Re:Introduction to Algorithms, Fourth Edition – The MIT Press
by dragontamer on Monday November 29, 2021 @03:44PM
(#29385022)
> I suppose the target groups of people studying his introductory book is not any random junior student at a random CS department if he is expecting them to pick up Knuth's Art of Computer Programming right after Introduction to Algorithms.
I believe high-school students _can_ start that book at page1 chapter1.
Just because it is rigorous and difficult doesn't mean that the high school student is ill-equipped to read it. TAOCP is one of the clearest written math-heavy books I've ever read, which makes it ideal for beginners.
Yes, its rigorous. Yes, it will take you days, even weeks, to make progress beyond a few pages at times. But that's not a bad thing. Knuth hits the hardest subjects in the earliest sections and very precisely describes a lot of problems.
Instead of relying upon "Dog isa Animal" and other crude, counter-productive "training wheels language" unsuitable for advanced understanding... Knuth just lays out the math as it is, in all of its complexity and glory.
Rigor is good. And the sooner people practice with rigor, the better their minds will be. If anything, mathematical rigor needs to be introduced at younger ages when the mind is more pliable to learning different languages.
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TAOCP is somewhere between an algorithms book and a math book. The 1st chapter is 100% math. It can be pursued independently and the 1st chapter is an _excellent_ introduction to rigorous mathematics.
I believe high-school students _can_ start that book at page1 chapter1.
Just because it is rigorous and difficult doesn't mean that the high school student is ill-equipped to read it. TAOCP is one of the clearest written math-heavy books I've ever read, which makes it ideal for beginners.
Yes, its rigorous. Yes, it will take you days, even weeks, to make progress beyond a few pages at times. But that's not a bad thing. Knuth hits the hardest subjects in the earliest sections and very precisely describes a lot of problems.
Instead of relying upon "Dog isa Animal" and other crude, counter-productive "training wheels language" unsuitable for advanced understanding... Knuth just lays out the math as it is, in all of its complexity and glory.
Rigor is good. And the sooner people practice with rigor, the better their minds will be. If anything, mathematical rigor needs to be introduced at younger ages when the mind is more pliable to learning different languages.
-------
TAOCP is somewhere between an algorithms book and a math book. The 1st chapter is 100% math. It can be pursued independently and the 1st chapter is an _excellent_ introduction to rigorous mathematics.