FYI: The Unix philosophy

[Lloyd Kvam]

(Please excuse the top posting.)
Ben, Thanks for posting these texts last month.

I had the need to write some Perl code recently which forced me to pull
out "Learning Perl" from the bookshelf.  Larry Wall wrote a very
entertaining forward that takes issue with some of these principles.

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=572875

We also had a thread about AWK and Sed:
http://www.mail-archive.com/gnhlug-discuss@mail.gnhlug.org/msg25410.html

I think the need for AWK/Sed crib sheets argues that the tools we've
traditionally used for piping text might benefit from some fresh
insights.

On Mon, 2009-02-09 at 22:00 -0500, Ben Scott wrote:
> "Write programs that do one thing and do it well.  Write programs to
> work together.  Write programs that handle text streams, because that
> is a universal interface."  -- Doug McIlroy (inventor of Unix pipes;
> currently Adjunct Professor at NH's own Dartmouth College)
> 
> >From _The UNIX Philosophy_ by Mike Gancarz (a member of original X
> window system team):
>    Universal:
>    1. Small is beautiful.
>    2. Make each program do one thing well.
>    3. Build a prototype as soon as possible.
>    4. Choose portability over efficiency.
>    5. Store data in flat text files.
>    6. Use software leverage to your advantage.
>    7. Use shell scripts to increase leverage and portability.
>    8. Avoid captive user interfaces.
>    9. Make every program a filter.
>   Lesser:
>    1. Allow the user to tailor the environment.
>    2. Make operating systems small and lightweight.
>    3. Use lowercase and keep it short.
>    4. Save trees.
>    5. Silence is golden.
>    6. Think parallel.
>    7. The sum of the parts is greater than the whole.
>    8. Look for the 90-percent solution.
>    9. Worse is better.
>   10. Think hierarchically.
> 
> >From _The Art of Unix Programming_ by Eric Raymond (author of
> fetchmail and _The Cathedral and the Bazaar_):
>     Rule of Modularity: Write simple parts connected by clean interfaces.
>     Rule of Clarity: Clarity is better than cleverness.
>     Rule of Composition: Design programs to be connected with other programs.
>     Rule of Separation: Separate policy from mechanism; separate
> interfaces from engines.
>     Rule of Simplicity: Design for simplicity; add complexity only
> where you must.
>     Rule of Parsimony: Write a big program only when it is clear by
> demonstration that nothing else will do.
>     Rule of Transparency: Design for visibility to make inspection and
> debugging easier.
>     Rule of Robustness: Robustness is the child of transparency and simplicity.
>     Rule of Representation: Fold knowledge into data, so program logic
> can be stupid and robust.
>     Rule of Least Surprise: In interface design, always do the least
> surprising thing.
>     Rule of Silence: When a program has nothing surprising to say, it
> should say nothing.
>     Rule of Repair: Repair what you can — but when you must fail, fail
> noisily and as soon as possible.
>     Rule of Economy: Programmer time is expensive; conserve it in
> preference to machine time.
>     Rule of Generation: Avoid hand-hacking; write programs to write
> programs when you can.
>     Rule of Optimization: Prototype before polishing. Get it working
> before you optimize it.
>     Rule of Diversity: Distrust all claims for one true way.
>     Rule of Extensibility: Design for the future, because it will be
> here sooner than you think.
> 
> -----
> 
>   I post this because many have apparently forgotten why Unix-like
> OSes win.  Free Software is essential to freedom, but I prefer Free
> Software that wins.  These principles are why Unix wins.
> 
>   Even if Microsoft Windows was GPLed, *nix would still win.
> 
> Sources for the above:
> * http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch01s06.html
> * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
> * http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~doug/
> * http://www.princeton.edu/~hos/frs122/precis/mcilroy.htm
> * http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/
> * http://www.amazon.com/UNIX-Philosophy-Mike-Gancarz/dp/1555581234
> 
>   Thank you for your time.
> 
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-- 
Lloyd Kvam
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