Ellen Ullman

In 1984, at a start-up company in Silicon Valley, Roberta Walton, a novice software tester, discovers a bug that she brings to the attention of programmer Ethan Levin, who, obsessed with eliminating the bug, begins to unravel, while Roberta is drawn to the challenge of working with the computer, in a novel about the sometimes uneasy relationship between humans and computers. A first novel. Reprint.

The Bug

Sang Park

Ethan Levin, programmer at a database start-up in the mid 1980s, as a serious bug to find, one that freezes the whole program. However, the elusive bug cannot be reliably reproduced; it seems to rear its ugly head only during high-stakes demonstrations for venture capitalists and prospective clients. As the bug continues to elude Levin and Roberta, the software tester, the idea that it has a life of its own seems less and less a joke, and more believable.

The Bug

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