Now this is hip -- Notes on Postmodern Programming is both a treatise on their theory of programming methodology and a forerunner of the true postmodern technical treatise where the anti-hero author and ourselves as their audience discover the technology answer together ... as opposed to the classical heroic tale style of the current ubergeek-netgod authored proclamations alledged always to be handed down from above.

Way back in 1999 I predicted to the acquisition editors at Pearson that the future of trade books would belong to the post-modern "Windows by a Dummy" books where the author is no aloof unapproachable guru, just our peer, our co-worker, just as clueless about the topic as the reader. Their only advantage is in being bold enough to go exploring and congenial enough to take us with them; this conveys more than net-god knowledge as it also teaches how technical knowledge is acquired (teach a man to fish you feed him forever) -- as the tutorial unfolds, we discover the answers together. I hope Tim O'Reilly is listening...