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So, TAOCP has been a work-in-progress monograph for over sixty years! Can it earn a place in the Guinness Book of World Records on that basis? [[User:Toddcs|Toddcs]] ([[User talk:Toddcs|talk]]) 14:09, 24 May 2023 (UTC)
:Perhaps, but it has organically transformed into the project as we see it now; with hindsight. The project he embarked upon was much more limited in scope. Or let me try to explain that in more detail as one who has in fact written several highly regarded textbooks. You think: Oh, it would be nice to bring all this stuff together in, oh, about a dozen chapters in, tops, 500 pages. But then you notice that things that appear easy, simple, monolithic, unitary in your mind are actually the opposite of all that: they are complicated, and if you want to do right by your neophyte reader, they require a lot more careful explanation. And before you know it, the project balloons into a dozen volumes instead of a dozen chapters. All academic editors can tell you tales about trying to reign in their authors. ''On top of all this'', Knuth was infected with the bug of comprehensivitis. Don't get m wrong, I absolutely love TAoCP. [[Special:Contributions/2A01:CB0C:CD:D800:A8AF:DF88:4C28:2656|2A01:CB0C:CD:D800:A8AF:DF88:4C28:2656]] ([[User talk:2A01:CB0C:CD:D800:A8AF:DF88:4C28:2656|talk]]) 08:11, 27 October 2023 (UTC)
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