taocp

How many people actually read "The Art Of Computer Programming" books?

"TAOCP book is one of the must-reading CS books." I read such a statement so many times but I never see person who read and study over the book. Maybe the book itself makes our job more secure(^^). Have you ever read the book? ...

The Art of Computer Programming - What Can I Get From Reading the Lot?

I am seriously considering actually reading through the whole Art of Computer Programming by Don Knuth. Though I know not many people actually manage to do this, and it's a ridiculously huge task to attempt, I wondered what people thought reading the whole lot will give me? I believe it'll give me a deeper and wider understanding of pr...

Best preparation material for TAOCP?

There are apparently a lot of people who don't finish reading TAOCP. One thing I've consistently noted in people's responses is being unable to handle all of the math in the series. What books or other materials do people recommend reading/understanding prior to TAOCP to make it more digestible? Assume the reader already has a good under...

Art of Computer programming notation question

I'm just starting to read TAOCP Volume 1 and I'm having trouble understanding the style. Knuth mentions a computational method to be a quadruple (Q,I, Omega, f) -- but I am having trouble understanding what each of these is intended to be. I understand his first example, but don't understand his second I'm looking at page 8 of the thi...

The Art of Computer Programming exercise question: Chapter 1, Question 8

I'm doing the exercises to TAOCP Volume 1 Edition 3 and have trouble understanding the syntax used in the answer to the following exercise. Chapter 1 Exercise 8 Computing the greatest common divisor of positive integers m & n by specifying Tj,sj,aj,bj Let your input be represented by the string ambn (m a's followed by n b's) Answer: ...

What are the enduring properties of a book on algorithms?

I will soon start writing a book on a certain subset of algorithms. Many people, including myself, praise The Art of Computer Programming to the top of their lungs, believing these volumes are a work of art in mathematics and computer science. However, I can't put my finger on what it is that makes TAOCP mythically great, mostly when com...

The Art of Computer Programming, Vol 4, Fascicle 2 typo?

At the bottom of page 5 is the phrase "changes k to k (1j+1)2". Isn't 1 to any power still 1 even in binary? I'm thinking this must be a typo. I sent an email to Dr. Knuth to report this, but I don't expect to hear back for months. In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out what this is supposed to be. ...

How does division work in MIX?

Can someone explain to me how division in MIX (from TAOCP by Knuth) works on a byte-to-byte basis? rA = |-| . . . .0| rX = |+|1235|0|3|1| The memory location 1000 contains |-|0|0|0|2|0|. When you execute the operation DIV 1000 the registers become rA = |+|0|617|?|?| rX = |-|0|0|0|?|1| Now I understand the signs on rA and rX...

Advice on how to approach The Art of Computer Programming?

Any advice on how to appoach The Art of Computer Programming Vol 1? I currently have Volume 1 with me. Should I go through the Math part fully before getting in to the Data Structures part? ...

taocp, sequential allocation questions

hi all, i've run into few problems while working tacop 2.2.2 sequential allocations, repacking memory section at page 247. the subject is there are n stacks sharing a common area locations L0 < L < LX, initially we set BASE[j] = TOP[j] = L0 for 1 <= j <= n the goal is when overflow occurs while inserting or deleting elements with res...

About an exercise appearing in TAOCP volume one's "Notes on the Exercises".

Hi, There is a question in TAOCP vol 1, in "Notes on Exercises" section, which goes something like: "Prove that 13^3 = 2197. Generalize your answer. (This is a horrible kind of problem that the author has tried to avoid)." Questions: How would you actually go about proving this ? (Direct multiplication is one way, another way could ...

Oriented forest TAoCP - Algorithm in python

I try to implement Algorithm O (Oriented forests) from Donald E. Knuth: 'The Art of Computer Programming - Volume 4, Fascile 4, Generating All Trees' on page 24. My Python solution is: def generate_oriented_forest(n): """Algorithm O from Knuth TAoCP, Fascicle 4, p. 25. """ p = range(-1, n) while True: yield p[1:] ...

Which version of Art of Computer Programming should I read and when?

I want to read Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth for various personal and professional reasons. So when I walk into the book store I see a couple volumes a couple versions and a whole bunch of Fascicles/sub volumes. eventually these Fascicles should be a concise volume and then further editions and versions will ensue. If I wil...

The disjoint set in TAOCP

Hi all I want to know if Donald Knuth has covered the disjoint set in his great book ? If so, which chapter is it? Best Regards, ...

What Math Do You Need To Read The Art Of Computer Programming?

I came to a career in software development with a degree in English, rather than Computer Science or another science/engineering background. I have gone a long way on my self-taught basis, but after 10+ years of doing this, I want to go back and fill in the gaps, particularly with the math. The obvious place to give myself a Comp-Sci ed...