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I just picked up my father's old copy of vol. 1, Fundamental Algorithms. It's amazing that a book published in 1973 (second edition) can still be worth studying

by japhyr 11y ago

I just picked up my father's old copy of vol. 1, Fundamental Algorithms. It's amazing that a book published in 1973 (second edition) can still be worth studying. I'd like to work from the copy I have, largely for sentimental reasons. My father passed away a few years ago, and it feels really good to work from the same book he studied decades ago. Is it reasonable to study the second edition, or should I buy a copy of the third edition? I've been a hobbyist programmer for 20+ years, and I'd like to strengthen my understanding of basic data structures.

GauntletWizard 11y ago
The core algorithms Knuth discusses are unchanged in all those years. The practicality concerns are wildly different. Study the algorithms from the book, because it doesn't have a huge amount of opinion on when to use them anyway.
JustSomeNobody 11y ago
Very little has changed in the fundamental ways we write software in the past decades.
leephillips 11y ago
Knuth is a mathematician, and these are, mainly, books discussing mathematical results. Math is eternal - only the notation changes. You can, and, until recently, many did, learn geometry directly from Euclid.
- wslh 11y ago
  Indeed he would need to change the books if there is a breakthrough in some of the algorithm areas described, but TAO is an excellent way to "quicky" move to the state of art in many areas.
e19293001 11y ago
I think getting a copy of the third edition is much better. It is really worth studying even though sometimes you will be discouraged when answering some of the problems in the book and that would be normal. In fact, reading Donald Knuth's book is difficult but you should not feel bad about it. Here is a quote from Peter Seibel's book, Coders at Work: "I try to give the key ideas and I try to simplify them the best I can, but then what happens is every five pages of my book is somebody's career. In other words, there's still so much more beyond any five pages of my book that you can make a lifetime's worth of study, because there's just that much in computer science."

by japhyr 11y ago

GauntletWizard 11y ago

The core algorithms Knuth discusses are unchanged in all those years. The practicality concerns are wildly different. Study the algorithms from the book, because it doesn't have a huge amount of opinion on when to use them anyway.

JustSomeNobody 11y ago

Very little has changed in the fundamental ways we write software in the past decades.

leephillips 11y ago

Knuth is a mathematician, and these are, mainly, books discussing mathematical results. Math is eternal - only the notation changes. You can, and, until recently, many did, learn geometry directly from Euclid.

wslh 11y ago
Indeed he would need to change the books if there is a breakthrough in some of the algorithm areas described, but TAO is an excellent way to "quicky" move to the state of art in many areas.

e19293001 11y ago

I think getting a copy of the third edition is much better. It is really worth studying even though sometimes you will be discouraged when answering some of the problems in the book and that would be normal. In fact, reading Donald Knuth's book is difficult but you should not feel bad about it. Here is a quote from Peter Seibel's book, Coders at Work: "I try to give the key ideas and I try to simplify them the best I can, but then what happens is every five pages of my book is somebody's career. In other words, there's still so much more beyond any five pages of my book that you can make a lifetime's worth of study, because there's just that much in computer science."