Cult and Culture

Authors and Books Computer Science (and related) Science Fiction Graphic Novels Movies and TV series Science Fiction Humour Hacking Best Processor Best Computer Best Operating System Second Best Operating System Best Graphics Best Games Best Tool Best `Higher' Programming Language Biggest Influence in My Life

Authors and Books

Computer Science (and related)

• Scott Adams: Dilbert
• Tom DeMarco: all books
• Kent Beck: eXteme Programming explained. Embrace Change
• Douglas K. Smith, Robert C. Alexander: Fumbling the Future. How Xerox invented, then ignored, the first personal computer.
• J.S. Young: Steve Jobs - The Journey is the Reward.
• John Tracey Kidder: The Soul of a new Machine.
• Robert X. Cringely: Accidental Empires.
• Michael S. Malone: The Microprocessor - A Biography.
• Susan Lammers: Programmers at Work.
• Douglas Coupland: Microserfs.
• Eric S. Raymond (ed.): The New Hackers Dictionary.
• F.P. Brooks, Jr.: The Mythical Man-Month. Essays on Software Engineering.
• M. DeLanda: War in the Age of Intelligent Machines.
• J.P. Womack, D.T. Jones, D. Roos: Die zweite Revolution in der Autoindustrie. Konsequenzen aus der weltweiten Studie des MIT. (The machine that changed the world.)
• W.H. Davidow, M.S. Malone: The Virtual Corporation.
• D. Dörner: Die Logik des Misslingens.
• Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon: Where Wizards Stay Up Late. The Origins of the Internet.
• Rama D. Jager, Rafael Ortiz: In the Company of Giants. Interviews with Steve Jobs (Apple, NeXT, Pixar), T.J. Rodgers (Cypress), Gordon Eubanks (Symantec), Steve Case (America Online), Scott Cook (Intuit), Sandy Kurtzig (ASK), John Warnock/Charles Geschke (Adobe), Michael Dell (Dell), Charles Wang (Computer Associates), Bill Gates (Microsoft), Andy Grove (Intel), Trip Hawkins (Electronic Arts/3DO), Ed McCracken (Silicon Graphics), Ken Olsen (Digital), Bill Hewlett (HP).
• Garr Reynolds: Presentation Zen
• Robert C. Martin: The Clean Coder
• Eric Evans: Domain-Driven Design

Science Fiction

• Douglas Adams: The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
• Terry Pratchett: Discworld.
• William Gibson: Neuromancer.
• John Brunner: The Shockwave Rider.
• Isaac Asimov: The Caves of Steel.
• George Orwell: 1984
• Norman Spinrad: Bug Jack Barron; The Men in the Jungle.
• Robert Silverberg: The Book of Skulls; Dying Inside.
• J.P. Hogan: Inherit the Stars.
• Arthur C. Clarke: 2001 - A Space Odyssey.

Graphic Novels

• Alexis Flower: Lovesyck
• Chandra Free: The God Machine
• Enrica Jang: Crossing
• Ken Reynolds: Cognition

Movies and TV series

Science Fiction

• Blade Runner
• Dark Star
• WarGames
• FarScape
• Life on Mars

Humour

• Blues Brothers
• Life of Brian
• House M.D.
• Monk
• The Big Bang Theory

Hacking

Best Processor: Z80

• I loved XOR A, LDIR and self-modifying code (nowadays called `reflection').

Best Computer: TRS-80 and clones (especially Genie I, Genie IIs, Genie IIIs)

Many thanks to Uwe Böker (Genie IIs) and Helmut Bernhardt (redesign for HD64180)!

• There's nothing like directly manipulating 3C00h-3FFFh!
• 12 KB ROM provided (cassette) operating system, programming language (BASIC interpreter) and programming environment (line editor)!
• 48 KB RAM could never be filled.
• Club 80
• Documentation of Genie computers

Best Operating System: NEWDOS 80

• Working with granules to optimize the use of SS/SD disks (102 Kb)!

Second Best Operating System: CP/M

• Never again have I seen something so clearly separated as BIOS, BDOS and CLI.
• Writing my own BIOS for the Genie IIs was real fun - no reading in computer science could teach me as much as this!

Best Graphics: 128x48 green/black (or interchangeably amber/black)

• Perfectly used by Starfighter and by Stephen Arps (3D torus with hidden lines - amazing!).

Best Games

• Skat (written in Basic without any graphics, I have never been able to teach him playing Null games).
• All text-based adventures - that was real imagination.

Best Tool: Scripsit

• Word is nothing against this real text processor - working with 48 Kb of RAM!
• I disassembled and reassembled it - what a hack!

Best `Higher' Programming Language (not useful for `real programmers'): Turbo Pascal for CP/M

• replaced and improved by Turbo-Modula-2 for CP/M (thank you, Niklaus Wirth!)

Biggest influence in my life