[TUHS] Favorite unix design principles?

[Tyler Adams]

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 at 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 at 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.
>>
>
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