software

http://magazine.redhat.com/2008/02/07/python-for-bash-scripters-a-well-kept-secret/ Using Python's subprocess module to write shell scripts in Python.

http://chris-lamb.co.uk/2008/01/24/can-you-get-cp-to-give-a-progress-bar-like-wget/ Use strace to get a progress bar for cp.

http://web.archive.org/web/20060212034956/http://www.geocities.com/stallmanus/ The forgotten tales about rms at MIT.

http://www.bitlbee.org/main.php/news.r.html Bitlbee allows you to use multiple instant messaging services in a single IRC client.

http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html The book Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Gerald Sussman and Hal Abelson is available for free online. This was the introductory computer science textbook at MIT for several decades.

http://lolcode.com/home LOLCODE, the LOLcat programming language.

http://www.plotbot.com/ Collaborative online screenplay writing software.

http://users.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/~ttsiod/buildWikipediaOffline.html This guy wrote a nifty program to index, search and display a local copy of Wikipedia.

http://alientrap.org/nexuiz/ Nexuiz is an open source first person shooter.

http://cm.bell-labs.com/who/ken/trust.html A classic article by Ken Thompson about an exploit involving a compiler that modifies the code it compiles.