I regularly reference Seminumerical Algorithms and Combinatorial Algorithms.
Ask HN: Is Knuth's TAOCP worth the time and effort?
121–130 of 192 posts
Re: Ask HN: Is Knuth's TAOCP worth the time and effort?
#122[dead]
Re: Ask HN: Is Knuth's TAOCP worth the time and effort?
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
I would add that one thing which is very relevant today but not covered much is memory hierarchies and parallel/distributed programming. For that you might want to accompany TAOCP with one of the heavyweight teaching books on Parallel Algorithms.
> For that you might want to accompany TAOCP with one of the heavyweight teaching books on Parallel Algorithms. Any recommendations/suggestions?
I was trying to find the book I had at university, which was excellent. However I can't find it right now. I would suggest looking at book recommendations from reputable university courses on parallel architectures.
Re: Ask HN: Is Knuth's TAOCP worth the time and effort?
#124Funny, my first ever submission to HN was this identically-worded question, with a lot of ensuing interesting discussion:
Re: Ask HN: Is Knuth's TAOCP worth the time and effort?
#125Re: Ask HN: Is Knuth's TAOCP worth the time and effort?
#126Check one out from a library and see how you feel after a few chapters.
This is the easiest answer. Check out the first (or second, or third) volume and skim-read it.
You'll either be interested, or return it and not feel a desire to get it again. And maybe years later you'll want to dive in.
Re: Ask HN: Is Knuth's TAOCP worth the time and effort?
#127A little bit of history about the book series may help understand what is in it. In 1956, Knuth graduated high school and entered college, where he encountered a computer for the first time (the IBM 650, to which the series of books is dedicated). He took to programming like a fish to water, and by the time he finished college in 1960, he was a legendary programmer, single-handedly writing several compilers on par wi…
I really hope at some point he stops writing and speed sketches the rest of the "book" so that it can be completed after his inevitable passing at the level of his vision.
---
PS- not to be "that guy" but I do think that a future edition should port the MMIX to RISC-V because it'll be actually runnable and I'd bet money that RISC-V is the educational standard going forward for the next 50 years.
Re: Ask HN: Is Knuth's TAOCP worth the time and effort?
#128Is Charles Dickens worth a read. Depends on your time, purpose and taste.
Re: Ask HN: Is Knuth's TAOCP worth the time and effort?
#129Is Charles Dickens worth it? It's a matter of time, taste and purpose (in reading).
I've enjoyed dipping in. Sometimes found it directly useful to work. But the best of his works I read (in full) was the MMIX book that is a literate program of the interpreter. Second to that was the typography book, a total fascinating delight.
In reality there's probably almost no one who reads any volume of TAOCP in full.
The only way to answer your question is probably to start reading and see if you enjoy it. But expect it take some effort.
Re: Ask HN: Is Knuth's TAOCP worth the time and effort?
#130had he wrote it in 2 years in 1968, it would be long forgotten by now.
Probably because two years would let you produce a skinny inconsequential dip into a topic that would quickly be surpassed or barely distinguished from introductory texts on programming.