"You Are Not Expected to Understand This": How 26 Lines of Code Changed the World

by Torie Bosch (Editor), Kelly Chudler (Illustrator), Ellen Ullman (Introduction)

Overview

Leading technologists, historians, and journalists reveal the stories behind the computer coding that touches all aspects of life—for better or worse

Few of us give much thought to computer code or how it comes to be. The very word “code” makes it sound immutable or even inevitable. “You Are Not Expected to Understand This” demonstrates that, far from being preordained, computer code is the result of very human decisions, ones we all live with when we use social media, take photos, drive our cars, and engage in a host of other activities.

Everything from law enforcement to space exploration relies on code written by people who, at the time, made choices and assumptions that would have long-lasting, profound implications for society. Torie Bosch brings together many of today’s leading technology experts to provide new perspectives on the code that shapes our lives. Contributors discuss a host of topics, such as how university databases were programmed long ago to accept only two genders, what the person who programmed the very first pop-up ad was thinking at the time, the first computer worm, the Bitcoin white paper, and perhaps the most famous seven words in Unix history: “You are not expected to understand this.”

This compelling book tells the human stories behind programming, enabling those of us who don’t think much about code to recognize its importance, and those who work with it every day to better understand the long-term effects of the decisions they make.

With an introduction by Ellen Ullman and contributions by Mahsa Alimardani, Elena Botella, Meredith Broussard, David Cassel, Arthur Daemmrich, Charles Duan, Quinn DuPont, Claire L. Evans, Hany Farid, James Grimmelmann, Katie Hafner, Susan C. Herring, Syeda Gulshan Ferdous Jana, Lowen Liu, John MacCormick, Brian McCullough, Charlton McIlwain, Lily Hay Newman, Margaret O’Mara, Will Oremus, Nick Partridge, Benjamin Pope, Joy Lisi Rankin, Afsaneh Rigot, Ellen R. Stofan, Lee Vinsel, Josephine Wolff, and Ethan Zuckerman.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691208480
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	11/15/2022
Pages:	216
Sales rank:	424,714
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Torie Bosch is editor of Future Tense, a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that explores the intersection of technology, policy, and society. She lives outside of Philadelphia. Kelly Chudler is a multidisciplinary artist and musician and the illustrator of Neuropedia (Princeton), Brain Bytes, and Worried?

Table of Contents

Preface Torie Bosch ix

Introduction Ellen Ullman 1

1 The First Line of Code Elena Botella 13

2 Monte Carlo Algorithms: Random Numbers in Computing from the H-Bomb to Today Benjamin Pope 19

3 Jean Sammet and the Code That Runs the World Claire L. Evans 25

4 Spacewar: Collaborative Coding and the Rise of Gaming Culture Arthur Daemmrich 31

5 BASIC and the Illusion of Coding Empowerment Joy Lisi Rankin 38

6 The First Email: The Code That Connected Us Online Margaret O'Mara 44

7 The Police Beat Algorithm: The Code That Launched Computational Policing and Modern Racial Profiling Charlton McIlwain 49

8 "Apollo 11, Do Bailout" Ellen R. Stofan Nick Partridge 56

9 The Most Famous Comment in Unix History: "You Are Not Expected to Understand This" David Cassel 63

10 The Accidental Felon Katie Hafner 69

11 Internet Relay Chat: From Fish-Slap to LOL Susan C. Herring 75

12 Hyperlink: The Idea That Led to Another, and Another, and Another Brian McCullough 81

13 JPEG: The Unsung Hero in the Digital Revolution Hany Farid 86

14 The Viral Internet Image You've Never Seen Lily Hay Newman 91

15 The Pop-Up Ad: The Code That Made the Internet Worse Ethan Zuckerman 96

16 Wear This Code, Go to Jail James Grimmelmann 102

17 Needles in the World's Biggest Haystack: The Algorithm That Ranked the Internet John MacCormick 108

18 A Failure to Interoperate: The Lost Mars Climate Orbiter Charles Duan 113

19 The Code That Launched a Million Cat Videos Lowen Liu 119

20 Nakamoto's Prophecy: Bitcoin and the Revolution in Trust Quinn DuPont 124

21 The Curse of the Awesome Button Will Oremus 131

22 The Bug No One Was Responsible For-Until Everyone Was Josephine Wolff 139

23 The Volkswagen Emissions Scandal: How Digital Systems Can Be Used to Cheat Lee Vinsel 145

24 The Code That Brought a Language Online Syeda Gulshan Ferdous Jana 151

25 Telegram: The Platform That Became "the Internet" in Iran Mahsa Alimardani Afsaneh Rigot 156

26 Encoding Gender Meredith Broussard 162

Acknowledgments 169

Notes 171

List of Contributors 189

Index 195

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“In truth, ‘You Are Not Expected to Understand This’ is startlingly understandable! These vivid, lucid, brilliant essays tell the origin stories of coding, the secret infrastructure that shapes our online life. We meet the people who wrote and rewrote the lines of code that changed the world. We glimpse their ambitions, mistakes, remorse, fixes, and ingenuity. We understand why (and how) women were the ones who designed early programming languages like COBOL; how pop-up ads came to exist; how the ‘like’ button blew up news and politics as we knew them. Read this book, and you will never look at your newsfeed the same way again.”—Liza Mundy, author of Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II

“Code governs our lives—and this book does a delightful job of giving us a glimpse into some of the biggest wins, and most colossal blunders, in software.”—Clive Thompson, author of Coders: The Making of a New Tribe and the Remaking of the World

“Code powers much of modern life, yet most of us spend little time thinking about it. This book will change that. Wide-ranging, provocative, and bursting with humanity, ‘You Are Not Expected to Understand This’ is essential reading on the history and culture of code.”—Sara Wachter-Boettcher, author of Technically Wrong: Sexist Apps, Biased Algorithms, and Other Threats of Toxic Tech

Editorial Reviews

"A highly relevant collection of short essays. . . . [You Are Not Expected to Understand This] is intended to develop readers' appreciation for the critical role of software in their lives.

"

Choice

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the Year

From the Publisher