Discussion:
Must-read computer folklore books
(too old to reply)
Thomas Koenig
2020-09-05 09:43:37 UTC
Permalink
What are the must-read computer folklore books?

I have two:

"Abstracting Away The Machine", the history of the first Fortran
compiler (plus a bit more). A fascinating view of the attitudes of
early programmers (where even using an assembler was discouraged
for being a waste of machine time, and that a compiler would
never create efficient code), plus what Backus' team did to prove
them wrong.

"The Soul Of A New Machine", of how Data General developed a
competitor for the VAX by hiring a team of college graduates and
exploiting them to the bone. The project succeeded, and saved
the company for a while, but I certainly would not have liked
to work there.

Others?
bert
2020-09-05 11:22:44 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
"Abstracting Away The Machine" . . .
"The Soul Of A New Machine" . . .
Others?
I think there's nothing to beat
"The Making of the Micro" by Christopher Evans.
Rick Umali
2020-09-05 13:44:17 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
"Abstracting Away The Machine", ...
"The Soul Of A New Machine", ...
I like the recommendation for "The Soul of a New Machine", by Tracy
Kidder. One of my all-time favorite books!

My recommendations:

1) UNIX: A History and a Memoir, by Brian Kernighan. He self-published
this in 2019, and it's an intriguing look at the culture of AT&T Bell
Labs that spawned C and Unix. I learned that typesetting played a big
driver in the growth of Unix.

2) The Story of Commodore: A Company on the Edge, by Brian Bagnall.
Unfortunately, this book looks out of print, but I read it in 2007 and
it left a strong impression on me. History is written by the winners,
so we know all the history of Microsoft and Apple but Commodore could
have been a winner. The book shows just how different things were back
in 70s and 80s, how wide open the industry was. Very fascinating!
--
Rick Umali / rickumali.com
Ahem A Rivet's Shot
2020-09-05 15:45:20 UTC
Permalink
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
"The Soul Of A New Machine"
This is great, it's almost as much fun to read as Ignition.
--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays
C:\>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
Thomas Koenig
2020-09-05 16:22:48 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
"The Soul Of A New Machine"
This is great, it's almost as much fun to read as Ignition.
That's another favorite of mine. It is especially funny if you
show it to somebody who works in today's highly safety conscious
chemical industry. (It's also available for download).

Asimov's foreword is priceless. Here's part of it:

# Now it is clear that anyone working with rocket fuels is
# outstandingly mad. I don't mean garden-variety crazy or a merely
# raving lunatic. I mean a record-shattering exponent of far-out
# insanity.

# There are, after all, some chemicals that explode shatteringly,
# some that flame ravenously, some that corrode hellishly, some
# that poison sneakily, and some that stink stenchily. As far as I
# know, though, only liquid rocket fuels have all these delightful
# properties combined into one delectable whole.
Scott Lurndal
2020-09-05 18:33:31 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
"The Soul Of A New Machine"
This is great, it's almost as much fun to read as Ignition.
That's another favorite of mine. It is especially funny if you
show it to somebody who works in today's highly safety conscious
chemical industry. (It's also available for download).
# Now it is clear that anyone working with rocket fuels is
# outstandingly mad. I don't mean garden-variety crazy or a merely
# raving lunatic. I mean a record-shattering exponent of far-out
# insanity.
# There are, after all, some chemicals that explode shatteringly,
# some that flame ravenously, some that corrode hellishly, some
# that poison sneakily, and some that stink stenchily. As far as I
# know, though, only liquid rocket fuels have all these delightful
# properties combined into one delectable whole.
There's always Derek Lowes blog:

https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/?s=things+I+won%27t+work+with
Ahem A Rivet's Shot
2020-09-05 20:43:46 UTC
Permalink
On Sat, 05 Sep 2020 18:33:31 GMT
Post by Scott Lurndal
Post by Thomas Koenig
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
"The Soul Of A New Machine"
This is great, it's almost as much fun to read as Ignition.
That's another favorite of mine. It is especially funny if you
show it to somebody who works in today's highly safety conscious
chemical industry. (It's also available for download).
https://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/?s=things+I+won%27t+work+with
Yep another favourite.
--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays
C:\>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
Ahem A Rivet's Shot
2020-09-05 19:02:14 UTC
Permalink
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 16:22:48 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
"The Soul Of A New Machine"
This is great, it's almost as much fun to read as Ignition.
That's another favorite of mine. It is especially funny if you
show it to somebody who works in today's highly safety conscious
chemical industry. (It's also available for download).
I prepared a decent epub of it from a PDF I found, getting the
chemical formulae right was fun.
--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays
C:\>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
JimP
2020-09-05 22:19:38 UTC
Permalink
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 16:22:48 -0000 (UTC), Thomas Koenig
Post by Thomas Koenig
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
"The Soul Of A New Machine"
This is great, it's almost as much fun to read as Ignition.
That's another favorite of mine. It is especially funny if you
show it to somebody who works in today's highly safety conscious
chemical industry. (It's also available for download).
# Now it is clear that anyone working with rocket fuels is
# outstandingly mad. I don't mean garden-variety crazy or a merely
# raving lunatic. I mean a record-shattering exponent of far-out
# insanity.
# There are, after all, some chemicals that explode shatteringly,
# some that flame ravenously, some that corrode hellishly, some
# that poison sneakily, and some that stink stenchily. As far as I
# know, though, only liquid rocket fuels have all these delightful
# properties combined into one delectable whole.
I have seen a documentary on the ME-262 which talks about the fuels
used for it. They fit into that list of dangers to.
--
Jim
Fred Smith
2020-09-06 00:15:38 UTC
Permalink
Post by JimP
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 16:22:48 -0000 (UTC), Thomas Koenig
Post by Thomas Koenig
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
"The Soul Of A New Machine"
This is great, it's almost as much fun to read as Ignition.
That's another favorite of mine. It is especially funny if you
show it to somebody who works in today's highly safety conscious
chemical industry. (It's also available for download).
# Now it is clear that anyone working with rocket fuels is
# outstandingly mad. I don't mean garden-variety crazy or a merely
# raving lunatic. I mean a record-shattering exponent of far-out
# insanity.
# There are, after all, some chemicals that explode shatteringly,
# some that flame ravenously, some that corrode hellishly, some
# that poison sneakily, and some that stink stenchily. As far as I
# know, though, only liquid rocket fuels have all these delightful
# properties combined into one delectable whole.
I have seen a documentary on the ME-262 which talks about the fuels
used for it. They fit into that list of dangers to.
Wish there were more books like Ignition (John D. Clark). Found mine
in a long-gone second hand bookshop. Had that unmistakable and pungent "chem-lab"
smell when I bought it 30 odd years ago, not any more unfortunately.
Scott Lurndal
2020-09-05 18:32:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
"The Soul Of A New Machine"
This is great, it's almost as much fun to read as Ignition.
I was once at a VC meeting, vetting a proposal from a budding
startup. One of the consultants for the startup introduced
himself, and added "You may have read about me in the _Soul of
a New Machine_".
Thomas Koenig
2020-09-07 11:27:09 UTC
Permalink
Post by Scott Lurndal
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
On Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
"The Soul Of A New Machine"
This is great, it's almost as much fun to read as Ignition.
I was once at a VC meeting, vetting a proposal from a budding
startup. One of the consultants for the startup introduced
himself, and added "You may have read about me in the _Soul of
a New Machine_".
Do you remember who it was?

At https://www.wired.com/2000/12/eagleteam/ , there's a group
photo, with names and a short overview of their careers after
the Eagle project.
Questor
2020-09-05 18:02:16 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Folklore, or computer history?

Folklore would be apocryphal stories like the ones about Mel, real programmers,
the cookie monster, and the like. Stories that "grew in the telling," ones that
"a friend of a friend" swears is true.

History is of course fact-based, well-researched with (hopefully) references and
cites, and stories told by the principals.

I have haphazardly been collecting a bibliography of computer history and
folklore. At the moment it is completely unorganized. Perhaps I could pull out
the top fifty or so most notable titles.
Post by Thomas Koenig
"Abstracting Away The Machine", the history of the first Fortran
"The Soul Of A New Machine", of how Data General developed a
People making book recommendations should at least include the author(s).
A better cite would include publisher and year of publication.
Mike Spencer
2020-09-05 20:31:12 UTC
Permalink
Post by Questor
History is of course fact-based, well-researched with (hopefully)
references and cites, and stories told by the principals.
I came late to programming -- age 45 -- and started with an already
obsolete Osborne I because I could get it on an even swap for a
hand-raised copper cook pot. Before I moved on to MS-DOS six years
later and then to Unix and Linux, I learned Z80, BASIC, C and a little
Lisp and supported two people who wrote master's theses on Osbornes
I'd accumulated, refurbished and loaned to them.

So I was intrigued by:

Hyper-Growth -- The Rise and Fall of Osborne Computer Corporation
Adam Osborne & John Dvorak
Idthekkethan Publishing, 1984

The paperback edition (1985) has an additional forward by Adam
Osborne.
--
Mike Spencer Nova Scotia, Canada
Jorgen Grahn
2020-09-05 18:24:52 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
"Abstracting Away The Machine", the history of the first Fortran
compiler (plus a bit more). A fascinating view of the attitudes of
early programmers (where even using an assembler was discouraged
for being a waste of machine time, and that a compiler would
never create efficient code), plus what Backus' team did to prove
them wrong.
"The Soul Of A New Machine", of how Data General developed a
competitor for the VAX by hiring a team of college graduates and
exploiting them to the bone. The project succeeded, and saved
the company for a while, but I certainly would not have liked
to work there.
And that's this one:

%A Tracy Kidder
%T The Soul of a New Machine
%I Penguin Books
%D 1983

I have that one (two copies) and the following. None of them are
about history per se, but all are in some sense historical.

This one is a bit similar; it's about a disaster project at Microsoft
during the late Windows 3.1 era:

%A Fred Moody
%T I sing the body electronic:
a year with Microsoft on the multimedia frontier
%D 1995
%I Hodder and Stoughton
%C London

This is more about ways of working, but the examples range back to the
1950s:

%A Frederick P. Brooks, Jr.
%T The mythical man-month: Essays on software engineering
%I Addison-Wesley
%D 1995
%O Anniversary edition with four new chapters

A rare example of swedish books on programming, pre-home computer era.
I think its purpose was mostly to educate the public, but it's obvious
that it's written by a programmer. He teaches some FORTRAN.

%A Gunnar Hellström
%T Programmering av datamaskiner
%S W&Wserien
%V 166
%I Wahlström & Widstrand
%C Stockholm
%D 1967

Teaches a variant of the Unix philosophy; contains bits of text from
various people who were involved in the 1970s and 1980s. Available
online.

%A Eric Steven Raymond
%T The Art of Unix Programming
%S Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series
%I Addison-Wesley
%D 2004

/Jorgen
--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Oo o. . .
\X/ snipabacken.se> O o .
Scott Lurndal
2020-09-05 18:30:15 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
"Abstracting Away The Machine", the history of the first Fortran
compiler (plus a bit more). A fascinating view of the attitudes of
early programmers (where even using an assembler was discouraged
for being a waste of machine time, and that a compiler would
never create efficient code), plus what Backus' team did to prove
them wrong.
"The Soul Of A New Machine", of how Data General developed a
competitor for the VAX by hiring a team of college graduates and
exploiting them to the bone. The project succeeded, and saved
the company for a while, but I certainly would not have liked
to work there.
Others?
"Atanasoff" by Clark R. Mollenhoff.

Dr. J. V. Atanasoff invented the electronic digital computer.
Bob Eager
2020-09-05 19:58:26 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
"Abstracting Away The Machine", the history of the first Fortran
compiler (plus a bit more). A fascinating view of the attitudes of
early programmers (where even using an assembler was discouraged for
being a waste of machine time, and that a compiler would never create
efficient code), plus what Backus' team did to prove them wrong.
"The Soul Of A New Machine", of how Data General developed a competitor
for the VAX by hiring a team of college graduates and exploiting them to
the bone. The project succeeded, and saved the company for a while, but
I certainly would not have liked to work there.
The second one, the Tracy Kidder book, was my immediate thought.

But another has to be the Gordon Bell book, "Computer Engineering", which
traces DEC from it's beginnings up as far as about 1980. Little on the
VAX, but all thge PDPs are there.
--
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org
Questor
2020-09-05 21:49:01 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
I haven't read all of these, and I'm not sure how many would be classified in a
superlative "must read" category, but here are fifty representative titles on
computer history and folklore to get you started:



The Man Who Knew Too Much: Alan Turing and the Invention of the Computer
-- David Leavitt

John Von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game
Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More
-- Norman Macrae

Eniac: The Triumph and Tragedies of the World's First Computer
-- Scott McCartney

From Dits to Bits: A Personal History of the Electronic Computer
-- Herman Lukoff

The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing
Personal
-- M. Mitchell Waldrop

As We May Think
-- Vannevar Bush (The Atlantic, January 1945)

A History of Modern Computing
-- Paul E. Ceruzzi




Crystal Fire: The Invention of the Transistor and the Birth of the Information
Age
-- M. Riordan and L. Hoddeson

Fire in the Valley: The Making of The Personal Computer
-- Paul Freiberger and Michael Swaine

The Soul of a New Machine
-- Tracy Kidder




Computing Castastrophes
-- Robert L. Glass

Software Runaways: Lessons Learned from Massive Software Project Failures
-- Robert L. Glass

Computing Calamities: Lessons Learned from Products, Projects, and Companies
that Failed
-- Robert L. Glass




Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle
Foreign Competition, and Still Can't Get a Date
-- Robert X. Cringely

Startup: A Silicon Valley Adventure
-- Jerry Kaplan

The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story
-- Michael M. Lewis

The Silicon Boys: And Their Valley of Dreams
-- David A. Kaplan

What the Dormouse Said: How the 60's Counterculture Shaped the Personal
Computer Industry
-- John Markoff

Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins Of The Internet
-- Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon

The Nudist on the Late Shift and Other True Tales of Silicon Valley
-- Po Bronson




Think: A Biography of the Watsons and IBM
-- William Rodgers

Big Blues: The Unmaking of IBM
-- Paul Carroll

Broken Promises: An Unconventional View of What Went Wrong at IBM
-- Daniel Quinn Mills

Bill & Dave: How Hewlett and Packard Built the World's Greatest Company
-- Michael S. Malone

Fumbling the Future: How Xerox Invented, then Ignored, the First Personal
Computer
-- Douglas K. Smith and Robert C. Alexander

iWoz: Computer Geek to Cult Icon: How I Invented the Personal Computer,
Co-Founded Apple, and Had Fun Doing It
-- Steve Wozniak (with Gina Smith)

Insanely Great: The Life and Times of Macintosh, the Computer That Changed
Everything
-- Steven Levy

Steve Jobs and the NeXT Big Thing
-- Randall E. Stross

The Second Coming of Steve Jobs
-- Alan Deutschman

iCon Steve Jobs: The Greatest Second Act in the History of Business
-- Jeffrey S. Young and William L. Simon

AOL.COM
-- Kara Swisher

Gates: How Microsoft's Mogul Reinvented an Industry -- and Made Himself the
Richest Man in America
-- Stephen Manes and Paul Andrews

The Microsoft Way: The Real Story of How the Company Outsmarts Its Competition
-- Randall E. Stross

Overdrive: Bill Gates and the Race to Control Cyberspace
-- James Wallace

Softwar: An Intimate Portrait of Larry Ellison and Oracle
-- Matthew Symonds

Speeding the Net: The Inside Story of Netscape and How It Challenged Microsoft
-- Joshua Quittner and Michelle Slatalla

The Perfect Store: Inside eBay
-- Adam Cohen

The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money,
Genius, and Betrayal
-- Ben Mezrich

The Search: How Google and Its Rivals Rewrote the Rules of Business and
Transformed Our Culture
-- John Battelle

In the Plex: How Google Thinks, Works, and Shapes Our Lives
-- Steven Levy




Computer Lib / Dream Machines
-- Ted Nelson

In the Beginning Was the Command Line
-- Neal Stephenson

The Network Revolution: Confessions of a Computer Scientist
-- Jacque Vallee

Silicon Snake Oil
-- Clifford Stoll

The Devouring Fungus: Tales of the Computer Age
-- Karla Jennings

Joystick Nation: How Videogames Ate Our Quarters, Won Our Hearts, and Rewired
Our Minds
-- J.C. Herz




Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
-- Steven Levy

The Cuckoo's Egg: Tracking a Spy Through the Maze of Computer Espionage
-- Clifford Stoll

The Hacker Crackdown: Law and Disorder on the Electronic Frontier
-- Bruce Sterling

Cyberpunk: Outlaws and Hackers on the Computer Frontier
-- John Markoff (with Katie Hafner)

Masters of Destruction: The Gang That Ruled Cyberspace
-- Michelle Slatalla and Joshua Quittner
Charlie Gibbs
2020-09-08 21:10:37 UTC
Permalink
Post by Questor
Computing Castastrophes
-- Robert L. Glass
Software Runaways: Lessons Learned from Massive Software Project Failures
-- Robert L. Glass
Computing Calamities: Lessons Learned from Products, Projects, and Companies
that Failed
-- Robert L. Glass
The one of his that I have is titled "The Universal Elixir and
Other Projects That Failed". It was published by Computerworld
Press and is a collection of their columns, which he wrote under
the pseudonym Miles Benson.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | Microsoft is a dictatorship.
\ / <***@kltpzyxm.invalid> | Apple is a cult.
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | Linux is anarchy.
/ \ if you read it the right way. | Pick your poison.
Peter Flass
2020-09-06 00:38:39 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
"Abstracting Away The Machine", the history of the first Fortran
compiler (plus a bit more). A fascinating view of the attitudes of
early programmers (where even using an assembler was discouraged
for being a waste of machine time, and that a compiler would
never create efficient code), plus what Backus' team did to prove
them wrong.
"The Soul Of A New Machine", of how Data General developed a
competitor for the VAX by hiring a team of college graduates and
exploiting them to the bone. The project succeeded, and saved
the company for a while, but I certainly would not have liked
to work there.
Others?
I read SOANM twice. Have a copy queued up to reread “real soon now”. Never
heard of “abstracting”, have to look it up.
--
Pete
Thomas Koenig
2020-09-06 08:56:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Flass
I read SOANM twice. Have a copy queued up to reread “real soon now”. Never
heard of “abstracting”, have to look it up.
It's fairly new, ans since somebody asked for a proper format:

@book{book,
title = {Abstracting away the machine: the history of the FORTRAN
programming language (FORmula Translation)},
author = {Mark Jones Lorenzo},
publisher = {SE BOOKS},
edition {1st},
year = 2019,
isbn = {979-1-082-39594-9},
address = {Philadelphia, PA},
}
John Levine
2020-09-06 01:31:30 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
If you really want folklore:

Computer Lib/Dream Machines -- Ted Nelson

There's a picture of me on page 47.
--
Regards,
John Levine, ***@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly
Iron Spring Software
2020-09-06 15:30:29 UTC
Permalink
I've belatedly collected these posts, and I'll try to create a webpage
with the list.

I probably missed them, but here are two I liked:

Jackson, Tim: Inside Intel; Dutton, 1997
ISBN: 0-525-94141-X

Hiltzik, Michael: Dealers of Lightning, Xerox PARC and the dawn of the
Computer Age; HarperCollins, 1999
ISBN: 0-88730-891-0

I rarely buy new books, most of what I have is either second-hand online
or garage sale items. Cheap way to build a library.
Post by John Levine
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Computer Lib/Dream Machines -- Ted Nelson
There's a picture of me on page 47.
Dave Garland
2020-09-06 19:00:49 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Clifford Stoll, The Cuckoo's Egg
Jorgen Grahn
2020-10-18 06:50:58 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dave Garland
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Clifford Stoll, The Cuckoo's Egg
It would also be interesting to read his ridiculed "Silicon Snake-Oil"
again, now that more people believe that the Internet isn't good for us.

/Jorgen
--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Oo o. . .
\X/ snipabacken.se> O o .
Bob Eager
2020-10-18 08:31:55 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jorgen Grahn
Post by Dave Garland
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Clifford Stoll, The Cuckoo's Egg
It would also be interesting to read his ridiculed "Silicon Snake-Oil"
again, now that more people believe that the Internet isn't good for us.
I never saw the original post, but of course Tracy Kidder's "Sould of a
New Machine" must be in the list.

I'd add Gordon Bell's "Computer Engineering".
--
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org
Andreas Kohlbach
2020-10-19 02:18:55 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dave Garland
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Clifford Stoll, The Cuckoo's Egg
That also made it into the PBS episode “The KGB, the Computer, and Me”
from 1990. Enjoyed watching it.

The Germans also made a TV movie from the sight of the hackers. Forgot
the name, sorry (but was only in German anyway).
--
Andreas

PGP fingerprint 952B0A9F12C2FD6C9F7E68DAA9C2EA89D1A370E0
Adam Sampson
2020-10-19 04:06:08 UTC
Permalink
Post by Andreas Kohlbach
The Germans also made a TV movie from the sight of the hackers. Forgot
the name, sorry (but was only in German anyway).
That might be "23", which came out in 1999, but wasn't a TV movie. I
went to see it in a cinema near Münster with a group of German friends,
without knowing in advance what it was about -- and having read The
Cuckoo's Egg several times at that point I was pretty impressed!

It's definitely not as much fun as the PBS programme, though...
--
Adam Sampson <***@offog.org> <http://offog.org/>
Jan van den Broek
2020-09-10 21:01:35 UTC
Permalink
Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Dutch, about the first computers in the Netherlands.

Cornelia Rooijendijk
"Alles moest nog worden uitgevonden."
--
Jan van den Broek
***@xs4all.nl

I've got a /dev/null, and I'm not afraid to use it.
Peter Flass
2020-09-10 23:12:42 UTC
Permalink
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Dutch, about the first computers in the Netherlands.
Cornelia Rooijendijk
"Alles moest nog worden uitgevonden."
"Everything still had to be invented.", says Google
--
Pete
Quadibloc
2020-09-11 03:53:24 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Flass
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Dutch, about the first computers in the Netherlands.
Cornelia Rooijendijk
"Alles moest nog worden uitgevonden."
"Everything still had to be invented.", says Google
I think Boogle translate is right, since with its output as a hint, I can see the etymology going on here:

All (everything) must now (could also mean already, or at this time in a
different sense, think of the French deja) must (cognate to German werden) out
be-found.

John Savard
Peter Flass
2020-09-11 13:48:48 UTC
Permalink
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Peter Flass
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Dutch, about the first computers in the Netherlands.
Cornelia Rooijendijk
"Alles moest nog worden uitgevonden."
"Everything still had to be invented.", says Google
I think Boogle translate is right, since with its output as a hint, I can
All (everything) must now (could also mean already, or at this time in a
different sense, think of the French deja) must (cognate to German werden) out
be-found.
Yes, it’s pretty obvious once you know what it says. Google sometimes has
problems with verb tenses, where other languages don’t seem to use past
tense as much as English.
--
Pete
Questor
2020-09-11 19:22:13 UTC
Permalink
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Peter Flass
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Dutch, about the first computers in the Netherlands.
Cornelia Rooijendijk
"Alles moest nog worden uitgevonden."
"Everything still had to be invented.", says Google
All (everything) must now (could also mean already, or at this time in a
different sense, think of the French deja) must (cognate to German werden) out
be-found.
German werden is become, used to indicate events in the future. German must is
mussen. You've got two musts in there. "All must now become out-found."
maus
2020-09-12 12:32:03 UTC
Permalink
Post by Questor
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Peter Flass
Post by Ahem A Rivet's Shot
Sat, 5 Sep 2020 09:43:37 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Dutch, about the first computers in the Netherlands.
Cornelia Rooijendijk
"Alles moest nog worden uitgevonden."
"Everything still had to be invented.", says Google
All (everything) must now (could also mean already, or at this time in a
different sense, think of the French deja) must (cognate to German werden) out
be-found.
German werden is become, used to indicate events in the future. German must is
mussen. You've got two musts in there. "All must now become out-found."
The famous "I have been sitting here for so long, and I have not
become a sausage."

Some sorts of Arabic have a 'idiom'(?) in which hoped for events are used as
if they have occured. Good for politicians,
Dennis Boone
2020-09-11 16:03:52 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Flass
"Everything still had to be invented.", says Google
"If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent
the universe." -- Sagan

De
Dallas
2020-10-18 08:11:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
"Programmers at Work - Interviews" by Susan Lammers
including interviews of
Dan Bricklin
Bob Carr
Bob Frankston
Bill Gates
Michael Hawley
Andy Hertzfeld
Toru Iwatani
Gary Kildall
Scott Kim
Butler Lampson
Jaron Lanier
Ray Ozzie
John Page
Wayne Ratliff
Jef Raskin
Peter Roizen
Jonathon Sachs
Charles Simonyi
John Warnock
Niklas Karlsson
2020-10-18 08:17:39 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
"Programmers at Work - Interviews" by Susan Lammers
including interviews of
Dan Bricklin
Bob Carr
Bob Frankston
Bill Gates
Michael Hawley
Andy Hertzfeld
Toru Iwatani
Gary Kildall
Scott Kim
Butler Lampson
Jaron Lanier
Ray Ozzie
John Page
Wayne Ratliff
Jef Raskin
Peter Roizen
Jonathon Sachs
Charles Simonyi
John Warnock
Maybe I ought to read it. I may not be as knowledgeable in the field as
I thought.

Obviously I know Gates, Kildall, Lampson and Simonyi. Dan Bricklin rings
a bell but can't place him. I wouldn't know who the others are without
googling.

I'd have liked Jamie Zawinski to be in there as well.

Niklas
--
"Ah! He has become one with his inner self!"
"He's passed out."
"That too."
-- Vir and Garibaldi in Babylon 5:"The Parliament of Dreams"
Andy Burns
2020-10-18 08:24:36 UTC
Permalink
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Post by Dallas
"Programmers at Work - Interviews" by Susan Lammers
I'd have liked Jamie Zawinski to be in there as well.
First published in 1986, depending how long the interviews took before
that, he might not have even been at work by then

<https://www.jwz.org/about.html>
Niklas Karlsson
2020-10-18 08:25:52 UTC
Permalink
Post by Andy Burns
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Post by Dallas
"Programmers at Work - Interviews" by Susan Lammers
I'd have liked Jamie Zawinski to be in there as well.
First published in 1986, depending how long the interviews took before
that, he might not have even been at work by then
<https://www.jwz.org/about.html>
Ah, that'll do it then.

Niklas
--
IF IF = THEN THEN THEN = ELSE; ELSE ELSE = IF ;
-- Norman deForest explains the joys of PL/I
Dallas
2020-10-18 08:27:17 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
"Programmers at Work - Interviews" by Susan Lammers
including interviews of
Dan Bricklin
Bob Carr
Bob Frankston
Bill Gates
Michael Hawley
Andy Hertzfeld
Toru Iwatani
Gary Kildall
Scott Kim
Butler Lampson
Jaron Lanier
Ray Ozzie
John Page
Wayne Ratliff
Jef Raskin
Peter Roizen
Jonathon Sachs
Charles Simonyi
John Warnock
Maybe I ought to read it. I may not be as knowledgeable in the field as I thought.
Obviously I know Gates, Kildall, Lampson and Simonyi. Dan Bricklin rings
a bell but can't place him. I wouldn't know who the others are without googling.
I'd have liked Jamie Zawinski to be in there as well.
Niklas
This book cover image will help sort why those individuals were selected for "Programmers at Work".

Loading Image...
Niklas Karlsson
2020-10-18 08:32:31 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Post by Dallas
"Programmers at Work - Interviews" by Susan Lammers
Maybe I ought to read it. I may not be as knowledgeable in the field as I thought.
Obviously I know Gates, Kildall, Lampson and Simonyi. Dan Bricklin rings
a bell but can't place him. I wouldn't know who the others are without googling.
I'd have liked Jamie Zawinski to be in there as well.
Niklas
This book cover image will help sort why those individuals were selected for "Programmers at Work".
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/915W0oTNBkL.jpg
Ah! Handy. Thanks. Now I'm googling for some of the projects instead,
like PFS:FILE. :-) I was very young when the book came out, only born in
1980. I've sometimes been seen as a bit of an oddball for taking such an
interest in the history of the field, given that (but clearly I still
have a lot to learn).

Niklas
--
Buy a bloody kettle and a teapot. Good grief, what else is are the spare
sockets on the UPS for? When the power goes down, the -first- thing I
want is a hot beverage.
-- Dave in asr
Andy Burns
2020-10-18 09:06:52 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
This book cover image will help sort why those individuals were selected
for "Programmers at Work".
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/915W0oTNBkL.jpg
Shades of <https://vole.wtf/coder-serial-killer-quiz>
Jorgen Grahn
2020-10-18 13:09:02 UTC
Permalink
On Sun, 2020-10-18, Andy Burns wrote:
...
Post by Andy Burns
Shades of <https://vole.wtf/coder-serial-killer-quiz>
A classic, rivaled only by the "Tolkien or antidepressant" quiz.

/Jorgen
--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Oo o. . .
\X/ snipabacken.se> O o .
Jorgen Grahn
2020-10-18 09:13:14 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Post by Dallas
"Programmers at Work - Interviews" by Susan Lammers
including interviews of
Dan Bricklin
Bob Carr
Bob Frankston
Bill Gates
Michael Hawley
Andy Hertzfeld
Toru Iwatani
Gary Kildall
Scott Kim
Butler Lampson
Jaron Lanier
Ray Ozzie
John Page
Wayne Ratliff
Jef Raskin
Peter Roizen
Jonathon Sachs
Charles Simonyi
John Warnock
Maybe I ought to read it. I may not be as knowledgeable in the field as I thought.
Obviously I know Gates, Kildall, Lampson and Simonyi. Dan Bricklin rings
a bell but can't place him. I wouldn't know who the others are without googling.
I'd have liked Jamie Zawinski to be in there as well.
Niklas
This book cover image will help sort why those individuals were selected for "Programmers at Work".
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/915W0oTNBkL.jpg
Almost exclusively from (what became) the PC world. Is the book more
about the business side?

/Jorgen
--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Oo o. . .
\X/ snipabacken.se> O o .
Niklas Karlsson
2020-10-18 09:26:02 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jorgen Grahn
Post by Dallas
This book cover image will help sort why those individuals were selected for "Programmers at Work".
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/915W0oTNBkL.jpg
Almost exclusively from (what became) the PC world. Is the book more
about the business side?
That's a good point, probably a big part of why I didn't know very many
of them.

Niklas
--
Fortran, with its newfangled mixed-case name (note that even C has
not yet advanced to a mixed-case name) [...]
-- Eric Sosman in comp.lang.c
Jorgen Grahn
2020-10-18 13:21:07 UTC
Permalink
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Post by Jorgen Grahn
Post by Dallas
This book cover image will help sort why those individuals were
selected for "Programmers at Work".
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/915W0oTNBkL.jpg
Almost exclusively from (what became) the PC world. Is the book more
about the business side?
That's a good point, probably a big part of why I didn't know very many
of them.
Maybe it's natural, because it's not a single field.

Like if you'd interview guitarists for a book. You'd probably focus on
blues guitarists, heavy metal, the Velvet Underground's followers, or
classical guitar. And if you wrote about blues guitarists, blues fans
would buy the book and not find it strange that there was no mention
of Eddie Van Halen or Tom Verlaine ...

/Jorgen
--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Oo o. . .
\X/ snipabacken.se> O o .
Charlie Gibbs
2020-10-19 02:28:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Post by Dallas
"Programmers at Work - Interviews" by Susan Lammers
<snip>
Post by Niklas Karlsson
I'd have liked Jamie Zawinski to be in there as well.
Maybe he found out Gates was there and refused to participate.

https://www.jwz.org/xscreensaver/xscreensaver-windows.html
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | "Some of you may die,
\ / <***@kltpzyxm.invalid> | but it's sacrifice
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | I'm willing to make."
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)
Peter Flass
2020-10-19 02:52:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Post by Dallas
"Programmers at Work - Interviews" by Susan Lammers
including interviews of
Dan Bricklin
Bob Carr
Bob Frankston
Bill Gates
Michael Hawley
Andy Hertzfeld
Toru Iwatani
Gary Kildall
Scott Kim
Butler Lampson
Jaron Lanier
Ray Ozzie
John Page
Wayne Ratliff
Jef Raskin
Peter Roizen
Jonathon Sachs
Charles Simonyi
John Warnock
Maybe I ought to read it. I may not be as knowledgeable in the field as
I thought.
Obviously I know Gates, Kildall, Lampson and Simonyi. Dan Bricklin rings
a bell but can't place him.
Obviously We could Google them, but why spoil a good guessing game.

Bricklin - Visi-Calc IIRC.

Frankston - Multics
Kildall - Digital Research
Lampson - Xerox Parc
Ray Ozzie - Microsoft
Warnock - Adobe?

A couple of other names are familiar to me, but I can’t place them.

Naturally, since this is a bunch of very talented people they’ve probably
done lots of other things.
Post by Niklas Karlsson
I wouldn't know who the others are without
googling.
I'd have liked Jamie Zawinski to be in there as well.
Niklas
--
Pete
John Levine
2020-10-19 15:02:04 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Flass
Bricklin - Visi-Calc IIRC.
Frankston - Multics
Frankston did some work on Multics but he's better known as Bricklin's
partner writing Visicalc.
Post by Peter Flass
Ray Ozzie - Microsoft
He wrote Lotus Notes. Later he was at Microsoft, but Notes was his main claim to fame.
Post by Peter Flass
Warnock - Adobe?
Yes, Postscript and all that.
--
Regards,
John Levine, ***@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly
Charlie Gibbs
2020-10-19 17:46:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Charles Simonyi
He invented "Hungarian notation", those funny prefixes
on variable names.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_notation
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | "Some of you may die,
\ / <***@kltpzyxm.invalid> | but it's sacrifice
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | I'm willing to make."
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)
Niklas Karlsson
2020-10-19 17:56:48 UTC
Permalink
Post by Charlie Gibbs
Post by Dallas
Charles Simonyi
He invented "Hungarian notation", those funny prefixes
on variable names.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_notation
Ah yes - from my quotes file:

Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
-- Roedy Green

Niklas
--
Who needs friends when there is a whole world full of people to gratuitously
abuse?
-- Douglas Henke
Quadibloc
2020-10-19 19:11:07 UTC
Permalink
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
And I always thought Hungarian notation was a good thing.

After all, it's just a logical successor to I-N for integer and A-H, O-Z and $
for real.

John Savard
Niklas Karlsson
2020-10-19 19:26:54 UTC
Permalink
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
And I always thought Hungarian notation was a good thing.
After all, it's just a logical successor to I-N for integer and A-H, O-Z and $
for real.
The basic idea of making data types and such visible somehow in variable
names isn't bad, but Hungarian notation makes my eyes bleed.

Niklas
--
[In rec.humor.funny,] someone mentioned an article about miniaturization which
stated that soon you'd have a 3090 in your wristwatch. "Great," our guy
observed, "you can boot MVS on it and the first thing it'll do is
ask you the time." -- Charlie Gibbs
Quadibloc
2020-10-19 19:38:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by Niklas Karlsson
[In rec.humor.funny,] someone mentioned an article about miniaturization which
stated that soon you'd have a 3090 in your wristwatch. "Great," our guy
observed, "you can boot MVS on it and the first thing it'll do is
ask you the time." -- Charlie Gibbs
You had one job...

But, of course, these days I think we've already done one better. Nearly every
computer out there is basically a 370/195, not merely a 3090. Even the ones
in smartwatches.

John Savard
John Levine
2020-10-20 01:01:49 UTC
Permalink
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Niklas Karlsson
observed, "you can boot MVS on it and the first thing it'll do is
ask you the time." -- Charlie Gibbs
You had one job...
But, of course, these days I think we've already done one better. Nearly every
computer out there is basically a 370/195, not merely a 3090. Even the ones
in smartwatches.
A 3090 was a lot faster than a 370/195, since it was 12 years later.
--
Regards,
John Levine, ***@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly
Jorgen Grahn
2020-10-21 22:03:40 UTC
Permalink
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
And I always thought Hungarian notation was a good thing.
After all, it's just a logical successor to I-N for integer and A-H, O-Z and $
for real.
The basic idea of making data types and such visible somehow in variable
names isn't bad, but Hungarian notation makes my eyes bleed.
Normally, at this point, someone steps forward and says you haven't
seen /real/ Hungarian notation as defined by $SOMEONE, and that this
real version would make perfect sense once you got used to it. And
then you briefly consider reading the Wikipedia article, but end up
not doing that ...

/Jorgen
--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Oo o. . .
\X/ snipabacken.se> O o .
Dennis Boone
2020-10-22 04:54:06 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jorgen Grahn
Normally, at this point, someone steps forward and says you haven't
seen /real/ Hungarian notation as defined by $SOMEONE, and that this
real version would make perfect sense once you got used to it. And
then you briefly consider reading the Wikipedia article, but end up
not doing that ...
Isn't the above followed by a Rust Evangelism Task Force infomercial?

De
Dallas
2020-10-22 12:03:40 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jorgen Grahn
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
And I always thought Hungarian notation was a good thing.
After all, it's just a logical successor to I-N for integer and A-H, O-Z and $
for real.
The basic idea of making data types and such visible somehow in variable
names isn't bad, but Hungarian notation makes my eyes bleed.
Normally, at this point, someone steps forward and says you haven't
seen /real/ Hungarian notation as defined by $SOMEONE, and that this
real version would make perfect sense once you got used to it. And
then you briefly consider reading the Wikipedia article, but end up
not doing that ...
/Jorgen
Hungarian notation is just a simple form of convention.

Being a free-spirit with respect to coding, I have grudgingly come to respect coding under the
constraints of convention now and then, as it has benefits.

https://svitla.com/blog/why-where-and-when-to-use-coding-conventions

Adding the obligatory Wikipedia article
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coding_conventions
Niklas Karlsson
2020-10-22 13:02:26 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Hungarian notation is just a simple form of convention.
Certainly, just one I happen to dislike (at least in the forms I've
seen).
Post by Dallas
Being a free-spirit with respect to coding, I have grudgingly come to
respect coding under the constraints of convention now and then, as it
has benefits.
Sure. If everyone in a team uses their own coding style, you'll end up
with an abominable mess, so you do need some sort of convention. If I
was in one where Hungarian notation was policy, I'd suck it up and use
that - doesn't mean I have to like it.

Niklas
--
Butterscotch schnapps is a great memory restorative. Now I remember why I don't
drink it more often.
-- Stevo, asr
Dallas
2020-10-22 13:25:39 UTC
Permalink
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Sure. If everyone in a team uses their own coding style, you'll end up
with an abominable mess, so you do need some sort of convention. If I
was in one where Hungarian notation was policy, I'd suck it up and use
that - doesn't mean I have to like it.
Niklas
It seems to me that I see a trend in language syntax away from the languages like C where newline
placement did not matter, allowing some interesting coding styles. JavaScript is like C, but
Python is definitely not like C in that regard.

And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters into FORTRAN IV program statements
anywhere you wanted them. As long as you coded between the designated columns the only place a
space character was significant in a FORTRAN IV program was in a FORMAT statement. You could spell
FORMAT as F O R M A T or even FORM AT if you wanted to, but once the "Hollerith" field started then
spaces were significant.

I always thought that was such an interesting design choice.

FORTRAN IV was my first computer language, so I am always finding bits of FORTRAN syntax design in
modern languages, particularly PowerShell.
Niklas Karlsson
2020-10-22 13:30:36 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters into
FORTRAN IV program statements anywhere you wanted them. As long as
you coded between the designated columns the only place a space
character was significant in a FORTRAN IV program was in a FORMAT
statement. You could spell FORMAT as F O R M A T or even FORM AT if
you wanted to, but once the "Hollerith" field started then spaces were
significant.
I seem to recall at least some line-numbered BASICs from the
home-computer era behaving similarly.

Niklas
--
"Ah! He has become one with his inner self!"
"He's passed out."
"That too."
-- Vir and Garibaldi in Babylon 5:"The Parliament of Dreams"
Bob Eager
2020-10-22 14:18:22 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Sure. If everyone in a team uses their own coding style, you'll end up
with an abominable mess, so you do need some sort of convention. If I
was in one where Hungarian notation was policy, I'd suck it up and use
that - doesn't mean I have to like it.
Niklas
It seems to me that I see a trend in language syntax away from the
languages like C where newline placement did not matter, allowing some
interesting coding styles. JavaScript is like C, but Python is
definitely not like C in that regard.
And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters into
FORTRAN IV program statements anywhere you wanted them. As long as you
coded between the designated columns the only place a space character
was significant in a FORTRAN IV program was in a FORMAT statement. You
could spell FORMAT as F O R M A T or even FORM AT if you wanted to, but
once the "Hollerith" field started then spaces were significant.
But made life a little harder for the compiler writer, classifying
statements that started thus:

DO10I=

(I think the solution was to scan for a comma not inside parentheses)
--
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org
Dallas
2020-10-22 14:34:40 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bob Eager
Post by Dallas
And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters into
FORTRAN IV program statements anywhere you wanted them. As long as you
coded between the designated columns the only place a space character
was significant in a FORTRAN IV program was in a FORMAT statement. You
could spell FORMAT as F O R M A T or even FORM AT if you wanted to, but
once the "Hollerith" field started then spaces were significant.
But made life a little harder for the compiler writer, classifying
DO10I=
(I think the solution was to scan for a comma not inside parentheses)
There were definitely ambiguities tolerated by the FORTRAN IV compilers.

I just found this:

"Fortran bug Urban Legend"
https://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/~susan/cyc/p/fbug.htm
John Levine
2020-10-22 16:14:22 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bob Eager
Post by Dallas
And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters into
FORTRAN IV program statements anywhere you wanted them. ...
According to "Abstracting Away the Machine: The History of the FORTRAN
Programming Language", it was a concession to make programs easier to
keypunch. At the time, mid-1950s, keypunchers had spent half a century
entering data into fixed columns and programming language statements were
pretty strange.
Post by Bob Eager
But made life a little harder for the compiler writer, classifying
DO10I=
(I think the solution was to scan for a comma not inside parentheses)
I have written Fortran 77 lexers and parsers. There's a whole list of
kludges like that. There's one for this:

FORMAT(I3,A4) = A4**(I3-2)

As should be obvious, that's a statement function, not a FORNAT
statement. Even WATFOR gave up and got that one wrong.

That book probably belongs on the list. You can tell the author wasn't
actually there and probably doesn't know anyone who was because it has
a lot of minor errors like confusing 026 and 029 keypunches.
--
Regards,
John Levine, ***@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly
Quadibloc
2020-10-22 17:18:23 UTC
Permalink
Post by John Levine
FORMAT(I3,A4) = A4**(I3-2)
As should be obvious, that's a statement function, not a FORNAT
statement. Even WATFOR gave up and got that one wrong.
The only way one could even _manage_ to get it wrong would be to write the
compiler to use reserved words. Which isn't how FORTRAN works.

However, getting it "wrong" is not really a bad thing. Just warn the
programmer; the things he won't be able to do will just be things no
one should ever do anyways.

John Savard
John Levine
2020-10-22 17:46:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by Quadibloc
Post by John Levine
FORMAT(I3,A4) = A4**(I3-2)
As should be obvious, that's a statement function, not a FORNAT
statement. Even WATFOR gave up and got that one wrong.
The only way one could even _manage_ to get it wrong would be to write the
compiler to use reserved words. Which isn't how FORTRAN works.
It got it wrong in the sense that it didn't accept it, probablty diagnosed it
as an invalid FORMAT statement.
Post by Quadibloc
However, getting it "wrong" is not really a bad thing. Just warn the
programmer; the things he won't be able to do will just be things no
one should ever do anyways.
Indeed. Please, sir, point the gun away from your foot.
--
Regards,
John Levine, ***@taugh.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly
Ahem A Rivet's Shot
2020-10-22 19:47:22 UTC
Permalink
On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 17:46:00 -0000 (UTC)
Post by John Levine
Indeed. Please, sir, point the gun away from your foot.
If you insist on shooting your foot it is the job of the operating
system to ensure reliable delivery of the bullet.
--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays
C:\>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
Dallas
2020-10-22 23:01:00 UTC
Permalink
Do any other languages besides FORTRAN have a COMPLEX number type built in?
Bob Eager
2020-10-22 23:21:12 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Do any other languages besides FORTRAN have a COMPLEX number type built in?
You can add one to ALGOL 68!
--
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org
J. Clarke
2020-10-22 23:54:51 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bob Eager
Post by Dallas
Do any other languages besides FORTRAN have a COMPLEX number type built in?
You can add one to ALGOL 68!
It's built into Python. IIUC any number with j appended is treated as
an imaginary part, so x=1+14.8j gives you a complex x. x+2j will
give you 1+16.8j for example. If you want the real or imaginary parts
it's x.real or x.imag.
Peter Flass
2020-10-23 03:31:27 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Do any other languages besides FORTRAN have a COMPLEX number type built in?
PL/I
--
Pete
Robert Swindells
2020-10-23 10:13:46 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Do any other languages besides FORTRAN have a COMPLEX number type built in?
Common Lisp
Hook Bandit
2020-10-23 13:03:43 UTC
Permalink
Post by Robert Swindells
Post by Dallas
Do any other languages besides FORTRAN have a COMPLEX number type built in?
Common Lisp
Raku
J. Clarke
2020-10-23 15:46:15 UTC
Permalink
On Fri, 23 Oct 2020 13:03:43 -0000 (UTC), Hook Bandit
Post by Robert Swindells
Post by Dallas
Do any other languages besides FORTRAN have a COMPLEX number type built in?
Common Lisp
Raku
R, Julia, Go. Also built into System.Numerics in .NET.

Thomas Koenig
2020-10-23 10:52:50 UTC
Permalink
Post by John Levine
Post by Quadibloc
However, getting it "wrong" is not really a bad thing. Just warn the
programmer; the things he won't be able to do will just be things no
one should ever do anyways.
Indeed. Please, sir, point the gun away from your foot.
That is an interesting question, when to warn and when not
to warn...

There is the classic

A = B ** (4/5)

which has probably happened (similar forms) thousands of times.

Now, gfortran will warn about this with -Wall (since a few releases
ago) with


4 | b = a ** (4/5)
| 1
Warning: Integer division truncated to constant '0' at (1) [-Winteger-division]

because b = a was probably not the intention of that particular
code. I like to think that this has saved numerous people's bacon
over the years. Note that 4/2 will not be warned about.

And yet, one very well-respected member of the Fortran community
complained that this warning was cluttering up his error messages,
and he didn't particularly like having to add yet another warning
exception (-Wno-integer-division) to his compiler flags.

I think in that respect, pleasing everybody with what warnings
to issue and which ones not to issue is at least as difficult as
proving or disproving that N=NP.
Peter Flass
2020-10-22 19:08:57 UTC
Permalink
Post by Quadibloc
Post by John Levine
FORMAT(I3,A4) = A4**(I3-2)
As should be obvious, that's a statement function, not a FORNAT
statement. Even WATFOR gave up and got that one wrong.
The only way one could even _manage_ to get it wrong would be to write the
compiler to use reserved words. Which isn't how FORTRAN works.
However, getting it "wrong" is not really a bad thing. Just warn the
programmer; the things he won't be able to do will just be things no
one should ever do anyways.
That kind of stuff adds extra complexity to the parse, though. Mostly I can
parse PL/I by looking ahead one token [LL(1)?], but in some cases I have to
look ahead several, such as looking forward for the “=“ to determine that a
statement is an assignment (in some cases). Of course I’m not a compiler
expert, so YMMV.
--
Pete
Thomas Koenig
2020-10-22 18:32:12 UTC
Permalink
Post by John Levine
FORMAT(I3,A4) = A4**(I3-2)
As should be obvious, that's a statement function, not a FORNAT
statement. Even WATFOR gave up and got that one wrong.
At least f2c and gfortran get that one right.
Dallas
2020-10-22 18:53:28 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
Post by John Levine
FORMAT(I3,A4) = A4**(I3-2)
As should be obvious, that's a statement function, not a FORNAT
statement. Even WATFOR gave up and got that one wrong.
At least f2c and gfortran get that one right.
And such a simple exponentiation operator! I miss that.
Peter Flass
2020-10-22 20:01:43 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Post by Thomas Koenig
Post by John Levine
FORMAT(I3,A4) = A4**(I3-2)
As should be obvious, that's a statement function, not a FORNAT
statement. Even WATFOR gave up and got that one wrong.
At least f2c and gfortran get that one right.
And such a simple exponentiation operator! I miss that.
What do,other languages use?
--
Pete
Dallas
2020-10-22 21:17:58 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Flass
Post by Dallas
Post by Thomas Koenig
Post by John Levine
FORMAT(I3,A4) = A4**(I3-2)
As should be obvious, that's a statement function, not a FORNAT
statement. Even WATFOR gave up and got that one wrong.
At least f2c and gfortran get that one right.
And such a simple exponentiation operator! I miss that.
What do,other languages use?
C#
Math.Pow(Number1, Number2);

I do a lot of C# and that is why I miss ** (not that I raise too many things to a power, but I
still miss it)

That "Pow" makes me think of Batman (the old TV show Batman)

Loading Image...
Peter Flass
2020-10-22 19:08:56 UTC
Permalink
Post by John Levine
Post by Bob Eager
Post by Dallas
And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters into
FORTRAN IV program statements anywhere you wanted them. ...
According to "Abstracting Away the Machine: The History of the FORTRAN
Programming Language", it was a concession to make programs easier to
keypunch. At the time, mid-1950s, keypunchers had spent half a century
entering data into fixed columns and programming language statements were
pretty strange.
Post by Bob Eager
But made life a little harder for the compiler writer, classifying
DO10I=
(I think the solution was to scan for a comma not inside parentheses)
I have written Fortran 77 lexers and parsers. There's a whole list of
FORMAT(I3,A4) = A4**(I3-2)
As should be obvious, that's a statement function, not a FORNAT
statement. Even WATFOR gave up and got that one wrong.
That book probably belongs on the list. You can tell the author wasn't
actually there and probably doesn't know anyone who was because it has
a lot of minor errors like confusing 026 and 029 keypunches.
And confusing the range of a floating-point number with the allowable
number of digits. I probably should have kept a list of bloopers, there are
several. Overall it is a good book, but lags a bit when it gets past the
development of FORTRAN I.
--
Pete
Peter Flass
2020-10-22 19:08:55 UTC
Permalink
Post by Bob Eager
Post by Dallas
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Sure. If everyone in a team uses their own coding style, you'll end up
with an abominable mess, so you do need some sort of convention. If I
was in one where Hungarian notation was policy, I'd suck it up and use
that - doesn't mean I have to like it.
Niklas
It seems to me that I see a trend in language syntax away from the
languages like C where newline placement did not matter, allowing some
interesting coding styles. JavaScript is like C, but Python is
definitely not like C in that regard.
And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters into
FORTRAN IV program statements anywhere you wanted them. As long as you
coded between the designated columns the only place a space character
was significant in a FORTRAN IV program was in a FORMAT statement. You
could spell FORMAT as F O R M A T or even FORM AT if you wanted to, but
once the "Hollerith" field started then spaces were significant.
But made life a little harder for the compiler writer, classifying
DO10I=
(I think the solution was to scan for a comma not inside parentheses)
There are a few syntax quirks like that in PL/I, too.
--
Pete
Thomas Koenig
2020-10-22 16:12:37 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters
into FORTRAN IV program statements anywhere you wanted them.
As long as you coded between the designated columns the only place
a space character was significant in a FORTRAN IV program was in
a FORMAT statement.
White space is still (mostly) insignificant in fixed-form Fortran
(outside of character constants). It is a short and pleasant task
to enumerate its advanrages:

You can group numbers with spaces, like

A = 1 234 567

and you can use British English for spelling "programme", as in

PROGRAMME MAIN

That was the standard name for my main program (which is otherwise
not very significant).
Peter Flass
2020-10-22 19:08:54 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Sure. If everyone in a team uses their own coding style, you'll end up
with an abominable mess, so you do need some sort of convention. If I
was in one where Hungarian notation was policy, I'd suck it up and use
that - doesn't mean I have to like it.
Niklas
It seems to me that I see a trend in language syntax away from the
languages like C where newline
placement did not matter, allowing some interesting coding styles.
JavaScript is like C, but
Python is definitely not like C in that regard.
And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters into
FORTRAN IV program statements
anywhere you wanted them. As long as you coded between the designated
columns the only place a
space character was significant in a FORTRAN IV program was in a FORMAT
statement. You could spell
FORMAT as F O R M A T or even FORM AT if you wanted to, but once the
"Hollerith" field started then
spaces were significant.
I always thought that was such an interesting design choice.
I believe someone later said it was because they didn’t know what they were
doing, which is probably why no language since has followed.
Post by Dallas
FORTRAN IV was my first computer language, so I am always finding bits of
FORTRAN syntax design in
modern languages, particularly PowerShell.
That’s because there are large bits of Fortran in almost everything.
Probably not Lisp, APL, or COBOL.
--
Pete
J. Clarke
2020-10-22 21:23:03 UTC
Permalink
On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 12:08:54 -0700, Peter Flass
Post by Peter Flass
Post by Dallas
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Sure. If everyone in a team uses their own coding style, you'll end up
with an abominable mess, so you do need some sort of convention. If I
was in one where Hungarian notation was policy, I'd suck it up and use
that - doesn't mean I have to like it.
Niklas
It seems to me that I see a trend in language syntax away from the
languages like C where newline
placement did not matter, allowing some interesting coding styles.
JavaScript is like C, but
Python is definitely not like C in that regard.
And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters into
FORTRAN IV program statements
anywhere you wanted them. As long as you coded between the designated
columns the only place a
space character was significant in a FORTRAN IV program was in a FORMAT
statement. You could spell
FORMAT as F O R M A T or even FORM AT if you wanted to, but once the
"Hollerith" field started then
spaces were significant.
I always thought that was such an interesting design choice.
I believe someone later said it was because they didn’t know what they were
doing, which is probably why no language since has followed.
Post by Dallas
FORTRAN IV was my first computer language, so I am always finding bits of
FORTRAN syntax design in
modern languages, particularly PowerShell.
That’s because there are large bits of Fortran in almost everything.
Probably not Lisp, APL, or COBOL.
A little bit has been added to APL but I think it's borrowed from C or
the like rather than Fortran.
Peter Flass
2020-10-23 02:35:41 UTC
Permalink
Post by J. Clarke
On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 12:08:54 -0700, Peter Flass
Post by Peter Flass
Post by Dallas
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Sure. If everyone in a team uses their own coding style, you'll end up
with an abominable mess, so you do need some sort of convention. If I
was in one where Hungarian notation was policy, I'd suck it up and use
that - doesn't mean I have to like it.
Niklas
It seems to me that I see a trend in language syntax away from the
languages like C where newline
placement did not matter, allowing some interesting coding styles.
JavaScript is like C, but
Python is definitely not like C in that regard.
And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters into
FORTRAN IV program statements
anywhere you wanted them. As long as you coded between the designated
columns the only place a
space character was significant in a FORTRAN IV program was in a FORMAT
statement. You could spell
FORMAT as F O R M A T or even FORM AT if you wanted to, but once the
"Hollerith" field started then
spaces were significant.
I always thought that was such an interesting design choice.
I believe someone later said it was because they didn’t know what they were
doing, which is probably why no language since has followed.
Post by Dallas
FORTRAN IV was my first computer language, so I am always finding bits of
FORTRAN syntax design in
modern languages, particularly PowerShell.
That’s because there are large bits of Fortran in almost everything.
Probably not Lisp, APL, or COBOL.
A little bit has been added to APL but I think it's borrowed from C or
the like rather than Fortran.
I forgot a wonderful coffee-table book : _ Core Memory_, by Richards
Alderman. photos of computer equipment from the Z3 replica to modern
hardware (almost - published in 2007)

Forward by Dag Spicer.

It‘s one of the few books I saved when I moved, out of 25 boxes or so,
--
Pete
Peter Flass
2020-10-23 02:35:42 UTC
Permalink
Post by J. Clarke
On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 12:08:54 -0700, Peter Flass
Post by Peter Flass
Post by Dallas
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Sure. If everyone in a team uses their own coding style, you'll end up
with an abominable mess, so you do need some sort of convention. If I
was in one where Hungarian notation was policy, I'd suck it up and use
that - doesn't mean I have to like it.
Niklas
It seems to me that I see a trend in language syntax away from the
languages like C where newline
placement did not matter, allowing some interesting coding styles.
JavaScript is like C, but
Python is definitely not like C in that regard.
And that makes me recall that you could trickle space characters into
FORTRAN IV program statements
anywhere you wanted them. As long as you coded between the designated
columns the only place a
space character was significant in a FORTRAN IV program was in a FORMAT
statement. You could spell
FORMAT as F O R M A T or even FORM AT if you wanted to, but once the
"Hollerith" field started then
spaces were significant.
I always thought that was such an interesting design choice.
I believe someone later said it was because they didn’t know what they were
doing, which is probably why no language since has followed.
Post by Dallas
FORTRAN IV was my first computer language, so I am always finding bits of
FORTRAN syntax design in
modern languages, particularly PowerShell.
That’s because there are large bits of Fortran in almost everything.
Probably not Lisp, APL, or COBOL.
A little bit has been added to APL but I think it's borrowed from C or
the like rather than Fortran.
_The Difference Engine_ by Doron Swade
--
Pete
Bob Eager
2020-10-23 08:37:16 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Flass
_The Difference Engine_ by Doron Swade
I have met Doron at meetings. Which reminds me...the UK Computer
Conservation Society has a website, where you can find videos of a lot of
past meetings, and also back issues of their newsletter:

https://computerconservationsociety.org/
--
Using UNIX since v6 (1975)...

Use the BIG mirror service in the UK:
http://www.mirrorservice.org
Dallas
2020-10-19 19:31:45 UTC
Permalink
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
And I always thought Hungarian notation was a good thing.
After all, it's just a logical successor to I-N for integer and A-H, O-Z and $
for real.
John Savard
At least the compiler paid attention to that form of Hungarian notation.

Amazing that we coded so much FORTRAN IV without string type variables.
Peter Flass
2020-10-20 14:45:05 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
And I always thought Hungarian notation was a good thing.
After all, it's just a logical successor to I-N for integer and A-H, O-Z and $
for real.
John Savard
At least the compiler paid attention to that form of Hungarian notation.
Amazing that we coded so much FORTRAN IV without string type variables.
Ah yes, the old “20A1” format and such.
--
Pete
Thomas Koenig
2020-10-20 18:20:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by Dallas
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
And I always thought Hungarian notation was a good thing.
After all, it's just a logical successor to I-N for integer and A-H, O-Z and $
for real.
John Savard
At least the compiler paid attention to that form of Hungarian notation.
Amazing that we coded so much FORTRAN IV without string type variables.
One amazing thing that Kernighan describes in his Memoir was that
he wrote a version of runoff for his PhD thesis in pre-F77 FORTRAN,
and used it to print it out. Apparently, his was the first thesis
at Stanford printed via a computer.

That guy is some programmer...
Peter Flass
2020-10-20 21:19:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
Post by Dallas
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
And I always thought Hungarian notation was a good thing.
After all, it's just a logical successor to I-N for integer and A-H, O-Z and $
for real.
John Savard
At least the compiler paid attention to that form of Hungarian notation.
Amazing that we coded so much FORTRAN IV without string type variables.
One amazing thing that Kernighan describes in his Memoir was that
he wrote a version of runoff for his PhD thesis in pre-F77 FORTRAN,
and used it to print it out. Apparently, his was the first thesis
at Stanford printed via a computer.
That guy is some programmer...
Yeah. It sounds an “oh, by the way” thing he just tossed off as a side
project. Did he say what printer he used?
--
Pete
Thomas Koenig
2020-10-20 21:41:23 UTC
Permalink
Post by Peter Flass
Post by Thomas Koenig
Post by Dallas
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
And I always thought Hungarian notation was a good thing.
After all, it's just a logical successor to I-N for integer and A-H, O-Z and $
for real.
John Savard
At least the compiler paid attention to that form of Hungarian notation.
Amazing that we coded so much FORTRAN IV without string type variables.
One amazing thing that Kernighan describes in his Memoir was that
he wrote a version of runoff for his PhD thesis in pre-F77 FORTRAN,
and used it to print it out. Apparently, his was the first thesis
at Stanford printed via a computer.
That guy is some programmer...
Yeah. It sounds an “oh, by the way” thing he just tossed off as a side
project. Did he say what printer he used?
His Runoff version (1000 cards of Fortran) translated everything
from all caps to small letters and then automatically capitalized
the first letter of each sentence. It was then printed on an IBM
1403, which could do both upper and lower case.

1000 punched cards for the Runoff version, 5000 punched cards
for the thesis itself (with a few mathematical signs pencilled in).

That was in 1969. It's hard to believe the advance over the
next two decades. Exactly 20 years later, I was using LaTeX for
reports about student experiments I had done, printed out on a
laser printer on a mainframe. A few years later, PCs were powerful
enough, and ink jet printers had arrived.
Ahem A Rivet's Shot
2020-10-21 04:58:14 UTC
Permalink
On Tue, 20 Oct 2020 21:41:23 -0000 (UTC)
Post by Thomas Koenig
That was in 1969. It's hard to believe the advance over the
next two decades. Exactly 20 years later, I was using LaTeX for
reports about student experiments I had done, printed out on a
laser printer on a mainframe. A few years later, PCs were powerful
enough, and ink jet printers had arrived.
Things like PCs were already powerful enough to typeset a 1000 page
reference book and proof it on an inkjet (Epson SQ<mumble>) before you were
using LaTeX and a laser printer (I was doing this in 1986). The machine
running sqtroff was an Altos 80286 based XENIX box - an 80286 based PC ran
the PostScript emulator (goscript) driving the Epson with ESC/P codes.
--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays
C:\>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
Charlie Gibbs
2020-10-20 02:02:58 UTC
Permalink
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
And I always thought Hungarian notation was a good thing.
After all, it's just a logical successor to I-N for integer
and A-H, O-Z and $ for real.
Take it one step farther and you have COBOL's reserved words.
--
/~\ Charlie Gibbs | "Some of you may die,
\ / <***@kltpzyxm.invalid> | but it's sacrifice
X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | I'm willing to make."
/ \ if you read it the right way. | -- Lord Farquaad (Shrek)
Ahem A Rivet's Shot
2020-10-20 02:01:44 UTC
Permalink
On Mon, 19 Oct 2020 12:11:07 -0700 (PDT)
Post by Quadibloc
Post by Niklas Karlsson
Hungarian Notation is the tactical nuclear weapon of source code
obfuscation techniques.
And I always thought Hungarian notation was a good thing.
Not in my book, names should say what they mean not how they work.
It also doesn't sit too well with OO design, and the modern variant of
wearing design pattern labels in the variable names is just horrendous.
Post by Quadibloc
After all, it's just a logical successor to I-N for integer and A-H, O-Z
and $ for real.
That was just a convention to allow leaving out declarations.
--
Steve O'Hara-Smith | Directable Mirror Arrays
C:\>WIN | A better way to focus the sun
The computer obeys and wins. | licences available see
You lose and Bill collects. | http://www.sohara.org/
Jason Evans
2020-10-18 14:37:28 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Managing Usenet by David Lawrence
Check it out from the Open Library:
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16456330W/Managing_Usenet
Jorgen Grahn
2020-10-19 06:05:00 UTC
Permalink
Post by Jason Evans
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
Managing Usenet by David Lawrence
https://openlibrary.org/works/OL16456330W/Managing_Usenet
It says by Henry Spencer and David Lawrence. Spencer's name pops up a
lot, connected to various things.

/Jorgen
--
// Jorgen Grahn <grahn@ Oo o. . .
\X/ snipabacken.se> O o .
Massimo M.
2020-10-20 08:26:56 UTC
Permalink
I don't know if it exists in english, but
"P101. Quando l'Italia inventò il personal computer"

the history of the Olivetti programma 101.
Dallas
2020-10-20 12:41:57 UTC
Permalink
Post by Thomas Koenig
What are the must-read computer folklore books?
"GO TO" by Steve Lohr

"NERDS 2.0.1" by Stephen Segaller

"The Home Computer Revolution" by Ted Nelson
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