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I've probably said this before, but I was a computer engineer in Texas in the 80s and this show captures that culture perfectly.* I first learned "Halt and Catc

I've probably said this before, but I was a computer engineer in Texas in the 80s and this show captures that culture perfectly.* I first learned "Halt and Catch Fire" as an obscure illegal instruction on the 6800 processor that would lock it up. When I heard about this show my first reaction was "How dare they title a show with a meme from an obscure part of my hindbrain! Guess I can't use that for a password any more." *Well almost perfectly. I don't remember many engineers or coders being as attractive as the actors on this show.

jorvi 6y ago
> *Well almost perfectly. I don't remember many engineers or coders being as attractive as the actors on this show. This always amuses me about American-produced shows. Even the guy cast as 'background hobo #2' is a handsome person with token dirt and ragged clothes applied.
- scandox 6y ago
  This was always true for female actors, but up to about the late 1970s male actors - even leading ones - could have any kind of head on them ... Some wonderfully charismatic ugliness going on. I think the pendulum will swing back eventually. I hope.
- prepend 6y ago
  I worked for a startup and we had a programming intern in my shop who was a new mom who wanted to learn programming. She was also an ex model from Denmark or Belgium or somewhere. She was really pretty, prettier than the actors on Halt and Catch Fire, and got a ton of attention from the rest of the programmers who were almost all typical programmers. [0] She was doing well as a programmer when the company folded. Other than this one programmer, I’ve never seen any programmers or product managers or engineers as attractive as in this show. [0] “In a book called Computer Power and Human Reason, a professor of computer science at MIT named Joseph Weizenbaum writes of a malady he calls “the compulsion to program.” He describes the afflicted as “bright young men of disheveled appearance, often with sunken, glowing eyes,” who play out “megalomaniacal fantasies of omnipotence” at computer consoles; they sit at their machines, he writes, “their arms tensed and waiting to fire their fingers, already poised to strike, at the buttons and keys on which their attention seems to be as riveted as a gambler’s on the rolling dice.” ― Tracy Kidder, The Soul of a New Machine -
acomjean 6y ago
I love some of the old programmer stories. There is an in frequently updated Apple // podcast which can be kinda fun, which talks to some of the programmer from the time. https://appletimewarp.libsyn.com/ https://appletimewarp.libsyn.com/
herodoturtle 6y ago
Some of my favorite comments on HN are when old school programmers like you share old school stories from the trenches. Love it.
mindcrime 6y ago
Well almost perfectly. I don't remember many engineers or coders being as attractive as the actors on this show. I've only been working in this field since about 1997 or so, so I can't speak to what things were like in the 80's. But I can say that I've seen more than a few software engineer / programmer types who were very attractive, or could be if they chose to dress / style themselves so as to play up that aspect. Not sure if my perception is just "off" or if there was a point in time where this changed. Or maybe it's a geographic thing - I'm on the East Coast (NC specifically). Still, the old stereotype of the unwashed, nacho and crumbs covered shirt, neckbearded, basement dwelling programmer guy does linger...

jorvi 6y ago

> *Well almost perfectly. I don't remember many engineers or coders being as attractive as the actors on this show. This always amuses me about American-produced shows. Even the guy cast as 'background hobo #2' is a handsome person with token dirt and ragged clothes applied.

scandox 6y ago
This was always true for female actors, but up to about the late 1970s male actors - even leading ones - could have any kind of head on them ... Some wonderfully charismatic ugliness going on. I think the pendulum will swing back eventually. I hope.
prepend 6y ago
I worked for a startup and we had a programming intern in my shop who was a new mom who wanted to learn programming. She was also an ex model from Denmark or Belgium or somewhere. She was really pretty, prettier than the actors on Halt and Catch Fire, and got a ton of attention from the rest of the programmers who were almost all typical programmers. [0] She was doing well as a programmer when the company folded. Other than this one programmer, I’ve never seen any programmers or product managers or engineers as attractive as in this show. [0] “In a book called Computer Power and Human Reason, a professor of computer science at MIT named Joseph Weizenbaum writes of a malady he calls “the compulsion to program.” He describes the afflicted as “bright young men of disheveled appearance, often with sunken, glowing eyes,” who play out “megalomaniacal fantasies of omnipotence” at computer consoles; they sit at their machines, he writes, “their arms tensed and waiting to fire their fingers, already poised to strike, at the buttons and keys on which their attention seems to be as riveted as a gambler’s on the rolling dice.” ― Tracy Kidder, The Soul of a New Machine -

acomjean 6y ago

I love some of the old programmer stories. There is an in frequently updated Apple // podcast which can be kinda fun, which talks to some of the programmer from the time. https://appletimewarp.libsyn.com/ https://appletimewarp.libsyn.com/

herodoturtle 6y ago

Some of my favorite comments on HN are when old school programmers like you share old school stories from the trenches. Love it.

mindcrime 6y ago

Well almost perfectly. I don't remember many engineers or coders being as attractive as the actors on this show. I've only been working in this field since about 1997 or so, so I can't speak to what things were like in the 80's. But I can say that I've seen more than a few software engineer / programmer types who were very attractive, or could be if they chose to dress / style themselves so as to play up that aspect. Not sure if my perception is just "off" or if there was a point in time where this changed. Or maybe it's a geographic thing - I'm on the East Coast (NC specifically). Still, the old stereotype of the unwashed, nacho and crumbs covered shirt, neckbearded, basement dwelling programmer guy does linger...