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

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

#101

Post by dragontamer »

rietta wrote: post #69

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.

The 1st Chapter is one of the best mathematical discussions I've ever read, bar none. But hardcore math isn't needed for most of us programmers. Knuth knows this.

I suggest skipping around on an "as needed" basis.

Try Volume 1, Section 2.2 "Linear Lists", as a starting point. I promise you its an easier read than you expect. Despite being relatively easy material, you will probably learn something about arrays with just maybe ~3 or ~4 pages worth of reading material.

Start at the start of Section 2.2. Maybe work your way backwards to Section 2.1 as you realize its not as hard as you think (so you start at the "proper" starting point). And then go on from there.

Its really basic stuff. But hitting "rock bottom" on the subject of arrays, stacks, queues, and such is fascinating.

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

#102

Post by irrational »

Tomte wrote: post #51
kragen wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

Thank you!

"redaing" for "reading"

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

#103

Post by ars »

imaltont wrote: post #95
thfuran wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, he's a fantasy author who finished the last few volumes of a popular epic fantasy series after its original author died.

Also convinced he writes in his sleep with the amount of books he releases.

He got a little bored during COVID and accidentally wrote 5 books: https://youtu.be/6a-k6eaT-jQ this led to what I think is the most funded Kickstarter ever: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/dragonsteel/surprise-fo...

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

#104

Post by bo1024 »

openfuture wrote: post #92
kragen wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The world changes through the collective effort of the people who inhabit it. Not because some demigod wrote a script.

The one can be a special case of the other...

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

#105

Post by Jtsummers »

uptownfunk wrote: post #82
uptownfunk wrote: post #10

Can someone write a volume 0 or volume -1 or some guide so noobs like me who want to enter this treasure chest can do so. I got lost just trying to start this so it might be over my head. I know Python, rusty on Java and cpp never touched assembly.

And how to understand the programming language used?

https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/mmixware.html - MMIXware by Knuth introduces the updated assembly.

https://www.mmix.cs.hm.edu/supplement/index.html - The MMIX Supplement by Ruckert

The first introduces the updated assembly language, the second updates all the MIX programs from Volumes 1-3 to MMIX.

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

#106

Post by aaroninsf »

imaltont wrote: post #95
thfuran wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, he's a fantasy author who finished the last few volumes of a popular epic fantasy series after its original author died.

Also convinced he writes in his sleep with the amount of books he releases.

https://www.theverge.com/c/23194235/ai-fiction-writing-amazo...

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

#107

Post by Jtsummers »

Q6T46nT668w6i3m wrote: post #99
rietta wrote: post #69

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.

If you’re interested in reading them (and they are extremely readable), you should first know something (not everything) about programming and discrete mathematics. If you watched some YouTube videos on logic, sets, graphs, etc. you’ll be more than equipped. Knuth has even written a book, Concrete Mathematics, that covers these pre-requisites but it might be faster and easier to watch a Khan Academy video!

Does Khan Academy cover the math topics of Concrete Mathematics yet? Looking at their list of math courses I don't see a single discrete math course in the bunch.

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

#108

Post by AlbertCory »

linguae wrote: post #59
AlbertCory wrote: post #25

50 years ago, he claimed he was going to write 10 volumes of TAOCP. The actuarial tables are not encouraging here. He doesn't respond to emails, but his assistant does, and I sent a copy of my book about Xerox to his home address. No answer. But hey, it was worth a shot.

Speaking about Xerox PARC, about a month or so ago I was actually at the 50th anniversary of Smalltalk event at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View; Adele Goldberg participated in an in-person interview, and Dan Ingalls was also interviewed via live streaming. There were many luminaries in the audience, including David Ungar (one of the leading researchers behind the Self object-oriented programming language…

I was there, too. Didn't see Knuth, though.

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

#109

Post by krylon »

rietta wrote: post #69

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.

I vaguely recall an anecdote being told here on HN where Donald Knuth met Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs said something along the lines of "I admire you very much, I have read all of your books!", to which Donald Knuth replied something to the effect of "I don't think so." (more politely, though, I presume).

Which is to say I don't think many people have actually worked their way all through them. Neither have I, there's no shame in that.

And, as you point out, it's not too late to give it a try.

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

#110

Post by dyingkneepad »

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

I read selected parts of it while in the University, studying Computer Science. I think that is the more appropriate time for you to read such a book, since it gives you the basics.

I read the section on Hash Tables while at work because one of our hash table implementations was exactly what he proposed in his book and there was no explanation on why some things were done, especially the choice of the hashing functions. I first tried looking for the information in other books (like Cormen et al.) but everybody just simply references the book from Knuth without explaining things either. So I bought it just for that...

I really really wanted to have time to read the rest of it. But also my comic book collection and a whole lot of other books I bought in the last 30 years. Maybe one day.

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