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Can somebody elaborate on the use cases of such a set? Are these volumes more theoretical and academic or practical? Is ownership more of a symbol or are they g

Can somebody elaborate on the use cases of such a set? Are these volumes more theoretical and academic or practical? Is ownership more of a symbol or are they genuinely interesting to read, given a cramped startup lifestyle? What level of formal comp sci education does the author assume? Not skepticism, just genuine curiosity and intrigue. I don't have a formal CS background, so forgive me for the naiveté if this is obvious stuff.

savant 16y ago
This will likely not help you build your startup unless you need a really strong understanding of Programming concepts. In the words of the wise Wikipedia: "The famous offer of a reward check worth "one hexadecimal dollar" (100HEX base 16 cents, in decimal, is $2.56) for any errors found, and the correction of these errors in subsequent printings, has contributed to the highly polished and still-authoritative nature of the work, long after its first publication. Another characteristic of the volumes is the variation in the difficulty of the exercises. The level of difficulty ranges from "warm-up" exercises to unsolved research problems, providing a challenge for any reader." For some people, it will be a status symbol. But honestly, you shouldn't be buying these books unless you actually want to learn something. Just saying you have the books will do you no good and is just a waste of paper.
- jackfoxy 16y ago
  I cashed one of those checks once, after photo-copying it first of course. Seems like I paid a lot less for the boxed set of 3 volumes about 13 years ago. I would like to pre-order the hardbound vol 4a.
tlammens 16y ago
It's all three: theoretical, academic and practical :-) Actually everything is pretty much build up from very basic knowledge. But beware that it has a high information density and that it is for the mathematically inclined. To digest in small portions :-)
- Locke1689 16y ago
  All code is also in a unimplemented instruction set architecture, so having a familiarity with some assembler is recommended.
  - silentbicycle 16y ago
    There seem to be implementations, such as http://www.gnu.org/software/mdk/manual/mdk.html http://www.gnu.org/software/mdk/manual/mdk.html . One person's "unimplemented instruction set architecture" is another's "virtual machine".
    - Locke1689 16y ago
      I was referring to hardware implementations, but cool nonetheless!
hyperbovine 16y ago
My experience mirrored this guy's: I often hear TAOCP described as the series of programming books "that every programmer should read." I think this is simply untrue ... TAOCP was not written to be read from cover to cover ... It's very dense and academic, and the examples are all in assembly language. (From http://www.billthelizard.com/2008/12/books-programmers-dont-really-read.html http://www.billthelizard.com/2008/12/books-programmers-dont-...)

savant 16y ago

This will likely not help you build your startup unless you need a really strong understanding of Programming concepts. In the words of the wise Wikipedia: "The famous offer of a reward check worth "one hexadecimal dollar" (100HEX base 16 cents, in decimal, is $2.56) for any errors found, and the correction of these errors in subsequent printings, has contributed to the highly polished and still-authoritative nature of the work, long after its first publication. Another characteristic of the volumes is the variation in the difficulty of the exercises. The level of difficulty ranges from "warm-up" exercises to unsolved research problems, providing a challenge for any reader." For some people, it will be a status symbol. But honestly, you shouldn't be buying these books unless you actually want to learn something. Just saying you have the books will do you no good and is just a waste of paper.

jackfoxy 16y ago
I cashed one of those checks once, after photo-copying it first of course. Seems like I paid a lot less for the boxed set of 3 volumes about 13 years ago. I would like to pre-order the hardbound vol 4a.

tlammens 16y ago

It's all three: theoretical, academic and practical :-) Actually everything is pretty much build up from very basic knowledge. But beware that it has a high information density and that it is for the mathematically inclined. To digest in small portions :-)

Locke1689 16y ago
All code is also in a unimplemented instruction set architecture, so having a familiarity with some assembler is recommended.
- silentbicycle 16y ago
  There seem to be implementations, such as http://www.gnu.org/software/mdk/manual/mdk.html http://www.gnu.org/software/mdk/manual/mdk.html . One person's "unimplemented instruction set architecture" is another's "virtual machine".
  - Locke1689 16y ago
    I was referring to hardware implementations, but cool nonetheless!

hyperbovine 16y ago

My experience mirrored this guy's: I often hear TAOCP described as the series of programming books "that every programmer should read." I think this is simply untrue ... TAOCP was not written to be read from cover to cover ... It's very dense and academic, and the examples are all in assembly language. (From http://www.billthelizard.com/2008/12/books-programmers-dont-really-read.html http://www.billthelizard.com/2008/12/books-programmers-dont-...)