UNIX mind-set (was: How wrong is MS-DOS?)

[Larry Wall]

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