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What you need

The gear list

Free options first, then the cheapest way to buy the rest. The site itself is free forever.

Prices checked on , in US dollars. They move; treat them as rough. Legal sources only.

What it costs

Free

$0

Crafting Interpreters online, NeetCode 150 on neetcode.io, LeetCode free tier, free toolchains, and TAOCP borrowed from a library (O'Reilly Learning access, Libby/OverDrive, interlibrary loan). The games are the only thing without a free legal option; skip them or add about $7 to $36.

Cheap

About $150 to $220

Used older editions of TAOCP Vols 1 to 3 (roughly $10 to $30 each), Vols 4A and 4B new from InformIT at $63.99 each (used copies are not much cheaper yet), and the three games on a Steam sale or the $35.67 bundle. Everything else free.

Everything new

About $495 to $710

TAOCP boxed set new ($259.99 at InformIT), Crafting Interpreters in print (about $40 to $60), all three games at full price ($35.67 bundle), and a year of LeetCode Premium (about $159). Add NeetCode Pro for a year ($119) and a new Concrete Mathematics ($71.99) to land near the top of that range.

For perspective: even the everything-new path costs less than a single university course, and a small fraction of a coding bootcamp, which commonly run $10,000 or more. The cheap path costs about as much as a couple of nights out. None of the paid stuff is required, and the books you buy are ones people keep on their shelf for life. If you care about how computers actually work, it is very good value.

What you need

TAOCP Vol 1: Fundamental Algorithms (3rd edition)

Free

Cheapest to buy

  • AbeBooks (used) $7 to $25Older editions are fine and cheaper. The 2nd edition (1973) often sells for under $10 to $25 used; section numbers are almost the same. The 3rd edition (1997) is what the guides follow.
  • ThriftBooks (used) variesCompare with AbeBooks; prices move a lot.
  • eBay (used) variesCompare with AbeBooks; prices move a lot.
  • InformIT, new hardcover (publisher's store) $63.99 (list $79.99)InformIT often runs sitewide discounts; check the deals page before buying.
  • InformIT, eBook (get the PDF) $61.59 (list $76.99)If you buy the eBook, choose the PDF. Knuth says on his site that the Kindle and ePUB versions mangle the math, and the authorized PDFs are sold through InformIT.
  • InformIT, book + eBook bundle $90.94 (list $156.98)Only worth it if you really want both formats.
  • Amazon, new varies, usually near listFine, but check InformIT first. Avoid the Kindle edition.

TAOCP Vol 2: Seminumerical Algorithms (3rd edition)

Free

Cheapest to buy

TAOCP Vol 3: Sorting and Searching (2nd edition)

Free

Cheapest to buy

TAOCP Vol 4A: Combinatorial Algorithms, Part 1

Free

Cheapest to buy

  • AbeBooks (used) often $40 to $65Published 2011, so used copies are not dramatically cheaper. The paperback Volume 4 Fascicles 0 to 4 hold earlier drafts of the same material and sometimes turn up cheap used.
  • ThriftBooks (used) variesCompare with AbeBooks; prices move a lot.
  • eBay (used) variesCompare with AbeBooks; prices move a lot.
  • InformIT, new hardcover (publisher's store) $63.99 (list $79.99)InformIT often runs sitewide discounts; check the deals page before buying.
  • InformIT, eBook (get the PDF) $61.59 (list $76.99)If you buy the eBook, choose the PDF. Knuth says on his site that the Kindle and ePUB versions mangle the math, and the authorized PDFs are sold through InformIT.
  • InformIT, book + eBook bundle $90.94 (list $156.98)Only worth it if you really want both formats.
  • Amazon, new varies, usually near listFine, but check InformIT first. Avoid the Kindle edition.

TAOCP Vol 4B: Combinatorial Algorithms, Part 2

Free

Cheapest to buy

  • AbeBooks (used) about the same as newPublished 2022; used copies currently cost about the same as new (one used listing was about $76 when checked). Buy new from InformIT unless you find a deal. Fascicles 5 and 6 are earlier drafts of the same material.
  • ThriftBooks (used) variesCompare with AbeBooks; prices move a lot.
  • eBay (used) variesCompare with AbeBooks; prices move a lot.
  • InformIT, new hardcover (publisher's store) $63.99 (list $79.99)InformIT often runs sitewide discounts; check the deals page before buying.
  • InformIT, eBook (get the PDF) $61.59 (list $76.99)If you buy the eBook, choose the PDF. Knuth says on his site that the Kindle and ePUB versions mangle the math, and the authorized PDFs are sold through InformIT.
  • InformIT, book + eBook bundle $90.94 (list $156.98)Only worth it if you really want both formats.
  • Amazon, new varies, usually near listFine, but check InformIT first. Avoid the Kindle edition.

NeetCode 150

Free

Cheapest to buy

  • NeetCode Pro, 1 year $119 per year (sales have gone much lower)Optional. Extra courses and problems. Not needed for the NeetCode 150.
  • NeetCode Pro, lifetime $297 one-timeOptional. Only if you plan to use the extra courses for years. Check the refund policy first.

LeetCode

Free

Cheapest to buy

  • LeetCode Premium, monthly about $35 per monthOptional. Adds premium problems, company tags, the debugger and editorial solutions. Not needed: the 7 NeetCode 150 problems that are Premium-only on LeetCode (Encode and Decode Strings, Walls and Gates, Graph Valid Tree, Number of Connected Components in an Undirected Graph, Alien Dictionary, Meeting Rooms, Meeting Rooms II) are free on neetcode.io.
  • LeetCode Premium, yearly about $159 per yearOptional. Worth it mainly if you are actively interviewing and want company-tagged problems.

Optional extras

Nice to have. Nothing on the path needs them.

TAOCP Vols 1 to 4B boxed set

Free

Cheapest to buy

  • InformIT boxed set $259.99 (list $324.99)Cheapest way to get all five new at once (vs $319.95 for five single volumes at InformIT). Only makes sense if you know you want them all on your shelf.
  • Amazon boxed set variesCompare with InformIT.
  • AbeBooks (used) variesUsed boxed sets are rare and rarely much cheaper.
  • ThriftBooks (used) variesUsed boxed sets are rare and rarely much cheaper.
  • eBay (used) variesUsed boxed sets are rare and rarely much cheaper.

Knuth's free downloads (fascicle drafts and errata)

Free

Zachtronics: TIS-100, Shenzhen I/O, EXAPUNKS

Cheapest to buy

Steam's big seasonal sales (spring, summer in late June, autumn in late November, winter in late December) are the usual time these get discounted. You only need TIS-100 at the start, so you can wait for a sale for the other two. The manuals (printable PDFs that come with each game) are part of the fun: read them like real datasheets.