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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."

10 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
  2. 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.

  3. 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?

  4. 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
  5. 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.

  6. how about this piece of obscure computer lore. by YaRness · · Score: 4, Funny

    rm -i bookmarks.html

  7. 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.

  8. 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.

  9. 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.

  10. 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.