Programming Fiction?
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Science Fiction can take a lot of somewhat less expected forms. Kurt Vonnegut's bucks aren't really SciFi, or are they? If you've read them you'd know about the Tralfamadorian concept of time. A thread of literary thought that runs through his books - has always run through his books and will always run through his books. The border between fiction and science fiction is rather vague - you will come to the place you want to be. Try to make sure it is like yourself and not like anyone else. Like food - you need to sample food from various chef's to get various tastes - but that's only to give you tools for your own recipes.
"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein
"If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
Science Fiction can take a lot of somewhat less expected forms. Kurt Vonnegut's bucks aren't really SciFi, or are they?
He written Sci-fi too. EPICAC (short story) - Wikipedia[^] by him is related to my question.
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
If you've read them you'd know about the Tralfamadorian concept of time. A thread of literary thought that runs through his books - has always run through his books and will always run through his books.
Haven't read any of his books yet. I'll. I'm a movie fan basically. Due to time constraint, I used to watch movies mostly instead of books(Prime, Netflix, youtube). Only recently, I have started reading more books. For writing, reading is more mandatory & necessary.
W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote:
The border between fiction and science fiction is rather vague - you will come to the place you want to be. Try to make sure it is like yourself and not like anyone else. Like food - you need to sample food from various chef's to get various tastes - but that's only to give you tools for your own recipes.
Strongly agree with what you're saying. :thumbsup:
thatraja
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Recent years, I have started reading more books(Thanks to ebooks). I'm looking for Fiction(Novel, Short story, Drabble, etc.,) related to Programming / IT / Computer / Hacking / Software. Any recommendations or past reads from you? Books or websites, anything fine. Please share. (Recently added few Cory Doctorow & Neal Stephenson's books in to wish list)
thatraja
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The old classics by James P. Hogan are holding up surprisingly well, such as the 25 year old Realtime Interrupt[^], or more than 40 years old (!) The Two Faces Of Tomorrow[^]. I still enjoy these books! Apparently I am not alone, considering that they are still in print. Another 40+ years old book that (contrary to the Hogan novels) never tried to be reliable, seen from a IT professional's point of view, is Thomas J. Ryan: The Adolescence Of P-1[^]. It is fun, but far more outdated than the Hogan books, and no longer in print; you must accept a used copy. If you come across it, read it just for fun - but I don't think it is worth going to extremes getting your own copy. (Rather, spend your money on Hogan!)
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The old classics by James P. Hogan are holding up surprisingly well, such as the 25 year old Realtime Interrupt[^], or more than 40 years old (!) The Two Faces Of Tomorrow[^]. I still enjoy these books! Apparently I am not alone, considering that they are still in print. Another 40+ years old book that (contrary to the Hogan novels) never tried to be reliable, seen from a IT professional's point of view, is Thomas J. Ryan: The Adolescence Of P-1[^]. It is fun, but far more outdated than the Hogan books, and no longer in print; you must accept a used copy. If you come across it, read it just for fun - but I don't think it is worth going to extremes getting your own copy. (Rather, spend your money on Hogan!)
trønderen wrote:
The old classics by James P. Hogan are holding up surprisingly well, such as the 25 year old Realtime Interrupt[^], or more than 40 years old (!) The Two Faces Of Tomorrow[^].
Nice picks, I'll add this to my list :thumbsup:
trønderen wrote:
Another 40+ years old book that (contrary to the Hogan novels) never tried to be reliable, seen from a IT professional's point of view, is Thomas J. Ryan: The Adolescence Of P-1[^]. It is fun, but far more outdated than the Hogan books, and no longer in print; you must accept a used copy. If you come across it, read it just for fun - but I don't think it is worth going to extremes getting your own copy. (Rather, spend your money on Hogan!)
Even used one comes with big $. Wish there's digital versions.
thatraja
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Recent years, I have started reading more books(Thanks to ebooks). I'm looking for Fiction(Novel, Short story, Drabble, etc.,) related to Programming / IT / Computer / Hacking / Software. Any recommendations or past reads from you? Books or websites, anything fine. Please share. (Recently added few Cory Doctorow & Neal Stephenson's books in to wish list)
thatraja
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You might like the Laundry File books by Charles Stross. The Atrocity Archive is the first in the series.
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Recent years, I have started reading more books(Thanks to ebooks). I'm looking for Fiction(Novel, Short story, Drabble, etc.,) related to Programming / IT / Computer / Hacking / Software. Any recommendations or past reads from you? Books or websites, anything fine. Please share. (Recently added few Cory Doctorow & Neal Stephenson's books in to wish list)
thatraja
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It's sci-fi and has coding as part of the story, an interesting form of coding - The Three Body Problem by Liu Cixin.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
I started this one and got bored to tears and dropped it. Does it get better later on in the book?
One vote against.
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Recent years, I have started reading more books(Thanks to ebooks). I'm looking for Fiction(Novel, Short story, Drabble, etc.,) related to Programming / IT / Computer / Hacking / Software. Any recommendations or past reads from you? Books or websites, anything fine. Please share. (Recently added few Cory Doctorow & Neal Stephenson's books in to wish list)
thatraja
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I Robot, (the original, not the chopped up version of the movie), if you can find it is great. It is a very old book. It started me reading Science Fiction when I was 8 years old. I am 71 now. In these days when people are programming robots, it talks about the pitfalls of applying programming logic to the real world.
Good read for all of us
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I started this one and got bored to tears and dropped it. Does it get better later on in the book?
One vote against.
I kind of know what you mean, the characters are very cold and it's hard to remain engaged at times. I found it was worth sticking with, I enjoyed reading it through to the end. I am someone who really likes character development in novels and my criticism is that there is no real character development, but the ideas in themselves kept me going. [Edit] the pace of the novel does pick up after a bit.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
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Recent years, I have started reading more books(Thanks to ebooks). I'm looking for Fiction(Novel, Short story, Drabble, etc.,) related to Programming / IT / Computer / Hacking / Software. Any recommendations or past reads from you? Books or websites, anything fine. Please share. (Recently added few Cory Doctorow & Neal Stephenson's books in to wish list)
thatraja
Coming soon1 | Coming soon2 | Coming soon3New
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Recent years, I have started reading more books(Thanks to ebooks). I'm looking for Fiction(Novel, Short story, Drabble, etc.,) related to Programming / IT / Computer / Hacking / Software. Any recommendations or past reads from you? Books or websites, anything fine. Please share. (Recently added few Cory Doctorow & Neal Stephenson's books in to wish list)
thatraja
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Tor has a list of 8 SF books that get programming right. 8 Science Fiction Books That Get Programming Right | Tor.com[^] Some authors have played with the similarity of programming and the use of magic, where the slightest syntax error or vague specifications can have unintended and disastrous consequences. The Monkey's Paw trope is an example of that.
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Recent years, I have started reading more books(Thanks to ebooks). I'm looking for Fiction(Novel, Short story, Drabble, etc.,) related to Programming / IT / Computer / Hacking / Software. Any recommendations or past reads from you? Books or websites, anything fine. Please share. (Recently added few Cory Doctorow & Neal Stephenson's books in to wish list)
thatraja
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Read some Greg Egan. I can recommend Permutation City, Distress, Teranesia, and most of all, Diaspora, which, for any programmer, is nothing short of stunning.
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Recent years, I have started reading more books(Thanks to ebooks). I'm looking for Fiction(Novel, Short story, Drabble, etc.,) related to Programming / IT / Computer / Hacking / Software. Any recommendations or past reads from you? Books or websites, anything fine. Please share. (Recently added few Cory Doctorow & Neal Stephenson's books in to wish list)
thatraja
Coming soon1 | Coming soon2 | Coming soon3New
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Recent years, I have started reading more books(Thanks to ebooks). I'm looking for Fiction(Novel, Short story, Drabble, etc.,) related to Programming / IT / Computer / Hacking / Software. Any recommendations or past reads from you? Books or websites, anything fine. Please share. (Recently added few Cory Doctorow & Neal Stephenson's books in to wish list)
thatraja
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[The Cuckoo's Egg](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The\_Cuckoo's\_Egg\_(book)) is technically non-fiction, but it sure reads like fiction.
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Recent years, I have started reading more books(Thanks to ebooks). I'm looking for Fiction(Novel, Short story, Drabble, etc.,) related to Programming / IT / Computer / Hacking / Software. Any recommendations or past reads from you? Books or websites, anything fine. Please share. (Recently added few Cory Doctorow & Neal Stephenson's books in to wish list)
thatraja
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If I'm in the mood, I reach for some Neal Stephenson, so that's a very good start. Not specifically programming as such, but very engineering/tech based. Snow Crash (below) is described as "like many of Stephenson's novels, it covers history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics and philosophy." My personal favourites: * Interface * Diamond Age * Cryptonomicon * Snow Crash
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You might like the Laundry File books by Charles Stross. The Atrocity Archive is the first in the series.
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I Robot, (the original, not the chopped up version of the movie), if you can find it is great. It is a very old book. It started me reading Science Fiction when I was 8 years old. I am 71 now. In these days when people are programming robots, it talks about the pitfalls of applying programming logic to the real world.
Good read for all of us
Agree that most movies chopping up source material. I saw the movie. I'll include this to my list(Though started reading Asimov short stories already).
thatraja
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Tor has a list of 8 SF books that get programming right. 8 Science Fiction Books That Get Programming Right | Tor.com[^] Some authors have played with the similarity of programming and the use of magic, where the slightest syntax error or vague specifications can have unintended and disastrous consequences. The Monkey's Paw trope is an example of that.
Even I found this page recently, useful one :thumbsup:
thatraja
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Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a computer as a pretty important character. Comedy, not science fiction though, if that matters.
agolddog wrote:
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a computer as a pretty important character. Comedy, not science fiction though, if that matters.
As long as related to computers, it's a tick. :thumbsup: I heard about the series already.
thatraja
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Read some Greg Egan. I can recommend Permutation City, Distress, Teranesia, and most of all, Diaspora, which, for any programmer, is nothing short of stunning.
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Yeah, found this series recently, looks good!:thumbsup:
thatraja
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