[Edu-sig] Knuth's books.

[Scott David Daniels]

First, I think they are some of the best out there.  Hard to get
through, but worth keeping as references for the next 30 years.

I suggested them to you (rather than generally to students) because
you said you felt:

    My own experience is more toward the learning to program to learn -
    in my case - mathematical ideas. But ultimately, to get to where I
    want to get, I realize that "basic computational skills" are not
    sufficient - that I need to get somewhat beyond the basics.

Knuth was a mathematician by training, and quite a good one at that.
Concrete Mathematics is a math book built with an eye to the kind of
math that you need the deeper you get into CS.  The others, the
slowly evolving The Art of Computer Programming (TAoCP) address CS
directly.  The reason I was suggesting Fascicle 1 (the MMIX machine)
was that I think it is an excellent introduction to current machine
architectures from the point of view of a programmer, rather than that
of an electronics designer.

They are all tough books, but none gratuitously so.  Concrete
Mathematics targets (smart) undergraduates, and so might be a more
accessible start.  It certainly reads faster than the Fascicles,
which go at the same rate as the rest of TAoCP.

--Scott David Daniels
Scott.Daniels at Acm.Org