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The old classics by James P. Hogan are holding up surprisingly well, such as the 25 year old Realtime Interrupt[^], or more than 40 years old (!) The Two Faces Of Tomorrow[^].
I still enjoy these books! Apparently I am not alone, considering that they are still in print.
Another 40+ years old book that (contrary to the Hogan novels) never tried to be reliable, seen from a IT professional's point of view, is Thomas J. Ryan: The Adolescence Of P-1[^]. It is fun, but far more outdated than the Hogan books, and no longer in print; you must accept a used copy. If you come across it, read it just for fun - but I don't think it is worth going to extremes getting your own copy. (Rather, spend your money on Hogan!)
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trønderen wrote: The old classics by James P. Hogan are holding up surprisingly well, such as the 25 year old Realtime Interrupt[^], or more than 40 years old (!) The Two Faces Of Tomorrow[^].
Nice picks, I'll add this to my list 
trønderen wrote: Another 40+ years old book that (contrary to the Hogan novels) never tried to be reliable, seen from a IT professional's point of view, is Thomas J. Ryan: The Adolescence Of P-1[^]. It is fun, but far more outdated than the Hogan books, and no longer in print; you must accept a used copy. If you come across it, read it just for fun - but I don't think it is worth going to extremes getting your own copy. (Rather, spend your money on Hogan!)
Even used one comes with big $. Wish there's digital versions.
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Including this to my list
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when i was last a wage slave some 30 years ago, most of the legacy code i had to maintain was bogus - is that the same thing?
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I Robot, (the original, not the chopped up version of the movie), if you can find it is great. It is a very old book. It started me reading Science Fiction when I was 8 years old. I am 71 now.
In these days when people are programming robots, it talks about the pitfalls of applying programming logic to the real world.
Good read for all of us
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Agree that most movies chopping up source material. I saw the movie. I'll include this to my list(Though started reading Asimov short stories already).
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Tor has a list of 8 SF books that get programming right.
8 Science Fiction Books That Get Programming Right | Tor.com[^]
Some authors have played with the similarity of programming and the use of magic, where the slightest syntax error or vague specifications can have unintended and disastrous consequences. The Monkey's Paw trope is an example of that.
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Even I found this page recently, useful one
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Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a computer as a pretty important character. Comedy, not science fiction though, if that matters.
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agolddog wrote: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has a computer as a pretty important character. Comedy, not science fiction though, if that matters.
As long as related to computers, it's a tick. I heard about the series already.
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Read some Greg Egan. I can recommend Permutation City, Distress, Teranesia, and most of all, Diaspora, which, for any programmer, is nothing short of stunning.
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Wow! Including these too 
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Wiz Biz series by Rick Cook is one of my favorite series about programming in magic.
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Yeah, found this series recently, looks good!
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Definitely, thanks for this
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If I'm in the mood, I reach for some Neal Stephenson, so that's a very good start.
Not specifically programming as such, but very engineering/tech based. Snow Crash (below) is described as "like many of Stephenson's novels, it covers history, linguistics, anthropology, archaeology, religion, computer science, politics, cryptography, memetics and philosophy."
My personal favourites:
* Interface
* Diamond Age
* Cryptonomicon
* Snow Crash
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Yeah, Recently added his books(Snow Crash & Cryptonomicon) to my list
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Do you mean things like Digital Fortress (Dan Brown)?
What makes it a "programming" novel? (would the movie Hackers count as a book?)
And based on 30+ years of experience... WHY? I live in a fictional Programming world, where we were just asked to deliver a small 12 week project by Feb 1st. COMPLETED, and they are still "working out" the contract they hope to sign by Monday/Tuesday of next week.
I think I get MORE than enough FICTION... LOL...
[On the bright side, if we pound in 90hr work weeks, bring in some extra resources (ROTFLMAO), and put other projects on hold... I am CONFIDENT that by Feb 1st. We will have 80% of the ANSWERS to the questions we gave them last week. LOL)... And you want to read MORE Fiction?
My gosh... Where do you work? (And how do you have time to read?)
LOL
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Kirk 10389821 wrote: Do you mean things like Digital Fortress (Dan Brown)?
I heard that it handled programming things incorrectly/badly even though it's a known novel by a popular author. But this thread has bunch of perfect novels related to programming.
Kirk 10389821 wrote: What makes it a "programming" novel? (would the movie Hackers count as a book?)
Different thread needed for movies later.
Kirk 10389821 wrote: And based on 30+ years of experience... WHY? I live in a fictional Programming world, where we were just asked to deliver a small 12 week project by Feb 1st. COMPLETED, and they are still "working out" the contract they hope to sign by Monday/Tuesday of next week.
I'm also in similar boat with 16+ years of exp.
Kirk 10389821 wrote: My gosh... Where do you work? (And how do you have time to read?)
Thanks to EBooks! I buy ebooks from smashwords, kickstarter, amazon kindle(Also I use kindle unlimited). My laptop, tablet & smartphone loaded with these ebooks so I'll be reading something anytime. This is happening only from last couple of years only(It was hard to read books regularly in past), I'll be continuing this forever. Unfortunately I need to cool myself with more movies & books to escape from nightmare work regularly. I'm better than before.
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Thanks for the last one Others are already in my list
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From a long time ago, I read this book. Technology is dated but it's still prophetic. The Adolescence of P-1 by Thomas J. Ryan. I doubt you'll get it in digital form, so you'll have to either buy the paperback or try a library (I know, huh?).
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Thanks for this And yeah, there's no digital version.
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