rdf-syntax-grammar
mods:
  schema location: http://www.loc.gov/mods/v3 http://www.loc.gov/standards/mods/v3/mods-3-2.xsd
  title info:
    non sort: The
    title: Seductive Computer
    sub title: Why IT Systems Always Fail
  name:
    name part: Partridge, Derek.
    role:
      role term: creator
    role:
      role term: author.
  name:
    name part: SpringerLink (Online service)
  type of resource: text
  origin info:
    place:
      place term: xxk
    date issued: 2011
    issuance: monographic
  language:
    language term: eng
  physical description:
    form: electronic
    form: electronic resource
    reformatting quality: access
    form: remote
    extent: XVI, 323 p. 56 illus., 6 illus. in color. online resource.
  abstract: IT systems explode budget estimates, bust production deadlines by years, and then fail to work properly. Why this IT-system crisis? Poor programmers? Inadequate project management? No. The Seductive Computer argues that the fundamental nature of programming technology itself is the real culprit; it promises perfection but can only deliver emergent chaos. It is also an insidiously compelling technology, peculiarly male oriented. IT systems, an unavoidable and increasing reality in all our lives, are something new to man - large-scale discrete complexity. The Seductive Computer explains this novelty that defies human understanding. This book illustrates in a simple yet thorough manner the underlying concepts necessary for understanding the IT-system crisis - not ‘How To Program’ but what the demands of programming are. It then proceeds to lay out the full gamut of issues - all stemming from the nature of the technology. From development to maintenance IT-system personnel are grappling with incipient chaos. The technicians are seduced by the detailed challenge of the technology. The scientists are seduced by the promises of their technology. The managers and users are seduced by the mysteries of the technology. No IT system is ever fully understood by anyone, so surprising behaviours will always emerge. What can be done? We must rein in our expectations of IT systems: what they can do, and how reliably they can do it. On the positive side, The Seductive Computer discusses novel paradigms that look beyond the current discrete technology: neural computing and precise approximation computing.
  table of contents: Preface -- 1. Introduction -- I The Joy Of Programming -- 2. The Happy Hacker: Love At First Byte -- 3. The Reluctant Programmer -- 4. Cooking Up Programs -- 5. Recipes For What? -- 6. Programs: The Good, The Bad And The Verified -- 7. Going To Ground With Symbols -- 8. Hooptedoodle 1 - The Proof Of The Pudding Is In The Science -- 9. The Soft Machine -- 10. Computers Only Do What You Tell Them To Do -- 11. Hooptedoodle 2 - Recursing Through Tescos -- II The Way Of The Seducer -- 12. Intimate Relationships Of The Computational Kind -- 13. Programming With Flair -- 14. Hooptedoodle 3 - The Seductive Gene -- 15. Runaway Programs - Dr Frankenstein’s Predicament -- 16. Sneakaway Programs - Everybody’s Predicament -- 17. Hooptedoodle 4 - Bases For Data Security -- 18. The Roles Of Software In Society -- III Pieces Of Resistance -- 19. Help From Within -- 20. A Moderately Stupid Assistant -- 21. Watching Programs Work - Support For Voyeurism -- 22. Classical Reconditioning: Doing What Happens Naturally -- 23. A Computer That Knows When It’s Wrong -- IV The End Of The Affair -- 24. Analysis & Counselling -- 25.Epilogic.
  note: by Derek Partridge.
  subject:
    topic: Computer science
  subject:
    topic: Software engineering
  subject:
    topic: Computers and civilization
  subject:
    topic: Management information systems
  subject:
    topic: Computers
  subject:
    topic: Computer Science
  subject:
    topic: Computers and Society
  subject:
    topic: Management of Computing and Information Systems
  subject:
    topic: The Computing Profession
  subject:
    topic: Software Engineering
  subject:
    topic: Software Engineering/Programming and Operating Systems
  subject:
    topic: Information Systems Applications (incl. Internet)
  classification: QA76.9.C66
  classification: 004
  related item:
    title info:
      title: Springer eBooks
  identifier: 9781849964982
  identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-84996-498-2
  record info:
    record creation date: 101029
    record change date: 20151204160022.0
    record identifier: 978-1-84996-498-2