Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!decwrl!sun!pitstop!sundc!seismo!uunet!sco!seanf From: seanf@sco.COM (Sean Fagan) Newsgroups: comp.sys.misc Subject: Re: When did computer viruses really start? Message-ID: <2191@scolex.sco.COM> Date: 30 Jan 89 18:51:08 GMT References: <2479@kalliope.rice.edu> <14039@cup.portal.com> Reply-To: seanf@scolex.UUCP (Sean Fagan) Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. Lines: 24 In article <14039@cup.portal.com> R_Tim_Coslet@cup.portal.com writes: >Well I remember reading a science fiction story when I was in High School >(before 1975) that used the term "Virus" to talk about this kind of program. >The rest of the story (which I don't remember too clearly) is about how >this "Computer Programmer" deals with the return of his "virus". >Does anyone else remember this book and its title? The book was, probably, _The Adolescence of P-1_, by somebody whose name I forget. It was a *very* good book, in my opinion (*much* better than, say, _When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One_, which showed Gerrold's ignorace of computers). The rest of the story, as you put it, actually dealt with Gregory (the programmer) and P1 (the program 8-)) trying to ensure P1's survival (even though the government doesn't want this). And, yes, it does seem appropriate to think about it, now. P1 grew through multi-processing, using telecommunication lines (slow; only 56kbaud) instead of ethernet. Even as we write and read, a program could be deciding whether or not to terminate this posting... -- Sean Eric Fagan | "What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, seanf@sco.UUCP | the master calls a butterfly." -- Richard Bach (408) 458-1422 | Any opinions expressed are my own, not my employers'.