Editing The Art of Computer Programming (section)

{{Short description|Books about algorithms by Donald Knuth}}
{{Distinguish|The Art of Unix Programming}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022|cs1-dates=y}}
{{Infobox book
| name         = The Art of Computer Programming
| image        = ArtOfComputerProgramming.svg
| caption      = ''The Art of Computer Programming, Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms''
| border       = yes
| author       = [[Donald Knuth]]
| country      = United States
| language     = English
| dewey        = 519
| congress     = QA76.75
| genre        = [[Non-fiction]]<br /> [[Monograph]]
| publisher    = [[Addison-Wesley]]
| pub_date     = 1968– (the book is still incomplete)
| media_type   = Print ([[Hardcover]])
| isbn         = 0-201-03801-3
}}
'''''The Art of Computer Programming''''' ('''''TAOCP''''') is a comprehensive multi-volume [[monograph]] written by the computer scientist [[Donald Knuth]] presenting [[Computer programming|programming]] [[algorithm]]s and [[analysis of algorithms|their analysis]]. {{As of|2025}} it consists of published volumes 1, 2, 3, 4A, and 4B, with more expected to be released in the future. The Volumes 1–5 are intended to represent the central core of computer programming for sequential machines; the subjects of Volumes 6 and 7 are important but more specialized.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/taocp.html#future |title=Kuth's note about his books |access-date=2025-03-28  |archive-date=2025-03-01  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250301062919/https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/taocp.html#future |url-status=live }}</ref>

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 [[TeX|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt2k4035s1/entire_text |title=note for box 3, folder 1 |access-date=2019-12-03  |archive-date=2019-12-03  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191203042158/https://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/kt2k4035s1/entire_text/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The first published installment of Volume 4 appeared in paperback as [[Fascicle (book)|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.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.informit.com/store/art-of-computer-programming-volume-4b-combinatorial-9780201038064 |title=Pearson InformIT webpage book Content tab |date=September 28, 2022 |publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional. |isbn=9780201038064 |access-date=2022-07-19  |archive-date=2022-07-19  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719173226/https://www.informit.com/store/art-of-computer-programming-volume-4b-combinatorial-9780201038064 |url-status=live }}</ref> The manuscript was sent to the publisher on August 1, 2022, and the volume was published in September 2022.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.informit.com/store/art-of-computer-programming-volume-4b-combinatorial-9780201038064 |title=Pearson InformIT webpage |date=September 28, 2022 |publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional. |isbn=9780201038064 |access-date=2022-07-19  |archive-date=2022-07-19  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220719173226/https://www.informit.com/store/art-of-computer-programming-volume-4b-combinatorial-9780201038064 |url-status=live }}</ref> Fascicle 7 ("Constraint Satisfaction"), planned for Volume 4C, was the subject of Knuth's talk on August 3, 2022<ref>{{cite web |url=https://cp2022.a4cp.org/invited.html |title=CP 2022 All Questions Answered, July 31–August 5, 2022, Haifa, Israel |access-date=2022-07-22  |archive-date=2022-07-22  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220722163902/https://cp2022.a4cp.org/invited.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and was published on February 5, 2025.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://www.informit.com/store/art-of-computer-programming-volume-4-fascicle-7-constraint-9780135328248 |title=Pearson InformIT webpage |date=February 5, 2025 |publisher=Addison-Wesley Professional. |isbn=9780135328248 |access-date=2025-02-18  |archive-date=2025-02-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250218090228/https://www.informit.com/store/art-of-computer-programming-volume-4-fascicle-7-constraint-9780135328248 |url-status=live }}</ref>