We, Programmers

Robert C. Martin (Uncle Bob) has been a programmer and software development expert since 1970. He is founder of Uncle Bob Consulting, LLC, and cofounder with his son Micah Martin of The Clean Coders LLC. Martin has published dozens of articles in various trade journals and is a regular speaker at international conferences and trade shows. He is the author of many books, including Agile Software Development: Principles, Patterns, and Practices; UML for Java Programmers; Clean Code; The Clean Coder; Clean Architecture; Clean Agile; Clean Craftsmanship; and Functional Design. Martin served for three years as editor-in-chief of the C++ Report and as the first chairman of the Agile Alliance.

"I, like Uncle Bob, spent much of my career consulting, teaching, and going to computer conferences. The importance of this is that I got to meet and dine with many of the characters in this book. So this book is about my professional friends, and I can tell you that it is a faithful story. In fact, it is incredibly well-written and researched. That is how it really was."--From the Afterword by Tom Gilb"I can't think of any other book that provides such a sweeping overview of the early history of programming."--Mark Seeman"We, Programmers is a fascinating romp through the history of computers and programming. Wonderful glimpses into the lives of some of the greats. And an enjoyable ride with Uncle Bob's career as a programmer."--Jon Kern, co-author of the Agile Manifesto"In We, Programmers, Bob successfully weaves together a highly entertaining history of programmers, giving us a wealth of historical context, humanizing stories, and eye-opening revelations about the foundational folks in our industry, all bolstered with just the right amount of low-level detail. Bob, being a small piece of this rich history, finds a way to pepper the history with his own relevant observations and critiques. We also get Bob's full story this time out, as well as his own thoughts about what's coming next. A fun, quick read."--Jeff Langr

• Foreword xvPreface xixTimeline xxiiiAbout This Book xxviiAcknowledgments xxixAbout the Author xxxiPart I: Setting the Stage 1Chapter 1: Who Are We? 3Why Are We Here? 6Part II: The Giants 11Chapter 2: Babbage: The First Computer Engineer 13The Man 13Tables 15Babbage's Vision 23The Difference Engine 24Mechanical Notation 26Party Tricks 27The Engine's Demise 28The Analytical Engine 30Ada: The Countess of Lovelace 34The First Programmer? 39A Mixed End 40Conclusion 42Chapter 3: Hilbert, Turing, and Von Neumann: The First Computer Architects 45David Hilbert 46John von Neumann 53Alan Turing 57The Turing-Von Neumann Architecture 60Chapter 4: Grace Hopper: The First Software Engineer 77War, and the Summer of 1944 78Discipline: 1944-1945 83Subroutines: 1944-1946 89The Symposium: 1947 90The UNIVAC: 1949-1951 93Sorting, and the Beginning of Compilers 99Alcohol: Circa 1949 100Compilers: 1951-1952 101The Type A Compilers 103Languages: 1953-1956 105COBOL: 1955-1960 108My COBOL Rant 112An Unmitigated Success 113Chapter 5: John Backus: The First High-Level Language 115John Backus, the Man 115Colored Lights That Hypnotize 117Speedcoding and the 701 120The Need for Speed 124ALGOL and Everything Else 131Chapter 6: Edsger Dijkstra: The First Computer Scientist 135The Man 135The ARRA: 1952-1955 138The ARMAC: 1955-1958 143ALGOL and the X1: 1958-1962 145The Gathering Gloom: 1962 150The Rise of Science: 1963-1967 152Mathematics: 1968 156Structured Programming: 1968 160Chapter 7: Nygaard and Dahl: The First OOPL 165Kristen Nygaard 165Ole-Johan Dahl 167SIMULA and OO 168Chapter 8: John Kemeny: The First "Everyman's" Language--BASIC 185The Man, John Kemeny 185The Man, Thomas Kurtz 188The Revolutionary Idea 188Impossible 190BASIC 192Time-sharing 193Computer Kids 194Escape 195The Blind Prophet 195Through a Glass Darkly 201References 202Chapter 9: Judith Allen 203The ECP-18 204Judy 205A Stellar Career 209Chapter 10: Thompson, Ritchie, and Kernighan 211Ken Thompson 211Dennis Ritchie 214Brian Kernighan 219Unix 226PDP-11 230C 232K&R 236Conclusion 239Part III: The Knee of the Curve 243Chapter 11: The Sixties 245ECP-18 249What Fathers Do 252Chapter 12: The Seventies 2531969 2531970 2581973 2611974 2661976 2711978 2751979 277Chapter 13: The Eighties 2811980 2811981 2851982 2891983 2911984-1986: VRS 2931986 2951987-1988: The UK 298Chapter 14: The Nineties 3011989-1992: Clear Communications 3011992: The C++ Report 3041993: Rational Inc. 3041994: ETS 3061995-1996: First Book, Conferences, Classes, and Object Mentor Inc. 3101997-1999: The C++ Report, UML, and Dotcom 3121999-2000: eXtreme Programming 313Chapter 15: The Millennium 3172000: XP Leadership 3172001: Agile and the Crash(es) 3182002-2008: Wandering in the Wilderness 3202009: SICP and Chroma-key 3212010-2023: Videos, Craftsmanship, and Professionalism 3242023: The Plateau 326Part IV: The Future 329Chapter 16: Languages 331Types 333Lisp 335Chapter 17: AI 337The Human Brain 337Neural Nets 340Building Neural Nets Is Not Programming 342Large Language Models 343The DISRUPTION of Large X Models 351Chapter 18: Hardware 355Moore's Law 356Quantum Computers 358Chapter 19: The World Wide Web 361Chapter 20: Programming 367The Aviation Analogy 368Principles 368Methods 369Disciplines 369Ethics 370Afterword 371Reflections on the Content 371Personal Anecdotes or Stories 372Reflections on the Content 380Afterword Author's Perspective 381Discussion of Future Trends 381Calls to Action, or Closing Thoughts 384Glossary of Terms 385Cast of Supporting Characters 411Index 435