UNIX mind-set (was: How wrong is MS-DOS?)
Larry Wall
lwall at jpl-devvax.JPL.NASA.GOV
Sat Jan 19 07:08:21 AEST 1991
In article <1991Jan18.032416.27559 at decuac.dec.com> mjr at hussar.dco.dec.com (Marcus J. Ranum) writes:
: ttw at lanl.gov (Tony Warnock) writes:
:
: > It's good to see that some people recognize that
: >UNIX is a religion (rather than an operating system.)
:
:
: And here I thought it was a dessert topping...
: --
: The finer things in life never change. Good code stays small, fast,
: lean and mean. There's not much good code around.
: [From the programming notebooks of a heretic, 1990]
Speaking of the UNIX mindset, I have yet to see a note from this "heretic" that
I would consider heretical. Some oversimplifications, perhaps. All in all,
pretty much right down the party line.
You want heresy, I'll give you heresy. :-)
How 'bout this:
Decomposition does you no good if you can't compose.
Shell syntax is similar to (and almost as useless as) transformational grammar.
A language that overly encourages coining suffers rapid dialectical divergence.
There's too much good code around.
If someone claims to be avoiding complexity, check under his rug.
Using a simple language on a complex problem doesn't result in a simple
solution.
Languages don't differ in what you can say--they differ in what you must say.
People don't mind context-dependency very much.
Lean and mean code can bully you.
A religion based solely on either hedonism or stoicism is wrong.
Programming should be a fun discipline.
Sometimes you want everything to look like a nail.
There's More Than One Way To Do It.
That should do for starters...
Larry Wall
lwall at jpl-devvax.jpl.nasa.gov
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