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SICP is still a very good book for learning abstraction techniques, although it does sort of throw you in at the deep end in some ways. TAoCP is great as a set
by ldjb 10y ago
SICP is still a very good book for learning abstraction techniques, although it does sort of throw you in at the deep end in some ways.
TAoCP is great as a set of reference books that you can take a look at when stuck on a problem, but I don't think it's really designed to be read from cover(s) to cover(s).
- thomasahle 10y agoI certainly don't think TAOCP is designed to be a reference. If so, it wouldn't be full of excellent exercises.
- clifanatic 10y agoAgree wholeheartedly. I've seen people suggest from time to time that TAOCP should be used strictly as a reference book (like a dictionary or a thesaurus) - I suspect people who try to use it that way are going to be disappointed when they look up, say, the Trie algorithm and find out that the text assumes that you're already proficient in MIX programming, and back-references a half-dozen formulas from previous volumes (sometimes from the exercises!)