There's always been a divide between algorithm design and analysis (covered in TAOCP and most algorithm books), and hardware implementation details like pipelin

There's always been a divide between algorithm design and analysis (covered in TAOCP and most algorithm books), and hardware implementation details like pipeline stalls, cache performance, and branch prediction. That doesn't mean the algorithm books are useless, it means they give you a bunch of options, and you have to decide which algorithms and data structures will perform best on the specific hardware you're using. But, at the same time, TAOCP is terrible as a practical algorithms book. It's perfect for graduate level algorithms classes deep diving into mathematical proofs and analyses, but for practical, "real life" coverage I prefer Skiena's "Algorithm Design Manual."