# Learn: guides to Knuth, interpreters and teaching yourself CS > Every cracked.guide guide in one place: how to read TAOCP, building interpreters, programming games, self-taught CS, the glossary, comparisons and tools. ## Guides - [How to read TAOCP](https://cracked.guide/learn/how-to-read-taocp): A practical way to read Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming: pace, pencil, which exercises to do, what to skim, and how to keep going for two years. - [TAOCP reading order](https://cracked.guide/learn/taocp-reading-order): Which TAOCP volume to read first, what order to read the sections in, what to skim, and a week-by-week plan from Volume 1 to Volume 4B. - [Knuth exercise ratings](https://cracked.guide/learn/knuth-exercise-ratings): What the numbers and marks on TAOCP exercises mean: the 00 to 50 difficulty scale, M and HM, the triangle for recommended, and how to choose what to do. - [Is TAOCP worth it?](https://cracked.guide/learn/is-taocp-worth-it): Is Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming worth the time in 2026? Who gets the most from it, who should skip it, and what it actually teaches you. - [Which TAOCP edition](https://cracked.guide/learn/which-taocp-edition): The current editions of TAOCP Volumes 1 to 4B, whether an older used edition is fine, why to avoid Kindle, and the cheapest legal way to get each. - [How to build an interpreter](https://cracked.guide/learn/how-to-build-an-interpreter): How to build your own programming language interpreter: scanner, parser, evaluator, then a bytecode VM with a garbage collector, and the book that shows how. - [Crafting Interpreters study plan](https://cracked.guide/learn/crafting-interpreters-study-plan): How long Crafting Interpreters takes (about 160 hours) and a 28-week, chapter-by-chapter plan for jlox and clox with hours per chapter and tests. - [jlox vs clox](https://cracked.guide/learn/jlox-vs-clox): jlox and clox, the two Lox interpreters in Crafting Interpreters, compared: design, speed, memory, difficulty, and whether you can skip one. - [Lox test suite](https://cracked.guide/learn/lox-test-suite): How to run the official Crafting Interpreters test suite against your own jlox or clox: Dart setup, test.dart, chapter suites, and running it in CI. - [Best programming games](https://cracked.guide/learn/best-programming-games): The Zachtronics programming games ranked by what they teach programmers: TIS-100, Shenzhen I/O, EXAPUNKS, SpaceChem, Opus Magnum and more, in a sensible order. - [Factorio for programmers](https://cracked.guide/learn/factorio-and-satisfactory-for-programmers): What Factorio and Satisfactory teach programmers (throughput, bottlenecks, modular design, refactoring a running system) and what they do not. - [Jonathan Blow's advice](https://cracked.guide/learn/jonathan-blow-advice): Jonathan Blow's advice on getting good at programming: Zachtronics games, Factorio and Satisfactory, then Knuth with the exercises. How to follow it. - [Get good without a CS degree](https://cracked.guide/learn/get-good-at-programming-without-a-degree): How to get genuinely good at programming without a CS degree: build hard things, learn the fundamentals deeply, practice deliberately, and prove it. - [Self-taught CS roadmap](https://cracked.guide/learn/self-taught-computer-science-roadmap): A self-taught computer science roadmap: the broad path (OSSU, Teach Yourself CS) and the deep path (interpreters, then Knuth), and how to choose between them. ## Books - [The Art of Computer Programming](https://cracked.guide/taocp): A study guide to Knuth's TAOCP Volumes 1 to 4B: every section with a reading guide, about 5500 exercises to choose from, and a dated plan. - [TAOCP Volume 1: Fundamental Algorithms](https://cracked.guide/taocp/volume-1): 932 exercises, about 240 hours. - [TAOCP Volume 2: Seminumerical Algorithms](https://cracked.guide/taocp/volume-2): 918 exercises, about 198 hours. - [TAOCP Volume 3: Sorting and Searching](https://cracked.guide/taocp/volume-3): 964 exercises, about 217 hours. - [TAOCP Volume 4A: Combinatorial Algorithms, Part 1](https://cracked.guide/taocp/volume-4a): 1498 exercises, about 122 hours. - [TAOCP Volume 4B: Combinatorial Algorithms, Part 2](https://cracked.guide/taocp/volume-4b): 1202 exercises, about 93 hours. - [Crafting Interpreters](https://cracked.guide/crafting-interpreters): A companion to Robert Nystrom's Crafting Interpreters: all 30 chapters with reading guides, hours per chapter (about 163 in all), challenges and tests. ## Tools - [Study plan generator](https://cracked.guide/plan): Pick a start date and pace and get a dated 145-week study plan through Crafting Interpreters, Knuth's TAOCP and NeetCode 150. Free, no signup. - [MIX emulator](https://cracked.guide/mix): Run Knuth's MIX computer in your browser: a MIXAL assembler, a step-through emulator and 14 graded exercises from TAOCP ยง1.3. Free, no install. - [NeetCode 150](https://cracked.guide/neetcode-150): All 150 NeetCode problems in NeetCode's order, grouped by category with difficulty, the seven LeetCode Premium ones flagged, and free verified tracking. ## More - [Glossary](https://cracked.guide/glossary): Plain definitions of MIX, MIXAL, Pratt parsers, upvalues, NaN boxing, dancing links, BDDs, CDCL and more, each linked to the week that teaches it. - [Compare](https://cracked.guide/vs): cracked.guide next to OSSU, Teach Yourself CS, CS50, NeetCode, Learn to Cloud, The Odin Project, Launch School, bootcamps and a CS degree. Honest picks. - [Blog](https://cracked.guide/blog): Notes from building cracked.guide: why it exists, how the path works week by week, what Knuth's exercises look like, and how the checks work. --- Source: https://cracked.guide/learn cracked.guide: A free, dated 145-week path to getting genuinely cracked at programming.