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[[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Smith_(author) | Andrew Smith 1961 ]] may be a nice guy in person, but after 60 pages of snarky ranting about software and some of the people who write it, I gave up. I have other things to read. [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Smith_(author) | Andrew Smith 1961 ]]
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The non-programmer British journalist decides to learn Python, and goes to [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Python_Conference | Pycon ]], where he critiques most and finds a few to praise. What purpose does this serve? My first glance at this book was off-putting - I somehow got the idea that the author thought perjoratively about programmers and technologists. The book is actually a journalist making a deep and sincere dive into software, the communities of people who create and maintain it, and how they think about it.
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Life is short, and I can find more value in other, shorter, ''nicer'' books.  .pXI Prologue, 2013 and [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin | Bitcoin ]] , [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satoshi_Nakamoto | pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto ]]
 .pXI [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Back | Adam Back ]] cryptographer, cyberpunk, [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashcash | Hashcash ]]
 .pXIII Bitcoin uses C++
 .pXIV Bitcoin [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exegesis | exegesis: ]] Satoshi not C++ native, learned to code in 1980s, mixed US/British spellings
 .pXV Russian(s)? [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladislav_Surkov | Vladislav Surkov? ]] [[ https://web.archive.org/web/20200531053057/https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v33/n20/peter-pomerantsev/putin-s-rasputin | Putin’s Rasputin ]][[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflexive_control | reflexive control ]]
 .pXVII [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demimonde | demimonde ]] [[ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/deranged | deranging ]][[ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/febrile | febrile ]]
 .pXXVIII TV shows [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Valley_(TV_series) | Silicon Valley ]][[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Robot | Mr. Robot ]][[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Doll_(TV_series) | Russian Doll ]] [[ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/10Xer | 10Xer ]] 5% women 3% black
 .pXXVIII Facebook [[ https://systemicjustice.org/article/facebook-and-genocide-how-facebook-contributed-to-genocide-in-myanmar-and-why-it-will-not-be-held-accountable/ | Myanmar genocide ]][[ https://www.npr.org/2021/10/23/1048746697/facebook-misinformation-india | India ]][[ https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/5/13/sri-lanka-facebook-apologises-for-role-in-2018-anti-muslim-riots | Sri Lanka ]]
 .p001 1700 to 9000 programming languages
 .p002 [[ https://www.freecodecamp.org/ | freeCodeCamp ]] 2014 [[ https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/author/quincy/ | Quincy Larson ]]
 .p002 trio of web languages: [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML | HTML ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CSS | CSS ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript | JavaScript ]]
 .p003 shift-devil: dash that should have been underscore
 .p004 [[ https://www.freecodecamp.org/ | fCC freeCodeCamp ]] [[ https://www.w3schools.com/ | W3Schools ]]
 .p005 Pascal case [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camel_case | Camel case ]]
 .p005 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_ipsum | lorem ipsum ]]
 .p007 programming is never easy ... accept that feeling -- of being constantly wrong and not knowing
 .p008 ... exposes me as probably no smarter than an economist.
 .p011 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Weinberg | Gerald Weinberg ]] [[ https://geraldmweinberg.com/Site/Programming_Psychology.html | The Psychology of Computer Programming ]]
 .p014 [[ https://www.python.org/psf-landing/ | Python Software Foundation ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guido_van_Rossum | Guido van Rossum ]]
 .p016 Bloomberg essay [[ https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-paul-ford-what-is-code/ | What is code? ]]
 .p018 [[ https://ntoll.org/about/ | Nicholas Tollervey ]] Don't let anyone tell you code is not political
 .p018 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zen_of_Python | Zen of Python ]]
 .p019 There should be one - and preferably only one - obvious way to do it. Although that way may not be obvious at first unless you're Dutch.
  .compare Larry Wall's [[ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/TMTOWTDI#English | TIMTOWTDI ]] for [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perl | Perl ]]
 .p021 Young travelmate Alex, maintains websites using the [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Django_(web_framework) | Django ]] web framework (like MoinMoin, coded in Python)
 .p022 Author's new home in Marin, where crimes are [[ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/harsh_one%27s_mellow#:~:text=(transitive%2C%20slang)%20To%20spoil,mood%20or%20to%20annoy%20one. | harshing a mellow ]] without a license, and gluten smuggling
 .p022 [[ https://ecstaticdance.org/ | ecstatic dance group ]] ... [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sensei | sensei ]]
 .[[ https://us.pycon.org/2019/ | Pycon in Cleveland ]]
 .p023 [[ http://www.hosho.io/ | Hosho! ]][[ https://zulip.com/ | Zulip!]] [[ https://www.tivix.com/ | Tivix!]] [[ https://www.vonage.com/communications-apis/ | Nexmo!]]
 .p25 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naomi_Ceder | Naomi Ceder ]]
 .p27 [[ https://www.recurse.com/ | Recurse center in Brooklyn ]], phrase "well actually" banned
 .p27 San Quentin [[ https://thelastmile.org/ | The Last Mile ]]
 .p28 [[ https://ehmatthes.com/ | Eric Matthes ]][[ https://catalog.wccls.org/polaris/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.6&pos=3&cn=4160387 | Python Crash Course ]]
 .p28 [[ https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/bikeshedding | Bikeshedding ]]
 .p28 [[ https://thedecisionlab.com/biases/bikeshedding | bike shedding ]] [[ https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/yak_shaving | yak shaving ]]
 .p30 [[ https://pyladies.com/ | PyLadies ]]
 .p36 [[ https://roguelynn.com/about/ | Lynn Root ]] painting charity-auctioned for $16, $32, $64 ... $512 ... $1410!
 .p38 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsger_W._Dijkstra | Edsger Dijkstra ]] [[ https://archive.org/details/selectedwritings0000dijk | Selected Writings on Computing ]]
 .p59 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Boole | George Boole ]] [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Laws_of_Thought | The Laws of Thought ]]
 .p59 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Famine_(Ireland) | Great Hunger ]] 1845-1852
  . homeless in the streets while academics and church elders dined luxuriously
 .p67 Post-Brexit Überschwemmung (flooding, presumably of coders from England to the continent)
 .p68 Anti-immigration riots in [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Chemnitz_protests | Chemnitz ]] 2018
 .p68 [[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_Google_data_breach | 2018 Google data breach ]] private data of 500,000 uw34w
 .p70 [[ https://www.tu-chemnitz.de/informatik/ST/people/professor.php | Dr. Janet Siegmund ]] learning coder brain scans
 .p70 programming education [[ https://stemeducationjournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s40594-020-00222-7 | high drop out rate]] (50% is "astronomical?" Higher for Medicine, Engineering, Architecture, Law, and Accounting)
 .p72 [[ https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/author/37565521200 | André Brechmann ]] Combinatorial NeuroImaging, Leibniz Institute for Neurobiology, Magdeburg
 .p73 Java -> Python [[ https://peitek.com/ | Norman Peitek ]]
 .p73 [[ https://arthotel-magdeburg.de/ | artHOTEL Magdeburg ]]
 .p75 axon transmission rate 50% ??
 .p78 computer code comprehension activates brain areas for working memory, problem-solving, and language processing, left hemisphere for most right-handers
  . same areas for natural language and general analytical processing
  . no left hemisphere for mathematical thinking
 .p78

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The Devil in the Stack

Andrew Smith . August 2024 . Beaverton Lib. 005.1 SMI

Andrew Smith 1961

My first glance at this book was off-putting - I somehow got the idea that the author thought perjoratively about programmers and technologists. The book is actually a journalist making a deep and sincere dive into software, the communities of people who create and maintain it, and how they think about it.

DevilStack (last edited 2025-03-22 09:50:56 by KeithLofstrom)