Most publications in the computer science field deal with some important relevant topic of interest to professionals. Readers are well served when such a paper or book is written. Once in a while, it is possible to read a paper or book that is not specifically about technical topics. This book, “The bug,” falls in this category, as it is a novel.

Written by an experienced programmer, this book is about a programmer who is involved in testing a software company’s database management product. Suddenly, there is a program bug, which is detected by various people in the organization. Its appearance is random, and, hence, it is called jester, with the error code UI-1017 for the user interface error. The novel is about the hero’s attempt to eradicate the bug. He could not succeed, and at the end, commits suicide because of his failure to catch the bug and other love-related personal problems. The novel ends with the tracing and identification of the bug by the hero’s co-worker. The novel contains a software game originally developed by the mathematician Horon Canway called “Life.” The hero of the novel has developed the program, and it is always running on the computer in the background. Reference to this interesting game is made throughout the book. Ullman has attempted to write the novel about the complexity of a programmer’s life, so does not focus much on the technical details of the bug.

It is difficult to state whether this novel will be interesting to computer professionals. The novel is divided into four parts, with about 22 chapters. There are a large number of characters the reader has to track. It might have been a great help to readers if the book contained a list of all the characters (like those included in good detective books). The first person narration keeps shifting from the hero to other people, so the reader may find it difficult to trace who is telling the story in a particular chapter.

It appears that Ullman thinks that some four-letter words and paragraphs make the novel worth reading, but they do not have any specific purpose in the main story of the book. I found the description of the Life game to be the only good diversion while reading this book.

In conclusion, this book is neither a contribution to the list of good novels, nor a book about the life of software professionals. It may be boring reading material because of the large number of characters, confusing storyline, use of unwanted four-letter words, and attacks on other religions without any purpose. A serious reader may want to bypass this novel altogether.