[Phpwm] (Computer Science) Reading Material

[Paul Cooper]

----- pete graham <petegraham1 at gmail.com> wrote:
[snip]
> Either way I have decided that I am going to read more "tech" books,
> can any of you guys suggest some that I might enjoy?

I can recommend 'Newtonian Casino' by Thomas Bass - it's not exactly about programming but more about 'hacking' in the hardware + software + science sense. It's about a bunch of science students in the 80s who decided to beat the casinos with computers in their shoes (and along the way invented new discipline of statistical physics). I think I've read it 3 or 4 times over the years.

Like sparkes, I can highly recommend the Cuckoos Egg (although Stoll it seems has turned into a neo luddite), and Hackers by Steven Levy. Like Elliot I'd also recommend 'Accidental Empires' by Cringley, and even though it's not a tech book 'The Journey is the reward' by Jeff Young gives a good insight to the early PC industry and Steve Jobs in particular (although it's probably out of date now, since it was written shortly after the end of his Steveness first stint at Apple).

Again, less of a tech book, but fascinating none the less, and in honour of his recent resignation, 'The plot to get Bill Gates' by Rivlin is a fascinating insight into the egos of many of the so called leaders in IT.

There's also a classic about the development of the PDP, but I can't remember the name. Also Joel Spolsky's collection of (other writers) essays of software development.

Paul

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