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1 .TL
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2 \fR\s-6Why\s0\fP
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3 .br
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4 the Unix Philosophy
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5 .br
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6 .vs -4
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7 \fR\s-6still matters\s0\fP
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8 .AU
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9 .ft R
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10 .sp 1.2i
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11 .ps 11
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12 markus schnalke <meillo@marmaro.de>
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13
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14
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15 .S "Goals of this talk
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16 .I
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17 Introduce the Unix Phil
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18 .I
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19 Show that most modern software is crap
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20 .I
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21 Explain why the Unix Phil leads to good/better software
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22 .I
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23 Convince you that good software is of matter
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24 .sp 2
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25 .I
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26 Make you think
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29 .S "Roadmap
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30 .I
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31 Background
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32 .I
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33 What is the Unix Phil?
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34 .I
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35 The Unix Phil after Gancarz
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36 .I
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37 Real world examples
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38 .I
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39 Final thoughts
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40
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41
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42
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43
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44 .P "Background
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45
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46
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47
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48 .S "How I met the Unix Phil
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49 .LP
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50 First contact through dwm (suckless project)
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51 .LP
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52 ``cat -v Considered Harmful''
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53 .LP
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54 ``The Unix and the Echo''
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55 .LP
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56 ``The Unix Programming Environment''
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57 .LP
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58 .sp 1
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59 Better understanding through digging in the past
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60
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61
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62 .S "Historical background
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63 .LP
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64 The late 60s and early 70s
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65 .LP
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66 Operating systems are complex
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67 .LP
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68 Brooks' ``The Mythical Man-Month''
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69 .LP
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70 MULTICS had just failed
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71 .LP
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72 A lot of different hardware
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73 .LP
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74 Limited computing power
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75 .LP
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76 Textual input and output (line printers)
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77
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78
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79 .S "Everything is a file
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80 .LP
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81 Is the(?) basic concept in Unix (and even more in Plan9)
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82 .LP
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83 Made simple operating systems possible
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84 .LP
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85 It is not covered by the Unix Phil
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86 .br
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87 The Unix Phil is on a different level
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88 .LP
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89 .sp 2
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90 Unix is mainly two things:
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91 .I
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92 An operating system (system calls)
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93 .I
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94 A toolchest (coreutils)
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95
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96
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97
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98 .P "What is the Unix Phil?
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99
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100
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101
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102 .S "What is the Unix Phil *itself*?
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103 .LP
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104 ``The Unix philosophy is a set of cultural norms and philosophical
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105 approaches to developing software based on the experience of
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106 leading developers of the Unix operating system.''
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107 (wikipedia)
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108 .sp 2
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109 .LP
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110 How the inventors of Unix write software.
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111 .LP
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112 Common things of classic Unix tools.
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113 .sp 2
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114 .LP
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115 Difficult to define
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116
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117
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118 .S "Unix Phil vs. SW dev processes
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119 .LP
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120 The Unix Phil
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121 .I
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122 much: *what* to program
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123 .I
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124 few: *how* to program
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125
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126 .LP
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127 Software developments processes:
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128 .I
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129 few: *what* to program
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130 .I
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131 much: *how* to program
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132
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133 .sp 2
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134 .LP
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135 Extreme Programming is like the Unix Phil
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136 but with more *how* than *what*,
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137 and with formalisms
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138
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139
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140
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141
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142
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143 .S "What is the Unix Phil?
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144 .I
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145 Doug McIlroy (1978)
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146 .I
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147 Mike Gancarz: ``The Unix Philosophy'' (1994)
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148 .I
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149 Eric S. Raymond: ``The Art of Unix Programming'' (2003)
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150 .sp 2
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151 .I
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152 Richard Gabriel: ``Worse is Better'' (1989)
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153
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154
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155 .S "Doug McIlroy
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156 .LP
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157 This is the Unix philosophy:
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158 .I
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159 Write programs that do one thing and do it well.
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160 .I
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161 Write programs to work together.
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162 .I
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163 Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface.
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164
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165
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166 .S "Mike Gancarz: ``The Unix Philosophy''
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167 .I
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168 Small is beautiful.
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169 .I
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170 Make each program do one thing well.
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171 .I
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172 Build a prototype as soon as possible.
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173 .I
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174 Choose portability over efficiency.
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175 .I
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176 Store data in flat text files.
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177 .I
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178 Use software leverage to your advantage.
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179 .I
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180 Use shell scripts to increase leverage and portability.
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181 .I
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182 Avoid captive user interfaces.
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183 .I
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184 Make every program a filter.
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185 .sp 1
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186 .LP
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187 Plus ten lesser tenets
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188
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189
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190
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191
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192 .P "The Unix Phil after Gancarz
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193
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194
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195
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196 .S "Small is beautiful
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197 .LP
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198 Small software is easier to understand, write, maintain
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199 .LP
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200 Less lines of code contain less bugs
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201 .LP
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202 Monsters are large
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203
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204
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205 .S "Make each program do one thing well
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206 .LP
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207 Programs with many functions are large
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208 .LP
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209 One thing is easier to understand
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210 .LP
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211 Often straight forward to implement
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212 .LP
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213 Toolchests
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214 .LP
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215 Reusable
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216
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217
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218 .S "Build a prototype as soon as possible
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219 .LP
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220 Shows the quality of the design
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221 .LP
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222 Shows the problems of the software
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223 .LP
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224 The best way to shape a software
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225 .LP
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226 Users find bugs
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227 .LP
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228 Incremental development
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229
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230
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231 .S "Choose portability over efficiency
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232 .LP
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233 (Originates in a lot of incompatible hardware in history)
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234 .LP
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235 Use is most important
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236 .LP
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237 Availability
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238 .LP
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239 Only needs to be fast enough
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240
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241
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242 .S "Store data in flat text files
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243 .LP
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244 (originally: ``Store numerical data in flat ASCII files'')
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245 .LP
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246 Binary data is machine-dependent
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247 .LP
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248 Human readable data is:
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249 .I
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250 As generic as possible
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251 .I
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252 Is very likely supported
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253 .I
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254 Many tools work on it (Unix toolchest)
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255 .I
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256 Directly editable by humans
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257 .LP
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258 Processing needs only to be fast enough
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259
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260
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261 .S "Use software leverage to your advantage
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262 .LP
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263 What do we have computers for?
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264 .LP
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265 Make best use of computing power
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266 .LP
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267 Reduce development effort
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268 .LP
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269 Toolchests and a powerful shell
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270
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271
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272 .S "Use shell scripts to increase leverage and portability
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273 .LP
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274 Was very important in history
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275 .LP
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276 High level languages
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277 .LP
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278 Prototyping
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279 .LP
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280 Quick hacks
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281 .LP
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282 Users are ``programmers''
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283
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284
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285 .S "Avoid captive user interfaces
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286 .LP
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287 Don't assume the user to be human
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288 .LP
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289 Exclude the user whenever possible
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290 .LP
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291 Automate
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292 .LP
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293 How does it scale?
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294 .LP
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295 Bloat
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296
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297
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298 .S "Make every program a filter
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299 .LP
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300 Programs transform data
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301 .LP
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302 Combine programs
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303 .LP
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304 Have one common interface
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305 .LP
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306 Toolchests
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307
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308
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309
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310 .P "real world examples
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311
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312
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313 .S "find -printf
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314 .LP
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315 How to reformat the output of find(1) to have ``FILENAME PATH''
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316 instead of ``PATH/FILENAME''?
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317 .LP
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318 The ``easy'' way:
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319 \f(CWfind /dir -printf "%P %h\en"\fP
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320 .LP
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321 The ``good'' way:
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322 .br
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323 .CW "\s-1find /dir | sed 's,\e(.*\e)/\e(.*\e),\e2 \e1,'
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324 .LP
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325 The difference shows off when one wants, for instance,
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326 the path to be manipulated further.
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327 .LP
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328 .sp 3
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329 Source (in German):
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330 .CW "\s-1http://debianforum.de/forum/viewtopic.php?t=117683
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331
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332
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333 .S "Various
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334 .LP
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335 Who uses
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336 .CW "grep -R
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337 ?
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338 .sp 1
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339 .LP
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340 .CW "cat -v
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341
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342 .sp 1
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343 .LP
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344 Pagers are taken for granted
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345
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346 .sp 1
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347 .LP
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348 What about the readline?
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349
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350
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351
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352 .S "MH / nmh
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353 .LP
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354 A Mail User Agent (MUA)
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355 .LP
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356 Is a toolchest
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357 .LP
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358 Work with mails like with generic files
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359 .LP
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360 The only(?) MUA that follows the Unix Phil
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361 .LP
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362 Has a very special feeling
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363
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364
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365 .S "uzbl
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366 .LP
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367 A web browser that adheres to the Unix Phil
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368 .LP
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369 A young project (about 1 year)
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370 .LP
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371 Central question:
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372 .br
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373 What is the one task a web browser covers?
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374 .LP
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375 Makes very visible use of software leverage
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376 .LP
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377 Suffers hard from our broken web
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378
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379
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380
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381
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382
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383 .P "Final thoughts
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384
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385
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386 .S "Say no
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387 .LP
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388 In today's computer world, following the Unix Phil means often asceticism
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389 .LP
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390 One needs to abjure a lot of ``nice'' features
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391 .LP
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392 Actually, it is abjuring the *bad* features
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393 .LP
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394 Leads to a valuable attitude, IMO
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395 .LP
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396 .sp 2
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397 Transfer it to your everyday life
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398
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399
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400 .S "Avoid complexity
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401 .LP
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402 Avoid complexity first and foremost
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403 .LP
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404 Complexity is the ``boss enemy'', software developers fight against
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405 .LP
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406 Strive for simplicity, clarity, generality
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407 .LP
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408 .sp 2
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409 Transfer it to your everyday life
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410
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411
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412 .S "Good solutions
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413 .LP
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414 We don't need just solutions, we need good ones
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415 .LP
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416 Today, we can make almost everything possible,
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417 but we still cannot make it good
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418 .LP
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419 .sp 2
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420 Transfer it to your everyday life
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421
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422
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423 .S "Live it
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424 .LP
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425 The Unix Phil is more than just a few guidelines
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426 .LP
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427 You cannot follow only some of the tenets
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428 .LP
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429 To understand the Unix Phil, you need to engage with it
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430 .LP
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431 .sp 4
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432 .ce
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433 .B
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434 It's a philosophy \(en live it!
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435
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436
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437
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438
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439
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440 .P "References
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441
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442
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443 .S Literature
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444 .I
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445 ``\fBThe Unix Philosophy\fP''
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446 by Mike Gancarz
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447 .br
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448 Go and get it!
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449 .I
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450 ``\fBThe Unix Programming Environment\fP''
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451 by Kernighan and Pike
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452 .br
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453 A Bible for Unix-lovers.
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454 .I
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455 ``\fBThe Mythical Man-Month\fP''
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456 and ``\fBNo Silver Bullet\fP''
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457 by Fred Brooks
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458 .br
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459 About complexity in software development.
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460 .I
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461 ``\fBThe Practice of Programming\fP''
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462 by Kernighan and Pike
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463 .br
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464 How good code should look like.
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465 .I
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466 ``\fBcat -v Considered Harmful\fP''
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467 by Pike and Kernighan
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468 .CW \s-2http://harmful.cat-v.org/cat-v/\s+2
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469 .br
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470 A must-read.
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471
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472
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473 .S
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474 .LP
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475 This talk was prepared using tools of the Heirloom project:
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476 .CW \s-2http://heirloom.sf.net\s+2
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477 .LP
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478 The slides macros are based on
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479 .br
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480 .CW \s-2http://repo.cat-v.org/troff-slider/\s+2
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481 .sp
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482
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483 .LP
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484 The slides are available on my website
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485 .CW \s-2http://marmaro.de/docs\s+2
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486 and on
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487 .CW \s-2http://ulm.ccc.de/ChaosSeminar/\s+2
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488 .sp
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489 .LP
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490 See my paper on the topic, too.
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491
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492 .sp 2
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493 2010-03-08
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