The Art of Computer Programming

The Art of Computer Programming

The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms
Author	Donald Knuth
Language	English
Genre	Non-fiction Monograph
Publisher	Addison-Wesley
Publication date	1968– (the book is still incomplete)
Publication place	United States
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
ISBN	0-201-03801-3
Dewey Decimal	519
LC Class	QA76.75

The Art of Computer Programming (TAOCP) is a comprehensive monograph written by the computer scientist Donald Knuth presenting programming algorithms and their analysis. Volumes 1–5 are intended to represent the central core of computer programming for sequential machines.

When Knuth began the project in 1962, he originally conceived of it as a single book with twelve chapters. The first three volumes of what was then expected to be a seven-volume set were published in 1968, 1969, and 1973. Work began in earnest on Volume 4 in 1973, but was suspended in 1977 for work on typesetting prompted by the second edition of Volume 2. Writing of the final copy of Volume 4A began in longhand in 2001, and the first online pre-fascicle, 2A, appeared later in 2001.^[1] The first published installment of Volume 4 appeared in paperback as Fascicle 2 in 2005. The hardback Volume 4A, combining Volume 4, Fascicles 0–4, was published in 2011. Volume 4, Fascicle 6 ("Satisfiability") was released in December 2015; Volume 4, Fascicle 5 ("Mathematical Preliminaries Redux; Backtracking; Dancing Links") was released in November 2019.

Volume 4B consists of material evolved from Fascicles 5 and 6.^[2] The manuscript was sent to the publisher on August 1, 2022, and the volume was published in September 2022.^[3] Fascicle 7, planned for Volume 4C, was the subject of Knuth's talk on August 3, 2022.^[4]