The Stanford GraphBase: A Platform for Combinatorial Computing, (Paperback)

The Stanford GraphBase: A Platform for Combinatorial Computing represents the first efforts of Donald E. Knuth's preparation for Volume Four of The Art of Computer Programming. The book's first goal is to use examples to demonstrate the art of literate programming. Each example provides a programmatic essay that can be read and enjoyed as readily as it can be interpreted by machines. In these essays/programs, Knuth makes new contributions to several important algorithms and data structures, so the programs are of special interest for their content as well as for their style. The book's second goal is to provide a useful means for comparing combinatorial algorithms and for evaluating methods of combinatorial computing. To this end, Knuth's programs offer standard, freely available sets of data - the Stanford GraphBase - that may be used as benchmarks to test competing methods. The data sets are both interesting in themselves and applicable to a wide variety of problem domains. With objective tests, Knuth hopes to bridge the gap between theoretical computer scientists and programmers who have real problems to solve. As with all of Knuth's writings, this book is appreciated not only for the author's unmatched insight, but also for the fun and the challenge of his work. He illustrates many of the most significant and most beautiful combinatorial algorithms that are presently known and provides sample programs that can lead to hours of amusement. In showing how the Stanford GraphBase can generate an almost inexhaustible supply of challenging problems, some of which may lead to the discovery of new and improved algorithms, Knuth proposes friendly competitions. His own initial entries into such competitions are included in the book, and readers are challenged to do better. Features *Includes new contributions to our understanding of important algorithms and data structures *Provides a standard tool for evaluating combinatorial algorithms *Demonstrates a more readable, more practical style of programming *Challenges readers to surpass his own efficient algorithms 0201542757B04062001

《斯坦福圖形庫：組合計算平台》代表了唐納德·E·克努斯（Donald E. Knuth）為《計算機程序設計藝術》第四卷做準備的首次努力。該書的第一個目標是通過示例展示文學化編程的藝術。每個示例都提供了一篇可以像閱讀和欣賞一樣容易理解的程序性文章，同時也可以被機器解讀。在這些文章/程序中，克努斯對幾個重要的算法和數據結構做出了新的貢獻，因此這些程序不僅在風格上有特殊的興趣，也在內容上具有特殊的價值。

該書的第二個目標是提供一種有用的方法來比較組合算法並評估組合計算方法。為此，克努斯的程序提供了標準的、免費提供的數據集 - 斯坦福圖形庫，可用作測試競爭方法的基準。這些數據集本身很有趣，並且適用於各種問題領域。通過客觀測試，克努斯希望彌合理論計算機科學家和有實際問題需要解決的程序員之間的差距。

與克努斯的所有著作一樣，這本書不僅因作者無與倫比的洞察力而受到讚賞，也因其工作的趣味和挑戰而受到讚賞。他展示了許多目前已知的最重要、最美麗的組合算法，並提供了可以帶來幾個小時娛樂的示例程序。通過展示斯坦福圖形庫如何生成幾乎無窮的具有挑戰性的問題，其中一些可能導致新的改進算法的發現，克努斯提出了友好的競賽。他自己參加這些競賽的初始作品也包含在書中，並向讀者提出挑戰。

特點：
- 包含對重要算法和數據結構的新貢獻
- 提供評估組合算法的標準工具
- 展示更易讀、更實用的編程風格
- 挑戰讀者超越他自己的高效算法
ISBN：0201542757B04062001