Software archeology in a mature programming environment. The programmerarchaeologist churns through this maddening nest of ancient languages and hiddenforgotten tools to repair existing programs or to find odd things that can be turned to unanticipated uses. He is a professional archaeologist in idaho and wyoming, and was previously a computer programmer. The profession of programmerarchaeologist features prominently in vernor vinges a deepness in the sky. Home of the programmer archaeologist and the programmer at arms. A ragtag of asteroids, and a single planet, more like a moon. If youre recruiting for an expedition to those alien ruins on omicronpersei 8, hes the ideal programmerarchaeologist youve been looking for.
You must stop, think, and maybe backtrack until you know where you are. I always liked vernor vinge s concept of a programmer archaeologist, and his idea that the codebase of a starfaring trade civilization millenia in the future will still have components and artifacts dating back to unix version 1. Programmer archaeologist a really cool career option for. And the more these surgical changes add up, the more fragile the code gets. Software archaeology wikimili, the free encyclopedia. Ive spoken of how it is masterfully written, with great aliens, fascinating story, and nifty cultures.
The book is set very far in the future, and to cut a long story short, the. Vernor vinge was writer guest of honor at conjose, the 60th world science fiction convention in 2002. Digging the idea of the programmerarchaeologist our goh vernor vinge has posited that as computingbased civilizations age, layers upon layers of legacy code build up in vast lets call them dataliths. Professor vinge defines the singularity as a point where our models must be discarded and a new reality rules as a result of exponential growth of technology. Over thousands of years, the machine memories have been filled with programs that can help. Sep 28, 2011 ive written about vernor vinges a deepness in the sky before. It feels vaguely familiar to any freshmeat readers and other unix programmer types. The young protagonist, pham, has joined a starship crew and is learning the highvalue vocation of programmer archaeologist, as the crews safety depends on the ability to find needed code, use it, and modify it without breaking. Programmer is an overgeneralization beware of bugs in the above code. Programmer archaeologist a really cool career option for people living in the universe created by vernor vinge. Isnt our data already in pretty deep doodoo in this regard. This is actually the reference date that the farintothefuture programmerarchaeologist in vernor vinge s novel, a deepness in the sky.
A deepness in the sky quotes by vernor vinge goodreads. So, rather than creating new software, the job of the programmer archaeologist would be to search for software close to. In his book a deepness in the sky, scifi author vernor vinge describes the profession of programmer archaeologists. Theres a job there called programmer archaeologist because everything is just piled layers and layers deep and digging to the bottom, the unix timer is still there, ticking away tens of thousands of years later. Vernor vinge has won five hugo awards, two of them in the zones of thought series. If you create a free account and sign in, you will be able to customize what is displayed. The book is set very far in the future, and to cut a long story short, the idea behind the programmer. Characters in his worlds have jobs like programmeratarms and programmer archaeologist. For the way their tech works, vinge has taken the idea of a mature programming environment and extrapolated it outwards to everything. I consider vernor vinge to be one of the most visionary sf authors living. Software archaeology or software archeology is the study of poorly documented or undocumented legacy software implementations, as part of software maintenance. Other than that its not very related to your question, but you should read it anyway.
Most years, since its inception in 1999, vinge has been on the free software foundations selection committee for their award for the advancement of free software. He taught mathematics and computer science at san diego state university. A few thousand years and a lot of coldsleep later, hes old and broke, and joins a starship crew as programmer archaeologist third class. Meego, zero to vt320 in seventeen seconds slashdot. A deepness in the sky is a science fiction novel by american writer vernor vinge. Programming went back to the beginning of time behind all the toplevel interfaces was layer under layer of support. The death of a woman hit by a selfdriving car highlights an unfolding technological crisis, as code piled on code creates a universe no one fully understands. Queue decemberjanuary 20042005 33 focus programming languages languages, levels, libraries, and longevity learning the highvalue vocation of programmer archaeologist, as the crew s safety depends on the ability to. In vernor vinges 1999 novel a deepness in the sky the protagonist learns what it means to become a programmerarchaeologist. The programmer archaeologist churns through this maddening nest of ancient languages and hiddenforgotten tools to repair existing programs or to find odd things that can be turned to unanticipated uses. The vernor vinge project is a collaborative everything attempt to create an index of all characters, places, vehicles, and technologies in the writings of vinge. The young protagonist, pham, has joined a starship crew and is more queue.
Terry pratchett, isaac asimov, neil gaiman, alexander mccall smith, vernor vinge and bill bryson. The list of famous libra scientists includes neil degrasse tyson, enrico fermi, niels bohr, alfred nobel, juliane koepcke. We reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason at any time. Stever it is a real thing, to be lost in the woods, and the worst thing to do is to panic or to run forward. Passages, acm sigsoft software engineering notes deepdyve. In some books, he points out how code has a way of building up to the point where we can no longer manage it. Uber had disengaged the stop if somethings in front of you aspects of the selfdriving cars code, and the woman who was responsible for taking. A really cool career option for people living in the universe created by vernor vinge, in his novel a deepness in the sky. I always liked vernor vinge s concept of a programmerarchaeologist, and his idea that the codebase of a starfaring trade civilization millenia in the future will still have components and artifacts dating back to unix version 1. Earliest images of the moon were better than people. This reminds me of the programmer archaeologist from vernor vinge s novel a deepness in the sky great book, btw.
A deepness in the sky, vernor vinge they tend to make their changes as small surgical changes that affect the component as little as possible. A very good scifi author in my mind, the best actually is vernor vinge. Alexander mccall smith, vernor vinge and bill bryson. Tatja grimms world thanks sublies the witling thanks eponymous the peace war.
I laughed when i read the professional designation programmerarchaeologist. Then either return to a familiar landmark, and try to. If youre recruiting for an expedition to those alien ruins on omicronpersei 8, hes the ideal programmerarchaeologist. For the far future, vernor vinges fine sciencefiction novel, a deepness in the sky, rings all too true. Unfortunately, its in a variety of arcane computer languages and constructs, and it could be hidden in any of a thousand different projects. Ive written about vernor vinge s a deepness in the sky before. The profession of programmer archaeologist features prominently in vernor vinge s a deepness in the sky. In vernor vinges novel a deepness in the sky, pham nuwen, the main character, says he wants to become a programmerarchaeologist, the most profitable. Vinge introduced the idea of the singularity in his marooned in realtime, and it was taken up by other sf writers as well as futurists. The most commonly used units are the ksec kilosecond, msec megasecond, and. Its a novella, serialized only in analog magazine, as far as i know. As these changes build up, the code in the component starts to resemble a piece of conglomerate rock. In vernor vinge s 1999 novel a deepness in the sky the protagonist learns what it means to become a programmerarchaeologist programming went back to the beginning of time behind all the toplevel interfaces was layer under layer of support. It is an exercise in presingularity group consciousness.
Sep 23, 2000 a really cool career option for people living in the universe created by vernor vinge, in his novel a deepness in the sky. In vernor vinge s excellent and fascinating book a deepness in the sky which, by the way, i highly recommend 1, the qeng ho, a culture that spans various star systems, has no notion of days, months, years, etc. I laughed when i read the professional designation programmerarchaeologist because i use linux, and im married to someone whose. Stever is the author of several science fiction and fantasy stories, as well as nonfiction works relating to history, and general science which is the best kind of science. Slashdot discussion linux is ready for the end of time. Software archaeology has continued to be a topic of discussion at more recent software engineering conferences. Sounds like vernor vinge s programmeratarms or possibly programmerarchaeologist position to me. But like brent says, many of those programs are lies, all of them are. The programmerarchaeologist searches for useful code in the archives of software on the internet and modifies it for current needs. For the far future, vernor vinge s fine sciencefiction novel, a deepness in the sky, rings all too true. Read passages, acm sigsoft software engineering notes on deepdyve, the largest online rental service for scholarly research with thousands of academic publications available at your fingertips. Dragon removal service 1 book series kindle edition. The notion here that seems to be new is, perhaps, not as startling but perhaps more probable. Combining interesting technological prognostication, fascinating concepts, amusing characters, and an enthralling story, this novel brings together science fiction and presentday science fact in a deep.
Aug 17, 2007 in his book a deepness in the sky, scifi author vernor vinge describes the profession of programmer archaeologists. In vernor vinge s 1999 novel a deepness in the sky the protagonist learns what it means to become a programmer archaeologist. A fine information literature post crossed the nettime list transom this morning, concerning a recent sf novel vernor vinge hugoaward winning sf writer, and a computer scientist in a previous life came up with the concept of programmer archaeologist in a deepness in the sky. If youre recruiting for an expedition to those alien ruins on omicronpersei 8, hes the ideal programmer archaeologist youve been looking for. Programmer archaeologist is a profession coined by vernor vinge in his book a deepness in the sky and it is a very accurate description what we are really doing when we have to maintain old code. The first is a position on a military ship they fight through. Imma cheat a little and say a deepness in the sky by vernor vinge. I have to admit that the book is technically challenged with vinges notions on. Eric is a professional archaeologist in idaho, and was previously a computer programmer. He finds bugs from practically before the dawn of time, and adds a few backdoors to the mess. Programmer archaeologist in vernor vinge s novel a deepness in the sky, pham nuwen, the main character, says he wants to become a programmer archaeologist, the most profitable profession in galactic civilization. Software archaeology or software archeology is the study of poorly documented or. The basic idea was that in the far future, pretty much every piece of software you could imagine has already been created.
Jan 11, 2011 so high, so low, so many things to know. True names by vernor vinge seems seminal cyberspace at any rate. Only one concrete connection links a deepness in the sky with a fire upon the deep. It was a little like the midden out back of his fathers castle. As the horror reaches out to take over civilization after civilization within the beyond, it soon. The programmerarchaeologist churns through this maddening nest of ancient languages and. Jul 10, 2012 5time hugo award winning author vernor vinge, one of the most lauded sf writers of our era, discusses his work and concepts from it, including the concept of the singularity which he coined.
It doesnt matter how much we all wish for it to end. The coming technological singularity new century edition. You must stop, think, and maybe backtrack untilmore it is a real thing, to be lost in the woods, and the worst thing to do is to panic or to run forward. Ancient software and programmerarchaeologists 0xdecafbad. Hey, if you enjoyed monty python and the holy grail or douglas adams hitchhikers guide to the galaxy, ori dont knowthe marx brothersyoull love e. In vernor vinges novel a deepness in the sky, pham nuwen, the main character, says he wants to become a programmerarchaeologist, the most profitable profession in galactic civilization. After ten thousand years of humanity writing source code, there is code for just about doing anything. This is a classic paper written by professor vernor vinge back in 1993 that discusses the technological singularity. Software archaeology, named by analogy with archaeology, includes the reverse engineering of software modules, and the application of a variety of tools and processes for extracting and understanding program structure and recovering. Stever is the author of humorous fantasy and science fiction adventures. In vernor vinge s novel a deepness in the sky, pham nuwen, the main character, says he wants to become a programmerarchaeologist, the most profitable profession in galactic civilization. Everything has layers built on layers, protocols built on protocols. Sep 25, 2011 a fine information literature post crossed the nettime list transom this morning, concerning a recent sf novel vernor vinge hugoaward winning sf writer, and a computer scientist in a previous life came up with the concept of programmer archaeologist in a deepness in the sky.
This notion first got stuck in my head after reading vernor vinges a deepness in the sky and the description of the qeng ho interstellar trading. Is there a calendar not based on a solar or planetary cycle. The novella the lifecycle of software objects by ted chiang. Software archaeology, named by analogy with archaeology, includes the reverse engineering of software modules, and the application of a variety of tools and processes for extracting and. Languages, levels, libraries, and longevity acm queue. Then again we do have the unix timestamp, which is simply the number of seconds since the 1st of january 1970. A deepness in the sky by vernor vinge, paperback barnes.
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