Amazon has listed volume "4A" of Knuth. I won't believe it until I get my hands on it. Volume Three (Sorting and Searching), was published in 1973. Does this strike anyone else besides me as strange? Knuth had a huge influence the history of computing--besides his contribution to computing. I use the past tense because I haven't seen Volume 4 yet. I wrote a bit more on this in the IT History blog (ithistory.org/blog). Paul E. Ceruzzi Chair, Division of Space History National Air & Space Museum MRC 311; PO Box 37012 Washington, DC 20013-7012 202-633-2414 <http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=24>
Paul, Knuth split volume 4 in half almost two decades ago. I have seen a Kinkos version of the Combinatorics & Boolean function volume, which I would assume would be the first of the two. I saw Knuth at my last talk at the Computer History Museum. At the time, he told me that he read the Annals regularly. David ---------------------------------------- David Alan Grier Associate Professor of International Science and Technology Policy Center for International Science and Technology Policy Elliott School of International Affairs George Washington University grier@gwu.edu On Jan 25, 2011, at 5:03 PM, Ceruzzi, Paul wrote:
Amazon has listed volume "4A" of Knuth. I won't believe it until I get my hands on it. Volume Three (Sorting and Searching), was published in 1973. Does this strike anyone else besides me as strange? Knuth had a huge influence the history of computing-- besides his contribution to computing. I use the past tense because I haven't seen Volume 4 yet.
I wrote a bit more on this in the IT History blog (ithistory.org/ blog).
Paul E. Ceruzzi Chair, Division of Space History National Air & Space Museum MRC 311; PO Box 37012 Washington, DC 20013-7012 202-633-2414 <http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=24>
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Hello All, While I was in Stanford last year, I have met Don Knuth several times, and , yes!, he said he is a reader of Annals. And Dave Walden covered TeX meeting 2010 in Events & Sightings! Don Knuth has been active, and working as throughly as he could for years and years to publish the new volume. Finally done! How nice! -chigusa 2011/1/26 David Alan Grier <grier@gwu.edu>:
Paul, Knuth split volume 4 in half almost two decades ago. I have seen a Kinkos version of the Combinatorics & Boolean function volume, which I would assume would be the first of the two. I saw Knuth at my last talk at the Computer History Museum. At the time, he told me that he read the Annals regularly. David ---------------------------------------- David Alan Grier Associate Professor of International Science and Technology Policy Center for International Science and Technology Policy Elliott School of International Affairs George Washington University grier@gwu.edu
On Jan 25, 2011, at 5:03 PM, Ceruzzi, Paul wrote:
Amazon has listed volume "4A" of Knuth. I won't believe it until I get my hands on it. Volume Three (Sorting and Searching), was published in 1973. Does this strike anyone else besides me as strange? Knuth had a huge influence the history of computing--besides his contribution to computing. I use the past tense because I haven't seen Volume 4 yet.
I wrote a bit more on this in the IT History blog (ithistory.org/blog).
Paul E. Ceruzzi Chair, Division of Space History National Air & Space Museum MRC 311; PO Box 37012 Washington, DC 20013-7012 202-633-2414 <http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=24>
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
_______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
>Amazon has listed volume "4A" of Knuth. I won't believe it until I get my hands on it. Volume Three (Sorting and Searching), was published in 1973. Does this strike anyone else besides me as strange? Knuth had a huge influence the history of computing--besides his contribution to computing. I use the past tense because I haven't seen Volume 4 yet. Knuth lists 4A on www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/taocp.html : Combinatorial Algorithms, Part 1, Addison-Wesley, 2011), xvi+883pp. ISBN 0-201-03804-8. He also lists topics for 4B, 4C, .... and has 2020 as the target date for volume 5. Strange? Well, he's been busy: TeX, literate programming, metafont, combinatorics .... David Hemmendinger hemmendd@union.edu Professor Emeritus http://athena.union.edu/~hemmendd Computer Science Dept. +1 518 346 4489 Union College, Schenectady, NY 12308 FAX: +1 518 388 6789
For those of you not familiar with this, Knuth published the first three of seven planned volumes of his overview of computer algorithms from 1968 to 1973. This was a crucial step in the development of computer science as a coherent intellectual field. Unfortunately the literature of the field was growing a lot faster by the late 1970s, so every year the scope of the task grew and completion became more challenging. Progress slowed, probably influenced by Knuth's sidetrack into computerized typesetting with the TeX system. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Computer_Programming. The appearance of volume 4A would not be entirely unexpected. The new volume covers just part of chapter 7 in the original 12 chapter outline. Knuth has been putting out preprint chunks of the book as "paperback fascicles" for some years now, and he retired early to work on the book undisturbed some time ago. See http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/taocp.html#vol4. This leaves plenty of work for Knuth. No fascicles appear to have been issued yet for volumes 4B and 4C. Knuth remains committed to volume 5, estimated for 2020, but his web page seems to suggest that he now views volumes 6 and 7 as optional and not part of the core of the project. Still, given the size of the field today even one additional chapter would be a respectable lifetime's work in itself. Tom -----Original Message----- From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of Ceruzzi, Paul Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 4:04 PM To: 'members@sigcis.org' Subject: [SIGCIS-Members] Volume 4 of Knuth! Amazon has listed volume "4A" of Knuth. I won't believe it until I get my hands on it. Volume Three (Sorting and Searching), was published in 1973. Does this strike anyone else besides me as strange? Knuth had a huge influence the history of computing--besides his contribution to computing. I use the past tense because I haven't seen Volume 4 yet. I wrote a bit more on this in the IT History blog (ithistory.org/blog). Paul E. Ceruzzi Chair, Division of Space History National Air & Space Museum MRC 311; PO Box 37012 Washington, DC 20013-7012 202-633-2414 <http://www.nasm.si.edu/staffDetail.cfm?staffID=24> _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members@sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/ and you can change your subscription options at http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members
Dear SIGCIS members: I'd like to remind you of the call for applications to the summer school on "Mobility and Information Technologies: a Long-Term Perspective," which will be held in Pleumeur-Bodou, France (Brittany). I plan to be there and I am very excited about the program as it is taking shape. The names & addresses of the organizers are given below, but if you have specific questions that you'd like me to answer, send me an e-mail. Paul Ceruzzi National Air and Space Museum __________________________________________________ Summer School: Mobility and Information Technologies: a long-term perspective 12th-16th September 2011, Pleumeur-Bodou France. Sorbonne, Eindhoven University of Technology, Cité des Télécoms Call for applications Organised jointly by the Cité des Télécommunications, the Paris-Sorbonne University, the Foundation for the History of Technology SHT at Eindhoven University of Technology, and Transfers, Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies, the summer school aims at providing doctoral students with an overview of relevant research results and of innovative tools and methodologies in the field of communication and mobility studies, and their history. Students (including mostly Ph D students and a limited number of young post doc) will spend five days at the Cité des Télécommunications in the northern part of Brittany (see: http://www.cite-telecoms.com/). They will present and discuss their research in conjunction with lectures presented by scholars. Daily language will be English. The summer school will focus on the relationship between mobility and communication history seen from a long-term perspective. This means that we are interested in projects dealing with the history of electronic systems connected or included in a mobility system broadly defined, but also in approaches of intermediality in history. The framework of the summer school will be twofold. On the one hand, we are indebted methodologically to the history of technology and innovation studies, including large technical system and social construction of technology approaches. On the other hand, we are interested in studies that explore the very borders of the concept of mobility, including studies that approach transport vehicles as media, just like means of communications such as the one enumerated above, but also novels, films, and other carriers of messages and knowledge. Topics could include wireless telegraphy, radar, mobile phone, mobile information systems, computerized traffic system regulation, radio, GPS as applied in walking, trains, cars, airplanes, boats, and rockets. The summer school will be structured as follows. Each half-day session will be based on a keynote lecture by an invited scholar and followed by student presentations and discussions of their work in progress. Social events and visits will give the opportunity to discover either traditional or modern faces of this high tech part of Brittany. The academic organizers are: Mathieu Flonneau (University Panthéon -Sorbonne) Irice-CRHI, Pascal Griset (University Paris-Sorbonne) Irice-CRHI, and Gijs Mom (Eindhoven University of Technology; editor of Transfers) Teachers during the week will be: Paul Ceruzzi Air and Space Museum, Washington DC. Mathieu Flonneau Université Panthéon-Sorbonne Pascal Griset Université Paris -Sorbonne Gisela Hürlimann Universität Zurich Vincent Kaufmann Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne Gijs Mom Eindhoven University of Technology Frank Schipper Leiden Institute for History Heike Weber Technisches Universität Berlin Participation to the program, including social events, is free. All local costs (accommodation and food) will be covered by the organizers Participants are expected to pay their own travel to and from Lannion, the closest railway station linked to Paris by TGV. There is a limited amount of travel stipends available, sponsored by SHT and Transfers. The stipend from the latter are available for those students who agree to submit their paper to Transfers for a special issue on Mobility and Communication. Participation will be limited to 15-18 students. Those interested in attending the summer school should send the following documents by e-mail to Mathieu Flonneau at: mattaflo@aol.com: a CV a summary of their dissertation project and an example of their work in progress (provisional chapter of the dissertation or a published article in any langage). a summary of their project for post doc candidates The deadline for applications is April 25th 2011. Students selected will be notified before May 16th 2011.
You have probably heard the news about the failure of Amazon's Cloud computing services, in spite of their claim that it was geographically dispersed, redundant, etc. This is a relatively new phenomenon, but Martin Campbell-Kelly discussed its early genesis in his chapter in our book _The Internet & American Business_ (Aspray & Ceruzzi, 2008) (shameless plug). Anyway, I did some sleuthing & found the location: in Ashburn, Virginia, an old farming community just north of Dulles Airport, at the west end of "Internet Alley" (another shameless plug). Old maps show the town as "Farmwell," but it was renamed after a tree that caught fire from a lightning strike. When I was writing _Internet Alley_ the center of internet data switching and storage was in Tysons Corner, Virginia; now it has shifted west to this little town. I have the street address of the Amazon facility, but these data centers are cheek-by-jowl out there. If you want to see them, the best way is to rent a bicycle and ride along the W&OD rail-trail. <http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gp4t6c2jaVZIy4tolnKFMcdPUhxg?docId=1a2f6eebf38549379970883a66b242a5> Paul E. Ceruzzi
participants (5)
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Ceruzzi, Paul -
Chigusa Kita -
David Alan Grier -
hemmendd＠union.edu -
Thomas Haigh