The Art of Computer Programming (TAOCP) by Donald Knuth

I recently purchased a boxed set of Donald Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming on Amazon (amazon.com/Computer-Programming-Volumes-1-4A-Boxed/dp/0321751043) based on its stellar reputation as one of the indispensable, foundational computer science books that every programmer should read.

I excitedly started delving into it last night but after an hour or two of reading and exercises I started getting the sinking feeling that I'd just wasted $200. It seems quite mired in 1960's-era academic minutiae and tedious mathematical formalism that doesn't seem very relevant to a modern practicing programmer.

For all its focus on algorithmic performance I found no mention of pipeline stalls, designing for cache performance, branch prediction, multithreading, etc. which are all very fundamental aspects of good performance on modern hardware.

So for those who are practical programmers and have gone down the Knuth TAOCP rabbit hole I ask - was it worth it? Did it give you knowledge and skills applicable to your programming work or was it mostly academic / intellectual entertainment?

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> based on its stellar reputation as one of the indispensible, foundational computer science books that every programmer should read.
You're not supposed to read it, nobody's ever actually read it. We all just say we've read it, talk about how brilliant it is, and place it prominently on our office bookshelves to silently humblebrag to anyone who drops by. Sorry you had to spend $200 on that lesson, mate.

you should have wasted those $200 on a mech keyboard

static void selectionSort(int[] lst) {
// get the length
int n = lst.length;
for (int i = 0; i < n; i++) {
int index = 0;
int smallest = lst[i];
for (int j = i; j < n; j++) {
if (lst[j] < smallest) {
smallest = lst[j];
index = j;
}
int temp = lst[i];
lst[i] = smallest;
lst[index] = temp;
}

System.out.println(Arrays.toString(lst));
}

I don't have a better answer than this.

It's kind of like those massive door-stopper classical books that 1500+ pages.
We buy a copy and put it on our shelves because it makes us think that other people think we're smart.

The good part of Knuth, though, is that it is quite rigorous and should prepare you for just about any future readings.

>not buying Computer Systems: A Programmers Perspective
csapp.cs.cmu.edu/public/perspective.html
You brought it on yourself

>not downloading pdfs and preserving physical space in your house
Lmao@urLyfe

Piracy is sin.

>implying Kate didn't commit the biggest sin there is

wasting paper is a sin too

>stealing other's intellectual property
>utilizing regenerative carbon that will be recycled anyway and is biodegradable
Which do you think is sin? Think.

>I started getting the sinking feeling that I'd just wasted $200. It seems quite mired in 1960's-era academic minutiae and tedious mathematical formalism that doesn't seem very relevant to a modern practicing programmer.
Yes, that is quite accurate. Underneath that minutiae is a mediocre textbook on algorithms, and that's all. I never understood what people see in those books.

You being alive faggot

You got memed kid. Happens to everyone from time to time.

Life is a gift from God.

life is a gift from chaos.
go read the bible.

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)

Anyone have the PDFs to these books? Was thinking of buying but now I'm thinking of sailing the high seas

Just borrow them from your local library.

teach me more about god, senpai

> going outside
Ehhh I'll stay ignorant

And fat and unbathed I'm sure.

i shaked pope francis hand last week, he told me the truth about god.
pdf or paper you won't read them anyways

I just emailed Prof. Knuth asking him for the books and cced his assistant, he replied in 3 days with the PDFs.

>(((pope)))

Download from the gentooman library

I fell for the physics version of this meme. Have a box set of Feynman's lectures I've read like 10 pages of. A year later they were posted online, typset in LaTeX. rip

>pipeline stalls, designing for cache performance, branch prediction, multithreading
You should be making decisions regarding these yourself. Knuth would be revising TAOCP every 2 years to talk about the latest meme cpus and architectures

How does it feel to waste money on something you'll never use OP?