Computer Science - A Guide for the Perplexed
summary
Argues that computer science is cluttered and prescribes concrete skills and reads: learn Emacs, make, shell; study C, Prolog, Erlang, JavaScript; read Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs, The Mythical Man‑Month and Dale Carnegie. Claims P‑code VM is the precursor to JVM, moving Prolog→C yields ~50× speedup, and one sold a startup for $450M. Warns of entropy, vendor lock‑in, broken web links, and suggests keeping data local, naming artifacts by checksums, and minimizing joules per computation.
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chapters (5)
- 0:00A journey through 50 years
- 32:46Forgotten and powerful ideas
- 42:01Navigating a career in software
- 47:12Laws of software development
- 54:35The future of computing
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