Donald Knuth's influence in computer science ranges from the invention of literate programming to the development of the TeX programming language. One of the foremost figures in the field of mathematical sciences, Knuth has written papers which stand as milestones of development over a wide range of topics. In this collection, the second in the series, Knuth explores the relationship between computers and typography. The present volume, in the words of the author, is the legacy of all the work he has done on typography. When type designers, punch cutters, typographers, book historians, and scholars visited the University while Knuth was working in this field, it gave to Stanford what some consider to be its golden age of digital typography. By the author's own admission, the present work is one of the most difficult books that he has prepared. This is truly a work that only Knuth could have produced.
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Most programmers who write programs for setting type have only a passing knowledge about the aesthetics of good composition. The programs are adequate, but to do a first-rate job of typesetting still requires a lot of handwork.
Donald Knuth has written a different kind of program. First of all, he spent considerable time learning the book compositor's art, and that shows in the details of TeX -- as with the oft-mentioned paragraph optimization routines. But more than this, TeX is malleable. It is a tool that lets skilled compositors automate more of the niceties of fine composition, rather than having to add them by hand.
What makes TeX an exemplary program is that the skills and knowledge of various people can be added to the program for all to use, whether or not they actually possess that knowledge and skill. Isn't that the finest purpose of a computer program? -- Charles Ellertson
This is an electrifying book. The essays collected here helped lead typography from its mechanical and photographic past into its electronic, digital future.
Knuth's far-ranging approach was markedly different from the usual articles about digital typesetting, which tended to dwell myopically on the minutiae of gadgets and gizmos. With the engaging charm and enthusiasm characteristic of so much of his writings, Knuth discussed the typography of mathematics, and the mathematics of typography. He examined the history, the art, and the mathematical ideas that joined them. In his illuminating vision, mathematical typography took its proper place in the history of ideas, not as a niche subject, but as a broad and richly fascinating field that deserved and invited deep investigation. -- Charles A. Bigelow
Book Description
One of the foremost figures in the field of mathematical sciences, Knuth has written papers which are widely referenced and stand as milestones of development over a wide range of topics. In this collection, the second in the series, Knuth explores the relationship between computers and typography.
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By A Customer
Format:Paperback
This book collects numerous writings on TeX and typography from one of the greatest coumputer scientists of all time, Donald Knuth. Here you get to read fascinating inside information on Knuth's earliest development of TeX, how doggone hard he worked to get the letter "S" just right in his computer modern fonts, how to typeset his wife's recipes, and other bits of amazing minutiae. Knuth's style is breezy and funny in a wry-dry kind of way. (He's the kind of down-to-earth genius you'd love to take out to dinner.), and I was amused to find out that he seems to be a film buff. (His journal from his early work on TeX shows that he went to see "Earthquake," for goshsakes, "to relax"!)
This is a brilliant book, a book to treasure, and with its relatively short essays, a book to keep handy for bathroom reading. But then again, you may get addicted and just keep reading one chapter after another! If you love TeX (or LaTeX or AMS-TeX) as much as I do, you'll have to have this book. It's that good, and you will not only be astounded by his genius, entertained by the presentation, but you'll learn things too. Trust me on this one.
Format:Paperback
This book won't teach you TeX or Metafont. It might not even teach you all that much about particular algorithms (although Chapter 3 is one of the most detailed explanations of TeX's linebreaking algorithms published anywhere). Instead, this book offers a look behind the scenes.
Instead of beholding TeX and Metafont in their almost final versions, as published in _TeX: The Program_ and _Metafont: The Program_, respectively, you see them grow from the first design studies (when Knuth thought of TeX as a program for two grad students to write over a summer) to where they are today. You see how the collaboration between Knuth and Zapf on the Euler fonts worked, and you get another glance at many facets of Knuth's mind (And a beautiful mind it is indeed, even though it is entirely sane).
If you have any deeper interest in TeX and Metafont, this book is well worth the money.
Format:Paperback
This is a highly stimulating collection of essays about TeX, typography, the delectable art of programming, the joy of a beautifully constructed letter A, the world, the universe and everything. Knuth's style is, as always, eminently readable and possessed of a fluidity unmatched in technical writing this century. Definitely recommended.
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