[COFF] On Bloat and the Idea of Small Specialized Tools

[Ralph Corderoy]

Hi,

> It wasn't until this thread that I became aware of `pr` as I've been
> an `nl` user for years.

Learning of pr can also be done by reading Kernighan and Plauger's
‘Software tools’.  There, it's called print and is more basic but
a variety of enhancements are listed.  They then write:

    When you write a program, there is a great temptation to add more
    and more ‘features’ like these, little things that it will do for
    you.  But beware -- unless the features work together in a uniform
    way, the result is going to be a grab-bag of unrelated capabilities,
    most of which won't get used because nobody can remember them.
    If you have to look up how to use a program for even the simplest
    applications, you know you've gone too far.  When in doubt, treat
    ‘feature’ as a pejorative.  (Think of a hundred-bladed Swiss army
    knife.)

>From memory, I think all of the significant programs written in that
book have an early Unix ancestor.

-- 
Cheers, Ralph.