looking for sf stories with computer programming elements

[mazzaferro]

I'm looking for some stories that revolve around the actual programming of computers. I was talking with a friend the other day about how science fiction has accurately predicted technologies before, and was just wondering if this was another case. Not that anything you recommend has to be accurate - I was curious where and how programming appeared in stories.

 

[BookStop]

One of the major (collective) characters in Electronic Echoes of the Mind is a cult of computer programmers, they worship the digital. They attempt to transplant memories into a digital form (I could definitely see the science of computers heading in that direction eventually).

 

[iansales]

Er, when has science fiction accurately predicted technologies? You can't claim Arthur C Clarke's geosynchronous satellite because he first came up with that in a talk given to the (I think) British Interplanetary Society.

Science fiction has certainly inspired people to invent things--some of which have been named for the inspiration, like the waldo. But since most SF is based on ideas from science/technology, it can hardly be predictive. Not that it's even meant to be.

If you want to see how well SF "predicted" computing... read any of Asimov's UNIVAC stories. And there's a marvellous description of a voice recognition system in AE van Vogt's The Man With A Thousand Faces. Using vinyl records!

 

[ScottSF]

'To Hold Infinity' by John Meaney does some interesting stuff with code in the text.

 

[Dave]

Er, when has science fiction accurately predicted technologies? You can't claim Arthur C Clarke's geosynchronous satellite because he first came up with that in a talk given to the (I think) British Interplanetary Society.

In an interview for the BBC Arthur C Clarke says 'I wrote a story many years ago called 'Silence Please' about devices that could eliminate sound, you can actually buy these on the market now. I am sometimes asked if I am sorry that I didn't patent the communications satellite, well I'm not sure that I could have done, but in any event I am fond of saying that "a patent is a license to be sued".

I'm sure that given some time I could find other accurately predicted technologies. Of course, to predict them exactly and precisely would require the kind of foresight that no-one has, or if they did have it then they would be out getting patents and not writing books.

I think computers are a particularly difficult area to have made predictions. Absolutely no one could have predicted the miniaturization that took place in the last sixty years. ENIAC was 10 feet tall, occupied 1,000 square feet of floor space, weighed in at approximately 30 tons, and used more than 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 switches, and 18,000 vacuum tubes. The final machine required 150 kilowatts of power, which was enough to light a small town. Yet, today a modern programmable pocket calculator, running on a solar cell, could probably do the same job quicker.

Even in fairly modern TV shows such as 'Star Trek: Voyager' (late 1990's) you have a huge desktop computer sitting on Captain Janeway's desk in the 24th Century that is an antique.

I'm currently reading 'The Difference Engine'. That book has the information revolution occuring 150 years early due to the the perfection of Babbage's Analytical Engine. There are Kinotrope displays in advertising hoardings and theatres run on punched card systems, and clerks who punch cards all day known as 'clackers'. Everyone has a personal identification number. I don't know if that is the kind of thing you were looking for or not as it's not a prediction as such, but an alternative history.

 

[Nesacat]

William Gibson's series of books. He has been called the father of the cyberpunk subgenre of science fiction. He is credited with coining the term "cyberspace". There's the Sprawl Trilogy made up of Neuromancer; Count Zero & Mona Lisa Overdrive.

There's also the Bridge Trilogy comprising Virtual Light; Idoru & All Tomorrow's Parties.

I've also read Burning Chrome, which is a collection of short stories by Gibson. Another tale I read recently is called An End To Hunger and is part of the book entitled Looking For Jake and Other Stories by China Mieville.

 

[elvet]

Tad Williams Otherland trilogy takes place in a virtual computer world. Many of the subplots involve different computer programs and simulations. I particularly liked the scenario where humans were shrunk to a tiny size to better appreciate the behaviors of insects.

 

[Allegra]

Try Neil Stephenson's cyber punks Snow Crash and The Diamond Age.

 

[iansales]

The OP was asking for SF stories or novels that accurately depicted how modern computers operate. None of the cyberpunk novels did that--they were all "cyberspace" and "plugging in". Earlier SF got it horribly wrong--Asimov's UNIVAC stories, for example, or the classic magazine cover depicting a space pirate with a slide-rule between his teeth.

Then again, there was John Brunner's Shockwave Rider, which featured a computer "worm", which is where their name comes from.

 

[Hiro Protagonist]

Probably the cheapest (judging quality) book I have read that might fit your description is Cybernation, by Tom Clancy. Although somewhat predictable, the programming elements seem to be accurate.

I am more of a cyberpunk person myself, but I realize most cyberpunk hardly includes any accurate programming.

Cybernation is in the Netforce series by Tom clancy, so you might want to check that out. Overall it was a good book and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[Nanoforge]

Alec Effinger's "When Gravity Fails" series perhaps. I was gonna say Shockwave Rider but looks like I came late.

 

[Gav]

A friend of mine wrote a book called Z4CK. It's not really SF - more cyber noir - but it's interesting if short. Not strictly computer programming but quite relevent - if you know anything about computers.

He's also head of network security in a major Blue Chip company and knows more about security than anyone I know.

 

[JDP]

You could try the Rifters Trilogy by Peter Watts. A subplot involves the artificial evolution of an advanced virus that travels through a planetary computer network called Maelstrom (it's like the internet but rougher, with malicious code being the dominant 'species'). At several points, the virus inadvertantly saves the protagonist. It's all a bit dark though.

 

[Gav]

And if you are looking for really really well written stuff to do with Computer programming then I really recommend Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon. Oh; abnd the two other books that make up the Trilogy.

If you are looking for accurate (i.e. not fantasy dressed up as SF) then these are good books for you.

(can't remember off hand what the trilogy is called)