TPK algorithm

The TPK algorithm is a simple <a href="/facts/Computer_program/e38jH9N9">program</a> introduced by <a href="/facts/Donald_Knuth/GozNzDM6">Donald Knuth</a> and Luis Trabb Pardo to illustrate the evolution of computer <a href="/facts/Programming_language/cWTYbgWa">programming languages</a>. In their 1977 work "The Early Development of Programming Languages", Trabb Pardo and Knuth introduced a small program that involved <a href="/facts/Array_data_structure/BKGvF8AM">arrays</a>, indexing, mathematical <a href="/facts/Function_(mathematics)/CdReEKCh">functions</a>, <a href="/facts/Subroutine/9vFJrg0A">subroutines</a>, <a href="/facts/I%2fO/WQTE8Jas">I/O</a>, <a href="/facts/Conditional_(programming)/8gDQTqUD">conditionals</a> and <a href="/facts/Iteration/AMc1p7BL">iteration</a>. They then wrote implementations of the algorithm in several early programming languages to show how such concepts were expressed.
To explain the name "TPK", the authors referred to <a href="/facts/Grimm%2527s_law/gnVnHs7J">Grimm's law</a> (which concerns the consonants 't', 'p', and 'k'), the sounds in the word "typical", and their own initials (Trabb Pardo and Knuth). In a talk based on the paper, Knuth said:

<blockquote>You can only appreciate how deep the subject is by seeing how good people struggled with it and how the ideas emerged one at a time. In order to study this—Luis I think was the main instigator of this idea—we take one program—one algorithm—and we write it in every language. And that way from one example we can quickly psych out the flavor of that particular language. We call this the TPK program, and well, the fact that it has the initials of Trabb Pardo and Knuth is just a funny coincidence.</blockquote>

TPK algorithm open-in-new

TPK algorithm