Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thank you!
Hmm, I still see the errors, though.
Yes, I'm on vacation. I have bookmarked this subthread.
Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
321–330 of 357 posts
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#322On a whim a few years ago I attended Knuth80[0], a symposium celebrating Knuth's 80th birthday in Piteå, northern Sweden. I traveled there by train from London and spent a few days listening to fascinating lectures and attending the inaugural performance of Fantasia Apocalyptica, performed by Jan Overduin on the wonderful new pipe organ in Piteå. I only had the opportunity to speak briefly with Knuth, but the whole t…
I was this >< close to doing the same, but chickened out at the last minute. Shouldn't have. Oh well, I'll be there for sure at Knuth90.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#323Earlier quoted context omitted.
The most use I've gotten out of it was when I had it on my bookshelf in my Zoom background while TAing a class I think. One of the head TAs recognized it and asked if I had actually read it, and I told him I managed to read through volume 1 once and not solve many of the problems, which took about 3 months reading ~10 pgs/day. He was still impressed, and I think it helped me get the head TA role after he graduated, a…
Shouldn't TA jobs be handed out based on you knowledge and teaching and management ability, not fashion prejudice?
Yeah stuff like that is handed out on competence, when it came to situation, there were a few other equally qualified candidates who had been TAing that class. It worked out so we all held head TA at one point. TAOCP in the background probably played a tiny role if anything, but it's the one distinguishing event I remember, which is strange and funny to think about.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#324Earlier 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…
The worst are the modern async UIs that become responsive early and then reset their state when they fully load - so if you e.g. already typed part of your search string, you can actually briefly see it in the textbox, and then it gets cleared away. Very common on websites, somewhat common on the desktop, in my experience.
Ironically, the old apps that just "hang" for a while during initialization handle this better, because they don't process input at all, so it all just gets queued.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#325Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 fin…
If you can't find a bug that exists in your copy of TAOCP, maybe you didn't learn what it was teaching you :-) (Adapted from Feynman, who apologized for errors in his Lectures, but refused to accept blame for anyone who cited them in a dispute. The truth speaks for itself.)
Would you be willing to provide a reference for the original? My Google-fu is failing me.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
There is however a terrible effect on productivity and self-respect when you have to switch keyboard layout for any reason. I'm still one month into switching to a macbook, and I now dread cutting and pasting. Oh, and typing "pipe", too. I wonder how long it will take my 40+ years old brain and hands to get their act together...
Even for MacBooks of the same generation, there’s a (significant, for me) hit when going from a US Mac keyboard to a UK one (enter key is all off).
Had the same issue recently, with the caveat that I grew up in the UK, then moved to US and back.
I prefer the concept of international standardisation to an American layout in pretty much all areas, with the exception of the keyboard layout; ANSI layouts are far more friendly - for programming, at least. Not just the enter key but the left shift too.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
Imagine if we got an HBO adaptation of TAOCP.
The show-runners would exercise some creative license, and we'd end up with things like o(n) being worse than o(n!) in the show, but not in the book. Even worse now that there's a video version of the classic - it's deviations from the text would start to be seen as "the better one" and the software bloat problem would dramatically intensify worldwide as everyone rearranged their algorithms.
You mean N would break out of the Otriarchal grip of the system and be a strong, independent constant.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#328Earlier quoted context omitted.
The show-runners would exercise some creative license, and we'd end up with things like o(n) being worse than o(n!) in the show, but not in the book. Even worse now that there's a video version of the classic - it's deviations from the text would start to be seen as "the better one" and the software bloat problem would dramatically intensify worldwide as everyone rearranged their algorithms.
You mean N would break out of the Otriarchal grip of the system and be a strong, independent constant.
No, I meant what I said.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#329Earlier quoted context omitted.
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!
Uuuuuh. I know a lot about programming and discrete mathematics (I used to tutor both, and I've used a lot of discrete math throughout my 20 year career as a software developer) and I still struggle with the books. Maybe your definition of "something" varies from mine.
What's the struggle?
I've a moderste grasp of induction etc, but my impression is that that's all that's required.
Re: Knuth's Art of Computer Programming, V 4B, has gone into print
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
For the Christian, reading the Bible is internally transformative.
This is also an important topic for Knuth and he has published a book on the subject (which I have not read nor discussed with him as the topic is of zero interest to me). OK, even though the bible doesn't interest me, we once went through the score of the Fantasia Apocalyptica together and it was useful that I knew enough of the bible to discuss some references. There are also musical "puzzles" or clues in the score…
"Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About"?
Highly recommended. Also, "3:16".
These are about the operating system of the soul.