Diff for "LifeInCode"

Life In Code

A Personal History of Technology

Ellen Ullman 2017 Multco Hollywood 005.1092 U41L 2017

• Ellen Ullman 1949

• Author of Close to the Machine 2012 and The Bug 2004

• essay collection from years 1994, 1998 ... 2017
• p005 Programmers don't talk because they must not be interrupted ... Interruption means certain bugs.
• p012 The Japanese (sponsors) received what their money was intended to buy ... odd behavior ... real top-rate engineers.
• p015 Underlying every user-friendly interface is a terrific human contempt.
• p017 like push buttons on a toddler's toy
• p027 The internet: Mother's little helper for the male engineer
• p028 I'm an engineer ... love for the intricate lives of things
• p040 Slackware Linux on a PC, 1983/Stallman 1991/Torvalds
• p053 Silicon Valley Linux Users Group Torvalds presentation

• p074 Ed Yardini Y2K doom

• p088 ... But people with too many choices are almost as unhappy as those with no choice at all.

• p100 Friday party at eGroups in SoMA SF, Carl Page

• p103 "Now comes the light: 100 Mbits per second" (written 1999, now terabits per fiber pair across oceans )

• p104 Toronto Computer, Freedom, and Privacy Conference

• p113 Whitfield Diffie vs. corporate propertarianism
• p126 2002 SOMA goes dark, 50% of optical cable laid during boom never lit.
• 2002 musings on AI, cats
• p171 computer upgrade, memory

• p182 Ferry building food hall ... not much veg

• p199 2006 USA Today story, NSA collecting all phone records (except Qwest)

• p208 2014 IBM 370 Mainframe MVS SPF JES2 CICS POS JCL

• p214 zero percent bug - change in weekly report column always zero
• p221 underscore rather than dash in a variable name destination

• p232 neighbor's dairy, buyer requirement for large milk tank (instead of milk cans) put them out of business

  • PITA, but why not combine smaller dairy output into a few cooperative bulk tanks on trucks?
  • What collection equipment did the milk purchasing coop use before, could that be purchased?

• p233 bought TRS-80 in 1979, start of programming career

• p258 Dijkstra's algorithm

• p270 Hamburger button

• p273 Grassy South Park sculptured, shaded by tall new building
• p285 highrise startup culture replaces small business 'village'
• p287 virtual reality devices for the blind?

• p302 Lavabit shut down after government demanded user identities