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: Amazon.ca: Steve Lohr: Books

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Book Description

Publication Date: Oct 17 2001

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

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Product Details

Hardcover: 264 pages
Publisher: Basic Books; New edition edition (Oct 17 2001)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0465042252
ISBN-13: 978-0465042258
Product Dimensions: 2.3 x 15.6 x 23.6 cm
Shipping Weight: 544 g

Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (18 customer reviews)

Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #888,373 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

From Amazon

Exploring the strange and hazy days before nerds ruled the earth, tech writer Steve Lohr's Go To: The Story of the Math Majors, Bridge Players, Engineers, Chess Wizards, Maverick Scientists and Iconoclasts--The Programmers Who Created the Software Revolution 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 personalising 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 professionalised. 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, which 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

From Publishers Weekly

About a year too late to take advantage of public hunger for behind-the-scenes computer biz accounts, New York Times technology correspondent Lohr's learned narrative never quite engages the reader. A series of portraits describes the unique band of outsiders who commanded the lumbering, room-sized computers of the postwar era. These men played a headache-inducing game called "blind chess," built their own stereos and could detect a computer malfunction by sound. The book kicks off in the 1950s at IBM, where several of these visionaries were trying to make the company's computers more efficient. Men like John Backus (one is tempted to call him the Henry Ford of programming) created the Fortran assembly language to automate and make the programming process more efficient. With increased business interest in computers in the late 1950s, John McCarthy, who cofounded MIT's artificial intelligence lab in 1959, initiated Cobol, or Common Business Oriented Language, to allow people to program using English. After the 1960s, software started getting more headlines from an industry and a press that previously only cared about new and faster hardware. By the 1980s, companies like Microsoft were creating business empires out of programming. For a book that claims to tell the story of the software revolution's instigators, it's frustratingly short on characterization. There's the occasional flourish, like the description of Charles Simonyi who did groundbreaking work at Xerox's PARC research facility and essentially created Microsoft Word showing up for debugging sessions in a special "debugging outfit": a black net shirt and translucent skin-tight black pants. But this account of reputed fringe visionaries lacks flash and loopiness. National author tour.

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4.0 out of 5 stars README Feb 13 2004

By Nathan Moore

Format:Paperback

This book could have been better edited and better organized, but it is still worth reading. "GO TO" (which probably should have been called "goto" or "GOTO") covers the history of computing, touching on several of the famous legends. It even tells of the work some of them did pryor to becoming legends. All computer scientists, computer engineers, and sys-admins should have a good understanding of the history of computing and this book is a good place to get it. This book should prove informative and enjoyable to any one else, especially people interested in history.

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5.0 out of 5 stars engaging history of a difficult but important subject Dec 22 2003

By Gaunilon

Format:Paperback

This book ranks among the best in the history of technology and one of the few that specifically addresses software. Most other histories of technology or computing center on hardware, with some even focusing on a single computer such as the Eniac, the Difference Engine or Apple. But recognize that hardware commoditizes over time, while good software largely holds its value. Software creates fortunes but also deeply felt-opinions about quality, and as Lohr demonstrates, a constant stream of innovation. The book showcases the creators of breakthrough operating systems and applications, and makes clear their contributions to the rise of the computer industry. It is worthwhile for readers following technology, business, current events and even law and philosophy- the concepts have indeed become major disruptions in the history of ideas.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Don't be so harsh! Nov 22 2003

By Etienne Boucher

Format:Paperback

This book isn't aimed specifically at experienced programmers, but rather at the general public. My mom could read it. That doesn't even mean it's a bad book if you are a programmer. It's an amazing software-history crash course and a must for younger programmers. The emphasis is on the people and concepts, not on technicalities. This is why I disagree with the other reviewer who suggested "The Design and Evolution of C++" instead of this book. While Stroustrup's document is also a must for any serious programmer, it only covers the history of C++, and his motivations for particular features of the language. GOTO on the other hand gives a birds-eye view of software and software development from the ENIAC to open-source Linux in a simple and concise way.

I found the writing to be good and funny, making it an enjoyable read. Quotes are used very well and the information that each page is full of is well layed out on the length of the book. The author stays objective and doesn't impose you his opinion as some of the more "controversial" topics are often revisited from different perspectives, giving you the chance to make your own mind.

An enjoyable and instructive book.

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