TEX and METAFONT: New directions in typesetting

by Donald Ervin Knuth

Classic work on digital typography, from one of the founding fathers of the industry

105 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

About the author

Donald Ervin Knuth, born January 10th 1938, is a renowned computer scientist and Professor Emeritus of the Art of Computer Programming at Stanford University.

Author of the seminal multi-volume work The Art of Computer Programming ("TAOCP"), Knuth has been called the "father" of the analysis of algorithms, contributing to the development of, and systematizing formal mathematical techniques for, the rigorous analysis of the computational complexity of algorithms, and in the process popularizing asymptotic notation.

In addition to fundamental contributions in several branches of theoretical computer science, Knuth is the creator of the TeX computer typesetting system, the related METAFONT font definition language and rendering system, and the Computer Modern family of typefaces.

A prolific writer and scholar, Knuth created the WEB/CWEB computer programming systems designed to encourage and facilitate literate programming, and designed the MMIX instruction set architecture.

Reviews

[Eric Wespestad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published 46 years before I read it, there is nothing ‘too old’ in this amazing book (actually 3 books-in-one volume). Understanding the intent and craftsmanship of how TeX and METAFONT were created is both illuminating and captivating. Anyone who enjoys earning about the design of programming languages, tools, and systems engineering will learn a lot from this work. From a historical perspective alone it’s worth the read. I wish some of the recent ‘modern programming language’ designers had applied the same level of care and discerning sense of style in their work as Donald E. Knuth applied in his works. This book is excellent and a fun read. Highly recommended!