[placebo]

Honestly, I'm blown away that someone has actually read cover to cover Knuth, CLRS, Dasgupta and Skiena. Is this a common thing? Has anyone here done something similar? For years I've had the textbooks of CLRS and Skiena at home (and a pdf of Dasgupta) but they are used only in the event I need to drill down to understand a particular algorithm to solve a particular problem. I feel that the most effective use of my time is to have a birds view of the landscape (i.e understand the categories of algorithms and the problems they solve) and dive down only when I actually need to know the nitty gritty to implement a solution for a real problem. I can understand the joy of learning them all just for fun, but who has the time? I wonder if he did all the exercises too... :-)

[todd8]

Yes, well, once upon a time in the dark ages, we didn't have HN or even the Internet to spend our time on. At home I didn't have a computer, no one did in the 60's or early 70's. I did have a few books so I read a lot including Knuth and the publications of the ACM that I subscribed to when they arrived in the mail. I wrote my code out on paper when I worked on it at home.

[sigjuice]

Where does it say that he has read all these books cover to cover?

[mathgeek]

Generally when someone writes a review this in-depth, this is assumed. Not always accurate, of course.

[agumonkey]

"Common" probably not. Knuth is large, CLRS too but less so. People needing or craving such amount of knowledge aren't a lot.

As other said, lots have CLRS as a reference bible to pick a solution or read about one subject or one idea in particular.

[Apocryphon]

CLRS is the size of a reference manual. Algorithms courses tend to cover material from it, but never the entire book at once. I've always wondered who has the time to read and retain all of CLRS.

[tziki]

I haven't read these particular books but normally I have one "huge" CS book under progress at any time. It's usually a topic I want to know more about and get a basic fundamental understanding of, so mostly driven by the need for knowledge and the feeling that my knowledge is lacking in this area. That said, it usually takes me months to get through with one and often I already know some of the contents which I end up speed reading/skimming.