The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 4A: Combinatorial Algorithms, Part 1 (Hardcover)

Knuth’s multivolume analysis of algorithms is widely recognized as the definitive description of classical computer science. The first three volumes of this work have long comprised a unique and invaluable resource in programming theory and practice. Scientists have marveled at the beauty and elegance of Knuth’s analysis, while practicing programmers have successfully applied his “cookbook” solutions to their day-to-day problems.

 

The level of these first three volumes has remained so high, and they have displayed so wide and deep a familiarity with the art of computer programming, that a sufficient “review” of future volumes could almost be: “Knuth, Volume n has been published.”

—Data Processing Digest

 

Knuth, Volume n has been published, where n = 4A.

 

In this long-awaited new volume, the old master turns his attention to some of his favorite topics in broadword computation and combinatorial generation (exhaustively listing fundamental combinatorial objects, such as permutations, partitions, and trees), as well as his more recent interests, such as binary decision diagrams.

 

The hallmark qualities that distinguish his previous volumes are manifest here anew: detailed coverage of the basics, illustrated with well-chosen examples; occasional forays into more esoteric topics and problems at the frontiers of research; impeccable writing peppered with occasional bits of humor; extensive collections of exercises, all with solutions or helpful hints; a careful attention to history; implementations of many of the algorithms in his classic step-by-step form.

 

There is an amazing amount of information on each page. Knuth has obviously thought long and hard about which topics and results are most central and important, and then, what are the most intuitive and succinct ways of presenting that material. Since the areas that he covers in this volume have exploded since he first envisioned writing about them, it is wonderful how he has managed to provide such thorough treatment in so few pages.

—Frank Ruskey, Department of Computer Science, University of Victoria

 

The book is Volume 4A, because Volume 4 has itself become a multivolume undertaking. Combinatorial searching is a rich and important topic, and Knuth has too much to say about it that is new, interesting, and useful to fit into a single volume, or two, or maybe even three. This book alone includes approximately 1500 exercises, with answers for self-study, plus hundreds of useful facts that cannot be found in any other publication. Volume 4A surely belongs beside the first three volumes of this classic work in every serious programmer’s library.

Knuth的多卷算法分析被廣泛認為是對經典計算機科學的明確描述。這部作品的前三卷長期以來一直是編程理論和實踐中獨特且寶貴的資源。科學家對Knuth的分析之美和優雅感到驚嘆，而實踐中的程序員則成功地將他的“食譜”解決方案應用於日常問題中。

這三卷的水平一直保持得很高，並且展示了對計算機編程藝術的廣泛和深入的熟悉，以至於對未來卷的“評論”幾乎可以是：“Knuth，第n卷已經出版。” —《數據處理摘要》

Knuth，第n卷已經出版，其中n = 4A。

在這個期待已久的新卷中，這位老大師將注意力轉向他在廣字長計算和組合生成方面的一些喜愛主題（詳細列舉了基本的組合對象，如排列、分割和樹），以及他最近的興趣，如二進制決策圖。

這裡再次展現了他之前卷中的標誌性特點：詳細介紹基礎知識，並以精心選擇的例子進行說明；偶爾涉足更深奧的主題和研究前沿的問題；無可挑剔的寫作風格中夾雜著偶爾的幽默；大量的練習題集，全部附有解答或有用的提示；對歷史的細致關注；以經典的逐步形式實現許多算法。

每頁上都有驚人的信息量。Knuth顯然對哪些主題和結果最核心和重要思考了很長時間，然後找到了最直觀和簡潔的呈現方式。由於他在這個卷中涵蓋的領域自他最初設想寫作以來已經爆炸式增長，他如何在如此少的頁數中提供如此全面的內容處理，真是太棒了。 —Frank Ruskey，維多利亞大學計算機科學系

這本書是第4A卷，因為第4卷本身已成為一個多卷的項目。組合搜索是一個豐富且重要的主題，Knuth對此有太多新的、有趣且有用的內容，無法放入一卷，甚至兩卷，甚至三卷中。這本書單獨包含大約1500個練習題，附有自學答案，還有數百個在任何其他出版物中都找不到的有用事實。第4A卷無疑應該與這部經典作品的前三卷一起放在每個認真的程序員的圖書館中。