed in academia back then and there were far better ways to learn DSA
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Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#19Can someone honestly tell me if they have actually read these books AND found them useful ON TGE JOB? What do you guys do for work? I tried reading part 1?? Like ten years ago and it was pretty much assembly language or something I believe. And gave up since it wasnt something that I needed in academia back then and there were far better ways to learn DSA
I used them to implement an arbitrary precision math library for an embedded processor that needed to do some precise calculation in an autonomous environment. The embedded processor had no floating point capabilities.
The book showed me the method of how to do it efficiently in a manner that could be adapted to the 16 bit architecture I was working with. It also showed me how to detect and handle overflow situations, as well as when they would happen. It kept me from creating a buggy, error-prone pile of crap code that I'm certain I would have created at the time.
At the same time, it took me a couple of days of study to understand the two or three pages I was interested in. The material was the most condensed material I have consumed in computer science. Like you say, you have to learn a new machine architecture and assembly language to understand the examples. Things you learn from those books come at a high cost in terms of time and effort.
It reminds me of studying the bible, where cross checking, reading different translations, studying hebrew and greek, and the culture of the day are all necessary if you want to get the best understanding you can. The TAOCP books are scholarly articles and almost a kind of shorthand notation of computer science concepts.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#20I don't want Knuth to Robert Jordan/George RR Martin himself so I'm waiting for vol 5 to complete before purchasing the set
There's 6 and 7 planned too, might be a bit of a wait. It's a real shame he isn't likely to finish the series, I would really be interested in that final volume (compilers).