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Here is your daily reminder to read "Masters of Doom", a book about the early days at ID Software. It's an amazing look into a really cool time in gaming and so

Here is your daily reminder to read "Masters of Doom", a book about the early days at ID Software. It's an amazing look into a really cool time in gaming and software as a whole. It's a great book, mostly about John Carmack and the guys at ID! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_of_Doom https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masters_of_Doom

Trasmatta 6y ago
I love that book so much. It makes me sad sometimes that I missed those days of programming in the 90's.
- MacSystem 6y ago
  sounds quite fun, right? I also have this impression and kinda miss that
- self_awareness 6y ago
  Well, you still can experience early days of conventional programming in 2020 until quantum programming takes over in 2040 ;)
- epicide 6y ago
  I also often long for that magical feeling of everything being new and exciting again (to you). Like the computer was waiting for you to just press the right sequence of buttons... I obviously can't guarantee getting that feeling back in full, but I've been able to experience remnants of it by just poking around with completely unfamiliar tools/languages/servers/systems that have little to no use in business. Maybe even obsolete. Basically, look for anything that you wouldn't be tempted to turn into a job or use to make any real money. Just enjoy it for what it is. Write hacky code. Press all the wrong buttons. Make it do things it was never meant to do. Do stupid things with it just for the sake of doing stupid things. Have fun just for the sake of it being fun.
Insanity 6y ago
It's a great book, and they're also turning it into a series. :)
- adventured 6y ago
  I hope they bring in some of the people that made Halt and Catch Fire work so well. The Romero id Software years were filled with just enough drama and chaos to make it work.
  - mindcrime 6y ago
    HCF was great. I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone who hasn't seen it yet, if you have any interest in the history of the computer industry at all. And I say that not because of how historically accurate it is, or isn't. It's just plain good drama. I just finished watching the entire series for the second time, and I wouldn't be shocked if I wind up watching it all a third time at some point in my life.
    - claudeganon 6y ago
      The caveat being to stick through it for the first season, which is a little rough around the edges and overwrought. From there, it really takes off and becomes fantastic.
      - mindcrime 6y ago
        That's a fair point. But I wouldn't want to suggest to anyone that Season 1 is bad. There's a lot of good stuff there. But the show does get progressively better as it moves along.
  - soulofmischief 6y ago
    Second time I've seen it mentioned today across the internet... Time for a rewatch...
- MacSystem 6y ago
  really?
AdmiralAsshat 6y ago
This thread reminded me that Carmack has been a free software advocate in the past, and my citation is, quite amusingly, that book: > It was February 8, 1998, and Carmack was about to put his brain to the test: counting cards in blackjack. This had become something of a new fascination of his. “Having a reasonable grounding in statistics and probability and no belief in luck, fate, karma, or god(s), the only casino game that interests me is blackjack,” he wrote in a .plan file. “Playing blackjack properly is a test of personal discipline. It takes a small amount of skill to know the right plays and count the cards, but the hard part is making yourself consistantly [sic] behave like a robot, rather than succumbing to your ‘gut instincts.’ ” To refine his skills before the trip, Carmack applied his usual learning approach: consuming a few books on the subject and composing a computer program, in this case one that simulated the statistics of blackjack dealt cards. > His research proved successful, netting him twenty thousand dollars, which he donated to the Free Software Foundation, an organization of like-minded believers in the Hacker Ethic.
- Trasmatta 6y ago
  Didn't he also end up getting banned for life from that casino for counting cards?
  - AdmiralAsshat 6y ago
    Well yes, it wasn't the part that interested me about that paragraph, but if you want the whole thing... > His research proved successful, netting him twenty thousand dollars, which he donated to the Free Software Foundation, an organization of like-minded believers in the Hacker Ethic. “Its [sic] not like I’m trying to make a living at [blackjack],” Carmack wrote online after his trip, “so the chance of getting kicked out doesn’t bother me too much.” It didn’t take long for him to find out just how he’d feel. On the next trip, Carmack was approached by three men in dark suits who said, “We’d appreciate if you’d play any other game than blackjack.” > The others at the table watched in disbelief. “Why are they doing this to you?” a woman asked. > “They think that I’m counting cards,” Carmack said. > “They think you can remember all those different cards?” > “Yeah,” Carmack replied, “something like that.” > “Well, what do you do?” > “I’m a computer programmer,” he said, as he was escorted out the door.
djhworld 6y ago
I recommend the audiobook version too, narrated by Wil Wheaton
- akraker 6y ago
  Seconded.
ilrwbwrkhv 6y ago
I love that book. It is for me the best book which shows the spirit of what "hackers" really are and stand for.
ridhwaan 6y ago
Lol you should have put an amazon affiliate link, I just bought it right now!
gambiting 6y ago
Also the audible version is fantastic
MacSystem 6y ago
The book is on my must-read list has been a while. That's a shame I haven't got time to read yet.
- etrk 6y ago
  It's very interesting, especially if you grew up playing id games, and it's also an easy read. Go for it!
markus_zhang 6y ago
I really enjoyed the book, especially the part between Softdisk and Quake when the two Johns combined to form a great team and productivity was super high.
mrspeaker 6y ago
Counterpoint (just to manage expectations - you should read it for sure!): I was hyped to read the book, but ended up finding it a bit tedious. The technical parts were not technical enough (sometimes flat-out wrong, or maybe, naive sounding?) and the rock star parts got repetitive (even a lot of the same phrases used over and over). Still great fun, but not as good as I'd hoped. I'd recommend Fabien Sanglards's Wolfenstein and Doom books (https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/ https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/). These go into WAY TOO MUCH technical info (in a great way!), but don't cover any of the hilarious rock-star antics. My secret wish is someone would re-write Masters Of Doom to be 25% more Game Engine Black Book, and fix up some of the prose!
- 0-_-0 6y ago
  >I'd recommend Fabien Sanglards's Wolfenstein and Doom books (https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/ https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/). These go into WAY TOO MUCH technical info (in a great way!), but don't cover any of the hilarious rock-star antics. The Doom book does mention Romero getting locked into his office one day and Carmack cutting down the door with a battleaxe, but I didn't mind knowing that detail. (There's a picture too)
- anyfoo 6y ago
  Thanks, ordered it immediately. Technical "history" books are fantastic, and knowing it's by Fabien Sanglard...
- kristopolous 6y ago
  I've been going through computer themed historical narratives; soul of a new machine, where wizards stay up late, doom, startup, just for fun... The doom book is pretty forgettable and so is Linus's... I'll go take my cyanide pill now.
epr 6y ago
I randomly selected this book off a shelf in my high school library when I had to pick a book to do a report on for a bullshit elective in high school. Procrastinated as usual, so on the Sunday before it was due I figured I had less than 24 hours, so I might as well look up the cliff notes and barf 1000 lines on paper. I decided to at least try reading the first chapter for whatever reason and couldn't stop reading. Went from planning to do the bare minimum to trying way too hard to do a good job and somehow convince everyone it was a good book. Now, working as a developer, I credit that book with getting myself into game development and programming in general. This book was life-changing for me.
anderspitman 6y ago
I read a lot and have read very few books more than once. This is one of them.

Trasmatta 6y ago

I love that book so much. It makes me sad sometimes that I missed those days of programming in the 90's.

MacSystem 6y ago
sounds quite fun, right? I also have this impression and kinda miss that
self_awareness 6y ago
Well, you still can experience early days of conventional programming in 2020 until quantum programming takes over in 2040 ;)
epicide 6y ago
I also often long for that magical feeling of everything being new and exciting again (to you). Like the computer was waiting for you to just press the right sequence of buttons... I obviously can't guarantee getting that feeling back in full, but I've been able to experience remnants of it by just poking around with completely unfamiliar tools/languages/servers/systems that have little to no use in business. Maybe even obsolete. Basically, look for anything that you wouldn't be tempted to turn into a job or use to make any real money. Just enjoy it for what it is. Write hacky code. Press all the wrong buttons. Make it do things it was never meant to do. Do stupid things with it just for the sake of doing stupid things. Have fun just for the sake of it being fun.

Insanity 6y ago

It's a great book, and they're also turning it into a series. :)

adventured 6y ago
I hope they bring in some of the people that made Halt and Catch Fire work so well. The Romero id Software years were filled with just enough drama and chaos to make it work.
- mindcrime 6y ago
  HCF was great. I can't recommend it highly enough to anyone who hasn't seen it yet, if you have any interest in the history of the computer industry at all. And I say that not because of how historically accurate it is, or isn't. It's just plain good drama. I just finished watching the entire series for the second time, and I wouldn't be shocked if I wind up watching it all a third time at some point in my life.
  - claudeganon 6y ago
    The caveat being to stick through it for the first season, which is a little rough around the edges and overwrought. From there, it really takes off and becomes fantastic.
    - mindcrime 6y ago
      That's a fair point. But I wouldn't want to suggest to anyone that Season 1 is bad. There's a lot of good stuff there. But the show does get progressively better as it moves along.
- soulofmischief 6y ago
  Second time I've seen it mentioned today across the internet... Time for a rewatch...
MacSystem 6y ago
really?

AdmiralAsshat 6y ago

This thread reminded me that Carmack has been a free software advocate in the past, and my citation is, quite amusingly, that book: > It was February 8, 1998, and Carmack was about to put his brain to the test: counting cards in blackjack. This had become something of a new fascination of his. “Having a reasonable grounding in statistics and probability and no belief in luck, fate, karma, or god(s), the only casino game that interests me is blackjack,” he wrote in a .plan file. “Playing blackjack properly is a test of personal discipline. It takes a small amount of skill to know the right plays and count the cards, but the hard part is making yourself consistantly [sic] behave like a robot, rather than succumbing to your ‘gut instincts.’ ” To refine his skills before the trip, Carmack applied his usual learning approach: consuming a few books on the subject and composing a computer program, in this case one that simulated the statistics of blackjack dealt cards. > His research proved successful, netting him twenty thousand dollars, which he donated to the Free Software Foundation, an organization of like-minded believers in the Hacker Ethic.

Trasmatta 6y ago
Didn't he also end up getting banned for life from that casino for counting cards?
- AdmiralAsshat 6y ago
  Well yes, it wasn't the part that interested me about that paragraph, but if you want the whole thing... > His research proved successful, netting him twenty thousand dollars, which he donated to the Free Software Foundation, an organization of like-minded believers in the Hacker Ethic. “Its [sic] not like I’m trying to make a living at [blackjack],” Carmack wrote online after his trip, “so the chance of getting kicked out doesn’t bother me too much.” It didn’t take long for him to find out just how he’d feel. On the next trip, Carmack was approached by three men in dark suits who said, “We’d appreciate if you’d play any other game than blackjack.” > The others at the table watched in disbelief. “Why are they doing this to you?” a woman asked. > “They think that I’m counting cards,” Carmack said. > “They think you can remember all those different cards?” > “Yeah,” Carmack replied, “something like that.” > “Well, what do you do?” > “I’m a computer programmer,” he said, as he was escorted out the door.

djhworld 6y ago

I recommend the audiobook version too, narrated by Wil Wheaton

akraker 6y ago
Seconded.

ilrwbwrkhv 6y ago

I love that book. It is for me the best book which shows the spirit of what "hackers" really are and stand for.

ridhwaan 6y ago

Lol you should have put an amazon affiliate link, I just bought it right now!

gambiting 6y ago

Also the audible version is fantastic

MacSystem 6y ago

The book is on my must-read list has been a while. That's a shame I haven't got time to read yet.

etrk 6y ago
It's very interesting, especially if you grew up playing id games, and it's also an easy read. Go for it!

markus_zhang 6y ago

I really enjoyed the book, especially the part between Softdisk and Quake when the two Johns combined to form a great team and productivity was super high.

mrspeaker 6y ago

Counterpoint (just to manage expectations - you should read it for sure!): I was hyped to read the book, but ended up finding it a bit tedious. The technical parts were not technical enough (sometimes flat-out wrong, or maybe, naive sounding?) and the rock star parts got repetitive (even a lot of the same phrases used over and over). Still great fun, but not as good as I'd hoped. I'd recommend Fabien Sanglards's Wolfenstein and Doom books (https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/ https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/). These go into WAY TOO MUCH technical info (in a great way!), but don't cover any of the hilarious rock-star antics. My secret wish is someone would re-write Masters Of Doom to be 25% more Game Engine Black Book, and fix up some of the prose!

0-_-0 6y ago
>I'd recommend Fabien Sanglards's Wolfenstein and Doom books (https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/ https://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/). These go into WAY TOO MUCH technical info (in a great way!), but don't cover any of the hilarious rock-star antics. The Doom book does mention Romero getting locked into his office one day and Carmack cutting down the door with a battleaxe, but I didn't mind knowing that detail. (There's a picture too)
anyfoo 6y ago
Thanks, ordered it immediately. Technical "history" books are fantastic, and knowing it's by Fabien Sanglard...
kristopolous 6y ago
I've been going through computer themed historical narratives; soul of a new machine, where wizards stay up late, doom, startup, just for fun... The doom book is pretty forgettable and so is Linus's... I'll go take my cyanide pill now.

epr 6y ago

I randomly selected this book off a shelf in my high school library when I had to pick a book to do a report on for a bullshit elective in high school. Procrastinated as usual, so on the Sunday before it was due I figured I had less than 24 hours, so I might as well look up the cliff notes and barf 1000 lines on paper. I decided to at least try reading the first chapter for whatever reason and couldn't stop reading. Went from planning to do the bare minimum to trying way too hard to do a good job and somehow convince everyone it was a good book. Now, working as a developer, I credit that book with getting myself into game development and programming in general. This book was life-changing for me.

anderspitman 6y ago

I read a lot and have read very few books more than once. This is one of them.