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

www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu

241–250 of 357 posts

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

#241
post #227

A math noobie here: I want to learn the TAOCP but the pre-req is Concrete Mathematics which I also find hard--it seems almost cryptic. Any ideas for a book before Concrete Mathematics? Thanks in advance.

Depending on your mathematical background, you might find working through the Art of Problem Solving books [0] good preparation as they would build an incredible mathematical foundation for you.

Honestly after working through those books, you could probably complete self-studying an undergraduate mathematics curriculum.

[0] https://artofproblemsolving.com/store

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

#242
post #145

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a saddening commentary, Knuth stopped sending those checks in 2008 because of problems with check fraud. Since this refers to Knuth, I carefully parsed that not as "because of check fraud," but, "because of problems with check fraud." There is an interesting difference between those two. From your wiki link: Initially, Knuth sent real, negotiable checks to recipients. He stopped doing so in October 2008 because of…

Essentially, he also created NFTs then...

I think Knuth also created news.ycombinator.com, google.com, and facebook.com. He refused all google stock, however, since they implemented map-reduce incorrectly, using a set of filters. In the case of fb, he was outfoxed, because he didn't have the documents to prove that he created all the algorithms for matching faces.

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

#243
post #232
post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> moving between EMacs panes Well, the editor wars are over folks. More seriously, Don Knuth is a treasure. One of the coolest things about computing science is how all the greats in the field are either alive, or within the living memory of people who are.

learning that Knuth uses Emacs has been my proudest moment as an Emacs user.

We won! Emacs vs VI war over. It's finally over thanks to Knuth! VI users will be forced to pay reparations, and agree to cede territory back to the Emacs military alliance. :)

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

#244
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also noticed smart people type really fast (if they can touch type) and can switch between multiple windows/tabs fast too. It's not because their fingers move faster than normal people, but because their mind moves smoothly so they can produce a long string of command with stopping to think. > as fast as any 20 year old. I I certainly hope so. Though I think it's more likely that Knuth can be as fast as other 20-ye…

Google and Youtube often think I am a robot because of how fast I operate on their sites: typing, clicking, switching tabs etc..

I wish modern OS could keep up with my typing and window switching and app launching and ...

I'm constantly perturbed and interrupted when some app window just 'hangs' for a few seconds (some garbage collection going on, probably?). I can't pinpoint any one thing, just... everything seems relatively slow in 2022 compared to, even 10 years ago, and certainly 20. Applications weren't always phoning home to check things during bootup, which I suspect happens a lot now. Our computers are dozens of times faster than in the 90s, and, computationally, some things get done much faster, but others - around UI, it seems - apparently regress.

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

#245
post #232

Earlier quoted context omitted.

learning that Knuth uses Emacs has been my proudest moment as an Emacs user.

We won! Emacs vs VI war over. It's finally over thanks to Knuth! VI users will be forced to pay reparations, and agree to cede territory back to the Emacs military alliance. :)

apparently only uses one screen too. can we (re)start some religious wars over that now? :)

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

#246
post #232
post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> moving between EMacs panes Well, the editor wars are over folks. More seriously, Don Knuth is a treasure. One of the coolest things about computing science is how all the greats in the field are either alive, or within the living memory of people who are.

learning that Knuth uses Emacs has been my proudest moment as an Emacs user.

[deleted]

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

#248
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google and Youtube often think I am a robot because of how fast I operate on their sites: typing, clicking, switching tabs etc..

I wish modern OS could keep up with my typing and window switching and app launching and ... I'm constantly perturbed and interrupted when some app window just 'hangs' for a few seconds (some garbage collection going on, probably?). I can't pinpoint any one thing, just... everything seems relatively slow in 2022 compared to, even 10 years ago, and certainly 20. Applications weren't always phoning home to check things…

This makes me wonder if real time operating systems might one day become popular as interfaces for powerusers

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

#249
post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google and Youtube often think I am a robot because of how fast I operate on their sites: typing, clicking, switching tabs etc..

I wish modern OS could keep up with my typing and window switching and app launching and ... I'm constantly perturbed and interrupted when some app window just 'hangs' for a few seconds (some garbage collection going on, probably?). I can't pinpoint any one thing, just... everything seems relatively slow in 2022 compared to, even 10 years ago, and certainly 20. Applications weren't always phoning home to check things…

No post body was provided.

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

#250
post #241
post #227

A math noobie here: I want to learn the TAOCP but the pre-req is Concrete Mathematics which I also find hard--it seems almost cryptic. Any ideas for a book before Concrete Mathematics? Thanks in advance.

Depending on your mathematical background, you might find working through the Art of Problem Solving books [0] good preparation as they would build an incredible mathematical foundation for you. Honestly after working through those books, you could probably complete self-studying an undergraduate mathematics curriculum. [0] https://artofproblemsolving.com/store

Thank you! this looks solid--whereas I found Polya's "How to solve it" a pedantic and useless.

Best wishes.

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