The Seductive Computer

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.

Derek Partridge gained his PhD in Computer Science from Imperial College, London in 1972. For the next 15 years he worked as a researcher and a teacher in Universities around the world --- Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Chile but primarily in the USA. In 1987 he returned to the UK to the Chair of Computer Science at Exeter University. He has published more than one hundred articles on Artificial Intelligence and Software Engineering as well as numerous books, one of which was translated into French, German and Italian. He retired from the University of Exeter in 2008, and now reads, writes and manages his private nature reserve on the edge of Dartmoor National Park in Devon.

From the reviews: "Experienced computer professionals will appreciate this book's subtitle. Partridge (emer, Univ. of Exeter, UK) has divided the volume into four parts ! . Overall, the well-written book provides a good starting point for serious discussions. It will be most useful for those with significant experience with computer systems since they will be able to fully appreciate the arguments presented. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." (M. B. DuBois, Choice, Vol. 48 (9), May, 2011)

From the reviews:

"Experienced computer professionals will appreciate this book's subtitle. Partridge (emer, Univ. of Exeter, UK) has divided the volume into four parts ... . Overall, the well-written book provides a good starting point for serious discussions. It will be most useful for those with significant experience with computer systems since they will be able to fully appreciate the arguments presented. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." (M. B. DuBois, Choice, Vol. 48 (9), May, 2011)

"The author, Derek Partridge, dissects the art of computer programming carefully detailing all the problems, traps and gotchas that result in computer programs ... . In my opinion the executives overseeing any major IT project would find the information in this book to be quite valuable ... ." (Brent Sims, Goodreads, June, 2011)

"The Seductive Computer is a very enlightening book chocked full of interesting facts, figures, and examples." (John, Goodreads, March, 2011)

"Partridge is a technologist, and in some sense an optimist. ... written for a general educated audience, and builds its arguments from both well-documented historical examples and detailed analyses of an apparently simple programming task ... . There are plentiful pointers towards supporting data and further reading, and an extensive glossary. ... The Seductive Computer is ... well worth reading, if only for the schadenfreude of realising that practitioners of the high-tech arts have conceptual problems at least as deep as philosophy's own." (Chris Fields, Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, January, 2012)

"Throughout the book, Partridge gives details of both conventional engineering and IT disasters ... . The table of contents is thorough, there is a good index and glossary, and each chapter has relevant endnotes. ... Partridge's book alerts readers to the true lack of reliability ofcomputer programs and the