I share much of Ms. Ullman's history in the last 50 years of computing. I actually got into the field a dozen years before her (1966). I enjoyed reminiscing and had fun recalling some of the thousands of old acronyms we live/lived by.
She did move into the implications of the internet for society in the final chapters.
I suspect that old timers like me will find some of her history of more interest than modern (younger) readers.
Everyone can share interest in the implications of AI (Artificial intelligence), and in the loss of personal privacy. ( )

This is a fascinating collection of essays, all related to various topics around computer programming, predictions about the future of computing, artificial intelligence, and the culture of the technology world. These essays were written over the past 3 decades, so it is interesting to see how some of these topics have and have not changed over time.

I read this right as artificial intelligence has exploded into our daily lives through ChatGPT and other AI models. A lot of the predictions and fears that Ullman writes about in the 90s are coming to fruition now, and it's interesting to see how much the conversation has and has not changed since then.

Ullman's perspective as a woman in IT is interesting, particularly as she talks about artificial intelligence. The men who talk about AI envision it as a brain in a box, but Ullman writes about intelligence as requiring a body. As AI brings up concerns about what makes us human, Ullman emphasizes the fact that being human requires having a body, and all of the stresses, insecurities, and joys that a mortal body entails. I think it's a lot easier for men in a male-dominated industry to ignore their bodies than women.

Ullman's chapter on Y2K does a wonderful job of capturing the uncertainties and fears around Y2K, and how the public was stuck between predictions of apocalypse and reassurances that everything would be fine, with no real way of knowing how it was going to turn out until it happened. This will be a perfect primary source for future historians.

As a memoir, this book is often about Ullman's love/hate relationship with technology. She loves coding and has a deep drive to solve problems in code, but at the same time, finds male-dominated IT culture to be off-putting and often downright hostile. ( )

First of all I was lucky enough to have a good friend who heard about this book on a podcast and gave it to me as a present because she thought I would like it, and I did! :)

Being a programmer for the last 20 years I enjoyed the essays from the late 90s. Some favorite quotes are:

The code library software keeps a permanent record card of who did what and when. At the old job, they will say terrible things about you after you've gone. This is normal life for a programmer: problems trailing behind you through time, humiliation in absentia.

No good, crash-resistant system can be built except if it's done for the idiot. The prettier the user interface, and the fewer odd replies the system allows you to make, the dumber you once appeared in the mind of the designer.

I appreciated the essay, The Dumbing Down of Code and What We Were Afraid of as We Feared Y2K, and Close to the Mainframe (the epic battle of tracking down a bug).

The Museum of Me, originally published in 1998 is amazingly prophetic.

I fear for the world the internet is creating. Before the advent of the web, if you wanted to sustain a belief in far-fetched ideas, you had to go out into the desert, or live on a compound in the mountains, or move from one badly furnished room to another in a series of safe houses. Physical reality -- the discomfort and difficulty of abandoning one's normal life -- put a natural break on the formation of cults, separatist colonies, underground groups, apocalyptic churches, and extreme political parties.

A democracy, indeed a culture, needs some sustaining common mythos. Yet, in a world where "truth" is a variable concept--where any belief can find its adherents--how can a consensus be formed? How can we arrive at the compromises that must underlie the workings of any successful society?

In this sense, the ideal of the internet represents the very opposite of democracy, which is a method for resolving difference in a relatively orderly manner through the mediation of unavoidable civil associations. Yet there can be no notion of resolving differences in a world where each person is entitled to get exactly what he or she wants. ... I don't have to tolerate you, and you don't have to tolerate me. ... No need for the messy debate and the whole rigmarole of government with all its creaky, bothersome structures

The essay on AI was also interesting. I appreciate the point that using a computer as a model for human intelligence has probably stunted neuroscience research, while I think it is funny the idea of trying to reproduce human intelligence. Making real life intelligent humans is pretty easy (I have made two), why bother with AI reproductions ;)

This book had some great gems, and I would like to read more of Ullman's works. ( )

I like reading non-fiction on my phone's Kindle app. Non-fiction books are easy to read in snatches while I'm on the subway or waiting for an appointment. But with the COVID19 pandemic, I haven't gotten out much, so sadly, didn't read this for nearly a year, until I decided to just sit down and finish it. That's when I discovered I enjoyed it more in snatches. I got bogged down in some of the tech and found my attention wandering for some of Ullman's personal life anecdotes. Overall, I enjoyed it, but the book is episodic, the chapters focused on themes such as Y2K, artificial intelligence, and so on. The chapter on Y2K and how coders worked to keep computers running when the millennial date turned from 1999 to 2000 was fascinating. Other chapters, not so much. Still, I'm glad I read it for the inside look at technology from someone who's been there. ( )

Having ‘come of age’ with computers myself, I found a kinship with her life and experiences.
She gives a good description of the computer and programming industry with interesting philosophical observations of situations and developments of the times.
I could identify with her feelings, and thoughts, and appreciated her vivid descriptive phrases, obvious result of her honours thesis on Macbeth.
( )