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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:The Bugby Ellen Ullman
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:In 1984, at the dawn of the personal-computer era, novice software tester Roberta Walton stumbles across a bug. She brings it to its inadvertent creator, longtime programmer Ethan Levin, and the two embark on a hunt for the elusive bug, nicknamed “The Jester” for its tendency to appear randomly and only at the least opportune moments, jeopardizing the fate of the company. Ethan’s attempts to find a solution soon become a frightening obsession that threatens to destroy both his professional and personal life. Roberta, on the other hand, is drawn to the challenge. Forced to learn how to program, and seeking refuge from her own private troubles, she becomes enthralled with learning to speak the computer’s language. Expertly merging code with prose, big ideas with intensely personal stories, Ellen Ullman brilliantly illuminates the space between human beings and computers—a space we occupy every day as we peer into our monitors. Review:“Ullman is a rarity, a software engineer who is also a wonderful writer.” –New Scientist Review:“The Bug should be read by every software developer–and every end user who has ever experienced a software crash–if only to know that they're not alone in their endless fight against the almost-alive malignancies hiding in code.” –IEEE Spectrum Review:“Ullman is dead-on in her depiction[s]. . . . A deeply humanistic and surprisingly old-fashioned work.” –Library Journal Review:“A fascinating literary study of an often-misunderstood culture.” –Chicago Tribune Review:“Ullman writes unsparingly of the vivid, compelling, emotionally driven souls who gave us our new machines. By turns love story, tense psychological drama, and comedy of (very bad) manners, The Bug is an edgy and irresistible journey into lives all too rarely visited by literary types.”Geraldine Brooks, author of A Year of Wonders Review:“Ardent, brilliantly tactile. . . . Offers endless systems twists and turns. Technophiles can revel in its UNIX complexities while the rest of us delight in its user-friendly explanations, but the moral conundra The Bug poses are far more rewarding, and discomfiting.”Newsday Review:“Suspenseful. . . Think Mary Shelley in the Silicon Valley.” –Elle About the AuthorEllen Ullman began programming in the early years of the personal-computing era. She is the author of Close to the Machine, the classic memoir about computing culture. Ullman is a frequent contributor to Harper's and Salon, and is a contributing editor at The American Scholar. She lives and works in San Francisco What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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