This is a short post announcing a, sadly, infrequent event: the release of a new volume of The Art of Computer Programming. Donald Knuth has announced the availability of the long awaited Volume 4B of The Art of Computer Programming. There’s one more part of Volume 4, which considers combinatorial algorithms, and then the series moves on to considering various topics in compilers. For those who came in late, AOCP was originally meant to be a book about compiler writing. It morphed into something much, much more, including Knuth’s life work.
I was literally a young man when I came across the first volume. After I bought it, I consumed it in a frenzy. It was a revelation to me. It’s impossible to recount how much I learned from it and its subject matter, don’t forget, was fundamental algorithms. It’s the definitive account of our field’s subject matter.
I no longer, I must admit, consume each new volume as I did with the first. Rather, I use it as a resource when I need to know about some aspect of our discipline. It’s much like an encyclopedia; you’re probably not going to read the whole thing but it’s perfect for researching some specific piece of knowledge.