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Quirky computing books

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Re: Quirky computing books

#11
post #4

My favorite quirky computing book was something I found in the library by chance at my university when I should've been attending a Principles of Programming Languages course. We'd been learning Prolog in class for the past two weeks but I'm terrible at learning from lectures, so eventually I decided it'd be a better use of my time to locate a book I could teach myself from rather than doodling in class. IIRC it hadn…

There is an "adventures in prolog" book with a squirrel on the cover iirc.

The book revolves around teaching prolog by showing you how to make text adventure games. It is pretty neat.

Re: Quirky computing books

#14
post #8

I think one of the first "quirky" computer books I can remember is a user manual for the Epson MX-80 dot matrix printer from the 1980s. It was written in a much more relaxed, personable style than almost any other computer books of the time. https://www.apple.asimov.net/documentation/hardware/printers...

The page isn’t loading right now for me.

But if it’s the same manual I had for that same printer, it was hysterical. For example at one point they showed how to generate arbitrary graphics for the 7 (I think) pin head by encoding as binary. Then just before the next section the manual said something like “now before you run off to forge a copy of the Mona Lisa…”

Re: Quirky computing books

#17
post #9
post #4

My favorite quirky computing book was something I found in the library by chance at my university when I should've been attending a Principles of Programming Languages course. We'd been learning Prolog in class for the past two weeks but I'm terrible at learning from lectures, so eventually I decided it'd be a better use of my time to locate a book I could teach myself from rather than doodling in class. IIRC it hadn…

Have you checked Libgen sorted by year[0]. There are several Prolog books from the 80s. Maybe the one you looking for is there. [0] http://libgen.is/search.php?&req=Prolog&phrase=1&view=simple...

I couldn't find any title that stood out as a likely candidate.

But I did come across this gem which I'm browsing now lol: "Prolog Versus You: An Introduction to Logic Programming"

Re: Quirky computing books

#18
post #8

I think one of the first "quirky" computer books I can remember is a user manual for the Epson MX-80 dot matrix printer from the 1980s. It was written in a much more relaxed, personable style than almost any other computer books of the time. https://www.apple.asimov.net/documentation/hardware/printers...

The page isn’t loading right now for me. But if it’s the same manual I had for that same printer, it was hysterical. For example at one point they showed how to generate arbitrary graphics for the 7 (I think) pin head by encoding as binary. Then just before the next section the manual said something like “now before you run off to forge a copy of the Mona Lisa…”

That's the one. It was full of those fun little notes. A nice balance of humor without going over the top. Helped me figure out how to use all of the features of the printer.

Re: Quirky computing books

#19
It's not as high-minded as the examples in the link, but as a kid I really enjoyed Woody Leonhard's "Mother of All..." books about Windows (the 3.1 and 95 ones, specifically).

Woody introduced a series of characters, each with their own personality & level of familiarity with Windows itself, then used them in asides to explain things. The great thing about those books (and something I seldom see anymore) is that they were really great about riding the line between 'the power button is the button you press to turn the computer on' and 'the A20 gate defines when low memory etc. etc. etc.'

Having the characters gave a great way to get super-deep into minutiae but let the reader know they could skip if it didn't interest them, plus their interactions with each other were really fun.

Also, and I'm sure most people know him already, I always really loved how David Pogue would put weird little stories or dialog in the examples he'd give when demonstrating a program. Like I think Macs for Dummies had a bit where his Word examples had a really flowery story about a guy riding a rollercoaster or something. Really influenced me, whenever I create a demo UI or example page I try not to use boring "This is example text" or "Lorem ipsum."

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