Dreaming in Code
By Jakob Griffith on Feb 15th, 2009 at 10:47AM
In between gaming, programming, and general life I like to just take a break every once in a while. I like to try something that I don’t normally do. That’s not to say I don’t read. I’ve always got a how-to or guide book in my hand, but not usually a book that tells a story. By chance, two weeks ago, I came upon the book “Dreaming in Code” by Scott Rosenberg, and whilst it needs a bit of buffing, it’s a rather nice read.
The story line follows Mitch Kapor and his quest to create transcendent software. Starting in 2001, Kapor designs and leads the Open Source Applications Foundation with the intention to create a better Personal Information Manager (PIM). Several had already existed, such as the commonly used Outlook, but none that had the flexibility he wanted. In his past he had created a program that could take a note, such as “meeting at 6 today” and put it into a calendar automatically and easily.
The problem was this old software was just that–old, not streamlined for use in the field today. So Kapor set out to work on “Chandler”, a PIM that would, as he put it, tare down the silos that information is currently held in and let an ‘event’ become a ‘note’ or a ‘calendar’ object and visa versa, the ultimate flexibility.
Several problems arised, such as who should work on the project (even if it is open source), what should go into the project, time constraints, broken expectations, and more. The book peruses not only Chandler’s development from version .1 to .6 and all the ups and downs that it brings, but several side notes on the creations of such software as Firefox and and the OS Vista.
My personal favorite is his take on the different ‘laws’ floating around. Such as, “Contrary to popular belief, the more people you have on a programming project, the slower it will get done.” It just goes to show that the book has something to offer for everyone like high up CEO programmers or even the kid who grabbed the wrong book off the shelf. It is a slight bore compared to say, the action adventure “Harry Potter”, but honestly, it’s a book about programmers, what more can you expect!
Score: 6 Olives
