Programmers at Work: Interviews with 19 Programmers Who Shaped the Computer Industry

By Susan Lammers

Book Overview

A collection of interviews that probe the minds of 20 of the most notable programmers. They highlight the forces, events and the personality traits that influenced today's software movers and shakers - how they approach design (is it a talent?), and how they see the future.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1556152116
• ISBN13: 9781556152115
• Release Date: January 1989
• Publisher: Microsoft Press
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.80 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Timeless Peek Into the Mind of Greatness

I bought this book so many years ago now I can't begin to remember, probably right after I graduated high school and realized that I couldn't even begin to imagine making a living doing anything but working with computers. Don't let the front cover or the publisher fool you, the interviews in here run the gamut and every one represents a seminal pioneer in our industry. These aren't just people who write code and sell products,...

Time-sheets of original professional programmer's work

When I read this book, it is not to see great work or poetry of code. It is not to admire the talented and yes brilliant people who are shown in a small space of a mosaic, no more grand in size or expertise than each single unique creative worker shown. I look at the pictures of the notes they wrote down while working and designing software--the external cognition of their symbolic processing. It reminds me I'm working...

Very interesting read

If you are a programmer and want to know more about the great programmers that came before you this is an incredibly interesting read. It is long out of print and somewhat hard to find but work getting. There is another edition that is somewhat newer that is even harder to find - I cannot tell that there is enough difference to warrant hunting down the more expensive, harder to find version.

Read this to understand programmers

I have to say, this is a great book, almost unique in its scope; I wish there were more books like this. There are many collections of short biographies of mathematicians, and a few of computer scientists, but that's not quite the same as programmers. If you want to know what programmers do, the best thing is to read their code, but failing that (or in addition to that) you need to read interviews like this. I wish someone...

Excellent treatment of the programmer's craft

This is a detailed account of how some of the world's most famous programmers did their work. While this is obviously dated material, there is no question in my mind that this book should be put back into print. The insights into what it takes to be among the best at something, not just programming, make this book required reading for everyone, not just programmers.Through a series of biographical snapshots, we not only get...