Readings

The readings for Tuesday, April 18 are:

1. Birth of a Nerd

2. Birth of an Operating System

Writings

For this week, we will be reading the autobiography of Linus Torvalds, whom many consider the ultimate hacker:

And I basically sat in front of a computer for four years... My order was always the same: a Coke and a doughnut... Yes, I was definitely a geek. No question about it... So I would be sitting in front of a computer and be perfectly happy.

In your this blog post, write a reflection that does the following:

1. Describe Linus Torvalds's upbringing. In what ways did it resemeble yours? In what ways was it different? What elements of his childhood contributed to his development as a hacker? Are [hackers] born or raised?

2. Describe what drove Linus Torvalds to create his own operating system. What as his original motivation? What resources did he have? Who did he work with? How much planning or how serious did he take his endeavor?

3. What itch do you currently have? That is, what sort of problem or project do you wish you could solve... just for fun?