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Out of their Minds: The Lives and Discoveries of 15 Great Computer Scientists

Source: gleech · Original review

An oral history of pioneer computing. These people aren't generally regarded as what they are: simply that sort of philosopher who actually solves problems / or else rules out their possibility of solution.

The four parts of this book reflect the four basic questions computer scientists have wrestled with in the last fifty years:

* Linguists: How should I talk to the machine?
* Algorithmists: What will solve a problem fast on my computer?
* Architects: Can I build a better computer?
* Sculptors of Intelligence: Can I write a program that can find its own solutions?




The men here developed things modern life could not function without: high-level programming, the hard maths of networking, the hard maths of timestamping, shortest paths, probabilistic solutions to deterministic questions. Knuth ist so goddamn wholly loveable.