Greetings to all Khabrachans and Khabrachanok!
Thank you all for such support! Together we have come a long and interesting way through the universes of all the key films and series in the IT world. Together we tried to figure out the series discussed together about you and me and were able to think together about . The time has come for the final article about a unique, in my opinion, series - "Halt and Catch Fire". It is unique in that the series is about the history of IT. The film tells about the path the entire industry went through before transforming into the industry we are used to. Many have been waiting for this article and I will try to tell you as much as possible about this series, which many of us fell in love with.
Already a traditional disclaimer and we begin.
Disclaimer
I understand that Habrahabr readers are people working in the IT industry, experienced users and avid geeks. This article does not contain any important information and is not educational. Here I would like to share my opinion about the series, but not as a film critic, but as a person from the IT world. If you agree or disagree with me on some issues, let's discuss them in the comments. Tell us your opinion. It will be interesting.
Before starting, I would like to say that if you liked this format of our communication with you about TV shows, I would like to continue working and talk with you about games. Work on the next article about games for geeks and IT people is already underway. The selection is very large (60+ games about us). Let's continue our cycle together!
Well, let's get down to the sweet - to the series.
Carefully! Spoilers.
Unusual name
Free translation:
Freeze and burn.
This is an early computer command that turns on the device's race mode, forcing all programs to compete for the championship.
It is not possible to restore computer control.
At the very beginning of the film, it is as if we are being prepared for the final conclusion (more on that later). In the very first 20 seconds of the series, its name is explained - the team causing the race of programs.
This name comes from an old urban legend: on one computer of the 1960s, everything was increased and the speed of magnetic memory stitched with thin wires was increased. High currents did not interfere with normal operation, however, the HLT operation (Halt, waiting for a signal from an external device) was implemented as “if there was no signal, jump to the same address”. Repeated reading of the same cell led to the burnout of the corresponding wire.
Plot
Outside in 1983. We are in Dallas, Texas, one year after IBM introduced its innovative product, the IBM PC, to the market. Joe (a former IBM employee) boldly decides to overtake his former employers and take over the personal computer market. He takes engineer Gordon and programmer Cameron to his team. The race has begun!
It's pointless to say anything else about the plot. This race needs to be watched.
main characters
Joe MacMillan
Joe is an IBM sales executive who exudes charisma. When he appears at Cardiff Electric, he is essentially in a senior position in the sales department. Upon getting the job, he immediately organizes a plan to reverse engineer his former employer's product and create something better, but his end goal is unknown. While Joe is selling a new personal computer, he enlists the help of Gordon Clark and Cameron Howe to create a product. next generation.
In the course of their work, Joe challenges employees more than once. Joe wanted Gordon to assemble a seemingly unusable machine, and Cameron to write an operating system from scratch, even though she was a student.
His image is very reminiscent of Steve Jobs. He is also totalitarian, also ambitious and also striving for success not because of, but in spite of everything.
Gordon Clark
If Macmillan is Jobs, then Clark is his Wozniak. Gordon is an up-and-coming engineer who yearns to redo his past before the humiliating and public failure of Symphonic, the computer he built with his wife Donna. After the failure, Gordon moved with his family to Dallas, Donna's hometown, and took a job at Cardiff Electric.
Now Gordon has a second chance at success, but Joe is a brutal boss and his vision for their new PC seems out of reach. Gordon must successfully solve the technical problems of the new car. He begins a difficult working relationship with rebellious computer programmer Cameron Howe. Among other things, Gordon has new obligations to Donna - family life and two little girls (Joanie and Hayley).
Cameron Howe
Cameron, in addition to being my favorite character, is a brilliant computer programmer who drops out of college and jeopardizes her future by joining a scam project to build a PC for Joe MacMillan. This 22-year-old programmer is a shock to the conservative, old guard Cardiff Electric system, but she also represents what is the future of computing. At the same time, she slaps the traditional male-dominated technology of the 1980s.
She finds connection and comfort in the mathematical certainty of coding, but at the same time seeks to create havoc wherever she goes. She sleeps in the office, picks up items from other people's tables, listens to punk music at full volume, etc.
Donna Clark
Donna is Gordon's wife and former engineering partner. Donna grew up in a "new money" family in Dallas, and her parents are entrepreneurs who founded a high-quality gadget company called Razor's Edge. Her father works for Nintendo. Donna graduated from UC Berkeley with her husband Gordon. After that, she became a computer engineer.
She has come to terms with her separation from her husband since their failed Symphonic project, but she also fears that the new Cardiff Electric project will lead to the end of her marriage. Despite this, she tries to support Gordon in the hope that it will bring him back to life.
Secondary Characters
John Bosworth
John is an old-school businessman who turned Cardiff Electric into a regional powerhouse that took him 22 years of his life. As Senior Vice President, he oversees Cardiff Electric's day-to-day operations and manages all of the company's finances. After Joe forces the company to race, Bosworth is forced to keep an eye on what is going on and is frightened by it.
Despite his relationship with Joe, Bosworth is a responsible person who knows that he still has an important role to play in the future of the company and will not resign from his position.
Joanie and Haley Clark (Joanie & Haley Clark)
Joanie
Joanie has always loved playing Cameron. This left its mark and she became a rebel who wants to turn the world around. Joanie is closer to her mother, as she considers her father a traitor who abandoned them.
Haley
Hayley is a true "daddy's girl". She is younger than her sister, but smarter than her, and already at school she went to work with her father and became not just a “cog in the system” (contrary to Gordon’s idea), but she was able to give very practical advice to the whole team and helped bring the company out of the crisis.
About the show
In this block, I would like to tell my opinion about some moments of the series.
I am infinitely glad that the series turned out exactly the way it is. The authors had the opportunity to make a historically true picture or to get away from the reality of facts to some invented characters and not tie them to reality in any way. However, they found a balance.
First, they introduced historical characters, but as a third-party reference. Like, everyone already knows Jobs and he released the macintosh in 1984. All characters discuss the release of this device and work with Apple as with competitors at a real exhibition (the name was changed from CES).
Secondly, the authors are reliable in technical aspects (or at least approached it). Historical accuracy in the IT industry, so much so that it does not get bored, is the height of talent. This still needed to be achieved. Now I will show on the example of two hacks.
Hacking the operating system (first episode of the first season)
Hacking a network of devices (ninth episode of the second season)
Thirdly, here they talk about the philosophy in IT, about the tasks of IT, about our future from the prism of the past. Again, examples.
What is "Security"? (eighth episode of the third season)
What is the Internet"? (tenth episode of the third season)
Soundtrack
Without spreading long demagogy, I will say one thing - the soundtrack is wonderful!
Results
Reviewing this wonderful series turned out to be extremely difficult. It is impossible to convey the plot and tell something coherent after watching Formula 1 races. Emotions and impressions remain, but the story is not at all detailed.
Definitely, I can recommend this series to anyone who would like to know how the IT industry from the "garage in America" has reached one of the most sought-after and highly paid industries. The series will tell and show you not only the story in its naked form, but also the fate of people. This is a story about the engineer Gordon Clark, who worked with hardware and considered programming to be rubbish, until he realized how necessary it was and began to learn programming languages himself. The story about Joe Macmillan, who sought to climb the mountain of the career ladder and create the future, and this future "flyed" up so fast that he simply did not have time to do what he wanted and changed course every time. This is a story about Cameron Howe, who fought to the last for her offspring (she had quite a few of them). She tried to create a program that everyone would need, but it was always so far from her idea to actual execution. The story of John Bosworth, who tried his best not to fall out of the rut, but could not keep up with the young and ambitious prog from "Riot". This is a story about you and me. About the life of our ancestors and about their fate. A story about an ever-accelerating plane called "IT". A story about young and smart engineers who break into the industry and reshape it in their own way.
A little personal
Not so long ago. A couple of years ago. I spoke with a person who was not in the IT sector. He is a geodetic engineer. He considered everything computer alien and did not understand “what is happening there this, which could be so much in demand. When I tried to explain what we have "such", I could not achieve understanding of my interlocutor. “Well, why exactly IT? Many areas must develop in order not to stop. What is so special about IT? When I despaired of trying to explain this, I suggested watching Halt and Catch Fire. My interlocutor watched the series from beginning to end and in the evening after watching the last episode, he called me. In the receiver I heard the first phrase: “Hmm. Here now I understand what you mean."
Acknowledgements
I would like all of you again give thanks for support, help and for the fact that we have walked this path through the universes of all the key films and series in the IT world all together. From your comments, I learned a lot of new and interesting films that I will definitely watch (I have already watched some of them). Together we have contributed to the piggy bank of all movie geeks, and we are not few 🙂
Without your support, this would not have happened. Thank you for that!
I really do not want to stop and plan to make a selection of 60+ games about us. If you are interested, just continue to stay with me and also actively participate in polls, comments and ratings of articles. Together we can do it!
I will leave links to previous articles again below, and I invite you to the survey.
Only registered users can participate in the survey. , you are welcome.
Did you like the series?
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52,4%Liked33
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4,8%Disliked3
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15,9%Haven't watched and won't
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27,0%I'll definitely look 17
63 users voted. 10 users abstained.
Should the author make a selection of games for geeks?
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77,3%Yes. Do it. It would be interesting for us to read.34
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22,7%No. Don't. It is neither interesting nor necessary.10
44 users voted. 11 users abstained.
Source: habr.com