6 ms·

Any recommendations for books on the history of computing from that period?

by dleink 3y ago

NegativeLatency 3y ago
Not Microsoft but an enjoyable account from that time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine
- tomcam 3y ago
  Agreed, that is a good portrait of what it was like
- hnthrowaway0328 3y ago
  Read it twice and really envy these guys! Nowadays there is far less such work and they almost all requre doctors.
- fuzztester 3y ago
  that was a good one, although they had a really intense time. "pinball"
tomcam 3y ago
Maybe “Fire in the Valley“? I learned to program in the mid-1980s and learned about the culture from dozens of magazines that were published contemporaneously. I didn’t live in Silicon Valley and thought I had pretty much missed the boat so I spent thousands a year in early 1990s dollars to keep up. Then I got to move to Redmond, Washington and actually live it. Working with people I had literally read about was every bit as good as I hoped.
fuzztester 3y ago
hackers: heroes of the computer revolution by Steven Levy. I think he also wrote some of the other well known books, maybe including fire in the valley. need to check. He is a journalist, so the book is sure to be embellished to sound good, but a cool read nonetheless, IMO.
- steven 3y ago
  No, I didn't write Fire in the Valley, but did write some other books. I appreciate that you felt Hackers was a cool read. But whether you believe me or not, the default for real journalists is NOT embellishing, but doing reporting to get to the nearest thing to truth. Not all writers do that (some "nonfiction" authors are frank about making up dialogue, and even moving the timeline) but to me and the vast majority of my peers, nonfiction means just that.
- tomcam 3y ago
  Dead to rights. Much of the dialogue sounds like Steven Levy.
NegativeLatency 3y ago
Byte magazine is also a really interesting read: https://archive.org/details/BYTE-MAGAZINE-COMPLETE https://archive.org/details/BYTE-MAGAZINE-COMPLETE
jtbetz22 3y ago
Brian Kernighan's "Unix: A History and a Memoir" is an excellent read on the computer systems achievements of the labs through the eyes of someone who was at the center of it all.

Any recommendations for books on the history of computing from that period?

by dleink 3y ago

Any recommendations for books on the history of computing from that period?

Not Microsoft but an enjoyable account from that time: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine

tomcam 3y ago
Agreed, that is a good portrait of what it was like
hnthrowaway0328 3y ago
Read it twice and really envy these guys! Nowadays there is far less such work and they almost all requre doctors.
fuzztester 3y ago
that was a good one, although they had a really intense time. "pinball"

tomcam 3y ago

Maybe “Fire in the Valley“? I learned to program in the mid-1980s and learned about the culture from dozens of magazines that were published contemporaneously. I didn’t live in Silicon Valley and thought I had pretty much missed the boat so I spent thousands a year in early 1990s dollars to keep up. Then I got to move to Redmond, Washington and actually live it. Working with people I had literally read about was every bit as good as I hoped.

fuzztester 3y ago

hackers: heroes of the computer revolution by Steven Levy. I think he also wrote some of the other well known books, maybe including fire in the valley. need to check. He is a journalist, so the book is sure to be embellished to sound good, but a cool read nonetheless, IMO.

steven 3y ago
No, I didn't write Fire in the Valley, but did write some other books. I appreciate that you felt Hackers was a cool read. But whether you believe me or not, the default for real journalists is NOT embellishing, but doing reporting to get to the nearest thing to truth. Not all writers do that (some "nonfiction" authors are frank about making up dialogue, and even moving the timeline) but to me and the vast majority of my peers, nonfiction means just that.
tomcam 3y ago
Dead to rights. Much of the dialogue sounds like Steven Levy.

NegativeLatency 3y ago

Byte magazine is also a really interesting read: https://archive.org/details/BYTE-MAGAZINE-COMPLETE https://archive.org/details/BYTE-MAGAZINE-COMPLETE

jtbetz22 3y ago

Brian Kernighan's "Unix: A History and a Memoir" is an excellent read on the computer systems achievements of the labs through the eyes of someone who was at the center of it all.