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Seeking Computer Science Fokelore?

Posted by Cliff on from the stuff-you-might-want-to-bookmark dept.

Missing Bookmarks asks: "I accidentally deleted my bookmarks. I lost my 'Lore' folder, where I was collecting links to the classic folklore of the computer science subculture - things like Ken Thompson's Reflections on Trusting Trust, The Tanenbaum-Torvalds Debate, Dijkstra's Go To Statement Considered Harmful, and The Alice and Bob after-dinner speech. I don't need anything from The Jargon File (like The Story of Mel), because that stuff is obviously easy to find. I've listed all the things I could remember; please help me find the ones I've forgotten."

20 of 53 comments (clear)

  1. The agony of delete by ChadN · · Score: 4, Funny

    You may want to include some 'lore' about important files that were lost without any backups.

    --
    "It's overkill, of course. But you can never have too much overkill." - Anonymous Slashdot Coward
    1. Re:The agony of delete by the_other_one · · Score: 2

      It is indeed unfortunate that you cannot be modded as both funny and insightful.

      --
      134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
  2. Doesn't anyone... by MacAndrew · · Score: 2

    ...do backups? Even the pros?

    At least I am not alone.

  3. This isn't exactly lore but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    We did have a client that layed off their systems administrator without first getting the root password.

  4. Original papers on lisp and information theory by TimoT · · Score: 5, Informative

    The original paper on Lisp by John McCarthy could be considered an important part of CS history: Recursive Functions of Symbolic Expressions and Their Computation by Machine (Part I)

    Claude Shannon's A Mathematical Theory of Communication is good to know as well.

    Richard Gabriels' Worse Is Better paper is also on the web, but I don't know if that qualifies. It's somewhat new to be folklore.

    I don't know if any of the original papers by Turing, Church and von Neumann have been put online so post some links if you find them.

  5. Danny Cohen on Endianness by senahj · · Score: 2, Informative


    IEN 137,
    ON HOLY WARS AND A PLEA FOR PEACE
    Danny Cohen 1 April 1980

    Top Google
    http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/chris/sigco mm/t1/co hen.endianness.material.txt

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    Wait a minute. Didn't I say that on the other side of the record? I'd better check ...
  6. MIT AI Labs HAKMEM by senahj · · Score: 2, Informative


    Before the Jargon File there was HAKMEM

    http://www.inwap.com/pdp10/hbaker/hakmem/hakmem. ht ml

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    Wait a minute. Didn't I say that on the other side of the record? I'd better check ...
  7. Mark I documentation, inc. a manual by Turing by UncleFluffy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Here. oh yes, and Turing drank here, make a pilgrimage now.

    --

    What would Lemmy do?

  8. go ken! by jericho4.0 · · Score: 3, Interesting
    I've never seen the 'Reflections on Trusting Trust' article. It's much like 'The C Programming Language' in that it takes you far, in few words. Wow. I feel like such a newbie.

    That was an amazing piece, and I'm very much looking forward to what this post turns up.

    --
    "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
    1. Re:go ken! by jericho4.0 · · Score: 2
      Well, Mr.AC, as soon as someone comes up with a nice OOP, garbage collected, hand holding solution that even comes close to the power of C, I'm all over it.

      I use objective-C, Python, Java, Perl, and any tools I've come across to make my job easier. But you know what? All the interesting bits are in C. I wonder why?

      --
      "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing" - Alan Perlis
  9. Knuth on the complexity of songs by Circuit+Breaker · · Score: 3, Interesting

    This PDF file is something that deserves to be better known. It's not strictly about computing - it's about application of computer science to measurement of song writing. I'm not sure it would be computer folklore by most people's definition, but it definitely has a place in the geek folklore.

  10. Start with this recent ask slashdot article by anticypher · · Score: 2

    I accidentally deleted my bookmarks

    First, you should establish some "Affordable and Safe Data Protection Practices"

    Then, maybe, you could spend a few minutes googling up some links from
    alt.folklore.computers

    the AC

    --
    Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
  11. how about this piece of obscure computer lore. by YaRness · · Score: 4, Funny

    rm -i bookmarks.html

  12. Soul of a New Machine by acomj · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Its a pulitzer prize winning book called soul of a new machine by Tracy Kidder. It is unlikely that you can download it off the internet..but you never know....

    Its really quite interesting and it describes computer culture and management and how Data General came to survive and its quest to make a computer to compete with Digital. Great mushroom engineering management quotes (keep then in the dark, feed them Sh!t, watch them grow). Really a great addition to any collection of computer lore.

  13. The Hacker Papers by north.coaster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Although not a computer science paper per se, The Hacker Papers was one of the first widely read articles about people who spend an excessive amount of time using computers. This article also introduced the original definition of the term hacker to a wider audience.

  14. Java Floating Point by superid · · Score: 2

    How Java Floating Point Hurts Everyone Everywhere

  15. Dijkstra on Programmers and Mathematicians by caesar79 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    A Parable

  16. my two favorites by __aajelt3877 · · Score: 4, Interesting


    Csh Programming Considered Harmful, by Tom Christiansen.

    The Ten Commandments for C Programmers (Annotated Edition) by Henry Spencer.

  17. good procedure by PD · · Score: 2

    When you are working on your computer and you've got something important going on, make sure you always mount a scratch monkey.

    --
    If tits were wings it'd be flying around.
  18. some arguable classics by clem.dickey · · Score: 3, Informative

    I keep a bunch of "classic" bookmarks around. Some are undisputed gems, others are, well, to my taste. Bytes being cheap here's a batch.