A Line of Code

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About the Book

Set in Ireland, America and Atlantic Canada, A Line of Code tells the story of Moss, an Irish boy growing up in the 1980s, who has to move with his family to Chicago. Struggling to assimilate, Moss's interest in coding offers escape when his life is riven by upheaval: cultural difference, bullying and a violent attack on his family. Later, they return to Ireland where he eventually pursues a career in software. Through the heady “Celtic Tiger” period and its subsequent collapse, Moss's inner demons stop him from building true relationships. Finding Ireland as materialistic as the Chicago of the 80s, Moss leaves for Canada but ends up working for a spy software company. This is not a good move, as his boss turns out to be a petty tyrant. Moss finally blows the whistle on the company's sinister practices, coming to terms with his autism.

The social and political project of A Line Of Code is of celebrating the Other, the immigrant and neuro-diverse. Moss attempts to internalize the codes of the different societies he finds himself in, only to find he doesn't fit. His solution is to look for practical ways to fix the code. The book is also important as a celebration of the work of programmers in a corporate world attempting to use AI code to eliminate the profession entirely. Compared to other workers, four times as many programmers identify as autistic (3.7% vs under 1%) and this book's aim is to explore and celebrate that neurological difference. Moss's turning whistle-blower is a recognition of how vital software work is to today's world, an alternative narrative to pervasive social and corporatist denigration of this work. Another statistic: some studies claim up to 80% of programmers suffer burnout and this experience is part of Moss's story also.

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