New Hacker's Dictionary, The

Author	Eric S. Raymond	Entered	2001-01-04 01:47:16 by bcrowell
Edit	edit data record	Freedom	Public domain (disclaimer)
Subject	Q.A - Mathematics. Computer science (Computer Science)
Read	http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/ This link was reported to be OK by user Ben Crowell on 2004-09-30 17:53:15 You can't update this URL or report it OK or broken because you aren't logged in.
Review	You can't add a review of this book right now because you're not logged in.
Notify

Hey, let's read the dictionary!
by po8 on 2001-01-14 17:56:26, review #102

content
better than 95%

writing
better than 90%

Editor Eric Raymond's The New Hacker's Dictionary is the definitive reference to the jargon of computing and related disciplines. Based on an older MIT document (the "Jargon File") and with many contributions from the computing community, it is quite complete, and occasionally useful. Most of the definitions are concise and accurate, and some of the etymology is fascinating.

In its second objective, to be entertaining, it succeeds less well. As someone immersed in the field for close to 20 years, I found it enjoyable to read cover-to-cover, but it was far from the most amusing computing dictionary I've ever read(!), an honor accruing to the first edition of Stan Kelly-Bootle's The Devil's DP Dictionary.

As Tom Peterson has said, "free is a very good price," especially for an enormous snapshot of a rapidly changing culture. I highly recommend keeping a copy handy. Just don't plan to read it in one sitting.

The above review is copyrighted by its author, and is copylefted under the following license:
Open Publication License 1.0 without options A or B

You cannot revise or reply to this post because you are not logged in.

The contents of this web page, except the parts contributed by members of The Assayer, are copyright (c) 2000 by Benjamin Crowell, and are copyleft licensed under the Open Publication License 1.0, without options A or B.