The Bug
by Ellen Ullman · first published 2003
86% recommend7% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
A literary novel about a programmer slowly consumed by an elusive bug. It offers a realistic portrayal of debugging and software development, and suits coders and readers curious about tech life.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
In 1984, Roberta Watson, a quality assurance tester with a computer start-up company, and Ethan Levin, a computer programmer, try to find the bug which is infecting their company's new software before it ruins the company and their lives.
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A book-length, epic debugging story is in Ellen Ullman's novel The Bug: http://www.amazon.com/The-Bug-Novel-Ellen-Ullman/dp/12500024...
on “A collection of debugging stories” ↗The author wrote the only novel I'm aware of that really illustrates what it's like to debug software. It's called The Bug, and I'd recommend it much more than I would this Salon article. http://www.amazon.com/Bug-Ellen-Ullman/dp/1400032350/
on “The dumbing-down of programming (1998)” ↗This reminds me of the wonderful novel "The Bug" by Ellen Ullman. A beautifully-written fictionalized account of the quest for a "Holy Grail" bug.
on “The Infinite Loop That Wasn't” ↗FWIW - I found "The Bug", by Ellen Ullman, to be a really engrossing piece of fiction to read. I wasn't aware she'd authored other works. I'll have to check them out!
on “Ellen Ullman wrote the most precise account of “computer culture” I have seen” ↗The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories and The Hidden Girl and Other Stories by Ken Liu The Bug by Ellen Ullman Radicalized by Corey Doctrow Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories by qntm
on “Ask HN: What fiction books would you recommend for programmers?” ↗Craziest to me is The Bug by Ellen Ullman. Personal craziest was an Oracle performance problem on Windows NT in the 90s. Slow as hell. Going to the server, logging in, checking everything: Blazing fast. Back at the desk, slow…
on “The craziest bug you never heard about from 2008: A Linux threading regression” ↗Read Ellen Ullman's "The Bug," an excellent novel[1] about one man's fight against a C bug. [1 ]: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/138805.The_Bug
on “Ellen Ullman: We Have to Demystify Code (2017)” ↗Tangibly related due to it being Ellen Ullman. Oh wow. So I read "The Bug" of hers just after it came out (14 years ago) and it's such a poignant read about someone being slowly driven mad because he can't find a very peculiar bug which unpredictably haunts the sales people…
on “Ellen Ullman on the importance of making algorithms accessible to the public” ↗Hello fellow coders, what is the best novel about coders you have encountered? "The Bug " by Ellen Ullman left an lasting impression on me. What novel about coding has influenced you?
on “Ask HN: Best Novel about Coders?” ↗There is a whole novel written about what one pixel can do and you should read it, Ellen Ullman: The Bug http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/138805.The_Bug
on “That one pixel” ↗I would add “The Bug” by Ellen Ullman. A remarkable portrayal of software development in fiction. A gift.
on “Hard comp-fi reading list” ↗"The Bug" by Ellen Ullman
on “Deep Bug” ↗> The Bug by Ellen Ullman The best answer.
on “Ask HN: What fiction books would you recommend for programmers?” ↗…https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/11289614-the-paper-menag... - *The Hidden Girl and Other Stories* — Speculative Fiction, AI, VR https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51008178-the-hidden-girl... ## Ellen Ullman - *The Bug* — Tech Industry Literary Fiction https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/703.The_Bug ## Cory Doctorow - *Radicalized* — Techno-sociopolitical Speculative Fiction https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40604122-radicalized…
on “Ask HN: What fiction books would you recommend for programmers?” ↗Has anyone read The Bug (http://www.amazon.com/The-Bug-Ellen-Ullman/dp/B000HWYPSE/ref...)? After reading it and experiencing all kinds of work environments, I can see how a person's sanity is tested.
on “I Knew a Programmer Who Went Completely Insane” ↗