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Ask Slashdot: Have You Read 'The Art of Computer Programming'? (wikipedia.org)

In 1962, 24-year-old Donald Knuth began writing The Art of Computer Programming, publishing three volumes by 1973, with volume 4 arriving in 2005. (Volume 4A appeared in 2011, with new paperback fascicles planned for every two years, and fascicle 6, "Satisfiability," arriving last December). "You should definitely send me a resume if you can read the whole thing," Bill Gates once said, in a column where he described working through the book. "If somebody is so brash that they think they know everything, Knuth will help them understand that the world is deep and complicated."

But now long-time Slashdot reader Qbertino has a question: I've had The Art of Computer Programming on my book-buying list for just about two decades now and I'm still torn...about actually getting it. I sometimes believe I would mutate into some programming demi-god if I actually worked through this beast, but maybe I'm just fooling myself...

Have any of you worked through or with TAOCP or are you perhaps working through it? And is it worthwhile? I mean not just for bragging rights. And how long can it reasonably take? A few years?

Share your answers and experiences in the comments. Have you read The Art of Computer Programming?

6 of 381 comments (clear)

  1. Daughter was a big fan when she was younger by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Although she preferred his other works, like The Land Before Time and Anastasia.

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    #DeleteChrome
  2. A SkyRim Read? Then Yes. by xxxJonBoyxxx · · Score: 5, Funny

    I read the three volumes like I read any book in SkyRim: I opened the cover, got my +1 level in computer science, dropped it and hit it with a fireball.

  3. Re:Hell no by Tough+Love · · Score: 4, Funny

    Nah, I've been programming longer than Knuth has, starting with machine language. You just need to think procedurally.

    In your case, it sounds more like "sporadically".

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.
  4. Re:Read the first volume by un1nsp1red · · Score: 3, Funny

    It's a difficult read between full time work, family and social lives

    Who let this guy in here? How'd he get past security?

  5. eternally incomplete by definition by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    He hasn't even started volume 7 on APPing APPs in APPOS 10.