The Computer Contradictionary [Hardcover]

Stan Kelly-Bootle (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1995 | ISBN-10: 0262112027 | ISBN-13: 978-0262112024 | Edition: 2 Sub

"Ascertain the meaning before consulting this dictionary," warns the author of this collection of deliberately satirical misdefinitions. New computer cultures and their jargons have burgeoned since this book's progenitor, "The Devil's DP Dictionary", was published in 1981. This updated version of Stan Kelly-Bootle's romp through the data processing lexicon is a response to the "Unix pandemic" that has swept academia and government, to the endlessly hyped panaceas offered to the MIS, and to the PC explosion that has brought computer terminology to a "hugely bewildered, lay audience.' The original dictionary, a pastiche of Ambrose Bierce's famous work, parried chiefly the mainframe and mini-folklore of the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. This revision adds over 550 new entries and enhances many of the original definitions. Key targets are "a host of new follies crying out for cynical lexicography including: the GUI-Phooey iconoclasts, object orienteering and the piping of BLObs down the Clinton-Gore InfoPike."

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Warning: If you aren't a true-blue geek, you won't even have a clue as to why this cracked glossary of computing terms is supposed to be funny. But if you're capable of finding humor in jokes about OO programming, TCP/IP, Bjarne Stroustrup, and operating system kernels, The Computer Contradictionary is truly hilarious. Sample: "ISAM ... One of the most successful data-security systems so far devised. Information is protected from all but the most persistent, patient, and devious." If you're even tempted to smile, you'll enormously enjoy British author Stan Kelly-Bootle's witty, urbane, and well-informed parody. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review

"[ The Computer Contradictionary] is ultimately a manual to ourindustry, computer history, and much of your universe as it reallyought to be. It is also the first dictionary you're likely to readin one sitting. Enjoy!" Andrew Binstock, UNIX Review

"With his mind-numbing grasp of English, literature, computer history,and programmer culture, Stan is the Umberto Eco of programming." Ron Burk, Windows Developer's Journal

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Mit Pr; 2 Sub edition (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262112027
• ISBN-13: 978-0262112024
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,581,106 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definately NOT a waste of money! Very funny!, December 30, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Computer Contradictionary (Paperback)

I read The Devil's DP Dictionary in 1981 when it was first published and absolutely loved it. (I'm a computer nerd so that's to be expected.) Since then that book has gotten a bit dated and I've been waiting for Kelly-Bootle to update it. Let me say that The Computer Contradictionary is everything that I hoped it would be and more. I must also strongly disagree with the customer reviewer who stated "Don't waste your money". I've read the Jargon File (a.k.a. The New Hacker's Dictionary) and while I rate it as highly as the book in question I must say that one really cannot compare the two. The Jargon File, while extremely funny, is a real dictionary with real definitions of hacker jargon. The Computer Contradictionary on the other hand is not intended to give real definitions at all. It exists simply to make us laugh through satire, irony, and Kelly-Bootle's irreverent wit. In fact it's required that one already know the definitions of the words he "defines" or they wouldn't be funny. This was also the requirement of the work that Kelly-Bootle paid homage to in this, and his first book, namely The Devil's Dictionary by Ambrose Bierce.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New & Improved Rev. 2.0!!, April 22, 1998

By 

Poul-Henning Kamp - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Computer Contradictionary (Paperback)

This is "The Devils DP Dictionary" Rev.2.0 not to be missed by anybody who has been around for long enough to not trust Rev.2.0 of anything. All known bugs have been fixed and countless new features added. Year 2000 compliant, biodegradable and politically incorrect. (Do not lend this book to anybody, you will not get it back.)

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Good Book for Geeks Who Love to Laugh, January 29, 2002

By 

Cindi A. Knox "theology, music, and electroni... (Joliet, IL) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Computer Contradictionary (Paperback)

This little bit of whimsy is a lot of fun. It's a fun book to keep on the shelf for those times you're too frustrated to go on coding and you need just a bit of comic relief.