GRACE BUILDS AN ALMOST-PERFECT DOG

How to assemble and program a dog.

Like live dogs, cybernetic ones turn out to need a lot of work—as Grace discovers when the pooch her parents finally let her get comes as a box of mechanical and electronic parts. Putting them together is only the first step. In addition to dealing with literal and figurative bugs—a circuit-frying moth and a waggy but worrisomely loose tail—Grace soon finds that the pup, aptly named Kit, mechanically obeys a few simple commands exactly the same way, every single time. That won’t do, so Grace determinedly sets out to expand the dog’s default programming, writing dozens of lines of coded instructions that are reproduced in full and making corrections through trial and error that inject a broad strain of unpredictable doggy mischief into her pet without letting him completely off the leash. One last command—“Hugs!”—leads the gleeful young software engineer to a logical conclusion: “Best dog in the known universe.” Closing guidelines for developing and testing coding projects of any sort make Manley’s main purpose clear, but Grace’s general hands-on approach makes a good model for owners of nonrobotic dogs, too. Grace and her mother are brown-skinned, her father is lighter-skinned, and other dog owners in an outdoor scene are racially diverse.

Brimming with oodles of doggy affection, as well as useful pointers for young programmers.