Computing History Book Recommendations
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So I was looking through @codinghorror's blog, as you do, and came across this post, which linked to this online book about the rise and fall of the WordPerfect Corporation.
I find this sort of thing fascinating and really enjoyed the book. Does anyone have any recommendations for other books of the same type, either in print or online? I'm intrigued by the history of the computing industry and code itself.
I've previously read A Computer Called Leo and I'll undoubtedly buy The Old New Thing at some point when I can justify the cost, but I'm open to any other suggestions.
P.S. Are the forums feeling a bit hostile these days or is it just me?
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P.S. Are the forums feeling a bit hostile these days or is it just me?
I noticed blakeyrat and Arantor have been at each other's throats, but I wasn't aware you were feeling hostile yourself.
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Nah, it wasn't so much 'at each other's throats', more like he swung, I took it on the chin, then I came back full force in a way I don't normally. But I'm quite calm again and feeling happy and jolly.
I mean, FFS, I just recorded some voice work of me reading Shakespeare... I must be feeling fine.
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Dreaming in Code is kind of interesting: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PDZFOI/ref=yml_dp
It's kind of like a live coverage of a failed software product (a P2P corporate PIM application, if you can imagine such a thing), with a lot of general history-of-computer in the middle.
There's also of course The Mythical Man-Month on the off-chance you haven't already read it.
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Interesting, thank you for the suggestion.
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http://www.cryptonomicon.com/beginning.html
Thanks, I've downloaded it to my phone for reading on my commutes. I'm about a quarter through and it's interesting so far, but the author's blind praise for Linux is making me squirm at times.
but I wasn't aware you were feeling hostile yourself.
As I was writing that sentence I was considering rewording it to make it unambiguous. I decided against it on the grounds that nobody would be that pedantic. I was wrong and have duly flagged your post.
Dreaming in Code is kind of interesting: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000PDZFOI/ref=yml_dp
It's kind of like a live coverage of a failed software product (a P2P corporate PIM application, if you can imagine such a thing), with a lot of general history-of-computer in the middle.
That sounds ideal. I like accounts which are written from an insider perspective of a big project or corporation. I've purchased the Kindle version.
There's also of course The Mythical Man-Month on the off-chance you haven't already read it.
I haven't, mainly because I assumed it would be management focused. I'll check it out, thanks.
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I'm about a quarter through and it's interesting so far, but the author's blind praise for Linux is making me squirm at times.
I hope you won't let that stop you. The book has unique insights about things we talk about here on a daily basis.
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I hope you won't let that stop you. The book has unique insights about things we talk about here on a daily basis.
No, I'll read the whole thing. It's easy going and has been interesting so far.
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I haven't, mainly because I assumed it would be management focused. I'll check it out, thanks.
It is, but it's still an interesting read myself, even though I'm not a managerial type myself.
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It is, but it's still an interesting read myself, even though I'm not a managerial type myself.
It's management focused, but I think it's also stuff every programmer should be aware of. Unless you're working a solo project with no schedule, perhaps.
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On the hardware side of things, The Soul of a New Machine is a classic, and was required reading when I was in college.
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Don't forget this other post:
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I quite liked this when I read it, although it was a few years back now.
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I've got two:
The Cuckoo's Egg by Clifford Stoll is from the late 1980s and tells the story of one of the first hunts for a hacker.
Hacker's & Painters by Paul Graham is a collection of essays by the creator of Yahoo! Store. One of the essays worth reading deals with the language LISP and how that enabled him to beat his competitors. Some, if not all, of the essays are also available online.
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"It began with Babbage" is a good one if you want to get an idea of genesis for computing.
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http://www.dadhacker.com/blog/?s=atari
Here is another good read. It is a little short, but it is from a guy who was ground zero at Atari during the creation of the ST. I found it to be an interesting read.
"Masters of Doom" is another good one also. It is all about the creators of Doom. I believe it is John Romero who has quite a bit of that history on his personal blog, along with him going over the code for Doom and explaining his design process at the time. I CBA to find it, but it should be easy enough to Google.
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A bit less "historical" and more "retro" are those two books ( @blakeyrat , wasn't it you who advertised them back on the old forums?)
The Future Was Here
Exploring the often-overlooked history and technological innovations of the world's first true multimedia computer.Long ago, in 1985, personal computers came...
Racing the Beam
A study of the relationship between platform and creative expression in the Atari VCS.The Atari Video Computer System dominated the home video game market so...
(there are two more in those series, but I haven't read them yet).
Things can get pretty technical in those books, especially the Atari one, but they're also chockful with interesting stories and snippets of the life of "the scene" for both of those platforms. Overall, a great read, if you can get them somewhere.
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I've read Racing the Beam, but I didn't enjoy it all that much. I don't remember if I recommended it or not.
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"Computer" by Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray.
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"Computer" by Martin Campbell-Kelly and William Aspray.
Well, I think this is my favourite review on amazon.co.uk for that book:
@John P Monniot said:
[one star] useless
Produced no noticeable results except an annoying buzz.
The green claims made in the accompanying paperwork about thermal efficiency are scientific balderdash.
Dont waste your money on this device.
I decided to flag it as inappropriate given that it's bringing the average down from four stars to three.
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Well, I think this is my favourite review on amazon.co.uk for that book:
@John P Monniot said:
[one star] useless
Produced no noticeable results except an annoying buzz.
I decided to flag it as inappropriate given that it's bringing the average down from four stars to three.
An interesting device Mr. Monniot finds useless. Although someone else sums it up more nicely: "Don't waste your money on this product, by a new jumper instead."
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An interesting device Mr. Monniot finds useless.
Well spotted. I'm still not sure how he managed to attach the review to the book first though.
If I was browsing through Amazon for computing books, this one probably wouldn't get a look-in with a three star rating, while I'd definitely click through for more details if it had a four star rating. That review could be hurting sales.
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I'm still not sure how he managed to attach the review to the book first though.
"Amazon product reviews: now powered by Discourse tm editor!"
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"Amazon product reviews: now powered by Discourse tm editor!"
*snicker*
EDIT
Message to Discourse: It doesn't help your cause or reputation when you break the formatting of a quote criticising the quality of your editor.I take it that the formatting being broken by a " quote within a [quote] quote is a known bug?
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[quote="Keith, post:25, topic:2221"]
I take it that the formatting being broken by a " quote within aquote is a known bug?
Known here? Yes.
Known to Discodevs? Probably.
Considered as NOTABUG by Jeff? Likely.
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Discodevs
That sounds awesome. I'm breaking out my afro wig for the rest of the day.
Filed under: The Daily What The Funk.
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Filed under: The Daily What The Funk.
Just... don't put Daft in there. I already made that mistake once, almost had to give them up...
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I'm feeling more productive already.
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On the hardware side of things, The Soul of a New Machine is a classic, and was required reading when I was in college.
Absolutely.
Can't mash keys enough to give more than one like!! So just "absolutely" and +1
Oh. And look, get excited enough to reply before finishing a thread and lose your place. Sigh.
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get excited enough to reply before finishing a thread and lose your place
Getting excited on Discourse is definitely Doing It WrongTM.
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It's management focused, but I think it's also stuff every programmer should be aware of.
Amen.
Most famous for noting that adding programmers to a late project makes it later...
BUT, I think more noteworthy for discussing the ways of Doing It Right.
...and IT has been busy forgetting for the last forty years.
Providing both the content and the software to power this site
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Old books - exciting to me.
Anybody remember a book of debugging stories (@Alex?, I bet this could have been the inspiration for TDWTF).
There were two that are now cliche'd involving the daily server crash and failing sensors in the factory farm... (see below)
... and a very nice one involving mysterious comms from inside a secure facility.
Dang! I really love the HR and small tags!!
From above:- yes, the cleaning lady unplugged the server so she could vacuum
- the animals discovered that if they peed the right direction they got extra food
Ah, two returns to start the second list item, like every other editor...??
How the heck do you escape a tag so you can see the gators (<>)?
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I've previously read A Computer Called Leo and I'll undoubtedly buy The Old New Thing at some point when I can justify the cost, but I'm open to any other suggestions.
You could try looking for a history of the codebreaking at Bletchley Park during WW2. I believe there are some well-written ones, and it's one of the places most responsible for the genesis of the modern computer.(No specific recommendations, but looking on Amazon for “Bletchley Park” seems to give a reasonable list.)
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How the heck do you escape a tag
Generally backslash, but results may vary depending on what you're trying to escape. For HTML tags, you can just use entities, like
<.You could try looking for a history of the codebreaking at Bletchley Park during WW2.
I think I read something about cracking the Enigma cypher. I'll look into it further though.
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I know you asked for books, but on YouTube there is an informative and entertaining programming called something like "Inventions that changed the world: The Computer". It was done by Jeremy Clarkson and I found it to be pretty well done. It starts with Babbage, goes over Bletchley Park, IBM and to the nearly modern day.
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I just came across this book, which looks like it might be interesting:
Commodore: A Company on the Edge
Found thanks to a link in this post:
http://what.thedailywtf.com/t/ucs-2-utf-16-decoding-in-php/7288/65?u=keith
Computer Crime, Then and Now
Amazon.co.uk
