Son of Devil's Advocate (aka SODA) Welcome to the home of Stan Kelly-Bootle's online monthly column. This page contains links to his newest column, various administrivia, and archives of older columns. Please note, the link to this page has been moved to a less prominent location on the SarCheck home page. This is because Stan hasn't written in a year and a half, and web traffic indicates that no one's looking for new SODA articles any more. We have no intention of taking this part of the site down and we hope that Stan writes for us again in the near future. Don's latest Stan sighting: Stan was kind enough to invite me over for lunch on a recent (October 2005) trip to London, and thanks to David and Peggy for the feast. I don't remember the last time that I laughed so much. Stan's gotten very into The Sopranos lately and has managed to addict me to Sudoku, the current crossword-like game that everyone is playing on the trains. Hopefully we'll have a new SODA column from him soon.

Here is the latest SODA: July 2004. Older SODA columns can be found further down on this page. If you'd like Stan to let you know when his new column is ready or you just want to say hello, contact Stan.

Please note that the URL of SODA is likely to change in the future. Please bookmark our home page and then follow the SODA link. Don't bookmark this page because the URL will change.

Don Winterhalter
Aptitune Corporation

June 2004
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March 2004
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December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
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July 2001
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March 2001
(there was no February 2001 SODA)
January 2001
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November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000
June 2000
May 2000
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February 2000

Stan's books:

Stan Kelly-Bootle has written some books that might enhance your knowledge and enrich your life. Please check out his books at amazon.com using these handy links:

Understanding UNIX
The Computer Contradictionary
UNIX Complete

Stan's bio:

Liverpool-born Stan Kelly-Bootle has been exposed to computing, on and off and vice-versa, since 1953 when, after graduating in Pure Mathematics at Cambridge University, he switched to impure post-grad work on the wondrous EDSAC I. After some trenching with IBM and Univac in the 1960s and 70s, Stan opted for self-employment as a consultant, writer, folk-song revivalist, after-dinner entertainer, and cunning linguist.

His monthly DA ("Devil's Advocate") column ran and ran in UNIX Review (aka Performance Computing) from 1984 until January 2000 (a date that will live in infamy) but lives on as SODA ("Son of DA") via www.sarcheck.com the homepage devoted to UNIX performance.

The latest of his umpteen books are "The Computer Contradictionary" (MIT Press) and "UNIX Complete" (Sybex). More on his biblio- and disco-graphy can be found on http://www.feniks.com/skb/ soon due for its millennial update. Stan's Computer Contradictionary column appears monthly at www.unixreview.com.

Stan welcomes reader reaction: Contact Stan

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Portions © copyright Stan Kelly-Bootle 2000-2004.
Portions © copyright Aptitune Corporation 1997-2006, all rights reserved.
This column is sponsored by Aptitune Corporation, makers of SarCheck. The opinions of Stan Kelly-Bootle are his own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Aptitune Corporation. Other products and companies referred to herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies or mark holders.