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Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print

www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu

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Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print

#61

Post by lifthrasiir »

jsmith45 wrote: post #42
voakbasda wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was thinking the same thing when I clicked on the comments. I somewhat expect this will be the last volume in the series, so one could now hope to buy a "complete" set. I would love to revisit and explore all of the material using modern programming languages.

One might hope that he can at least complete 4C such that volume 4 is complete. I am skeptical that volume 5 or later will see the light of day, But I also cannot predict the future.

This comment made me check the history of the official TAOCP page [1] through the Wayback Machine. Volume 5 was estimated to be ready in 2009 at the very first snapshot (1997), in 2010 by 2003, in 2015 by 2007, in 2020 by 2010, in 2025 by 2015 which is the latest estimate today. At the first glance this looks like an eternal "10 years later", but note that that estimate didn't change since 2015 and the 2025 estimate is now only 3 years away. Does this mean that Knuth does plan to publish anything related to Volume 5 by that time?

[1] https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/taocp.html

Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print

#62

Post by giantg2 »

jahewson wrote: post #45
giantg2 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quite expensive for that use.

And yet significantly cheaper than Apple's Pro Stand.

I mean like how about using a cheaper book. Cookbooks are almost literally a dime a dozen at yard sales. Too bad phone books aren't what they used to be.

Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print

#64

Post by klik99 »

coreyp_1 wrote: post #16

This 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.

Same - it's just a joy dropping into some random section and reading through, but my copies are a little abused by that practice. I'd love to have a second set for aesthetics and display.

Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print

#65

Post by irrational »

helsinkiandrew wrote: post #40
coreyp_1 wrote: post #16

This 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...

Maybe Brandon Sanderson can write the last three books.

Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print

#66

Post by birdyrooster »

kragen wrote: post #49
Tomte wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My take on it: https://www.2uo.de/Books/316-bible-texts-illuminated/

Interesting! A small correction: "innumerate" means "incapable of doing arithmetic"; perhaps you meant "innumerable", which means "incapable of being counted". Also you have "wuthor" for "author", "bible" for "Bible", "donÄt" for "don’t", "WHat" for "What", and "theologician" for "theologian".

I lolled at theologician

Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print

#67

Post by klik99 »

Bayko wrote: post #2

Can 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

Part 1 is the most "useless" - it's basically required reading to be able to read the rest of the book. There are a few sections in data structures that I read to actually apply (I can't remember the exact parts, but I remember pouring over the book), but mostly it's enjoyable if you like programming for programmings sake. If you think of programming as a practical means for achieving some end (job or creative pursuit) then these books aren't for you. There is absolutely practical stuff in here, but it's all shown from first principles.

At any rate, don't judge the book on the first part - the first part is important to get the rest of the book, and it's as well written as the rest, but it doesn't reflect how much fun (again, fun for those who are into programming in itself) the rest of the book is.

Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print

#68

Post by macintux »

eesmith wrote: post #55
O__________O wrote: post #27

In Google’s recent “Hacking Google” series [1] they appeared to credit Knuth via his bug reward program in his books [2] as having created the first software bug bounty offer. Anyone aware of any software bug bounties that predate Knuth’s? ___________ [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33066313 - specifically: https://youtube.com/watch?v=IoXiXlCNoXg&list=PL590L5WQmH8dsx... [2] https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Knuth_r…

FWIW, here's a side-ways mention of Knuth's bounty, from http://ed-thelen.org/comp-hist/B5000-AlgolRWaychoff.html > So I sat down with him and proofread the pages as they came out of the typewriter. It seemed that he was composing and typing as fast as I could read. By morning the manual was done. Years later when don's first book came but, he told me that if I would proofread it for him that he would pay me a dollar…

Thanks, there are a lot of gems in that piece.

Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print

#69

Post by rietta »

Very cool. I own the originals and the 4th but sadly I have to admit that even though I am a reasonably accomplished developer with a couple of CS degrees I have a hard time understanding this work and have not yet really read it. I feel like I am publicly admitting failure just posting this. I still have time to make sure these are not just bookshelf decorations though.

Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print

#70

Post by wing-_-nuts »

deltasepsilon wrote: post #48
Bayko wrote: post #2

Can 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

It just means you're not doing anything interesting on your job. If you have constraints, i.e. not enough compute, not enough memory, not enough storage, then you'll need a solution and, odds are, somebody has had the same problem before and it's been written up already in Knuth's TAOCP. Of course, the problem won't be exactly in the form it's been written up, but you have to have enough experience and knowledge to k…

>It just means you're not doing anything interesting on your job.

That man had a family...

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