In the Beginning...Was the Command Line
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AlbakiReads Editorial A personal essay on operating systems and digital culture
A personal essay on operating systems and digital culture
Neal Stephenson uses the command line as a vantage point for examining life in a computer-centered world. Part argument and part polemic, the book ranges across operating systems, the Internet, and the cultural forces that shape how people encounter technology. Its scope also extends beyond software mechanics: Disney World, Big Bangs, and larger questions of meaning appear in a wide-ranging discussion of technology’s assumptions, metaphors, and power structures. First published in 1999, it presents a distinctly late-20th-century snapshot of debates around proprietary systems, downloadable alternatives, and cyberculture.
Good fit for readers who enjoy
- Readers interested in the cultural history of computing and operating systems
- Fans of Neal Stephenson’s nonfiction and technology-focused ideas
- People curious about command-line culture, the Internet, and software politics
Themes
Operating systemsCommand-line computingCybercultureInternet cultureTechnology and power
Based on publisher information and book metadata.
Book Overview This is "the Word" -- one man's word, certainly -- about the art (and artifice) of the state of our computer-centric existence. And consi...
This is "the Word" -- one man's word, certainly -- about the art (and artifice) of the state of our computer-centric existence. And considering that the "one man" is Neal Stephenson, "the hacker Hemingway" (Newsweek) -- acclaimed novelist, pragmatist, seer, nerd-friendly philosopher, and nationally bestselling author of groundbreaking literary works (Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon, etc., etc.) -- the word is well worth hearing. Mostly well-reasoned examination and partial rant, Stephenson's In the Beginning... was the Command Line is a thoughtful, irreverent, hilarious treatise on the cyber-culture past and present; on operating system tyrannies and downloaded popular revolutions; on the Internet, Disney World, Big Bangs, not to mention the meaning of life itself.
Book Details Format: Paperback | Pages: 160 | Language: English | Publisher: WILLIAM MORROW | ISBN: 0380815931
FormatPaperback
Pages160
LanguageEnglish
ISBN0380815931
EAN9780380815937
PublisherWILLIAM MORROW
Publication Date1999-11-09
EditionFirst Paperback Edition
AccessoriesNo Accessory
ConditionNew
Product TypeQUALITY PAPERBACK BOOKS
Weight0.31 Pounds
Length8.02 Inches
Width5.34 Inches
Height0.44 Inches
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