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Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
Once upon a time Linus Torvalds was a skinny unknown, just another nerdy Helsinki techie who had been fooling around with computers since childhood. Then he wrote a groundbreaking operating system and distributed it via the Internet -- for free. Today Torvalds is an international folk hero. And his creation LINUX is used by over 12 million people as well as by companies such as IBM. Now, in a narrative that zips along with the speed of e-mail, Torvalds gives a history of his renegade software while candidly revealing the quirky mind of a genius. The result is an engrossing portrayal of a man with a revolutionary vision, who challenges our values and may change our world.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2001
About the author
Linus Torvalds
9 books243 followersLinus Benedict Torvalds is a software engineer and hacker, best known for having initiated the development of the Linux kernel. He later became the chief architect of the Linux kernel, and now acts as the project's coordinator. He also created the revision control system Git.
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November 10, 2015
شروع هوشمندانه و طوفانی کتاب با مقدمه ی معنای زندگی اول خوب به چالش میکشید ادمو .. بعد که فهمیدم قضیه چیه و داره چه اتفاقی میوفته تو فصلای بعد یهو دیدم کار نمیکنم و فقط دارم میخونم .. اعتیاد آور بود .. فقط کاش بیشتر بود ...
مرسی از جادی بابت ترجمه خوبش
مرسی از جادی بابت ترجمه خوبش
March 17, 2012
kinda split about this one. i went into it expecting a certain character to linus and finding a totally different one.
i guess i shouldn't be surprised. i had the notion of the "rockstar" shattered many moons ago. in the end, linus is just another guy with flaws just like anyone else. heck, linux wouldn't exist if he hadn't accidentially tried to dial the university of helsinki through /dev/hda1 instead of /dev/tty1.
there's a resiliency and an honesty to him i really like, even if he seems to try to avoid every argument. despite this, he still has less-than-favorable things to say about gates, jobs, stallman, and tanenbaum, to name a few, which is good for a few laughs.
in the end, i enjoyed the fact that the book made the legendary linus unremarkably human. the pithy technical bits at the beginning were great. i wouldn't have liked it as much without them. i'm also not entirely disturbed that the book wasn't entirely composed of them.
the switching back and forth between linus and david was interesting and added a little extra perspective. it also wasn't overused to the point of being annoying, which it certainly could have been.
linus does reveal a few philosophical thoughts-- not just on open source, mind you. he offers his law of life, so to speak. interesting as it is, it is not a life changing insight, nor is really anything else in the book.
let's face it: linus did what he did because he enjoyed hacking. and he liked people getting excited about it and providing him new challenges to flex his hacking muscles. so he kept doing it. he didn't set out to change the world or become rich, but he doesn't mind having done either. i think if there's anything that i learned from this book is that linux is great because it is a global community project.
if lance armstrong can be remembered by "it's not about the bike" then linux should be remembered by "it's not about the [initial] creator."
that being said, though it was entertaining to know about linus, i'd probably not be recommending this book as much as i might recommend reading the gpl. ;)
i guess i shouldn't be surprised. i had the notion of the "rockstar" shattered many moons ago. in the end, linus is just another guy with flaws just like anyone else. heck, linux wouldn't exist if he hadn't accidentially tried to dial the university of helsinki through /dev/hda1 instead of /dev/tty1.
there's a resiliency and an honesty to him i really like, even if he seems to try to avoid every argument. despite this, he still has less-than-favorable things to say about gates, jobs, stallman, and tanenbaum, to name a few, which is good for a few laughs.
in the end, i enjoyed the fact that the book made the legendary linus unremarkably human. the pithy technical bits at the beginning were great. i wouldn't have liked it as much without them. i'm also not entirely disturbed that the book wasn't entirely composed of them.
the switching back and forth between linus and david was interesting and added a little extra perspective. it also wasn't overused to the point of being annoying, which it certainly could have been.
linus does reveal a few philosophical thoughts-- not just on open source, mind you. he offers his law of life, so to speak. interesting as it is, it is not a life changing insight, nor is really anything else in the book.
let's face it: linus did what he did because he enjoyed hacking. and he liked people getting excited about it and providing him new challenges to flex his hacking muscles. so he kept doing it. he didn't set out to change the world or become rich, but he doesn't mind having done either. i think if there's anything that i learned from this book is that linux is great because it is a global community project.
if lance armstrong can be remembered by "it's not about the bike" then linux should be remembered by "it's not about the [initial] creator."
that being said, though it was entertaining to know about linus, i'd probably not be recommending this book as much as i might recommend reading the gpl. ;)
October 7, 2019
An absloute must-read for all SOFTWARE engineers and programmers and especially so if you work with object-oriented or functional programming language.
June 15, 2012
Я вспоминаю, что когда вышла книга Just for Fun, все говорили, что в следующем году линукс будет на каждом домашнем компьютере. Прошло
десять
лет, а на 99% домашних компьютерах до сих пор бегает М$.
Ну, и что? Где этот хваленный линукс.
Тихо и спокойно линукс бегает на гигантских супер-компьютерах для расчетов погоды и запусков космических кораблей, в фармакологии, био-технологии (ГМО надо же рассчитать))) и медицине, на бирже и на предприятии, в автомобиле и космическом корабле, на электростанции и на нетбуке моей мамы.
Кстати, нетбуки, смартфоны, планшеты, чайники и кофеварки тоже бегают под линуксом (у меня нет статистики, но думаю, что больше 30 процентов).
Начиная с 2000 года подавляющее большинство голливудских фильмов делают на линукс, т.е. компилируют, рендерят, монтируют и т.д. Да, и смотрите вы эти фильмы, скорее всего, на линукс, так как в вашем DVD бежит линукс. Про чайники я уже упомянул!?)))
Гиганты интернета тоже бегают под линуксом - google, yahoo, ebay, amazon, все порно-сайты и т.д.
Военная промышленность Израиля, Канады и США в последние пять-шесть лет все _новые_ проекты делает исключительно на линукс.
Абсолютно все стартапы Израиля (telco, networking, security, video, etc.) базируются на линукс.
Национальные OS многих стран это GNU/Linux + национальные фонты.
И что? Какая, блин, разница как и на чем расшифровывают ДНК или делают последнего Шрека!? Вы правы, лично мне тоже все равно (почти).
Лично меня интересуют две вещи. Первое - вот уже 15 лет программист на линукс это хорошо оплачиваемая и очень востребованная специальность. Второе - простым людям не надо воровать программы, так как они бесплатны. Ессно, что все GRидовцы законно юзают M$, ф��тошоп, акробат, оффис и автокад, но есть еще редиски, которые воруют.
Такое вступление я написал для читателя, которые далек от технологий. Программеры эту книгу уже прочли. Прочитайте и вы, или хотя бы полистайте. Я гарантирую, что вам будет интересно. Вы узнаете, что на одни и те же вещи можно смотреть иначе. Надо только познакомится с _другой_ точкой зрения.
Прочтите и возможно вы взглянете иначе на ваш любимый iPhone или андроид, может быть вы даже захотите отнести ваш старенький лаптоп в ближайшую кафешку, где по средам собирается LUG (LUG - Linux User Group, местная ячейка любителей линукс, их бы раньше называли линух-комсомольцами). И эти самые комсомольцы (за банку пива) поставят вам клевую ОС, прилепят рюшечки по вашему же желанию, да еще поставят целую кучу софтин/программ (ну, тех из Голливуда, помните?). И все бесплатно, безвозмездно!
Девушкам рекомендую прочитать Just for Fun(ну, шоб разбираться в вопросе), но особенно рекомендую поставить линукс, начать им пользоваться и хорошо освоить. Безмерное уважение со стороны "умных" мужиков гарантирую. Проверено!
Книжку почитать (бесплатно, даром) можно прямо тут.
Ну, и напоследок:
Линуксоиды всех стран, объединяйтесь!
Ну, и (реально) напоследок:
Говорят, что личный пример это лучший пример. Так вот, чтобы мои слова не расходились с делом, я объявляю акцию (для тех, кто живет в Торонто):
1. Бесплатно снесу ваши форточки (m$ windows)
2. За банку Old English Ale поставлю линукс
3. Девушек научу пользоваться
Ну, и что? Где этот хваленный линукс.
Тихо и спокойно линукс бегает на гигантских супер-компьютерах для расчетов погоды и запусков космических кораблей, в фармакологии, био-технологии (ГМО надо же рассчитать))) и медицине, на бирже и на предприятии, в автомобиле и космическом корабле, на электростанции и на нетбуке моей мамы.
Кстати, нетбуки, смартфоны, планшеты, чайники и кофеварки тоже бегают под линуксом (у меня нет статистики, но думаю, что больше 30 процентов).
Начиная с 2000 года подавляющее большинство голливудских фильмов делают на линукс, т.е. компилируют, рендерят, монтируют и т.д. Да, и смотрите вы эти фильмы, скорее всего, на линукс, так как в вашем DVD бежит линукс. Про чайники я уже упомянул!?)))
Гиганты интернета тоже бегают под линуксом - google, yahoo, ebay, amazon, все порно-сайты и т.д.
Военная промышленность Израиля, Канады и США в последние пять-шесть лет все _новые_ проекты делает исключительно на линукс.
Абсолютно все стартапы Израиля (telco, networking, security, video, etc.) базируются на линукс.
Национальные OS многих стран это GNU/Linux + национальные фонты.
И что? Какая, блин, разница как и на чем расшифровывают ДНК или делают последнего Шрека!? Вы правы, лично мне тоже все равно (почти).
Лично меня интересуют две вещи. Первое - вот уже 15 лет программист на линукс это хорошо оплачиваемая и очень востребованная специальность. Второе - простым людям не надо воровать программы, так как они бесплатны. Ессно, что все GRидовцы законно юзают M$, ф��тошоп, акробат, оффис и автокад, но есть еще редиски, которые воруют.
Такое вступление я написал для читателя, которые далек от технологий. Программеры эту книгу уже прочли. Прочитайте и вы, или хотя бы полистайте. Я гарантирую, что вам будет интересно. Вы узнаете, что на одни и те же вещи можно смотреть иначе. Надо только познакомится с _другой_ точкой зрения.
Прочтите и возможно вы взглянете иначе на ваш любимый iPhone или андроид, может быть вы даже захотите отнести ваш старенький лаптоп в ближайшую кафешку, где по средам собирается LUG (LUG - Linux User Group, местная ячейка любителей линукс, их бы раньше называли линух-комсомольцами). И эти самые комсомольцы (за банку пива) поставят вам клевую ОС, прилепят рюшечки по вашему же желанию, да еще поставят целую кучу софтин/программ (ну, тех из Голливуда, помните?). И все бесплатно, безвозмездно!
Девушкам рекомендую прочитать Just for Fun(ну, шоб разбираться в вопросе), но особенно рекомендую поставить линукс, начать им пользоваться и хорошо освоить. Безмерное уважение со стороны "умных" мужиков гарантирую. Проверено!
Книжку почитать (бесплатно, даром) можно прямо тут.
Ну, и напоследок:
Линуксоиды всех стран, объединяйтесь!
Ну, и (реально) напоследок:
Говорят, что личный пример это лучший пример. Так вот, чтобы мои слова не расходились с делом, я объявляю акцию (для тех, кто живет в Торонто):
1. Бесплатно снесу ваши форточки (m$ windows)
2. За банку Old English Ale поставлю линукс
3. Девушек научу пользоваться
April 13, 2020
کتاب رو یه جورایی میشه در دسته زندگینامه طبقه بندی کرد . که لینوس بندیکت توروالدز از دوارن نوجوانی خودش و شکل گیری لینوکس تا مشهور شدن و گسترش این سیستم عامل توضیح میده.
کتاب به سه قسمت اصلی تقسیم شده است. تولد یک نرد، تولد یک سیستم عامل و فرش قرمز که در این سه قسمت سیر تکامل این سیستم عامل رو شاهد هستیم .
در کنار این سیر تکامل خیلی وقتها اشاره های به معنای زندگی و جامعه تکنولوژی و ... میشه.
خوندن این کتاب به تمام افرادی که قصد شروع یک استارت آپ رو دارن توصیه میشه.
دراخر هم تشکر میکنم از جادی عزیز برای ترجمه عالی این کتاب.
کتاب به سه قسمت اصلی تقسیم شده است. تولد یک نرد، تولد یک سیستم عامل و فرش قرمز که در این سه قسمت سیر تکامل این سیستم عامل رو شاهد هستیم .
در کنار این سیر تکامل خیلی وقتها اشاره های به معنای زندگی و جامعه تکنولوژی و ... میشه.
خوندن این کتاب به تمام افرادی که قصد شروع یک استارت آپ رو دارن توصیه میشه.
دراخر هم تشکر میکنم از جادی عزیز برای ترجمه عالی این کتاب.
August 18, 2015
همین اول باید از تلاش جادی تشکر کرد، انصافا ترجمه ی خوب و قابل قبولی ارایه داده با توجه به اینکه چند سال پیش ترجمه اش انجام شده و مجوز نگرفته و بالاخره رو فضای مجازی منتشرش کرده.
کتاب در مورد زندگی خالق لینوکسه،
کتاب با دوران کودکی لینوس توروالدز آغاز میشه. چگونگی خلق اتفاقی لینوکس رو میبنیم و با مسیر رشد و ترقی پسری منزوی ای در فنلاند تا رسیدن به رهبری جنبش متن باز لینوکس آشنا میشیم.
من با پیشنهاد یکی از دوستان کتاب رو خوندم، کتاب مسلما پر از اصطلاحات کامپیوتریه ، ولی در اون حدی نیست که خواننده ی عادی ازش سر در نیاره و از خوندنش زده بشه.
کتاب در مورد زندگی خالق لینوکسه،
کتاب با دوران کودکی لینوس توروالدز آغاز میشه. چگونگی خلق اتفاقی لینوکس رو میبنیم و با مسیر رشد و ترقی پسری منزوی ای در فنلاند تا رسیدن به رهبری جنبش متن باز لینوکس آشنا میشیم.
من با پیشنهاد یکی از دوستان کتاب رو خوندم، کتاب مسلما پر از اصطلاحات کامپیوتریه ، ولی در اون حدی نیست که خواننده ی عادی ازش سر در نیاره و از خوندنش زده بشه.
February 7, 2022
فوق العاده بود
July 28, 2020
کتاب خیلی خوب و اثرگذاری که به ما نشون میده چطور یک نفر شروع به خلق یکی از مهمترین سیستم عامل های جهان میکنه. اوایل کتاب از زندگی شخصی توروالدز میفهمیم و کم کم وارد ماجرای شکل گیری لینوکس و اتفاقات حول اون میشیم. آخر کتاب هم چند مقاله است که خوندنش رو به هر کسی که به تکنولوژی علاقه منده توصیه میکنم. ترجمه جادی هم خیلی روان و خوش خوانه.
من اگر یک روزمعلم سخت گیری تو حوزه نرم افزار بودم خوندن این کتاب رو برای تمام شاگردام اجباری میکردم!
من اگر یک روزمعلم سخت گیری تو حوزه نرم افزار بودم خوندن این کتاب رو برای تمام شاگردام اجباری میکردم!
July 25, 2018
Gives a bit of a feeling of what Torvalds is like as a person, and the process by which he created Linux.
For a geek like me, it is nice to re-live the history of how computers have changed so much over the last 50 years, and how those changes have affected so many other things.
Back when I was originally learning programming, it was impossible for me to imagine that one could make a career out of it. I did it just for fun. Torvalds was doing the same. Many of the programmers of my age have a similar experience. These days, programming is seen as a lucrative career, so many people go into it with that in mind rather than the joy of the experience.
In this book, Linus Torvalds comes across as a pretty nice guy. But this book stops before he created "git". And since "git" is evil, I have to wonder what happened to him! (Just kidding. But "git" is horrible.)
For a geek like me, it is nice to re-live the history of how computers have changed so much over the last 50 years, and how those changes have affected so many other things.
Back when I was originally learning programming, it was impossible for me to imagine that one could make a career out of it. I did it just for fun. Torvalds was doing the same. Many of the programmers of my age have a similar experience. These days, programming is seen as a lucrative career, so many people go into it with that in mind rather than the joy of the experience.
In this book, Linus Torvalds comes across as a pretty nice guy. But this book stops before he created "git". And since "git" is evil, I have to wonder what happened to him! (Just kidding. But "git" is horrible.)
June 26, 2019
Fun things are fun
April 2, 2023
من یک عالمه ازش این دفعه نکات مدیریتی در آوردم.
June 26, 2022
»And I have a wife to make the decisions that complete my wardrobe, to pick out things like sandals and socks. So I never have to worry about it again.«
Those who know me a little better know that I fell in love with Linux some 27 years ago. In March 1995 IBM OS/2 Warp was replaced by (I think) DLD - the Deutsche Linux-Distribution - and I was… free.
»As I read and started to understand Unix, I got a big enthusiastic jolt. Frankly, it’s never subsided. (I hope you can say the same about something.)«
How could I not admire the person who started it all - Linus Torvalds. Torvalds is just a few years older than me and I was delighted and highly amused to find him very relatable in the first half of the book. Be it then…
»It probably won’t surprise anyone that some of my earliest and happiest memories involve playing with my grandfather’s old electronic calculator.«
(In my case, it was a programmable calculator which I got from Josef who was never shy to help with my computer needs!)
… or be it now…
»When I’m sitting in front of the computer, I get really upset and irritable if somebody disturbs me. Tove could elaborate on this point.«
… my wife also would have a lot to tell you about disturbing me while at my computer.
The entire first half in which Linus remembers his childhood and youth is amusing, engagingly written (despite Linus clearly not being an author) and - to me - highly enjoyable.
I had some issues with David Diamond’s parts: Diamond is a journalist who increasingly writes from the perspective of a friend. He gets too close to his subject and his parts are weak. They emphasise Diamond’s lack of distance to Torvalds and show that closeness doesn’t necessarily lead to better results.
Nevertheless, Torvald’s parts were so good I thought I had a five-star read in front of me after a string of ok’ish books.
Sadly, the brilliant first half was followed by a woefully outdated (the book was first published in 2001, my edition is from 2002) and slightly preachy second half: While Linus Torvalds is undoubtedly brilliant at what he does, he’s neither a great writer nor a great philosopher. (At least not in my book.)
Nokia is still the biggest thing in cell phones, the Palm Pilot is the next big thing and Linus talks about the meaning of life (“Survive, socialise, have fun!”). Quite a few times entire sentences get repeated (“shoulders of giants”, anyone?) and Linus drones on and on about the merits and demerits of people in open source and intellectual property (an entire chapter…).
At times, Linus becomes preachy and acknowledges it (»Okay. You’re right, I should stop preaching.«) instead of fixing it.
On the other hand, years before Android (2008) Linus had the right idea:
»And where is Linux itself, and open source generally, in all this? You won’t even know. It will be inside those Sony machines. You’ll never see it, you’ll never know it, but it’s there, making it all run. It will be in that cell phone, which is at the same time acting as your very own personal communications hub for the rest of your electronic widgets when you’re away from your wireless local area network.
You’ll see. It’s only a matter of time. And money.«
So when Torvalds talks about his profession, he’s just as one might imagine him to be. It’s massively felt that this book has remained in relative obscurity for the last 20 years and has never been updated to the developments of the last two decades - an age or two in information technology.
And yet: If you read this without expectation and “Just for Fun”, you might at least enjoy part of this amazing ride.
I’m looking forward to one day reading Walter Isaacson’s take on Linus Torvalds.
Till then I’ll leave with three star out of five and this final piece of wisdom by Linus:
»Linux has instead brought people both the entertainment of an intellectual challenge and the social motivations associated with being part of creating it all. We may not have seen each other face-to-face very much, but email was much more than just a dry exchange of information. Bonds of friendship and other social ties can form over email.
This probably also means that if and when we ever meet another intelligent life form in this universe, their first words are not likely to be “Take me to our leader.” They’re more likely to say “Party on, dude!”
Of course, I might be wrong.«
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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam
Those who know me a little better know that I fell in love with Linux some 27 years ago. In March 1995 IBM OS/2 Warp was replaced by (I think) DLD - the Deutsche Linux-Distribution - and I was… free.
»As I read and started to understand Unix, I got a big enthusiastic jolt. Frankly, it’s never subsided. (I hope you can say the same about something.)«
How could I not admire the person who started it all - Linus Torvalds. Torvalds is just a few years older than me and I was delighted and highly amused to find him very relatable in the first half of the book. Be it then…
»It probably won’t surprise anyone that some of my earliest and happiest memories involve playing with my grandfather’s old electronic calculator.«
(In my case, it was a programmable calculator which I got from Josef who was never shy to help with my computer needs!)
… or be it now…
»When I’m sitting in front of the computer, I get really upset and irritable if somebody disturbs me. Tove could elaborate on this point.«
… my wife also would have a lot to tell you about disturbing me while at my computer.
The entire first half in which Linus remembers his childhood and youth is amusing, engagingly written (despite Linus clearly not being an author) and - to me - highly enjoyable.
I had some issues with David Diamond’s parts: Diamond is a journalist who increasingly writes from the perspective of a friend. He gets too close to his subject and his parts are weak. They emphasise Diamond’s lack of distance to Torvalds and show that closeness doesn’t necessarily lead to better results.
Nevertheless, Torvald’s parts were so good I thought I had a five-star read in front of me after a string of ok’ish books.
Sadly, the brilliant first half was followed by a woefully outdated (the book was first published in 2001, my edition is from 2002) and slightly preachy second half: While Linus Torvalds is undoubtedly brilliant at what he does, he’s neither a great writer nor a great philosopher. (At least not in my book.)
Nokia is still the biggest thing in cell phones, the Palm Pilot is the next big thing and Linus talks about the meaning of life (“Survive, socialise, have fun!”). Quite a few times entire sentences get repeated (“shoulders of giants”, anyone?) and Linus drones on and on about the merits and demerits of people in open source and intellectual property (an entire chapter…).
At times, Linus becomes preachy and acknowledges it (»Okay. You’re right, I should stop preaching.«) instead of fixing it.
On the other hand, years before Android (2008) Linus had the right idea:
»And where is Linux itself, and open source generally, in all this? You won’t even know. It will be inside those Sony machines. You’ll never see it, you’ll never know it, but it’s there, making it all run. It will be in that cell phone, which is at the same time acting as your very own personal communications hub for the rest of your electronic widgets when you’re away from your wireless local area network.
You’ll see. It’s only a matter of time. And money.«
So when Torvalds talks about his profession, he’s just as one might imagine him to be. It’s massively felt that this book has remained in relative obscurity for the last 20 years and has never been updated to the developments of the last two decades - an age or two in information technology.
And yet: If you read this without expectation and “Just for Fun”, you might at least enjoy part of this amazing ride.
I’m looking forward to one day reading Walter Isaacson’s take on Linus Torvalds.
Till then I’ll leave with three star out of five and this final piece of wisdom by Linus:
»Linux has instead brought people both the entertainment of an intellectual challenge and the social motivations associated with being part of creating it all. We may not have seen each other face-to-face very much, but email was much more than just a dry exchange of information. Bonds of friendship and other social ties can form over email.
This probably also means that if and when we ever meet another intelligent life form in this universe, their first words are not likely to be “Take me to our leader.” They’re more likely to say “Party on, dude!”
Of course, I might be wrong.«
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Ceterum censeo Putin esse delendam
September 11, 2020
لینوس تورالدز خالق کرنل لینوکس هست. کرنلی که هم توی گنو/لینوکسه، هم توی اندروید و هم توی کلی گجت‌های ریز و درشت دیگه. اگه بخای وسعت تاثیر لینوکس روی دنیای امروز رو بدونی، همین بس که قسمت اعظم اینترنت از لینوکس قدرت میگیره.
لینوس توی این کتاب یکم از زندگیش میگه، یکم از داستان شروع توسعه لینوکس از اتاق خوابش میگه و یکم مارو پای فلسفه زندگیش مینشونه.
این فرد از معدود افراد قابل تحسین منه، بخاطر:
۱. فلسفه زندگیش
۲. توسعه لینوکس
۳. توسعه گیت
هر ۳تاشون فوق‌العاده کارآمد، فوق‌العاده زیبا
June 19, 2011
Прочел эту книгу очень давно, поэтому детальных комментариев дать не могу, но книа мне запомнилась и оставила хорошие впечатления. И я не буду списывать всё на то, что в то время я был увлечён OS Linux и как мог отращивал свитер и бороду (ну, не буквально). Ставлю 5 с благодарностью к людям, увлеченным своими (полезными для общества и человечества) идеями, как-то двигающими и изменяющими этот мир.
May 31, 2011
David Diamond does not follow a formulaic path when laying down the story of Linus and the development of Linux. It's far from a comprehensive history of Linux's early days, JfF reads more like a weekend conversation with a friend over beers, geeking out over the technological nostalgia, and telling a good story or two on the trials and tribulations that came from developing one's own OS.
April 19, 2018
عالی. هر علاقمند به کامپیوتری باید این کتاب رو بخونه و درود بر جادی با این ترجمه و در واقع تالیف عالی
July 11, 2018
تموم‌کردن این کتاب ۳۰۰ صفحه ای دقیقا همین مقدار زمان برد ، چون هی وقفه می افتاد توی‌خوندنش
بنظرم‌هر برنامه نویسی لازمه که حداقل یکبار این کتاب رو‌بخونه
نیاز های ادم ها باعث اختراعات جدید می شن ، لینوکس هم برای رفع نیاز به یک سیستم عامل کارامدتر ساخته شده ، شاید هم بقول توروالدز فقط برای تفریح
با تشکر از جادی بابت ترجمه ی بسیار خوب
بنظرم‌هر برنامه نویسی لازمه که حداقل یکبار این کتاب رو‌بخونه
نیاز های ادم ها باعث اختراعات جدید می شن ، لینوکس هم برای رفع نیاز به یک سیستم عامل کارامدتر ساخته شده ، شاید هم بقول توروالدز فقط برای تفریح
با تشکر از جادی بابت ترجمه ی بسیار خوب
January 9, 2022
It’s fun to read this almost like a time capsule from 2000, especially because Linux continues to be a major operating system today. It has a really relaxed conversational tone that’s easy to read BUT it’s formatted like a goddamn nightmare. Entire chapters of italics? Piss off 😂
June 14, 2015
کتاب خیلی خوبی‌ه برای طرفداران گنو/لینوکس. لینوس توروالدز در این کتاب از همه‌چی حرف می‌زنه، خودش، تفکراتش، روزهای اول لینوکس و خیلی چیزهای دیگه. ترجمه‌اش هم خوبه.
February 17, 2020
It's maybe just me comparing this with other biographies I've read, but this is a very shallow and brief story of Linus' life and his journey.
December 8, 2021
Engaging book. Good to know Linus, Linux , opensource and to greater extend the book covers Finnish culture too. Bottom-line is "Linus saw a problem or gap in existing system and tried to solve the problem. Solving problems kept him engaging/fresh." Once you solve the problem, fame and money are by-product/compliments.
"there are people with individual ideas, folks who have convictions in certain areas to the degree that they say, “No, I won’t go along.” And these people become leaders. It’s easy to become a leader. (It has to be. I became one, right?) Then, other people who don’t have convictions in those areas are more than happy to let these leaders make their decisions for them and tell them what to do."
"there are people with individual ideas, folks who have convictions in certain areas to the degree that they say, “No, I won’t go along.” And these people become leaders. It’s easy to become a leader. (It has to be. I became one, right?) Then, other people who don’t have convictions in those areas are more than happy to let these leaders make their decisions for them and tell them what to do."
March 26, 2016
به نظرم کتاب فقط برای تفریح، کتابیه که گیک‌ها از مطالعه کردنش لذت میبرن. این کتاب داستان خلقت لینوکسه، به روایت خالقش. این کتاب یه کتاب فنی نیست، بلکه یه رمان بر پایه‌ی واقعیته که خیلی خوب نوشته شده.
فقط برای تفریح در طول زندگی لینوس توروالدز پیش میره و ما رو با زندگی گیک‌وار اون آشنا میکنه. با مطالعه‌ی کتاب در کنار آشنا شدن با زندگی خالق لینوکس و فرآیند خلقتش، تاحدودی با زندگی مردم فنلاند، اخلاقیات و آداب و رسومشون هم آشنا میشیم.
البته باید بگم در جای جای این کتاب از اصطلاحات کامپیوتری و کیگانه استفاده شده، برای همین میشه گفت اگه یه آدم غریبه با دنیای برنامه‌نویسی و کامپیوتر هستید، ممکنه از خیلی از اصلاحات استفاده‌شده تو این کتاب سر در نیارین! برای همین مطالعه‌ی این کتاب رو فقط به دوستدارای برنامه‌نویسی، کامپیوتر و لینوکس توصیه میکنم.
خبر خوب اینکه این کتاب رو جادی به فارسی برگردونه و انصافا هم خوب ترجمه‌ش کرده و به رایگان در دسترس همه قرار داده. می‌تونید این کتاب رو به صورت آنلاین مطالعه کنید. اگر دوست داشتید هم می‌تونید اون رو دانلود کنید.
فقط برای تفریح جزو کتاب‌هایی بوده که خوندنش رو دوست داشتم، پس خوندن این کتاب رو به همه ی شما دوستان عزیر هم توصیه میکنم.
فقط برای تفریح در طول زندگی لینوس توروالدز پیش میره و ما رو با زندگی گیک‌وار اون آشنا میکنه. با مطالعه‌ی کتاب در کنار آشنا شدن با زندگی خالق لینوکس و فرآیند خلقتش، تاحدودی با زندگی مردم فنلاند، اخلاقیات و آداب و رسومشون هم آشنا میشیم.
البته باید بگم در جای جای این کتاب از اصطلاحات کامپیوتری و کیگانه استفاده شده، برای همین میشه گفت اگه یه آدم غریبه با دنیای برنامه‌نویسی و کامپیوتر هستید، ممکنه از خیلی از اصلاحات استفاده‌شده تو این کتاب سر در نیارین! برای همین مطالعه‌ی این کتاب رو فقط به دوستدارای برنامه‌نویسی، کامپیوتر و لینوکس توصیه میکنم.
خبر خوب اینکه این کتاب رو جادی به فارسی برگردونه و انصافا هم خوب ترجمه‌ش کرده و به رایگان در دسترس همه قرار داده. می‌تونید این کتاب رو به صورت آنلاین مطالعه کنید. اگر دوست داشتید هم می‌تونید اون رو دانلود کنید.
فقط برای تفریح جزو کتاب‌هایی بوده که خوندنش رو دوست داشتم، پس خوندن این کتاب رو به همه ی شما دوستان عزیر هم توصیه میکنم.
January 20, 2013
I thought I might get excited about open source (as a concept)but it's a pretty straightforwardly awesome concept, so I didn't find anything surprising. What IS interesting, philosophically, is that he comes right out and says "This is my life philosophy." It's really only touched upon at the beginning and end, but sort of exemplified through the whole quirky, detailed, fun story of this guy’s life. He’s a weird dude; both in what he says about his past, his attitude toward it, and how he acts while being interviewed about it.
It’s strangely relaxing to read. He just has this very mellow attitude. So, I recommend it if you’re interested in him at all, or feel like a weird/quirky programmer dude, or even if you just like memoirs.
I don't know much about Linux, nor did I have any expectations of Linus and yet I found it to be this pleasant reflection on actually DOING something with your life, just because--just for fun.
It’s strangely relaxing to read. He just has this very mellow attitude. So, I recommend it if you’re interested in him at all, or feel like a weird/quirky programmer dude, or even if you just like memoirs.
I don't know much about Linux, nor did I have any expectations of Linus and yet I found it to be this pleasant reflection on actually DOING something with your life, just because--just for fun.
March 23, 2013
Surprisingly mature book, with a mixture of biographical narration and commentary about technology. The last few chapters are especially worth a read. Given this book was written in 2001, it's amazing how many of Linus's predictions about the direction of Linux and processors are true - he predicted both the emergence of low-power processors and the ubiquity of Linux in the book.
December 6, 2017
خوشم اومد. هم از شخصیت لینوس،َ هم از ترجمه‌ی جادی و هم از ایده‌هایی که برای یک زندگی ساده‌تر و شادتر از کتاب گرفتم.
اینقدر روون ترجمه شده و مطالب کتاب جالب بود که تو این روز تعطیل، ظهر که شروع به خوندنش کردم تونستم شب تمومش کنم.
اینقدر روون ترجمه شده و مطالب کتاب جالب بود که تو این روز تعطیل، ظهر که شروع به خوندنش کردم تونستم شب تمومش کنم.
March 21, 2016
فکر کنم تا حالا به هیچ کتابی 5 ندادم. دیگه تو خود حدیث مفصل بخوان از این مجمل :))
May 20, 2020
If you're reading this book you probably have heard of the simple beauty of the Unix philosophy, and have at least a vague idea of what it means for a "process" to "fork". You may even have a Unix beard. Likewise, you might have strong feelings about the GPL and the Open Source movement - to which a good section of this book is dedicated, somewhat superfluously in 2020 when even Microsoft claims to "♥ Linux" and Open Source.
As the title claims, this book-length magazine profile of the subject is a light-hearted, fun read. Torvalds comes across as precisely the glib and blunt geek he is reputed to be. (On meeting the author, he says, "I know what scum you [journalists] are" - it is meant as a joke; much of his family, including his father, are journalists.)
A worthwhile New Yorker article from a few years back compares bad Linus (arrogant, blunt, dictatorial) to good Guido (van Rossum, creator of Python, a fellow Northern European transplanted to Silicon Valley, but one with good social skills, nice, supporting and collaborative). From this book one sees an extension of the continuum outward to include worse Richard (Stallman, aka rms). Stallman is far more of an open source fundamentalist than the pragmatic Torvalds (he maintains that Linux should be referred to as GNU/Linux, since it uses GNU's GCC compiler). And unlike Torvalds - a happy family man - rms has a history of awkward or downright creepy (depending on who you ask) interactions with women, culmination in his recent ousting from prominence.
Anyway: a good, representative portrait of a simple but brilliant guy. Toward the end, Linus predicts that everything will move increasingly towards entertainment (even war has become so, with "the advent of CNN"). My general rule about predictions is that everyone's are worthless without exception, but this has held up somewhat, at least for the tech industry: Google, Facebook, Netflix, and Apple are all to some extent producers or aggregators of content, and Microsoft makes a lot of money from games. In any case, Linux itself is likely to endure for a long time to come.
As the title claims, this book-length magazine profile of the subject is a light-hearted, fun read. Torvalds comes across as precisely the glib and blunt geek he is reputed to be. (On meeting the author, he says, "I know what scum you [journalists] are" - it is meant as a joke; much of his family, including his father, are journalists.)
A worthwhile New Yorker article from a few years back compares bad Linus (arrogant, blunt, dictatorial) to good Guido (van Rossum, creator of Python, a fellow Northern European transplanted to Silicon Valley, but one with good social skills, nice, supporting and collaborative). From this book one sees an extension of the continuum outward to include worse Richard (Stallman, aka rms). Stallman is far more of an open source fundamentalist than the pragmatic Torvalds (he maintains that Linux should be referred to as GNU/Linux, since it uses GNU's GCC compiler). And unlike Torvalds - a happy family man - rms has a history of awkward or downright creepy (depending on who you ask) interactions with women, culmination in his recent ousting from prominence.
Anyway: a good, representative portrait of a simple but brilliant guy. Toward the end, Linus predicts that everything will move increasingly towards entertainment (even war has become so, with "the advent of CNN"). My general rule about predictions is that everyone's are worthless without exception, but this has held up somewhat, at least for the tech industry: Google, Facebook, Netflix, and Apple are all to some extent producers or aggregators of content, and Microsoft makes a lot of money from games. In any case, Linux itself is likely to endure for a long time to come.
December 2, 2021
Author: Linus Torvalds and Dave Diamond
Title: Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
Publication Info: HarperCollins, New York, 2002
Recommended Age: Difficult to find, likely 15+
Summary: Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary follows the life of Linus Torvalds from his birth to 2002. Readers first see Linus’ often scrambled home life. Then, we see his introduction to computers and the impact his other relatives had on him. Next, viewers see Linus as an early adult, many events occur such as his military service and long studies away at university. When Linus begins to develop Linux, we begin to see some of his personal beliefs. As his fame and popularity increases, the way the man is tested in unexpected situations is also displayed.
Evaluation: Linus’ home life is really interesting, and his view of his teenage years was really appealing to me. He views them as formative, which is a message that didn’t resonate with me until recently. Linus also spent an extremely long time at college, which I only understood once he stated that education is free in Linus’ home country of Finland. From a tech-enthusiast perspective, I thought it was interesting that Linux was not built from scratch, but that Linus used another operating system in the early days to construct it. That just shows that complete independence is not really viable to create large, ambitious projects. Modern-day Linus is also very mature in how he handles accusations and drama, which just shows that some of the attention he had gotten is somewhat of a side-effect of his great efforts.
Concluding Comments: As a teenager, I found this book to be very insightful and guiding. As a tech-enthusiast, I thought this book showed a new side to many faces and companies that is not public knowledge. It also exposes some gaps that can be filled by aspiring people in the industry. This book doesn’t have a little something for everyone; it will be fulfilling for each person that reads it.
Title: Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary
Publication Info: HarperCollins, New York, 2002
Recommended Age: Difficult to find, likely 15+
Summary: Just for Fun: The Story of an Accidental Revolutionary follows the life of Linus Torvalds from his birth to 2002. Readers first see Linus’ often scrambled home life. Then, we see his introduction to computers and the impact his other relatives had on him. Next, viewers see Linus as an early adult, many events occur such as his military service and long studies away at university. When Linus begins to develop Linux, we begin to see some of his personal beliefs. As his fame and popularity increases, the way the man is tested in unexpected situations is also displayed.
Evaluation: Linus’ home life is really interesting, and his view of his teenage years was really appealing to me. He views them as formative, which is a message that didn’t resonate with me until recently. Linus also spent an extremely long time at college, which I only understood once he stated that education is free in Linus’ home country of Finland. From a tech-enthusiast perspective, I thought it was interesting that Linux was not built from scratch, but that Linus used another operating system in the early days to construct it. That just shows that complete independence is not really viable to create large, ambitious projects. Modern-day Linus is also very mature in how he handles accusations and drama, which just shows that some of the attention he had gotten is somewhat of a side-effect of his great efforts.
Concluding Comments: As a teenager, I found this book to be very insightful and guiding. As a tech-enthusiast, I thought this book showed a new side to many faces and companies that is not public knowledge. It also exposes some gaps that can be filled by aspiring people in the industry. This book doesn’t have a little something for everyone; it will be fulfilling for each person that reads it.
May 25, 2018
کتاب با نظریه‌ی جالب توروالدز درمورد معنای زندگی شروع و تموم میشه. عنوان«سکس،جنگ،لینوکس» به اندازه‌ی کافی خواننده رو راغب میکنه که حداقل ده صفحه‌ی اول کتاب رو بخونه. بعد از مقدمه اگه کوچکترین علاقه‌ای به لینوکس داشته باشین خیلی راحت به خوندنش ادامه می‌دین.
هیجان‌انگیزترین قسمت‌های کتاب جایی بود که توروالدز از خودش نوشته بود. از عادت‌ها، علایق، نقاط ضعف و قوتش و اینکه چطور همه‌ی این‌ها کنار هم باعث شد تا لینوکس رو به عنوان یک سرگرمی شروع کنه.
شخصا خیلی جاها طی خوندن کتاب (مخصوصا جایی که گفته بود با کتاب سیستم عامل تننبام توی تختش زندگی می‌کرد) باهاش همذات پنداری میکردم و این باعث می‌شد درک کنم انجام دادن کارهای بزرگ شاید اونقدرها هم عجیب و دور از دسترس نباشه.
توی مقالات آخر هم به خوبی از فلسفه‌ی بازمتن، حقوق معنوی و آزادی صحبت میشه. لذا اگه از خوندن کتاب پشیمون شدین، مقالات انتهاییش رو از دست ندین.
بخش‌های تولد یک نرد و تولد یک سیستم عامل برای من اونقدر جذاب بودن که به کتاب ۴ امتیاز بدم. اما حقیقتا بخش آخر یعنی فرش قرمز، که به داستان‌های تجاری و شهرت لینوکس پرداخته بود برای من کسل کننده بود.
در هر صورت اگه از کارکردن با لینوکس لذت می‌برین و دوست دارین یه روز همچین رد بزرگی از خودتون به جا بذارین، خوندن این کتاب خالی از لطف نیست.
هیجان‌انگیزترین قسمت‌های کتاب جایی بود که توروالدز از خودش نوشته بود. از عادت‌ها، علایق، نقاط ضعف و قوتش و اینکه چطور همه‌ی این‌ها کنار هم باعث شد تا لینوکس رو به عنوان یک سرگرمی شروع کنه.
شخصا خیلی جاها طی خوندن کتاب (مخصوصا جایی که گفته بود با کتاب سیستم عامل تننبام توی تختش زندگی می‌کرد) باهاش همذات پنداری میکردم و این باعث می‌شد درک کنم انجام دادن کارهای بزرگ شاید اونقدرها هم عجیب و دور از دسترس نباشه.
توی مقالات آخر هم به خوبی از فلسفه‌ی بازمتن، حقوق معنوی و آزادی صحبت میشه. لذا اگه از خوندن کتاب پشیمون شدین، مقالات انتهاییش رو از دست ندین.
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June 1, 2021
Birkaç yıldır bu kitabı okumak istiyordum ama hiçbir yerde makul bir fiyata bulamadığım için erteliyordum. Linus Torvalds benim için çok önemli birisi belki de kişisel kahramanım bile olabilir. O yüzden biraz önyargılı yaklaşıyor olabilirim. Kitap oldukça güzeldi ve bence Linux un tarihcesiden çok bir hayat felsefesi anlatıyor kitap. Benim için en önemli kısmı ise para karşılığı yapılan işin yanında sırf keyif için yapılan işin daha tatmin edici olmasından bahsetmesiydi. Bu tamamen katıldığım bir bakış açısı. Evet insan parasizsa yapacağı ilk şey para kazanacağı bir is yapmak olur tabi ki. Ama para konusunda korkuları olmadığı bir durumda daha çok para kazanmak onu fazla motive etmez. Çünkü para ile alınabilecek şeyler herşeyi tatmin edemez Onun yerine sevdiği işleri para karşılığı olmadan yapmaya yönelecektir. Böyle bir iş hem iç tatminlik hem de bir toplulukta yer edinmesini sağlayacaktır. Bu iki şeyi para ile elde etmek bence imkansızdır. Bu bakış açısından düşünen ve hayatta iyi yerlere gelmiş insanların olmasını bilmek benim de böyle bir hayat surmedeki endişelerimi azaltıyor. Bu yüzden bu kitabı da her kısmı olmasa da ileride tekrar tekrar okuyacağını düşünüyorum.
TL;DR: hayatta bir bakış açısı arıyorsanız ve yazılıma da biraz merakınız varsa bu kitaptan çok egleneceginize eminim.
TL;DR: hayatta bir bakış açısı arıyorsanız ve yazılıma da biraz merakınız varsa bu kitaptan çok egleneceginize eminim.
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