Computer Language & Terms

[alive_miracles]

Hiya, I'm trying to discover more about the language of computers (coding, etc) as well as the terminology around what makes a computer. I plan to write a story from the perspective of a computer. This device will be a metaphor for being neurodivergent (autism, adhd, ocd, etc) and a state of anarchism.

[1.]

Do any of you know any historical figures, events, or devices that would be relevant to this subject?

[2.]

Any specific words related to computers/coding language that would be a good idea to think of/implement?

[3.]

Know of any websites or people I could get in contact with to help understand and possibly apply accurate knowledge to my story?

Comments

[fred_mouse]

I would add Grace Hopper to your list of people to investigate. Hidden Figures, the book rather than the movie, would also have useful information. And there is a kids non-fiction book about the first computer mouse, called something obvious like The First Computer Mouse, but that might well be out of print.

Upthread, someone suggested Python as a language to investigate. I would like to put in my 2c for R, as having quite a different approach. There are lots of free options for learning, but https://software-carpentry.org/lessons/ is the one I'm most familiar with. Their materials are available online. An alternative would be to look in to html, css, and then if you feel fancy, to try javascript. Making yourself a webpage is one way to get something that makes you feel like you are getting something out of it, and you can get free hosting from neocities (and presumably other places, but that is the one I know about).

In terms of people to contact, no. But there are a lot of free courses available online, and they will at least give you the terminology. You can go narrow, such as one of the languages, or wide, and look for computer science. It is possible that in one of the computer science courses there will be a history of computing unit - if you can find one of those you might find a lot of ideas to follow up. But this is such a big question that it is hard to even pick what ideas to suggest.

[alive_miracles]

Woah, nice resources! I'll be sure to take a look. I've been listening to the podcast "Programming Throwdown" lately, which I would love more beginner-friendly podcasts! It would be great if u have any suggestions.