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Computer Book Store > Computer books beginning with I
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In the Beginning...was the Command Line |
Author: Neal Stephenson
Published: 1999-11-01 |
List price: $10.00
Our price: $8.00
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As of: December 03rd, 2008 07:40:55 PM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Stick to the point, please
This essay is nearly 8 years old, and in dire need of an update. So in 2004 Grant Birkel set out to do just that, producing a set of comments called "The Command Line in 2004". It's freely available on the web, and I suggest you read that version instead of the (older) book.
As far as Stephenson's original writing: Wow, what a disappointment. I love his fiction, but this was a subject that needed much more grounding, and the essay doesn't have it - it's prone to offer ridiculous analogies, and often ditches the point entirely so it can lament McDonald's expansion into foreign countries and the popularity of the television show Cops outside American borders.
Let me try to distill his main argument: the GUI evolved on top of the command-line, and it allowed the computer to become much more accessible to the everyday user. However, the two major commercial OSes don't offer a way to get back to the command line in a useful way, and so "hackers" lose out on a lot of power and flexibility that they used to have over the machine. He praises Linux because it gives you the TTY and doesn't offer the hand-holding and useless features that other OSes do. Stephenson likens the GUI to Disney Land, where ideas and cultures pass through a filter that narrows down the world to a single presentation accepted by the masses. In choosing the GUI we give up our control so we aren't overwhelmed by choice. (OS X pretty much demolishes this premise by itself, as Stephenson readily admits today, but things were different 8 years ago so it's better to look at this in a historical context)
Now, this argument doesn't really hold up under close inspection. It's easy to formulate a counter-argument on any number of points, though the essay has a hard time sticking to one argument, so it's tough to see even where best to challenge it. I will only suggest that interface troubles plague every application and operating system, regardless of who developed it, and that the way in which software is built does not dictate how useful it will be.
I think the real trouble with this essay is one of viewpoint. Stephenson takes the position of someone who is computing just for computing's sake - he finds programming interesting in its own right, without a need to accomplish any specific task. So the most efficient way to do this at the time was the command-line interface, because you can be coding your function very quickly without having to delve into pages upon pages of window-opening code. (Incidentally this is largely a problem of library refinement: CLI programming is only easy because we have the C stdlib, and in 1999 GUI toolkits were still convoluted. Nowadays new tools make coding GUI applications almost as easy as the CLI, and some are even cross-platform!)
However, he's trying to foist this viewpoint onto all users, without allowing them the freedom to choose an OS to suit their own individual needs. It's almost as though he is insulting the users who want their PC to be nothing more than a tool to get their work done - those who like the simplicity of clicking emails in Outlook, who want to use the Start menu because it's fast and easy, or who think the Office paperclip is a handy feature. (Okay just kidding about that last one: nobody really believes that.) At times he's suggesting that people are simply ignorant of other operating systems, and if they knew more, they'd pick a "better one". In any case, needing less direct interaction with the PC isn't any indication of a person's general interest in complex things... we all give up options in some areas of our lives to make time for flexibility in others. Birkel's counterpoint here is especially relevant because he continually points out that the real value of any UI is how much it enhances our ability to accomplish tasks, not how much we can muck things up with it.
In summary: Don't bother with this one, unless you're highly interested in Neil Stephenson, operating systems in 1999, Linux zealotry, and anti-American Global culture. And even then, read the annotated version. I think Birkel's comments provide the grounding in reality that the original essay desperately needed.
 geeks and nerds: break free from your gui cage
A good way to think of this book: a treatise for kids that grew up in the GUI and getting them to understand the importance of proper syntax. On the shell. Because that's where the hotness is at.
Stands up well to the test of time thus far...
You would think that a book focused on operating systems--even one with a focus on the sociological and philosophical implications of the rapid evolution of interface technologies--which was written in 1999 would be rather dated by now.
But this is a book written by Seattle author and revered science fiction prophet, Neal Stephenson (author of Cryptonomicon).
The book is called In the Beginning...Was the Command Line. I recommend it. To geeks and non alike. Stephenson is a man who's easy to read and good with metaphors for those of us/you who are not ubernerds.
A passage that I particularly like:
"Contemporary culture is a two-tiered system, like the Morlocks and the Eloi in H.G. Wells's The Time Machine, except that it's been turned upside down. In The Time machine, the Eloi were an effete upper class, supported by lots of subterranean Morlocks who kept the technological wheels turning. But in our world it's the other way round. the Morlocks are in the minority, and they are running the show, because they understand how everything works. The much more numerous Eloi learn everything they know from being steeped from birth in electronic media directed and controlled by book-reading Morlocks. that many ignorant people would be dangerous if they got pointed in the wrong direction, and so we've evolved a popular culture that is (a) almost unbelievably infectious, and (b) neuters every person who infected by it, by rendering them unwilling to make judgments and incapable of taking stands. Morlocks, who have the energy and intelligence to comprehend details, go out and master complex subjects and produce Disney-like Sensorial Interfaces so that Eloi can get the gist without having to strain their minds or endure boredom."
Good comparison, but as he says, lest you think he's just an "intellectual throwing a tantrum," he points out that "The situation I describe here could be bad, but doesn't have to be bad and isn't necessarily bad now."
Reading the comments on amazon, you'll see the usual--some glowing "must have!" reviews, and some snobby "not technical enough" reviews. This isn't a long book, but it's a good non-fiction read. Especially for those of you who have SOME background and interest in developing technology and what it could be doing to us en masse.
 Shockingly bad
I was excited about this book for about the first 10 pages. I did manage to read the first 100 pages but I just couldn't make myself read the rest of it.
This book is full of gross technical errors, sweeping generalizations, long sidebars about unrelated topics, and useless anecdotes.
I am a professional software engineer and spent years working early stage start-ups in Silicon Valley--The author knows very little about computers, programmers, and user interfaces.
Yes, the book is 10 years old, and thus is dated--but even ignoring this, the book has serious problems with its facts. The author's credentials do not enable him to write this type of book. Stick to fiction, please.
 The Reason Why I Learned to Love Linux
This book introduced me to the open source movement. Refreshing view of the programmer as "creator" in the domain of binary world. Interesting parallels to religion. This book captures the heart and soul of the information age.
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