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The inspiration for this book, ‘Programmers at Work’, from 1986, is also a gem: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2092681 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show

by jrmg 3y ago

The inspiration for this book, ‘Programmers at Work’, from 1986, is also a gem: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2092681 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2092681 It contains interviews with 19 prominent programmers from that era - some of who you’ll definitely recognize. I remember particularly enjoying the Tori Iwatani one - he’s the creator of PacMan. The full list: Charles Simonyi, Butler Lampson, John Warnock, Gary Kildall, Bill Gates, John Page, Wayne Ratliff, Dan Bricklin, Bob Frankston, Jonathan Sachs, Ray Ozzie, Peter Roizen, Bob Carr, Jef Raskin, Andy Hertzfeld, Scott Kim, Jaron Janier, Michael Hawley

jrmg 3y ago
[Replying to myself] I read this ages ago and thought it might be a rare book - but it looks like used copies are still available really cheaply. Not sure if the second edition had updates - looks like it’s from 1989. Anyway, I highly recommend picking up a copy. https://www.alibris.com/Programmers-at-Work-Interviews-Susan-M-Lammers/book/5406823 https://www.alibris.com/Programmers-at-Work-Interviews-Susan... https://www.alibris.com/Programmers-at-Work-Interviews-with-19-Programmers-Who-Shaped-the-Computer-Industry-Susan-Lammers/book/5406824 https://www.alibris.com/Programmers-at-Work-Interviews-with-...
harshreality 3y ago
It's also on $evilpiratelibrarysite Aside from two readable but not great scans of the two different editions (1986, 1989), with appendices, there's also one version with interviews only that's not scanned, seemingly ripped from Lammers' self-published blog, which is still up but now only has about half the interviews. She probably published all of the interviews there at one point (or else someone reconstructed the missing interviews from the scans while copy/pasting the ones she republished). https://programmersatwork.wordpress.com/ https://programmersatwork.wordpress.com/
ralphc 3y ago
I own both, currently reading some chapters from Coders at Work. The interviews in Coders still seem relevant today, but Programmers at Work just seem to be all imperative C code with Hungarian notation, not as relevant to a modern programmer.

by jrmg 3y ago

jrmg 3y ago

[Replying to myself] I read this ages ago and thought it might be a rare book - but it looks like used copies are still available really cheaply. Not sure if the second edition had updates - looks like it’s from 1989. Anyway, I highly recommend picking up a copy. https://www.alibris.com/Programmers-at-Work-Interviews-Susan-M-Lammers/book/5406823 https://www.alibris.com/Programmers-at-Work-Interviews-Susan... https://www.alibris.com/Programmers-at-Work-Interviews-with-19-Programmers-Who-Shaped-the-Computer-Industry-Susan-Lammers/book/5406824 https://www.alibris.com/Programmers-at-Work-Interviews-with-...

harshreality 3y ago

It's also on $evilpiratelibrarysite Aside from two readable but not great scans of the two different editions (1986, 1989), with appendices, there's also one version with interviews only that's not scanned, seemingly ripped from Lammers' self-published blog, which is still up but now only has about half the interviews. She probably published all of the interviews there at one point (or else someone reconstructed the missing interviews from the scans while copy/pasting the ones she republished). https://programmersatwork.wordpress.com/ https://programmersatwork.wordpress.com/

ralphc 3y ago

I own both, currently reading some chapters from Coders at Work. The interviews in Coders still seem relevant today, but Programmers at Work just seem to be all imperative C code with Hungarian notation, not as relevant to a modern programmer.