Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?

#11

Post by TruffleLabs » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 8:30 PM UTC

The Computer History Museum has lots of history on line https://computerhistory.org/

Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?

#12

Post by arman_ashrafian » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 8:32 PM UTC

monk_the_dog wrote: post #10

Two lesser known books that I enjoyed: 1) "Colossus: The secrets of Bletchley Park's code-breaking computers", and 2) "The Dream Machine: J.C.R. Licklider and the Revolution That Made Computing Personal". One thing I learned from the "Colossus" book was the contribution of British engineers to early computers (Tommy Flowers in particular). They didn't get the credit they deserved because their work was kept secret fo…

The Dream Machine might be my favorite book of all time.

Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?

#13

Post by joaomacp » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 8:33 PM UTC

djhworld wrote: post #8

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution ~ Steven Levy The Soul of a New Machine - Tracy Kidder

+1 on "The Soul of a New Machine": it's one of the most mentioned computer history books, and inspired the great "Halt and Catch Fire" TV series.

Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?

#14

Post by kratom_sandwich » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 8:38 PM UTC

Haven't read them, but they are on my to-do-list:

"Turing's Cathedral" https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/25/turings-cathed...

"The Innovators" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovators_(book)

Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?

#15

Post by racl101 » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 8:41 PM UTC

https://www.folklore.org/

has pretty good yarns about the people who worked on the original Macintosh.

Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?

#16

Post by SaxonRobber » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 8:43 PM UTC

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software

One of my favorite books, it covers everything from braille to microprocessors. A great book for anyone interested in technology.

Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?

#17

Post by drej » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 8:48 PM UTC

Code is excellent, Innovators are immersive, the Code Book is brilliant, albeit less about computer history and more about cryptography in general (all books by simon Singh are super interesting).

Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?

#18

Post by gallego2007 » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 8:49 PM UTC

djhworld wrote: post #8

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution ~ Steven Levy The Soul of a New Machine - Tracy Kidder

The Soul of a New Machine is a great read! Highly recommended.

Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?

#19

Post by Impossible » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 8:50 PM UTC

Racing the Beam https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/racing-beam Wolfenstein Black Book http://fabiensanglard.net/gebbwolf3d/ Doom Black Book http://fabiensanglard.net/gebbdoom/

Platform studies book series in general cover a lot of this https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/series/platform-studies.

Re: Ask HN: Computer Science/History Books?

#20

Post by CiscoCodex » Fri, Mar 27, 2020, 8:51 PM UTC

kratom_sandwich wrote: post #14

Haven't read them, but they are on my to-do-list: "Turing's Cathedral" https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/mar/25/turings-cathed... "The Innovators" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Innovators_(book)

I'm still working thru "The Innovators"! and so far it has been a delight. One of the main points of the book was the importance of teamwork. It's a great take on the idea that in the shadow of great figures, like Steve Jobs and IBM, lie hundreds of lesser known innovators.