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I am relatively unfamiliar with these books, but the fact that Knuth publishes them in “fascicles” is hilariously intriguing. I have a superficial understanding
by the-printer 4y ago
I am relatively unfamiliar with these books, but the fact that Knuth publishes them in “fascicles” is hilariously intriguing. I have a superficial understanding of Knuth’s character as a programmer but I get the impression that the work is portrayed in a folksy, arcane sort of way.
Am I far off?
- kragen 4y agoWhat's hilarious or intriguing about it? Is it just that you're not familiar with the practice of publishing things in fascicles?
- the-printer 4y agoYes, actually, you are correct! Hilarious in the sense that I am amused; it makes me laugh; it brings me joy. Intriguing in that makes me want to read them. The years-long effort reminds me of Robert Caro’s series on Lyndon B. Johnson. It’s as if he’s been blogging for decades, but in book form. Tantalizing.
- bombcar 4y agoKnuth got annoyed at the state of mathematical publishing decades ago, and in a fit not seen since (maybe Linus and git counts) stopped what he was doing, learned enough about typesetting to become a domain expert, wrote TeX, and then resumed what he was doing. So when he uses typesetting/printing terms, he's using them correctly.
- the-printer 4y agoThanks for this. It’s fascinating, truly.
- f1shy 4y agoNot only TeX, also Metafont, because we was not satisfied with available computer types.
- bonzini 4y agoAnd designing the Computer Modern font, which is certainly not the most artistic or beautiful but still in use and more than decent.