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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?
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?
It's not complex if you merely want it to run, but if you want flexible, maintainable, and readable code, then it is complex.
Table-ized A.I.
Since the safety checks are language dependent and aren't actually related to the algorithm logic, yes, that is better. This isn't a copy and paste recipe book. Learn the algorithm logic from the book then write your own implementation in the language of choice.
So you can't read them?
They are some of the most valuable books I'be ever owned. Whether during programming, developing FPGA logic or just trying to have a method of proving some of my algorithms. TAOCP is invaluable.
Computer science is still... well science and TAOCP is a cornerstone of computer science. You're confusing computer science and application programming.
There are certainly better places to learn the basics. Like for example, what is a red black tree? But TAOCP is where you understand them.
And I think his pseudo-computer concept was nifty. As for FORTRAN, all the fortran developers I know are generally slobs. They'd never touch these books.