computer science

The PayPal Wars

The PayPal Wars is a computer science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The PayPal Wars rather than just read about it. In short: The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth (2004) is a book by former PayPal marketing executive Eric M. Jackson.

Key takeaways

The PayPal Wars belongs to computer science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The PayPal Wars to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The PayPal Wars from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth (2004) is a book by former PayPal marketing executive Eric M. Jackson.

Description The PayPal Wars is an insider's perspective on the people and events that helped create the company, and its acquisition by eBay in 2002. The book recounts PayPal's clashes with lawyers, regulators, and the American Mafia. Many of PayPal's founding employees went on to start other companies like LinkedIn, YouTube, and Yelp, Inc.; they would become known as the PayPal Mafia.

Critical reception The PayPal Wars received acclaim for its writing style and personal narrative. The Washington Times said the book is "an absorbing insider's story." Radley Balko of Reason said that it "reads like a spy novel", while David R. Henderson of TCS Daily said, "It's rare that a business book is a page turner, but The PayPal Wars is". Tom Peters said The PayPal Wars "gives the best description of 'business strategy' unfolding in a world changing at warp speed."

Editions The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth, World Ahead Publishing, ISBN 0-9746701-0-3

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The PayPal Wars

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The PayPal Wars claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In computer science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The PayPal Wars before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The PayPal Wars ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The PayPal Wars

In research: The PayPal Wars appears in computer science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The PayPal Wars in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The PayPal Wars is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2004 non-fiction books, Books about computer and internet companies, PayPal, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The PayPal Wars outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The PayPal Wars in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The PayPal Wars means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The PayPal Wars out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The PayPal Wars in simple terms?

The PayPal Wars: Battles with eBay, the Media, the Mafia, and the Rest of Planet Earth (2004) is a book by former PayPal marketing executive Eric M. Jackson.

Why does The PayPal Wars matter?

Because it connects several computer science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The PayPal Wars?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The PayPal Wars.