very amusingly, the entire 700+ page volume covers only Sections 7.2.2.1 and 7.2.2.2 of The Art.
The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne
Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
31–40 of 357 posts
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#32Can 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 a random number generator in an embedded system to generate morse code, for training ham radio operators. I also used him KMP algorithm for writing pattern matchers.
I suspect that most of these algorithms have been implemented and available as libraries for people to use. The challenge of programming has moved from designing such isolated algorithms to modeling the problems, modularizing the code, creating an evolutionary path for a system, and balancing the wants of tomorrow with the needs of today.
Still, if you are working at the core problems of organizing, searching, sorting, managing data, you might might the books useful.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#33I was hoping that Fascicle 7 would come out, as that would be on Constraint Programming, and I think that's very similar to SAT-solvers (Fascicle 6) and the BDDs that he's already covered. Then again: SAT-solvers are a big enough subject matter on their own that backtracking search + SAT-solvers is more than enough to fill a volume of its own. So choosing these two subjects as volume 4B makes sense. ----------- As a…
have you read his current draft of fascicle 7a (7.2.2.3 Constraint Satisfaction)? it is currently 145 pages and is available at https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/fasc7a.ps.gz
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
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…
It may not be a coincidence that one of the author's other books is on Biblical studies: https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/316.html I didn't realize it had been blurbed by a professor emeritus at a seminary (as well as Martin Gardner).
My take on it: https://www.2uo.de/Books/316-bible-texts-illuminated/
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#35I was hoping that Fascicle 7 would come out, as that would be on Constraint Programming, and I think that's very similar to SAT-solvers (Fascicle 6) and the BDDs that he's already covered. Then again: SAT-solvers are a big enough subject matter on their own that backtracking search + SAT-solvers is more than enough to fill a volume of its own. So choosing these two subjects as volume 4B makes sense. ----------- As a…
have you read his current draft of fascicle 7a (7.2.2.3 Constraint Satisfaction)? it is currently 145 pages and is available at https://cs.stanford.edu/~knuth/fasc7a.ps.gz
I wasn't aware of this! Thanks for the info. I'll give it a lookthrough.
Its not exactly an easy subject, so I'll need some time to digest the material. Especially if its written in Knuth's famous "difficult, but terse" style.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#36Can 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've been randomly skipping around inside these books for a long, long time. They're full of little gems that you won't find elsewhere. For example, in Volume 4A there's a simple technique for comparing two pointers in bit-reversed form. This technique was patented by Hewlett-Packard as a method of randomizing search trees (treaps): https://bugfix-66.com/fdb8bb4fa84cf810aa25ff40c88a13c1874410... From Volume 3, here i…
> However, if you look very carefully you can find mistakes.
Opened the book, thought "no, it can't be". Agonized for days and weeks if I'm making a fool of myself.
Sent the bug report.
First word in first sentence in first paragraph in first chapter was wrong. Got my cheque. ;-)
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#37Can 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
Over 25 years ago I was researching algorithms for a search engine I had been commissioned to write, and for its disk allocation strategy I had settled on a "buddy algorithm" from The Art of Computer Programming Vol 1. It had nice properties and was easy to make.
I implemented it to a tee, only to see it fail (I think in the part that merges abandoned blocks). I banged my head against this problem for days before finally daring to entertain the notion that the algorithm might be flawed. This was TAOCP after all!
Turned out my university library had an old edition and I had run into one of the scarce bugs in it (which had been duly fixed in the next edition).
So yes, I have used TAOCP on the job and, to prove it, a scar of which I am rather proud.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#38Who will finish the book when he is gone? This is too important a work to not finish.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#39I don't want Knuth to Robert Jordan/George RR Martin himself so I'm waiting for vol 5 to complete before purchasing the set
Imagine if we got an HBO adaptation of TAOCP.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#40This 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.
Each volume is taking longer and longer (4A and 4B and work on 4C have taken over 20 years). Mr Knuth is 84 and if there are 3 more volumes...