Computing History Reading

In the Beginning… was the Command Line – Neal Stephenson

I don’t see this book referenced much, but it introduced me to a central paradox to modern computing. Everything is built upon layers of abstraction. Those layers change how we interact with computers and often make the experience more user friendly. But we give something up each time we add a layer. We lose some power and connection with what is really happening. This book was originally written in 1999, so obviously the landscape has changed a bit. Windows has assimilated most of the things that Linux did better at that time.

AI is adding more and more layers of abstraction on top of already abstracted computing. There are fewer and fewer people who actually understand how things really work. Start with this book to peer back in into computing time. If you want to dig a bit deeper and understand how all this computing actually works, check out the free course at https://www.nand2tetris.org/ where you can go from a nand gate to a fully functioning computer playing Tetris.
Free as in freedom – Richard Stallman

There was a time when nerds were nerds, not jacked extreme athletes ruling the world. Richard Stallman personifies this era for me. He was about as real as it gets. He would come give a talk in exchange for sleeping on someone’s couch and hot tea. There will always be debate about how open software should be. It is safe to say it is a lot more open today because of the work of Stallman.
Just for Fun – Linus Torvalds

An account of how one man’s work started a movement to build an operating system that changed the world. The potential that computers offer to allow one person to harness so much power has always been alluring to me. Most people never take full advantage of that. Linus did.
Idea Man – Paul Allen

Includes great history on early Microsoft as well as other ventures in Allen’s life. I loved reading about the details of the technical work Allen and Gates did together to build early Microsoft.
The Mythical Man-Month – Fred Brooks

Originally published in 1975, this was a classic already when I read it. Learn why adding people to a project can make it take longer to finish. This was written long before agile methodologies can to popularity. It is still worth reading in my opinion. One for the history lesson and two to better understand project management overall.