26 Jan
2021
26 Jan
'21
10:22 a.m.
Looking at the 1978 list, the last one really stands out:
"Use tools in preference to unskilled help to lighten a programming task"
-- The concept of unskilled help for a programming task...doesn't really
exist in 2020. The only special case is doing unskilled labor yourself.
What unskilled tasks did people used to do back in the day?
Tyler
On Tue, Jan 26, 2021 at 4:07 AM M Douglas McIlroy <
m.douglas.mcilroy(a)dartmouth.edu> wrote:
It might be interesting to compare your final list
with the two lists in
the 1978 special issue of the BSTJ--one in the Foreword, the other in the
revised version of the Ritchi/Thompson article from the CACM. How have
perceptions or values changed over time?
Doug
On Mon, Jan 25, 2021 at 7:32 AM Steve Nickolas <usotsuki(a)buric.co> wrote:
On Mon, 25 Jan 2021, Tyler Adams wrote:
I'm writing about my 5 favorite unix design
principles on my blog this
week, and it got me wondering what others' favorite unix design
principles
are? For reference, mine are:
- Rule of Separation (from TAOUP <
http://catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/>
)
- Let the Machine Do the Dirty Work (from Elements of Programming Style)
- Rule of Silence (from TAOUP <
http://catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/>)
- Data Dominates (Rob Pike #5)
- The SPOT (Single Point of Truth) Rule (from TAOUP
<http://catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/>)
Tyler
1. Pipes
2. Text as the preferred format for input and output
3. 'Most everything as a file
4. The idea of simple tools that are optimized for a single task
5. A powerful scripting language built into the system that, combined
with
1-4, makes writing new tools heaps easier.
-uso.