# Why I built cracked.guide

> Every programmer has Crafting Interpreters and Knuth on a someday list. Why I put dates on them, made the site check the work, and kept it free.

By Dane Dolph. Published 2026-10-20 on the cracked.guide blog.

Every programmer I know has the same two books on their "someday" list: Crafting Interpreters and The Art of Computer Programming. Someday never comes, because a book that big has no Monday. cracked.guide is my fix: a date on every week, and checks that do not take my word for it.

## The problem with big books

Nothing tells you what to read this week. Nobody notices when you skip one. And checking a box that says "read 2.3.1" proves nothing, least of all to yourself. That is why so many copies of Volume 1 have a bookmark somewhere in the first hundred pages.

The books are not the problem. Crafting Interpreters is one of the best programming books ever written, and it is free online. Knuth is the deepest treatment of algorithms there is. What is missing is structure and feedback.

## What I built

I wrote the plan down: 145 weeks with a date on each one, starting from whatever day you pick. 28 weeks of [Crafting Interpreters](https://cracked.guide/crafting-interpreters), building both interpreters. Then [The Art of Computer Programming](https://cracked.guide/taocp), Volume 1 through 4B, about one section a week, with a reading guide for every section and exercises picked from the book. Two [NeetCode 150](https://cracked.guide/neetcode-150) problems a week for the first 75 weeks. And a Play track of ten programming games to keep it fun.

Then I made the site check the work instead of trusting the checkbox. Interpreter chapters are verified by the book's own test suite running on GitHub Actions. NeetCode problems come from your public LeetCode profile. MIX programs, Knuth's assembly language, run in a [browser emulator](https://cracked.guide/mix) and get graded.

## Where the shape came from

The shape comes from advice Jonathan Blow gave in [a clip](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxCB-GBpmIQ): play the Zachtronics games, Factorio and Satisfactory, then read Knuth and do the exercises. I put Crafting Interpreters in front as the on-ramp, because you should be writing a lot of real code before you slow down for the math. He has nothing to do with the site; it is inspired by him, not endorsed. [More on that](https://cracked.guide/learn/jonathan-blow-advice).

## Why it is free

Because the hard part is the work, and nobody should have to pay to be told to do it. There is no paywall, no premium tier and no ads, and nothing is unlocked by paying. If it helps you and you want to give something back, you can buy me a book from the [supporters page](https://cracked.guide/supporters).

## Be honest with yourself

It is hard on purpose and most people will not finish. That is fine. Two working interpreters is already more than most programmers ever build, and every Knuth section you actually understand is yours for good. If you do get to week 145, write to me at hello@cracked.guide. I want to hear about it.

You can see your own dates before signing up: [generate a study plan](https://cracked.guide/plan).

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Source: https://cracked.guide/blog/why-i-built-cracked-guide
cracked.guide: A free, dated 145-week path to getting genuinely cracked at programming.