I love the web sometimes. I just read an article about Javascript and Dart (a new programming language proposed by Google) which included a chance comment about a specific attitude to technology or knowledge created by someone else, known as Not Invented Here.

This happens to be the name of a character in a book called Excession, by Iain M. Banks. The Not Invented Here is a sentient spaceship that plays an important role in the plot, which is cleverly foreshadowed by the obscure meaning of its name. I hadn’t heard that term before, and I probably wouldn’t have made the connection while I was reading, but in hindsight it’s yet another subtle nod in a book full of great writing. It’s well worth a read…