Looking back at what I used to think about programming back when I started and what it ended up being when I started to get a glimpse, I thought I would share my way of looking at it from an outsider's perspective, which is something that we professionals lose as these concepts become our second nature. With this entirely non-technical angle, I hope I can help potential newbies have a smoother learning experience, and otherwise, the existing programmers gain a different perspective towards computer programming and languages.

Scientists have been searching for signals from extraterrestrial civilizations since Frank Drake’s first radio survey in 1960. But what would actually happen if SETI’s search succeeds? Is there any way we could even make sense of the signal we receive? Written by an expert in communication systems and translation technology, this book explores the science of interstellar communication. It explains how this process may unfold, how an ET communication link would work, the types of information it could convey and how professionals, amateurs and ordinary people like you would participate in the effort to understand what another civilization has to say. Along the way, the book introduces readers to many aspects of modern-day communication systems and computing. Featured as well are dozens of illustrations, photos and real-world examples, rounding out this compelling foray into the mechanics of interstellar communication. “Scientists, policy makers, and all interested in the likely future discovery of alien life will want to read this book.” - Steven J. Dick, Former NASA Chief Historian

In a 1950 conversation at Los Alamos, four world-class scientists generally agreed, given the size of the Universe, that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations must be present. But one of the four, Enrico Fermi, asked, "If these civilizations do exist, where is everybody?" Given the fact that there are perhaps 400 million stars in our Galaxy alone, and perhaps 400 million galaxies in the Universe, it stands to reason that somewhere out there, in the 14 billion-year-old cosmos, there is or once was a civilization at least as advanced as our own. Webb discusses in detail the 50 most cogent and intriguing solutions to Fermi's famous paradox.

The intriguing, thought provoking, deep and fascinating interview with an alien being living among us. Written as a series of questions and answers, this book covers the experience of life on Earth not only as an alien being, but as one of us as well.This novel is a must read for anyone who has an interest in alien presence on Earth.

Hi! I'm Oliver Tibbs (some people call me 'Oliver Fibbs') and everyone in my family is super-brilliant at something - chess, ballet, brain surgery and architecture - but I'm not brilliant at anything. Show and Tell (or as I call it: Pain and Torture Time) is my worst nightmare . . . I haven't got a black belt at karate or made a mega-powerful electro-magnet. All I'm good at is reading comics and eating pizza. But I'm fed up with being Dull and Boring, so I've been telling the class about my adventures as a Defender of Planet Earth - battling against the evil Alien Brain Drain who wants to take over the world! Everyone loved it except Miss Wilkins, who gave me a detention for telling fibs. Now my parents think I'm Going Bad. I keep telling them - THEY'RE NOT FIBS, THEY'RE STORIES!

This taut, true thriller dives into a dark world that touches us all, as seen through the brilliant, breakneck career of an extraordinary hacker--a woman known only as Alien. When she arrived at MIT in the 1990s, Alien was quickly drawn to the school's tradition of high-risk physical trespassing: the original "hacking." Within a year, one of her hallmates was dead and two others were arraigned. Alien's adventures were only just beginning. After a stint at the storied, secretive Los Alamos National Laboratory, Alien was recruited by a top cybersecurity firm where she deployed her cache of virtual weapons--and the trespassing and social engineering talents she had developed while "hacking" at MIT. The company tested its clients' security by every means possible--not just coding, but donning disguises and sneaking past guards and secretaries into the C-suite. Alien now runs a boutique hacking outfit that caters to some of the world's biggest and most vulnerable institutions--banks, retailers, government agencies. Her work combines devilish charm, old-school deception, and next generation spycraft. In Breaking and Entering, cybersecurity finally gets the rich, character-driven, fast-paced treatment it deserves.

‘Lisa Kaltenegger offers first-hand access to her expertise on the search for planets in the universe, and the life they may contain. Along the way, Lisa's breezy narrative style invites you to experience with her the challenges and joys of being a scientist on the frontier of discovery’ Neil deGrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist For thousands of years, humans have wondered whether we're alone in the cosmos. Now, for the first time, we have the technology to investigate. The question should have an obvious answer: yes or no. But once you try to find life elsewhere, you realize it is not so simple. How do you find it over cosmic distances? What actually is life? Astronomer Lisa Kaltenegger works from Carl Sagan’s former office at Cornell University, where she built a team of tenacious scientists from many disciplines to find life on faraway worlds, using Earth’s diverse biosphere and its history as a Rosetta Stone. With infectious enthusiasm, she provides an eye-opening insider’s guide to the most unusual exoplanets that have shaken our worldview – planets covered in oceans of lava, lonely wanderers lost in space, and others with more than one sun in their sky – as well as the best contenders for Alien Earths. She also shows how close imagined scifi worlds come to reality. We live in an incredible new epoch of exploration. As our witty and knowledgeable tour guide, Professor Kaltenegger shows how we discover not merely new continents, like the explorers of old, but whole new worlds circling other stars – and how we could spot life there. Worlds from where aliens may even be gazing back at us. What if we're not alone?