Go To The Story Of The Math Majors, Bridge Players, Engineers, Chess Wizards, Scientists And Iconoclasts Who Were The Hero Programmers Of The Software Revolution - Hardcover

Lohr, Steve

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465042252 ISBN 13: 9780465042258

Publisher: Basic Books, 2001

Synopsis

In the 1950s, just before John Backus's team developed the Fortran language that revolutionized the first generation of programming, it took dozens of full-time programmers and operators to run and debug each of the era's room-sized computers. Today, languages like HTML are simple enough that anyone who knows it can set up a personal Web page, using a laptop that has many times the power of those early giant computers.In Go To, Steve Lohr chronicles the history of software from the early days of complex mathematical codes mastered by a few thousand to today's era of user-friendly software and over six million professional programmers worldwide. Lohr maps out the unique seductions of programming, and gives us an intimate portrait of the peculiar kind of genius that is drawn to this unique blend of art, science, and engineering. We meet the movers and shakers of every era from the 1950s to the open-source movement of today-iconoclasts such as Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie, the Bell Labs engineers whose Unix operating system and C programming language loosened the grip of IBM; Charles Simonyi, the father of Word, the most popular software application; and James Gosling, the creative force behind Java, the leading programming language for the Internet.With original reporting and deft storytelling, Steve Lohr shows us how software transformed the world, and what it holds in store for our future. "They took anyone who seemed to have an aptitude for problem-solving skills-bridge players, chess players, even women."-Lois Haibt, a member of IBM's original Fortran team"It's like building something where you don't have to order the cement.... You can create a world of your own, your own environment, and never leave the room."-Ken Thompson, creator of the Unix operating system"BASIC was an open city, Shanghai a hundred years ago. There were no laws."-Alan Cooper, the "father" of Visual Basic"There is an odd and obsessive side to it. The people who are best at it are the kind of people who are intellectually drawn to something like it's magnetic, sucked into it, and they don't know why."-James Gosling, creator of the Java programming language"Not being able to program is going to be like not being able to drive-lacking a fundamental skill in our society."-Brian Behlendorf, a leading figure in the open-source software movement

About this title

Review:

Exploring the strange and hazy days before nerds ruled the earth, tech writer Steve Lohr's Go To is a great introduction to the softer side of the information age. Sure, he covers the Microsoft and Apple stories, but he also digs deeply to learn how Fortran and Cobol were developed and ventures into the open-source world. Lohr is adept at personalizing the process of software development, which serves to make some of the business and technical decisions more comprehensible to the lay reader.

IBM conducted yearly employee reviews called the "Performance Improvement Program," or Pip, for short. The Pip, like most such programs today, followed a rigid formula, with numbers and rankings. [John] Backus decided the Pip system was ill-suited for measuring the performance of his programmers, so his approach was to mostly ignore it. One afternoon, for example, he called Lois Haibt over for a chat. He talked about her work, said she had been doing an excellent job and then pushed a small piece of paper across the desk saying, "This is your new salary," a pleasing raise, as Haibt recalled. As she got up to leave, Backus mentioned in passing, "In case anyone should ask, this was your Pip."

Since he starts early in the history of the field, Lohr gets to share some of the oddities of the days before programming was professionalized. Developers were kids, musicians, game experts, and practically anyone who showed an interest. Many readers will be surprised and delighted to read of the strong recruitment of women and their many contributions to software development--an aspect of geek history that has long been neglected. Go To should break down a few preconceptions while building up a new respect for the coders who guided us into the 21st century. --Rob Lightner

About the Author:

Steve Lohr is senior writer and technology correspondent for the New York Times, and is co-author of U.S. vs. Microsoft. He lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0465042252
• ISBN 13: 9780465042258
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264