There&#x27;s always been a divide between algorithm design and analysis (covered in TAOCP and most algorithm books), and hardware implementation details like pipeline stalls, cache performance, and branch prediction.<p>That doesn&#x27;t mean the algorithm books are useless, it means they give you a bunch of options, and you have to decide which algorithms and data structures will perform best on the specific hardware you&#x27;re using.<p>But, at the same time, TAOCP is terrible as a practical algorithms book.  It&#x27;s perfect for graduate level algorithms classes deep diving into mathematical proofs and analyses, but for practical, &quot;real life&quot; coverage I prefer Skiena&#x27;s &quot;Algorithm Design Manual.&quot;