I have this (American?) book somewhere, but cannot find it. I think it's from the 90's or 2000's, and was a computer science / fantasy mix, originally read (and authored) in English. It has a group of heroes who are programmers interacting in some sort of VR over the Internet, trying to defeat a computer virus apocalypse. Specific plot points I recall:
- Reference to dragon's teeth as kernels, i.e. the virus was trying to kill the Internet by infecting server kernels? And the heroes had to find all the Internet kernels to protect them. I believe there were six such kernels.
- The virus was represented in the VR as a worm or dragon.
- Had an example with Schrodinger's cat and a vial of poison in a box -- the cat is both alive and dead.
- Various programming and hacking related jokes / references, like "wheel" as a root user.
I recall things happening in the VR scenes that are related to programming aspects, too, like the "wheel" user appears in VR using some sort of wheel apparatus. At one point, I think the virus also kills one of the main characters through the VR system (and in then in non-VR real life, the character died by some sort of neural backfire), and the others realize it's a more serious situation.
Sorry my recollection is fuzzy. I'm trying to see if the author has any follow-on stories, but I recall this one was a standalone and not part of a series, and the author isn't a big name as far as I recall.