The Devil’s DP Dictionary

by Stan Kelly-Bootle

Satirical definitions accompany a wide assortment of terms associated with data processing

Genres: Computers, Nonfiction, Humor

141 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1981

Reviews

[Koen Crolla]

IT ``humour'' from a time when IT was still spelled DP, for Data Processing (not the other thing). Quotes the Jargon File (which wouldn't be released in printed format for another two years still) occasionally, but impressively manages to be both much less witty and dramatically more racist than it.
Still, it's a ``classic'', I guess.

[Codex]

Brilliant! Unique humour with razor-sharp subtlety. A must-read for anyone who hails from the computer era—especially the earlier part. Ambrose Bierce would be proud.

[Ward Bell]

Ambrose Bierce's rascal's dictionary applied to DP ... data processing for you youngin's who weren't born when this was published in 1981.

YOUR PROGRAM: A maze of non sequiturs littered with clever-clever tricks and irrelevant comments. Compare MY PROGRAM.

MY PROGRAM: A gem of algoristic precision, offering the most sublime balance between compact, efficient coding on the one hand, and fully commented legibility for posterity on the other. Compare YOUR PROGRAM

[Bart]

This isn't *an* epic set of aphorisms and epigrams of the computer age. It is *the* epic set of aphorisms and epigrams of the computer age. Many of the references are now 30-40 years old, and yet this work still reads completely fresh. Absolutely hilarious, and all too insightful.