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further text in intro
author meillo@marmaro.de
date Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:06:43 +0100
parents cecef8bfa812
children fbd7baf6a61f
rev   line source
meillo@0 1 .if n .pl 1000i
meillo@0 2 .de XX
meillo@0 3 .pl 1v
meillo@0 4 ..
meillo@0 5 .em XX
meillo@1 6 .\".nr PI 0
meillo@1 7 .\".if t .nr PD .5v
meillo@1 8 .\".if n .nr PD 1v
meillo@0 9 .nr lu 0
meillo@0 10 .de CW
meillo@0 11 .nr PQ \\n(.f
meillo@0 12 .if t .ft CW
meillo@0 13 .ie \\$1 .if n .ul 999
meillo@0 14 .el .if n .ul 1
meillo@0 15 .if t .if !\\$1 \&\\$1\f\\n(PQ\\$2
meillo@0 16 .if n .if \\n(.$=1 \&\\$1
meillo@0 17 .if n .if \\n(.$>1 \&\\$1\c
meillo@0 18 .if n .if \\n(.$>1 \&\\$2
meillo@0 19 ..
meillo@0 20 .ds [. \ [
meillo@0 21 .ds .] ]
meillo@1 22 .\"----------------------------------------
meillo@0 23 .TL
meillo@0 24 Why the Unix Philosophy matters
meillo@0 25 .AU
meillo@0 26 markus schnalke <meillo@marmaro.de>
meillo@1 27 .AI
meillo@1 28 .ce 0
meillo@1 29 University Ulm
meillo@0 30 .AB
meillo@1 31 .ti \n(.iu
meillo@0 32 This term paper discusses the importance of the Unix Philosophy in software design.
meillo@0 33 Today, few software designers are aware of these concepts,
meillo@0 34 and thus most modern software is limited and does not use software leverage.
meillo@0 35 Knowing and following the tenets of the Unix Philosophy makes software more valuable.
meillo@0 36 .AE
meillo@0 37
meillo@0 38 .2C
meillo@0 39 .NH 1
meillo@0 40 Introduction
meillo@0 41 .LP
meillo@0 42 Building a software is a process from an idea of the purpose of the software
meillo@0 43 to the finished program.
meillo@0 44 No matter \fIhow\fP the process is run, two things are common:
meillo@0 45 the initial idea and the release.
meillo@0 46 But the the process inbetween can be of any shape.
meillo@0 47 The time of release and the maintainance work after the release are ignored here, for the moment.
meillo@1 48 .PP
meillo@0 49 The process of building splits mainly in two parts:
meillo@0 50 the planning of what and how to build, and implementing the plan by writing code.
meillo@0 51 This paper focuses on the planning \(en the design \(en of software.
meillo@0 52 The here discussed ideas may be applied to any development process.
meillo@0 53 Though the Unix Philosphy does recommend how the software development process should look like,
meillo@0 54 this shall not be of matter here.
meillo@0 55 Similar, the question of how to write the code is out of focus.
meillo@1 56 .PP
meillo@1 57 This paper discusses the connection between software design and the Unix Philosphy.
meillo@1 58 Software design is the work between the requirements and the plan of how the internals and externals
meillo@1 59 of the software should look like.
meillo@1 60 However, the term ``Unix Philosophy'' was used but not explained yet.
meillo@1 61 .PP
meillo@1 62 The Unix Philosophy is the essence of how the Unix operating system and its toolchest was designed.
meillo@1 63 It is no limited set of rules, but what people see what is common to typical Unix software.
meillo@1 64 Several people stated their view on the Unix Philosophy.
meillo@1 65 Best known are:
meillo@1 66 .IP \(bu
meillo@1 67 Doug McIlroy's summary: ``Write programs that do one thing and do it well.''
meillo@1 68 .[
meillo@1 69 %A M. D. McIlroy
meillo@1 70 %A E. N. Pinson
meillo@1 71 %A B. A. Taque
meillo@1 72 %T UNIX Time-Sharing System Forward
meillo@1 73 %J The Bell System Technical Journal
meillo@1 74 %D 1978
meillo@1 75 %V 57
meillo@1 76 %N 6
meillo@1 77 %P 1902
meillo@1 78 .]
meillo@1 79 .IP \(bu
meillo@1 80 Mike Gancarz' book ``The UNIX Philosophy''.
meillo@1 81 .[
meillo@1 82 %A Mike Gancarz
meillo@1 83 %T The UNIX Philosophy
meillo@1 84 %D 1995
meillo@1 85 %I Digital Press
meillo@1 86 .]
meillo@1 87 .IP \(bu
meillo@1 88 Eric S. Raymond's book ``The Art of UNIX Programming''.
meillo@1 89 .[
meillo@1 90 %A Eric S. Raymond
meillo@1 91 %T The Art of UNIX Programming
meillo@1 92 %D 2003
meillo@1 93 %I Addison-Wesley
meillo@1 94 %O .CW \s-2http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/
meillo@1 95 .]
meillo@0 96 .LP
meillo@1 97 These different views on the Unix Philosophy have much in common.
meillo@1 98 Especially, the main concepts are seen by all of them.
meillo@1 99 But there are also points on which they differ.
meillo@1 100 This only underlines what the Unix Philosophy is:
meillo@1 101 A retrospective view on the main concepts of Unix software;
meillo@1 102 especially those that were sucessful and unique to Unix.
meillo@1 103 .PP
meillo@1 104 Before we will have a look at concrete concepts,
meillo@1 105 we discuss why software design is important
meillo@1 106 and what problems bad design introduces.
meillo@0 107
meillo@0 108
meillo@0 109 .NH 1
meillo@0 110 Importance of software design
meillo@0 111 .LP
meillo@0 112 why design at all
meillo@0 113
meillo@0 114 - for dev mainly: extendability and maintainability
meillo@0 115
meillo@0 116 - for users: usability and flexibility (but you need to learn how to use it)
meillo@0 117
meillo@0 118 no design and bad design limit the use of software
meillo@0 119
meillo@0 120 .NH 2
meillo@0 121 Architecture
meillo@0 122 .LP
meillo@0 123 the most important design decision.
meillo@0 124
meillo@0 125 the topic here
meillo@0 126
meillo@0 127 .NH 1
meillo@0 128 The Unix Philosophy
meillo@0 129
meillo@0 130 .NH 2
meillo@0 131 what it is
meillo@0 132 .LP
meillo@0 133 definitions by McIlroy, Gancarz, ESR (maybe already in the intro)
meillo@0 134 .LP
meillo@0 135 cf. unix tool chain
meillo@0 136 .LP
meillo@0 137 enabler pipe
meillo@0 138
meillo@0 139 .NH 2
meillo@0 140 Interface architecture
meillo@0 141 .LP
meillo@0 142 standalone vs. tool chain
meillo@0 143 .LP
meillo@0 144 software leverage
meillo@0 145 .LP
meillo@0 146 possiblities
meillo@0 147
meillo@0 148 .NH 2
meillo@0 149 Results
meillo@0 150 .LP
meillo@0 151 The unix phil is an answer to the sw design question
meillo@0 152 .LP
meillo@0 153 tool chains empower the uses of sw
meillo@0 154
meillo@0 155 .NH 1
meillo@0 156 Case study: nmh
meillo@0 157
meillo@0 158 .NH 2
meillo@0 159 History
meillo@0 160 .LP
meillo@0 161 MH, nmh.
meillo@0 162 They are old.
meillo@0 163
meillo@0 164 .NH 2
meillo@0 165 Contrasts to similar sw
meillo@0 166 .LP
meillo@0 167 vs. Thunderbird, mutt, mailx, pine
meillo@0 168 .LP
meillo@0 169 flexibility, no redundancy, use the shell
meillo@0 170
meillo@0 171 .NH 2
meillo@0 172 Gains of the design
meillo@0 173 .LP
meillo@0 174
meillo@0 175 .NH 2
meillo@0 176 Problems
meillo@0 177 .LP
meillo@0 178
meillo@0 179 .NH 1
meillo@0 180 Case study: uzbl
meillo@0 181
meillo@0 182 .NH 2
meillo@0 183 History
meillo@0 184 .LP
meillo@0 185 uzbl is young
meillo@0 186
meillo@0 187 .NH 2
meillo@0 188 Contrasts to similar sw
meillo@0 189 .LP
meillo@0 190 like with nmh
meillo@0 191 .LP
meillo@0 192 addons, plugins, modules
meillo@0 193
meillo@0 194 .NH 2
meillo@0 195 Gains of the design
meillo@0 196 .LP
meillo@0 197
meillo@0 198 .NH 2
meillo@0 199 Problems
meillo@0 200 .LP
meillo@0 201 broken web
meillo@0 202
meillo@0 203 .NH 1
meillo@0 204 Final thoughts
meillo@0 205
meillo@0 206 .NH 2
meillo@0 207 Quick summary
meillo@0 208 .LP
meillo@0 209 good design
meillo@0 210 .LP
meillo@0 211 unix phil
meillo@0 212 .LP
meillo@0 213 case studies
meillo@0 214
meillo@0 215 .NH 2
meillo@0 216 Why people should choose
meillo@0 217 .LP
meillo@0 218 Make the right choice!
meillo@0 219
meillo@0 220 .nr PI .5i
meillo@0 221 .rm ]<
meillo@0 222 .de ]<
meillo@0 223 .LP
meillo@0 224 .de FP
meillo@0 225 .IP \\\\$1.
meillo@0 226 \\..
meillo@0 227 .rm FS FE
meillo@0 228 ..
meillo@0 229 .SH
meillo@0 230 References
meillo@0 231 .[
meillo@0 232 $LIST$
meillo@0 233 .]
meillo@0 234 .wh -1p