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more about the shell and worse is better (ch03)
author | meillo@marmaro.de |
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date | Sat, 20 Feb 2010 12:14:01 +0100 |
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1 | 22 .\"---------------------------------------- |
0 | 23 .TL |
6 | 24 Why the Unix Philosophy still matters |
0 | 25 .AU |
26 markus schnalke <meillo@marmaro.de> | |
27 .AB | |
1 | 28 .ti \n(.iu |
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29 This paper discusses the importance of the Unix Philosophy in software design. |
0 | 30 Today, few software designers are aware of these concepts, |
3 | 31 and thus most modern software is limited and does not make use of software leverage. |
0 | 32 Knowing and following the tenets of the Unix Philosophy makes software more valuable. |
33 .AE | |
34 | |
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35 .\".if t .2C |
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36 |
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37 .FS |
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38 .ps -1 |
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39 This paper was prepared for the seminar ``Software Analysis'' at University Ulm. |
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40 Mentor was professor Schweiggert. 2010-02-05 |
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41 .br |
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42 You may get this document from my website |
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43 .CW \s-1http://marmaro.de/docs |
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44 .FE |
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45 |
0 | 46 .NH 1 |
47 Introduction | |
48 .LP | |
49 Building a software is a process from an idea of the purpose of the software | |
3 | 50 to its release. |
0 | 51 No matter \fIhow\fP the process is run, two things are common: |
52 the initial idea and the release. | |
9 | 53 The process in between can be of any shape. |
54 The the maintenance work after the release is ignored for the moment. | |
1 | 55 .PP |
0 | 56 The process of building splits mainly in two parts: |
57 the planning of what and how to build, and implementing the plan by writing code. | |
3 | 58 This paper focuses on the planning part \(en the designing of the software. |
59 .PP | |
60 Software design is the plan of how the internals and externals of the software should look like, | |
61 based on the requirements. | |
9 | 62 This paper discusses the recommendations of the Unix Philosophy about software design. |
3 | 63 .PP |
64 The here discussed ideas can get applied by any development process. | |
9 | 65 The Unix Philosophy does recommend how the software development process should look like, |
3 | 66 but this shall not be of matter here. |
0 | 67 Similar, the question of how to write the code is out of focus. |
1 | 68 .PP |
3 | 69 The name ``Unix Philosophy'' was already mentioned several times, but it was not explained yet. |
1 | 70 The Unix Philosophy is the essence of how the Unix operating system and its toolchest was designed. |
3 | 71 It is no limited set of rules, but what people see to be common to typical Unix software. |
1 | 72 Several people stated their view on the Unix Philosophy. |
73 Best known are: | |
74 .IP \(bu | |
75 Doug McIlroy's summary: ``Write programs that do one thing and do it well.'' | |
76 .[ | |
77 %A M. D. McIlroy | |
78 %A E. N. Pinson | |
79 %A B. A. Taque | |
80 %T UNIX Time-Sharing System Forward | |
81 %J The Bell System Technical Journal | |
82 %D 1978 | |
83 %V 57 | |
84 %N 6 | |
85 %P 1902 | |
86 .] | |
87 .IP \(bu | |
88 Mike Gancarz' book ``The UNIX Philosophy''. | |
89 .[ | |
90 %A Mike Gancarz | |
91 %T The UNIX Philosophy | |
92 %D 1995 | |
93 %I Digital Press | |
94 .] | |
95 .IP \(bu | |
96 Eric S. Raymond's book ``The Art of UNIX Programming''. | |
97 .[ | |
98 %A Eric S. Raymond | |
99 %T The Art of UNIX Programming | |
100 %D 2003 | |
101 %I Addison-Wesley | |
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102 %O .CW \s-1http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ |
1 | 103 .] |
0 | 104 .LP |
1 | 105 These different views on the Unix Philosophy have much in common. |
3 | 106 Especially, the main concepts are similar for all of them. |
1 | 107 But there are also points on which they differ. |
108 This only underlines what the Unix Philosophy is: | |
109 A retrospective view on the main concepts of Unix software; | |
9 | 110 especially those that were successful and unique to Unix. |
6 | 111 .\" really? |
1 | 112 .PP |
113 Before we will have a look at concrete concepts, | |
114 we discuss why software design is important | |
115 and what problems bad design introduces. | |
0 | 116 |
117 | |
118 .NH 1 | |
6 | 119 Importance of software design in general |
0 | 120 .LP |
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121 Why should we design software at all? |
6 | 122 It is general knowledge, that even a bad plan is better than no plan. |
123 Ignoring software design is programming without a plan. | |
124 This will lead pretty sure to horrible results. | |
125 .PP | |
126 The design of a software is its internal and external shape. | |
127 The design talked about here has nothing to do with visual appearance. | |
128 If we see a program as a car, then its color is of no matter. | |
129 Its design would be the car's size, its shape, the number and position of doors, | |
130 the ratio of passenger and cargo transport, and so forth. | |
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131 .PP |
6 | 132 A software's design is about quality properties. |
133 Each of the cars may be able to drive from A to B, | |
134 but it depends on its properties whether it is a good car for passenger transport or not. | |
135 It also depends on its properties if it is a good choice for a rough mountain area. | |
136 .PP | |
137 Requirements to a software are twofold: functional and non-functional. | |
138 Functional requirements are easier to define and to verify. | |
139 They are directly the software's functions. | |
140 Functional requirements are the reason why software gets written. | |
141 Someone has a problem and needs a tool to solve it. | |
142 Being able to solve the problem is the main functional requirement. | |
143 It is the driving force behind all programming effort. | |
144 .PP | |
145 On the other hand, there are also non-functional requirements. | |
146 They are called \fIquality\fP requirements, too. | |
147 The quality of a software is about properties that are not directly related to | |
148 the software's basic functions. | |
149 Quality aspects are about the properties that are overlooked at first sight. | |
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150 .PP |
6 | 151 Quality is of few matter when the software gets initially built, |
9 | 152 but it will be of matter in usage and maintenance of the software. |
6 | 153 A short-sighted might see in developing a software mainly building something up. |
154 Reality shows, that building the software the first time is only a small amount | |
155 of the overall work. | |
9 | 156 Bug fixing, extending, rebuilding of parts \(en short: maintenance work \(en |
6 | 157 does soon take over the major part of the time spent on a software. |
158 Not to forget the usage of the software. | |
159 These processes are highly influenced by the software's quality. | |
160 Thus, quality should never be neglected. | |
161 The problem is that you hardly ``stumble over'' bad quality during the first build, | |
162 but this is the time when you should care about good quality most. | |
163 .PP | |
164 Software design is not about the basic function of a software; | |
165 this requirement will get satisfied anyway, as it is the main driving force behind the development. | |
166 Software design is about quality aspects of the software. | |
167 Good design will lead to good quality, bad design to bad quality. | |
168 The primary functions of the software will be affected modestly by bad quality, | |
169 but good quality can provide a lot of additional gain from the software, | |
170 even at places where one never expected it. | |
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171 .PP |
6 | 172 The ISO/IEC 9126-1 standard, part 1, |
173 .[ | |
9 | 174 %I International Organization for Standardization |
6 | 175 %T ISO Standard 9126: Software Engineering \(en Product Quality, part 1 |
176 %C Geneve | |
177 %D 2001 | |
178 .] | |
179 defines the quality model as consisting out of: | |
180 .IP \(bu | |
181 .I Functionality | |
182 (suitability, accuracy, inter\%operability, security) | |
183 .IP \(bu | |
184 .I Reliability | |
185 (maturity, fault tolerance, recoverability) | |
186 .IP \(bu | |
187 .I Usability | |
188 (understandability, learnability, operability, attractiveness) | |
189 .IP \(bu | |
190 .I Efficiency | |
9 | 191 (time behavior, resource utilization) |
6 | 192 .IP \(bu |
193 .I Maintainability | |
194 (analysability, changeability, stability, testability) | |
195 .IP \(bu | |
196 .I Portability | |
197 (adaptability, installability, co-existence, replaceability) | |
198 .LP | |
199 These goals are parts of a software's design. | |
200 Good design can give these properties to a software, | |
201 bad designed software will miss them. | |
7 | 202 .PP |
203 One further goal of software design is consistency. | |
204 Consistency eases understanding, working on, and using things. | |
205 Consistent internals and consistent interfaces to the outside can be provided by good design. | |
206 .PP | |
207 We should design software because good design avoids many problems during a software's lifetime. | |
208 And we should design software because good design can offer much gain, | |
209 that can be unrelated to the software main intend. | |
210 Indeed, we should spend much effort into good design to make the software more valuable. | |
211 The Unix Philosophy shows how to design software well. | |
212 It offers guidelines to achieve good quality and high gain for the effort spent. | |
0 | 213 |
214 | |
215 .NH 1 | |
216 The Unix Philosophy | |
4 | 217 .LP |
218 The origins of the Unix Philosophy were already introduced. | |
8 | 219 This chapter explains the philosophy, oriented on Gancarz, |
220 and shows concrete examples of its application. | |
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221 |
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222 .SH |
4 | 223 Examples |
0 | 224 .LP |
4 | 225 Following are some examples to demonstrate how applied Unix Philosophy feels like. |
226 Knowledge of using the Unix shell is assumed. | |
227 .PP | |
228 Counting the number of files in the current directory: | |
9 | 229 .DS I 2n |
4 | 230 .CW |
9 | 231 .ps -1 |
4 | 232 ls | wc -l |
233 .DE | |
234 The | |
235 .CW ls | |
236 command lists all files in the current directory, one per line, | |
237 and | |
238 .CW "wc -l | |
8 | 239 counts the number of lines. |
4 | 240 .PP |
8 | 241 Counting the number of files that do not contain ``foo'' in their name: |
9 | 242 .DS I 2n |
4 | 243 .CW |
9 | 244 .ps -1 |
4 | 245 ls | grep -v foo | wc -l |
246 .DE | |
247 Here, the list of files is filtered by | |
248 .CW grep | |
249 to remove all that contain ``foo''. | |
250 The rest is the same as in the previous example. | |
251 .PP | |
252 Finding the five largest entries in the current directory. | |
9 | 253 .DS I 2n |
4 | 254 .CW |
9 | 255 .ps -1 |
4 | 256 du -s * | sort -nr | sed 5q |
257 .DE | |
258 .CW "du -s * | |
259 returns the recursively summed sizes of all files | |
8 | 260 \(en no matter if they are regular files or directories. |
4 | 261 .CW "sort -nr |
262 sorts the list numerically in reverse order. | |
263 Finally, | |
264 .CW "sed 5q | |
265 quits after it has printed the fifth line. | |
266 .PP | |
267 The presented command lines are examples of what Unix people would use | |
268 to get the desired output. | |
269 There are also other ways to get the same output. | |
270 It's a user's decision which way to go. | |
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271 |
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272 .SH |
4 | 273 Pipes |
0 | 274 .LP |
8 | 275 The examples show that many tasks on a Unix system |
4 | 276 are accomplished by combining several small programs. |
277 The connection between the single programs is denoted by the pipe operator `|'. | |
278 .PP | |
279 Pipes, and their extensive and easy use, are one of the great | |
280 achievements of the Unix system. | |
281 Pipes between programs have been possible in earlier operating systems, | |
282 but it has never been a so central part of the concept. | |
283 When, in the early seventies, Doug McIlroy introduced pipes for the | |
284 Unix system, | |
285 ``it was this concept and notation for linking several programs together | |
286 that transformed Unix from a basic file-sharing system to an entirely new way of computing.'' | |
287 .[ | |
288 %T Unix: An Oral History | |
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289 %O .CW \s-1http://www.princeton.edu/~hos/frs122/unixhist/finalhis.htm |
4 | 290 .] |
291 .PP | |
292 Being able to specify pipelines in an easy way is, | |
293 however, not enough by itself. | |
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294 It is only one half. |
4 | 295 The other is the design of the programs that are used in the pipeline. |
8 | 296 They have to interfaces that allows them to be used in such a way. |
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297 |
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298 .SH |
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299 Interface architecture |
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300 .LP |
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301 Unix is, first of all, simple: Everything is a file. |
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302 Files are sequences of bytes, without any special structure. |
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303 Programs should be filters, which read a stream of bytes from ``standard input'' (stdin) |
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304 and write a stream of bytes to ``standard output'' (stdout). |
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305 .PP |
8 | 306 If the files \fIare\fP sequences of bytes, |
307 and the programs \fIare\fP filters on byte streams, | |
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308 then there is exactly one standardized interface. |
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309 Thus it is possible to combine them in any desired way. |
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310 .PP |
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311 Even a handful of small programs will yield a large set of combinations, |
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312 and thus a large set of different functions. |
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313 This is leverage! |
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314 If the programs are orthogonal to each other \(en the best case \(en |
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315 then the set of different functions is greatest. |
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316 .PP |
8 | 317 The Unix toolchest \fIis\fP a set of small programs that |
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318 are filters on byte streams. |
8 | 319 They are, to a large extend, unrelated in their function. |
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320 Hence, the Unix toolchest provides a large set of functions |
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321 that can be accessed by combining the programs in the desired way. |
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322 |
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323 .SH |
8 | 324 The toolchest approach |
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325 .LP |
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326 A toolchest is a set of tools. |
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327 Instead of having one big tool for all tasks, one has many small tools, |
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328 each for one task. |
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329 Difficult tasks are solved by combining several of the small, simple tools. |
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330 .PP |
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331 It is easier and less error-prone to write small programs. |
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332 It is also easier and less error-prone to write a large set of small programs, |
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333 than to write one large program with all the functionality included. |
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334 If the small programs are combinable, then they offer even a larger set |
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335 of functions than the single large program. |
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336 Hence, one gets two advantages out of writing small, combinable programs. |
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337 .PP |
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338 There are two drawbacks of the toolchest approach. |
8 | 339 First, one simple, standardized, unidirectional interface has to be sufficient. |
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340 If one feels the need for more ``logic'' than a stream of bytes, |
8 | 341 then a different approach might be of need. |
9 | 342 But it is also possible, that he just can not imaging a design where |
8 | 343 a stream of bytes is sufficient. |
344 By becoming more familiar with the ``Unix style of thinking'', | |
345 developers will more often and easier find simple designs where | |
346 a stream of bytes is a sufficient interface. | |
347 .PP | |
348 The second drawback of a toolchest affects the users. | |
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349 A toolchest is often more difficult to use for novices. |
9 | 350 It is necessary to become familiar with each of the tools, |
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351 to be able to use the right one in a given situation. |
9 | 352 Additionally, one needs to combine the tools in a senseful way on its own. |
353 This is like a sharp knife \(en it is a powerful tool in the hand of a master, | |
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354 but of no good value in the hand of an unskilled. |
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355 .PP |
8 | 356 However, learning single, small tool of the toolchest is easier than |
357 learning a complex tool. | |
358 The user will have a basic understanding of a yet unknown tool, | |
359 if the several tools of the toolchest have a common style. | |
360 He will be able to transfer knowledge over one tool to another. | |
361 .PP | |
362 Moreover, the second drawback can be removed easily by adding wrappers | |
363 around the single tools. | |
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364 Novice users do not need to learn several tools if a professional wraps |
8 | 365 the single commands into a more high-level script. |
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366 Note that the wrapper script still calls the small tools; |
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367 the wrapper script is just like a skin around. |
8 | 368 No complexity is added this way, |
369 but new programs can get created out of existing one with very low effort. | |
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370 .PP |
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371 A wrapper script for finding the five largest entries in the current directory |
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372 could look like this: |
9 | 373 .DS I 2n |
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374 .CW |
9 | 375 .ps -1 |
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376 #!/bin/sh |
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377 du -s * | sort -nr | sed 5q |
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378 .DE |
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379 The script itself is just a text file that calls the command line |
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380 a professional user would type in directly. |
8 | 381 Making the program flexible on the number of entries it prints, |
382 is easily possible: | |
9 | 383 .DS I 2n |
8 | 384 .CW |
9 | 385 .ps -1 |
8 | 386 #!/bin/sh |
387 num=5 | |
388 [ $# -eq 1 ] && num="$1" | |
389 du -sh * | sort -nr | sed "${num}q" | |
390 .DE | |
391 This script acts like the one before, when called without an argument. | |
392 But one can also specify a numerical argument to define the number of lines to print. | |
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393 |
8 | 394 .SH |
395 A powerful shell | |
396 .LP | |
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397 It was already said, that the Unix shell provides the possibility to |
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398 combine small programs into large ones easily. |
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399 A powerful shell is a great feature in other ways, too. |
8 | 400 .PP |
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401 For instance by including a scripting language. |
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402 The control statements are build into the shell. |
8 | 403 The functions, however, are the normal programs, everyone can use on the system. |
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404 Thus, the programs are known, so learning to program in the shell is easy. |
8 | 405 Using normal programs as functions in the shell programming language |
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406 is only possible because they are small and combinable tools in a toolchest style. |
8 | 407 .PP |
408 The Unix shell encourages to write small scripts out of other programs, | |
409 because it is so easy to do. | |
410 This is a great step towards automation. | |
411 It is wonderful if the effort to automate a task equals the effort | |
412 it takes to do it the second time by hand. | |
413 If it is so, then the user will be happy to automate everything he does more than once. | |
414 .PP | |
415 Small programs that do one job well, standardized interfaces between them, | |
416 a mechanism to combine parts to larger parts, and an easy way to automate tasks, | |
417 this will inevitably produce software leverage. | |
418 Getting multiple times the benefit of an investment is a great offer. | |
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419 .PP |
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420 The shell also encourages rapid prototyping. |
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421 Many well known programs started as quickly hacked shell scripts, |
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422 and turned into ``real'' programs, written in C, later. |
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423 Building a prototype first is a way to avoid the biggest problems |
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424 in application development. |
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425 Fred Brooks writes in ``No Silver Bullet'': |
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426 .[ |
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427 %A Frederick P. Brooks, Jr. |
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428 %T No Silver Bullet: Essence and Accidents of Software Engineering |
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429 %B Information Processing 1986, the Proceedings of the IFIP Tenth World Computing Conference |
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430 %E H.-J. Kugler |
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431 %D 1986 |
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432 %P 1069\(en1076 |
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433 %I Elsevier Science B.V. |
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434 %C Amsterdam, The Netherlands |
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435 .] |
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436 .QP |
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437 The hardest single part of building a software system is deciding precisely what to build. |
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438 No other part of the conceptual work is so difficult as establishing the detailed |
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439 technical requirements, [...]. |
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440 No other part of the work so cripples the resulting system if done wrong. |
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441 No other part is more difficult to rectify later. |
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442 .PP |
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443 Writing a prototype is a great method to become familiar with the requirements |
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444 and to actually run into real problems. |
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445 Today, prototyping is often seen as a first step in building a software. |
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446 This is, of course, good. |
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447 However, the Unix Philosophy has an \fIadditional\fP perspective on prototyping: |
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448 After having built the prototype, one might notice, that the prototype is already |
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449 \fIgood enough\fP. |
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450 Hence, no reimplementation, in a more sophisticated programming language, might be of need, |
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451 for the moment. |
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452 Maybe later, it might be neccessary to rewrite the software, but not now. |
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453 .PP |
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454 By delaying further work, one keeps the flexibility to react easily on |
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455 changing requirements. |
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456 Software parts that are not written will not miss the requirements. |
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457 |
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458 .SH |
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459 Worse is better |
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460 .LP |
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461 The Unix Philosophy aims for the 80% solution; |
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462 others call it the ``Worse is better'' approach. |
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463 .PP |
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464 First, practical experience shows, that it is almost never possible to define the |
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465 requirements completely and correctly the first time. |
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466 Hence one should not try to; it will fail anyway. |
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467 Second, practical experience shows, that requirements change during time. |
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468 Hence it is best to delay requirement-based design decisions as long as possible. |
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469 Also, the software should be small and flexible as long as possible |
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470 to react on changing requirements. |
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471 Shell scripts, for example, are more easily adjusted as C programs. |
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472 Third, practical experience shows, that maintenance is hard work. |
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473 Hence, one should keep the amount of software as small as possible; |
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474 it should just fulfill the \fIcurrent\fP requirements. |
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475 Software parts that will be written later, do not need maintenance now. |
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476 .PP |
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477 Starting with a prototype in a scripting language has several advantages: |
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478 .IP \(bu |
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479 As the initial effort is low, one will likely start right away. |
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480 .IP \(bu |
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481 As working parts are available soon, the real requirements can get identified soon. |
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482 .IP \(bu |
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483 When a software is usable, it gets used, and thus tested. |
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484 Hence problems will be found at early stages of the development. |
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485 .IP \(bu |
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486 The prototype might be enough for the moment, |
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487 thus further work on the software can be delayed to a time |
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488 when one knows better about the requirements and problems, |
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489 than now. |
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490 .IP \(bu |
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491 Implementing now only the parts that are actually needed now, |
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492 requires fewer maintenance work. |
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493 .IP \(bu |
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494 If the global situation changes so that the software is not needed anymore, |
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495 then less effort was spent into the project, than it would have be |
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496 when a different approach had been used. |
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497 |
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498 |
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499 |
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500 |
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501 |
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502 |
4 | 503 |
504 | |
0 | 505 |
506 | |
507 .NH 2 | |
508 Results | |
509 .LP | |
510 The unix phil is an answer to the sw design question | |
511 .LP | |
512 tool chains empower the uses of sw | |
513 | |
8 | 514 |
515 | |
0 | 516 .NH 1 |
517 Case study: nmh | |
518 | |
519 .NH 2 | |
520 History | |
521 .LP | |
522 MH, nmh. | |
523 They are old. | |
524 | |
525 .NH 2 | |
526 Contrasts to similar sw | |
527 .LP | |
528 vs. Thunderbird, mutt, mailx, pine | |
529 .LP | |
530 flexibility, no redundancy, use the shell | |
531 | |
532 .NH 2 | |
533 Gains of the design | |
534 .LP | |
535 | |
536 .NH 2 | |
537 Problems | |
538 .LP | |
539 | |
8 | 540 |
541 | |
0 | 542 .NH 1 |
543 Case study: uzbl | |
544 | |
545 .NH 2 | |
546 History | |
547 .LP | |
548 uzbl is young | |
549 | |
550 .NH 2 | |
551 Contrasts to similar sw | |
552 .LP | |
553 like with nmh | |
554 .LP | |
555 addons, plugins, modules | |
556 | |
557 .NH 2 | |
558 Gains of the design | |
559 .LP | |
560 | |
561 .NH 2 | |
562 Problems | |
563 .LP | |
564 broken web | |
565 | |
8 | 566 |
567 | |
0 | 568 .NH 1 |
569 Final thoughts | |
570 | |
571 .NH 2 | |
572 Quick summary | |
573 .LP | |
574 good design | |
575 .LP | |
576 unix phil | |
577 .LP | |
578 case studies | |
579 | |
580 .NH 2 | |
581 Why people should choose | |
582 .LP | |
583 Make the right choice! | |
584 | |
585 .nr PI .5i | |
586 .rm ]< | |
587 .de ]< | |
588 .LP | |
589 .de FP | |
590 .IP \\\\$1. | |
591 \\.. | |
592 .rm FS FE | |
593 .. | |
594 .SH | |
595 References | |
596 .[ | |
597 $LIST$ | |
598 .] | |
599 .wh -1p |