The Art of Computer Programming Volume 1
The Art of Computer Programming Volume 1 by Donald Knuthby Donald Knuth
Shares rank 59 of 115 programming books by recommenders
Recommended for connecting programming, computer science and mathematics, and for collecting earlier algorithm folklore in one book. No critical quotes, so no common caveat.
Recommended for connecting programming, computer science and mathematics, and for collecting earlier algorithm folklore in one book. No critical quotes, so no common caveat.
4 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Links programming, computer science and mathematics
“showing me the relationship between computer programming, computer science, and mathematics really did change my life”
Comment from 11 Aug 2026 in “Five Programming Books That Changed How I Think” Collects earlier algorithm folklore in print
“it was great to finally see what had previously been folklore on mimeographed sheets in an actual book”
Comment from 27 Oct 2026 in “A Man from the Future: Why Johnny Can't Stop Abstracting” Helps with understanding assembly programming
“I benefited massively from reading Vol 1 of TAOCP and understanding Knuth's new assembly.”
Comment from 9 Oct 2026 in “Yes, and” Described as excellent
“I started volume one recently and it is excellent”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Want to Write a Compiler? Just Read These Two Papers (2008)”
Other programming books people recommend
The four most recommended other programming books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafting Interpretersby Robert Nystrom | 60 | 4 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Clean Codeby Robert C. Martin | 31 | 87 | 26% | 9 | — | — |
| The Pragmatic Programmerby Hunt and Thomas | 28 | 1 | 97% | 7 | — | Approved |
| How to Design Programsby Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi | 18 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| The Art of Computer Programming Volume 1by Donald KnuthThis page | 4 | 0 | 100% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
All 4 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“it was great to finally see what had previously been folklore on mimeographed sheets in an actual book”
“I benefited massively from reading Vol 1 of TAOCP and understanding Knuth's new assembly.”
“showing me the relationship between computer programming, computer science, and mathematics really did change my life”
“I started volume one recently and it is excellent”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.