I had programming in school but kind of lost interest and studied political sciences instead.
When I tried to find a masters thesis idea I found a smallish book about simulating growth of early nation states by using computer simulation of various factors, e.g. internal cohesion as a function of time.
It was totally wild and fascinating at the same time. It did inspire my masters thesis and rekindled my interest in IT.
Quirky computing books
91–100 of 121 posts
Re: Quirky computing books
#92My list: - The Plenitude - Rich Gold Not a computing book with code but it taught me a lot about what can be done with computers, and that they are marvelous machines. - Architecture of Symbolic Computers - Kogge An ode to what could have been if RISC and x86 hadn't steamrolled the landscape. - Thinking Forth - Leo Brodie Forth is wild, this book is wild, it's really a different world. After multiple attempts over 25…
> All Mathematica Guidebooks - Michael Trott > Mathematica is wild, these books are wild, they are old but still oh so inspiring. Great recommendation. Are these so old? I skimmed through [1] and they seem still on print and relevant? What is other inspiring Mathematica literature? I have been considering Mathematica to cover some of the gaps Julia (and R or Python have). Particularly in the symbolics camp [2]. It's…
I should maybe have used another word. Mathematica has changed a lot (mostly by accruing functionality) that a lot of these examples seem old in the way they're written. The content is just as good as ever, and nothing beats fundamentals anyway.
Re: Quirky computing books
#93[deleted]
Re: Quirky computing books
#94The Microwriter is a one-handed portable digital word processor from 1978. It has an excellent 'New user's guide' that is easy-to-read and full of humour too.
The user guide is written as a conversation between the "author" and a cartoon picture of a key (button) with a face, arms and legs. The key represents the impatient and inquisitive user who can't wait to start using the device. It's worth remembering that most users where unfamiliar with computer jargon:
author> Don't worry: correcting is easy but first you must learn about COMMANDS.
cartoon key> Sounds a bit military!
---
Section title> Carriage-returns
cartoon key> Train going backwards?
author> No!
---
Microwriter New user's guide [PDF, 18mb] https://www.microsoft.com/buxtoncollection/a/pdf/Microwriter...
Aside: Bill Buxton, the computer scientist and designer, had this to say of the guide: "I think that the New User’s Guide is one of the best examples of technical writing that I have ever seen in a user’s manual. I love the parallel use of different representations to get the message across. I really appreciated it when I was learning, and think that the manual is worth studying for its approach."
Re: Quirky computing books
#95The Microwriter is a one-handed portable digital word processor from 1978. It has an excellent 'New user's guide' that is easy-to-read and full of humour too. The user guide is written as a conversation between the "author" and a cartoon picture of a key (button) with a face, arms and legs. The key represents the impatient and inquisitive user who can't wait to start using the device. It's worth remembering that most…
Bill Buxton tangent: http://billbuxton.com/inputManuscript.html is full of great stuff.
Re: Quirky computing books
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, LoL was an interesting experience. I could write shorter Python versions of most of the lisp code in the book, but it was an enjoyable introduction.
If I recall correctly, the common lisp community doesn't like nor recommend the book at all. I remember going through the first 6 chapters and often going on the CommonLisp channel on free node to ask questions and eventually found out it was either wrong or misleading in many of the fundamentals. I tried to keep going through it but eventually gave up and picked the much better practical common lisp.
Perhaps, but the the Common Lisp community doesn't like pretty much anything you can name.
Great language, toxic community.
Re: Quirky computing books
#97After going to college for journalism and graphic design in the early 90s, I decided to become a programmer, despite not having done it since I was in grade school (though, I was pretty hot shit on my TRS-80). My first book on the topic was, in retrospect, pretty crazy, but I've been a tech professional for 25+ years now, so it must have been useful. I'm speaking of The Cartoon Guide to Computers [1][2]. If there's a…
I came here to recommend Gonick - you beat me to it. I'll add that really ALL of his 'Cartoon' books are worth a read.
> I'll add that really ALL of his 'Cartoon' books are worth a read.
Definitely, or at least every one of them I've seen.
Re: Quirky computing books
#98Expert C Programming: Deep C Secrets https://www.amazon.com/Expert-Programming-Peter-van-Linden/d... Entertaining and informative. Highly recommended.
It was a brilliant book, but I feel it's too stuck in the early 90s to recommend today. It's a pity.
Strongly disagree; The book is still highly relevant today.
Just because there is more unnecessary cruft and complexity in today's systems and tools does not mean the fundamentals/techniques are invalidated.
Re: Quirky computing books
#99Elements of Programming by Alexander Stepanov and Paul McJones gives a very engaging introduction to applying basic abstract algebra to algorithm design. http://elementsofprogramming.com/
Related book by Stepanov and Rose : From Mathematics to Generic Programming.
Re: Quirky computing books
#100Earlier quoted context omitted.
If I recall correctly, the common lisp community doesn't like nor recommend the book at all. I remember going through the first 6 chapters and often going on the CommonLisp channel on free node to ask questions and eventually found out it was either wrong or misleading in many of the fundamentals. I tried to keep going through it but eventually gave up and picked the much better practical common lisp.
The book is good if you realize what it is -- it's a book by somebody relatively new to LISP who is excited by it and wants to share his enthusiasm with others. People who are more experienced LISP programmers may dislike it because the author has a rather idiosyncratic coding style that doesn't conform to accepted best practices in the LISP community.
It's been awhile since I've read it, but I seem to recall that Barski had been coding in Lisp for many years before publishing the book. Also keep in mind that many in the community seem to like the book and the exposure it gave to the language. I think the lisp alien is even the logo of the lisp subreddit.