Programmers At Work

A forum to read and discuss interviews featured in the book Programmers at Work

About

I’m Susan Lammers, author of Programmers at Work, a book of in-depth  interviews with 19 of the tech visionaries who launched the first PC Revolution. I wrote the book in 1985 while working at Microsoft and it was first published in 1986. Now a 40th Anniversary Edition of Programmers at Work featuring a new introduction is coming out in July 2026, published by 8080 Books and Simon and Schuster. The book has renewed interest as a work of history and also is finding an audience among robotics, IoT, edge and embedded programmers.

I’m excited to be launching a new site  for more information about these programmers, past and present .  That site will be the best way to reach me. In the weeks to come we will be rolling out a forum and blog there to share excerpts, code samples, new reflections and short essays as well as news.  Check it out here.  Please visit the site to learn more or contact us. I won’t be monitoring this site very often.  Thank you for your support and help spreading the word about what has become a classic time capsule of PC  history.

16 responses to “About”

  1. Tarek Demiati Avatar
    Tarek Demiati

    This is a great book Susan, I did discover your book in 1991, just before I started my professional career as a software developer. This was a very inspiring book.

    If you manage to find the audio recording, it would be nice if you could convert them into MP3 and post them on your blog …

    Best Regards from France,
    Tarek

    Reply
  2. Ray Arachelian Avatar
    Ray Arachelian

    This is a wonderful book. I’ve recently just discovered it via the RetroMacCast podcast, and got my hands on a copy from Amazon, and I’m currently enjoying it.

    It’s great to see this has been opened up for all to enjoy, many thanks.

    Reply
  3. Teo Malos Avatar
    Teo Malos

    Thank you Susan for keeping PAW alive and for having caught those snapshots about those great minds at work back in the prior milennia. I look forward to the discussion here about the already posted interviews and the remaining ones–particularly Dan Bricklin.

    Reply
  4. James Avatar
    James

    We talked about your book on Episode #65 of the RetroMacCast:

    http://retromaccast.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=328295

    A great retro read!

    Reply
  5. Katrineholm Uncensored Avatar
    Katrineholm Uncensored

    I read your book many years ago when I was a member of the now defunct Boston Computer Society and found it inspiring. Good for you for putting up this blog and providing insight into the heuristic/creative process called programming.

    Reply
  6. Sergio D'Agostino Avatar
    Sergio D’Agostino

    I’m waiting for the second release of PAW.
    Paradigms changed during the last 20 years but I believe the core ideas are still the same.
    Thank You Susan

    Reply
    1. sml Avatar
      sml

      Thank you!

      Reply
  7. Ali Muslim Avatar
    Ali Muslim

    great work susan.
    Thank you,
    –ali muslim

    Reply
  8. Carlos Urtasun Avatar
    Carlos Urtasun

    Dear Susan: I’m a spanish computer engineer.
    I have read the spanish translation of your fantastic book in 1988.
    And I wrote an article about the same in February 2008: http://www.cesnavarra.net/cesdigital/Lists/Noticias%20CESDigital/DispForm.aspx?ID=9

    Congratulations for your book.

    Carlos

    Reply
  9. Mariano Avatar
    Mariano

    Thank you!

    I discover your book in my lab library in Japan and I found it very interesting. But as the book is in Japanese I could not read it as fast as I would like and understand all the interviews fully. Reading in English is faster and easy to understand for me!

    Reply
  10. Steve Howard Avatar
    Steve Howard

    Your book was/is my all time favorite Tech Books. I lived and worked in the Silicon Valley at the time, and your book is like a scrapbook in history for me. I still have the original edition, and now nearing retirement, I can find no one near me who understands the significance of your work, so I refuse to hand it down.

    Thank You

    Reply
  11. Daniel Denayer Avatar
    Daniel Denayer

    Nice to find an on-line version of this book !
    I acquired the original book in its French-language version back in 1986 – and I still keep it in my ‘pulp’ library as a testimony of that great period that saw the emergence of people-centric computing.
    Thanks to share elements of the legend !

    Reply
  12. S Rudman Avatar
    S Rudman

    Really pleased to find this is online – I read PAW about 20 years ago and wanted to recommend to my son, who’s studying Comp Sci at university.

    Reply
    1. sml Avatar
      sml

      Thanks for this comment. Love it. . If you’d like to buy a copy of the book, I actually have a box I found in storage recentlyt that I want to sell off. I could ship one to you. You can contact me at my email: susan underscore lammers at msn dot com. Thanks! L

      Reply
  13. Cliff Lee Avatar
    Cliff Lee

    I bought this book way back when… Read it and loved it! Am I correct in thinking this was the first book published by Microsoft Press?
    I got wind of Bill Gates coming to the Houston Area League PC Users Group (HAL-PC) to be the guest speaker. I took the book and had him sign it!
    Hopefully this Facebook link will work:

    Reply
  14. zurlocker Avatar
    zurlocker

    I remember buying and reading this book when it came out. It was fantastic. Really great interviews, cool code fragments etc. It was really the first and maybe the only in-depth interviews with programmers on their craft. Thank you!

    Reply

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