[TUHS] non-blocking IO: Simplicity has been subtituted for efficiency
arnold at skeeve.com
arnold at skeeve.com
Thu Jun 4 16:27:10 AEST 2020
John Gilmore <gnu at toad.com> wrote:
> I just happened to open a binder today of old papers about UNIX(tm),
> including Ken Thompson's "Unix Implementation" paper, which says at the
> bottom of the introduction:
>
> "What is or is not implemented in the kernel represents both a great
> responsibiity and a great power. It is a soap-box platform on "the
> way things should be done." Even so, if "the way" is too radical, no
> one will follow it. Every important decision was weighted carefully.
> Throughout, simplicity has been substituted for efficiency. Complex
> algorithms are used only if their complexity can be localized."
Words to live by. I remember reading that paper early on in my
career and that this statement certainly influenced my subsequent
thinking about programming in general.
Arnold
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