Fictional Books that depict programming / IT Systems well [closed]

Question

What are some fictional books you've read that depict programming or just IT system generally realistically ?

I guess we've all ready some books where this is done really badly but which are some books that do it well (... and are good books to read)

Answer 1

Cryptonomicon is a fun read.

The "Laundry" series by Charles Stross has a main character that is a network admin (stuck in a horrible bureaucracy), book A, B, C. While computational demonology isn't a real field, he does a good job of making it consistent and plausible.

Halting State (also by Stross) is an interesting detective (or "police procedural" if you prefer) story that takes place in virtual reality. Rule 34 comes out this week that supposedly takes place in the same "universe" as Halting State (I've only read excerpts, but it is on my "to buy" list).

Answer 2

I've had a lot of pleasure reading Microserfs by Douglas Coupland. I remember it seemed like a pretty realistic description of the IT world as it was around the Win95 era. Coupland definitely did his research when writing this one; according to wikipedia:

Coupland lived in Redmond, Washington for six weeks and Palo Alto, Silicon Valley for four months researching the lives of Microsoft workers. "It was a 'Gorillas in the Mist' kind of observation… What do they put in their glove compartments? What snack foods do they eat? What posters are on their bedroom walls?" Friends from Microsoft and Apple also helped him with research.

Answer 3

At the other end of the scale, Digital Fortress by Dan Brown (of The Da Vinci Code fame) has to be possibly the worst fictional representation of IT/software ever. (Actually it's got a fairly strong claim to being the worst book ever written, period - it's that bad) However, it's fun to try and spot as many mistakes as possible...!

Answer 4

I haven't read it myself, but Zero Day by Mark Russinovich should be a very good book and realistic as well.

From the official website of the book:

An airliner falls from the sky. A nuclear reactor nearly melts down. An oil tanker runs aground. Jeff Aiken and Daryl Haugen believe these incidents are the result of a massive cyber attack that's under way. The clock is ticking as they race to figure out who is behind it and how to stop it.

Written by a global authority on cyber security, Zero Day presents a chilling “what if” scenario that, in a world completely reliant on technology, is more than possible today—it’s a cataclysmic disaster just waiting to happen.

More about Mark (from his blog) to show that he knows what he's writing about:

Mark Russinovich is a Technical Fellow in Windows Azure, Microsoft's cloud operating system group. Russinovich is a widely recognized expert in Windows operating system internals as well as operating system architecture and design.

Russinovich joined Microsoft when Microsoft acquired Winternals software, the company he cofounded in 1996 and where he worked as Chief Software Architect. He is also cofounder of Sysinternals.com, where he wrote and published dozens of popular Windows administration and diagnostic utilities including Autoruns, Process Explorer and Tcpview.

Russinovich coauthored "Windows Internals" and "The Sysinternals Administrator's Reference," both from Microsoft Press, authored the cyberthriller Zero Day, is a Contributing Editor for TechNet Magazine and Senior Contributing Editor for Windows IT Pro Magazine, and has written many articles on Windows internals. He has been a featured speaker at major industry conferences around the world, including Microsoft's TechEd, IT Forum, and Professional Developer's Conference, as well as Windows Connections, Windev, and TechMentor, and has taught Windows internals, troubleshooting and file system and device driver development to companies worldwide, including Microsoft, the CIA and the FBI. Russinovich earned his Ph.D. in computer engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Answer 5

Its more of a teen book but I thought Little Brother by Cory Doctorow presented a lot of technology in a realistic and easily consumed fashion.

Answer 6

jPod by Douglas Coupland is hysterical. Since I didn't read Microserfs, it was more unique to me.

Answer 7

For a realistic representation of the IT world in a non-realistic (hopefully) setting try the short story When SysAdmins Ruled the Earth by Cory Doctorow.

Answer 8

I'd say that Daemon and FreedomTM by Daniel Suarez were done quite well. Several of the characters are technologically inclined, but it isn't necessarily their defining characteristic. The situations in the books are particularly appealing to IT types.

Answer 9

Although it's focus is computer security a really well researched book is "Dissecting the hack: the f0rb1dd3n network":

"Dissecting the hack: The F0rb1dd3n Network" Is a ground breaking book based on one goal. To inform and educate executives and upper management on the importance of Information Security without alienating or losing them in the process. Though this book will also appeal to the layman and Information Security professional as well. This book has evolved from the presentation "Selling Elephant Whistles" created by Jayson E. Street.

The story part of this book has a little bit of everything from car chases to shoot outs, Terrorist, the F.B.I. and hackers in a three way cat and mouse game with no one sure sure who is chasing who. The truly amazing factor of this novel is that every computer compromise, every hack, and every exploit in this book. Is a hundred percent true and capable of being used in a real world scenario. which leads the reader to part two of the book.

The second part of this book is located after the fictional story and stands alone as a walkthrough of the methodology and tools used in Information Security. This book does not compete with other manuals out on the market today. You will actually find links and the ISBN of these other books to help you learn more about the different disciplines that make up the Information Security field. The goal of this part is to bring the different disciplines of Information Security and the alternate culture of the underground "Black Hat" community into one book. So the reader can gain a better and more complete picture of why hackers attack and why it is important for Information Security to be on the ready to defend!

It's worth giving a try.

Answer 10

Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby is book that teaches Ruby following through some very surreal adventures of cartoon foxes.

Answer 11

I really enjoyed reading The First 20 Million is Always the Hardest.

It was dated even when I read it in 1999 - it's about a startup where a programmer comes up with the "mind-blowing" idea of a "Virtual Machine", which can run byte-code on every platform.

But that actually makes it more interesting: since Java made the idea commonplace it seems like a no brainer, but imagine programmers thinking up the idea for the first time.

Apparently it spawned a really bad movie

Answer 12

Sprawl trilogy by William Gibson.

Answer 13

Again, probably not the most technically sound, but I found Jeffery Deaver's The Blue Nowhere to be a great read.

Answer 14

The story about Ping

"Using deft allegory, the authors have provided an insightful and intuitive explanation of one of Unix's most venerable networking utilities. Even more stunning is that they were clearly working with a very early beta of the program, as their book first appeared in 1933, years (decades!) before the operating system and network infrastructure were finalized."