Caution - lots of people like to talk about this "code archeology" idea as if it's a central driving point of the book, whereas in fact it's mentioned once in passing in the prologue and is never again relevant to the story.

Don't get me wrong, it's still a decent book on its own merits - but don't go into it expecting that to be the main point of the book (I did, and disappointed as a result).

As a counterpoint, the main nemesis of the book comes from software that is found in archaeological expedition. While software archeology doesn't show up after the first chapter, the ramifications of what happens in that world due to so much software is pretty central.

This is certainly true, and doesn't detract from my disappointment not to have actually seen the software archeology in practice.

I'd argue that while its not a core diving part narrative... It is central to the idea of the book and its sequel. It's a decent sized book with a lot of ideas and the idea of code archeology and the repercussions of it are what the book is about as much as any of the other main ideas.

But yes, if you want a book that focused only on that... This is going to disapoint.

I'd argue that while its not a core diving part narrative... It is central to the idea of the book and its sequel. It's a decent sized book with a lot of ideas and the idea of code archeology and the repercussions of it are what the book is about as much as any of the other main ideas.

But yes, if you want a book that focused only on that... This is going to disappoint.

> It is central to the idea of the book and its sequel. [..] the idea of code archeology and the repercussions of it are what the book is about as much as any of the other main ideas.

Can't speak to the sequel as I gave up on the series after that, but it's _really_ not relevant to the plot or ideas of the first book at all. All that matters for the plot is that a hostile, powerful, uncontrollable AI arises. In the book, it _happens_ to be because of a code archeologist "delving too greedily and too deep"; but the plot would not be changed one iota if it had simply arisen (and gone off the rails) as a product of general AI development.

No problem. I've been a sci fi reader my entire life and was shocked I hadnt stumbled across Vinge earlier. The sequel/prequel to Fire Upon the Deep, called A Deepness in the Sky, is arguably even better and the same idea of tech/code being used and customized far after its written is even more central to the plot.

Two of my favorite reads of the last few years, so I highly recommend them.

Futher... After some digging it looks like there is an old slashdot discussion on the same topic: https://slashdot.org/story/06/11/04/0622246/no-more-coding-f...

Likely some spoilers for the books in there so may be worth holding off until after you've read them if you intend to.