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Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
This magnificent tour de force presents a comprehensive overview of a wide variety of algorithms and the analysis of them. Now in its third edition, The Art of Computer Programming, Volume I: Fundamental Algorithms contains substantial revisions by the author and includes numerous new exercises. Although this book was conceived several decades ago, it is still a timeless classic. One of the book's greatest strengths is the wonderful collection of problems that accompany each chapter. The author has chosen problems carefully and indexed them according to difficulty. Solving a substantial number of these problems will help you gain a solid understanding of the issues surrounding the given topic. Furthermore, the exercises feature a variety of classic problems. Fundamental Algorithms begins with mathematical preliminaries. The first section offers a good grounding in a variety of useful mathematical tools: proof techniques, combinatorics, and elementary number theory. Knuth then details the MIX processor, a virtual machine architecture that serves as the programming target for subsequent discussions. This wonderful section comprehensively covers the principles of simple machine architecture, beginning with a register-level discussion of the instruction set. A later discussion of a simulator for this machine includes an excellent description of the principles underlying the implementation of subroutines and co-routines. Implementing such a simulator is an excellent introduction to computer design. In the second section, Knuth covers data structures--stacks, queues, lists, arrays, and trees--and presents implementations (in MIX assembly) along with techniques for manipulating these structures. Knuth follows many of the algorithms with careful time and space analysis. In the section on tree structures, the discussion includes a series of interesting problems concerning the combinatorics of trees (counting distinct trees of a particular form, for example) and some particularly interesting applications. Also featured is a discussion of Huffmann encoding and, in the section on lists, an excellent introduction to garbage collection algorithms and the difficult challenges associated with such a task. The book closes with a discussion of dynamic allocation algorithms. The clear writing in Fundamental Algorithms is enhanced by Knuth's dry humor and the historical discussions that accompany the technical matter. Overall, this text is one of the great classics of computer programming literature--it's not an easy book to grasp, but one that any true programmer will study with pleasure. Book News, Inc.
<:st>Part of a five-volume textbook and reference to algorithms used in computer programs, suitable for either classroom or self- study. Assumes the reader to be familiar with elementary calculus, and to have enough background in computer programming to have written several programs for at least one kind of computer. The first volume begins with the basic programming concepts and techniques, then focuses on information structures. Dates for the first two editions are not given. Cited in -- Copyright... read more Book Description
Volume 1 begins with basic programming concepts and techniques, then focuses on information structures. DLC: Electronic digital computers. Synopsis
The bible of programming theory and practice is being updated for the first time in more than 20 years. The book is concerned with information structures--the representation of information within a computer, the structural interrelations between data elements and how to work with them efficiently, and applications to simulation, numerical methods and software design. From the Back Cover
This first volume in the series begins with basic programming concepts and techniques, then focuses more particularly on information structures-the representation of information inside a computer, the structural relationships between data elements and how to deal with them efficiently. Elementary applications are given to simulation, numerical methods, symbolic computing, software and system design. Dozens of simple and important algorithms and techniques have been added to those of the previous... read more
Customer Reviews of the Day (what's this?)
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
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Read this book and become a computer programming artist.
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October 6, 1997
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Reviewer:
arjen@aragorn.demon.nl
from Houten, The Netherlands
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As a `Technical Informatics' student, I had heard of the three (so far) volumes of Knuth. When I found out that new editions of the books were being published, I asked a teacher if it could be of any use to me. He said it was pretty heavy on the math, and if you don't have a feeling for math, the books are pretty tough. Now, I am not very good at mathematics, but when I went to a localbookstore where the new edition of volume 1 laid in stacks on a `just arrived' table, I picked up a copy and started reading somewhere in chapter 2. Suddenly a member of the bookstore's staff tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I tried to read the whole thing right there. When I asked why, she told me I had been standing there for more than half an hour, completely absorbed by the book. Right there I concluded my teacher was wrong, and that if you've been programming for some time, this book can still teach you some very valuable lessons, even about `trivial' things like lists and stacks. When the other two volumes are published, they'll be right beside my copy of volume 1. A very impressive sight for friends who want to know what these beautifully bound books are about. In short, if you're a programmer, you get a copy of all the volumes of The Art of Computer Programming. I think it's a good step in becoming a computer programming artist.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
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Excellent update of a timeless classic - *Required Reading*
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November 10, 1997
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Reviewer:
khays@sequent.com (Kirk Hays)
from Portland, Oregon, USA
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Anyone who aspires to be a transcendent programmer must own (and use) Knuth. I've used my 20 year old TAOCP vol. 1 so many times over the years that it lays flat at any page. The updated volume 1 is more of the same - a classic revisited, revamped, restored. It is odd to handle something so familiar, yet so crisp. Those who dislike MIX will be unimpressed - to them, I say that you don't learn by doing the same vanilla thing time and again, but rather by wrestling with unfamiliar concepts and architectures. Many times my fellow programmers will find themselves roadblocked in an unfamiliar situation, while I often can see the unobvious solution - I attribute this ability to a wide experience with unconventional solutions, including extensive study of Knuth's TAOCP. If you're serious about your programming abilities, you *must* own (and study) this book! Frankly, if computer science were taught as an apprenticeship, this would be the journeyman's manual. I've required the many programmers I've trained over the years to own and study TAOCP, and they've all come to appreciate it's layered approach to problems - you can read Knuth at many levels, from algorithm reference to meta-analysis of an entire class of problems. If there is a Koran, Bible, or Tao of Computer Science, this is it. The only thing close is Aho's "Dragon Book," and it's specific to compilers.
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All Customer Reviews
Avg. Customer Review:
Number of Reviews: 29
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
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Quite readable
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February 27, 2000
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Reviewer:
cal
(see more about me)
from SF, CA
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I just looked at a review that called this book unreadable. I didn't peg it as unhelpful because buying books online, a person can buy a book that she/he didn't at all intend. This is a book that may help to truly understand an 'algorithm.' It is certainly possible to buy another book that doesn't look like a kindly written mathbook, but the machine language developed in this book, as well as every symbol and concept, is carefully explained. Without using convoluted language.
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3 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
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Nonsense
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February 18, 2000
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Reviewer:
janaka
from Singapore
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This book is really quite useless for those of us who have to program for a living. I mean his definition of an "Algorithm" in chaper one couldn't be more obstuse and unhelpful. Why ? Why ? Why did he do this. Why did he write everything in a hypothtical machine language. I really admire Knuth - especially for producing TeX, and then giving it away for free - We all love him for that. But this book is unreadable!
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