Editing HAKMEM

{{Short description|Collection of mathematical and algorithmic hacks}}
{{use dmy dates|date=January 2022|cs1-dates=y}}
{{use list-defined references|date=January 2022}}
'''HAKMEM''', alternatively known as '''AI Memo 239''', is a February 1972 "memo" ([[technical report]]) of the [[MIT AI Lab]] containing a wide variety of [[Hack (technology slang)|hack]]s, including useful and clever [[algorithm]]s for mathematical computation, some [[number theory]] and [[schematic diagram]]s for hardware<ref name="HAKMEM"/> – in [[Guy L. Steele]]'s words, "a bizarre and eclectic potpourri of technical trivia".<ref name="Warren_2013"/>
Contributors included about two dozen members and associates of the AI Lab. The title of the report is short for "hacks memo", abbreviated to six upper case characters that would fit in a single [[PDP-10]] machine word (using a six-bit character set).<ref name="Warren_2013"/>

== History ==
HAKMEM is notable as an early compendium of [[algorithm]]ic technique, particularly for its practical bent, and as an illustration of the wide-ranging interests of AI Lab people of the time, which included almost anything other than AI research.

HAKMEM contains original work in some fields, notably [[continued fraction]]s.{{Citation needed|date=August 2014}}

== Introduction ==
<blockquote>
:Compiled with the hope that a record of the random things people do around here can save some duplication of effort -- except for fun.

:Here is some little known data which may be of interest to computer [[Hacker (programmer subculture)|hacker]]s. The items and examples are so sketchy that to decipher them may require more sincerity and curiosity than a non-hacker can muster. Doubtless, little of this is new, but nowadays it's hard to tell. So we must be content to give you an insight, or save you some cycles, and to welcome further contributions of items, new or used.
</blockquote>

==See also==
* ''[[Hacker's Delight]]''
* [[AI Memo]]

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name="HAKMEM">{{Cite book |title=HAKMEM |author-first1=Michael |author-last1=Beeler |author-first2=Ralph William |author-last2=Gosper |author-link2=Bill Gosper |author-first3=Richard C. |author-last3=Schroeppel |author-link3=Richard C. Schroeppel |contribution=compilation |contributor-first1=Richard C. |contributor-last1=Schroeppel |contributor-link1=Richard C. Schroeppel |contributor-last2=Orman |contributor-first2=Hilarie K. |date=1972-02-29 |publisher=[[MIT AI Lab|Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]], [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA |hdl=1721.1/6086 |id=MIT AI Memo 239 |type=report |url=http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/6086}}</ref> – in [[Guy L. Steele]]'s words, "a bizarre and eclectic potpourri of technical trivia".<ref name="Warren_2013">{{Cite book |title=Hacker's Delight |title-link=Hacker's Delight |author-first=Henry S. |author-last=Warren Jr. |contribution=foreword |contributor-first=Guy L. |contributor-last=Steele |contributor-link=Guy L. Steele |date=2013 |orig-date=2002 |edition=2 |publisher=[[Addison Wesley]] - [[Pearson Education, Inc.]] |isbn=978-0-321-84268-8 |id=0-321-84268-5 |page=xi}} ([http://www.hackersdelight.org/foreword.pdf])</ref>
}}

==External links==
* {{citation |title=HAKMEM |author-first1=Michael |author-last1=Beeler |author-first2=Ralph William |author-last2=Gosper |author-link2=Bill Gosper |author-first3=Richard C. |author-last3=Schroeppel |author-link3=Richard C. Schroeppel |contribution=compilation |contributor-first1=Richard C. |contributor-last1=Schroeppel |contributor-link1=Richard C. Schroeppel |contributor-last2=Orman |contributor-first2=Hilarie K. |date=1972-02-29 |publisher=[[MIT AI Lab|Artificial Intelligence Laboratory]], [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]], Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA |edition=retyped & converted (April 1995) |editor-first=Henry |editor-last=Baker |id=MIT AI Memo 239 |type=report |url=http://home.pipeline.com/~hbaker1/hakmem/hakmem.html |access-date=2016-01-02 |archive-date=2019-10-08  |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191008012414/http://home.pipeline.com/~hbaker1/hakmem/hakmem.html |url-status=dead }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200208045939/ftp://publications.ai.mit.edu/ai-publications/pdf/AIM-239.pdf HAKMEM facsimile (PDF)] ([http://w3.pppl.gov/~hammett/work/2009/AIM-239-ocr.pdf searchable version])

[[Category:Algorithms]]
[[Category:Computer science papers]]
[[Category:1972 in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Memoranda]]
[[Category:February 1972 in the United States]]
[[Category:History of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology]]