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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 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
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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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28
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29 .S "Roadmap
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30 .I
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31 Historical 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 Discussion on real world examples
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38 .I
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39 The Unix Phil is more than software dev guidelines
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40
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41
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42
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43 .S "How I learned about it
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44 .LP
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45 First contact through dwm (suckless project)
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46 .LP
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47 ``cat -v Considered Harmful''
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48 .LP
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49 ``The Unix and the Echo''
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50 .LP
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51 ``The Unix Programming Environment''
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52 .sp 1
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53 .LP
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54 Better understanding through digging in the past
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55
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56
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57
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58
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59
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60 .P "Historical background
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61
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62
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63
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64
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65 .S "Historical background
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66 .LP
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67 The late 60s and early 70s
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68 .LP
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69 Operating systems are complex
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70 .LP
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71 Brooks' ``The Mythical Man-Month''
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72 .LP
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73 MULTICS had just failed
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74 .LP
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75 A lot of different hardware
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76 .LP
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77 Limited computing power
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78 .LP
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79 Textual input and output (line printers)
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80
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81
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82 .S "Everything is a file
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83 .LP
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84 Is the(?) basic concept in Unix (and even more in Plan9)
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85 .LP
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86 Made simple operating systems possible
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87 .LP
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88 It is not covered by the Unix Phil
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89 .br
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90 The Unix Phil is on a different level
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91 .sp 2
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92 .LP
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93 Unix is mainly two things:
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94 .I
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95 An operating system (system calls)
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96 .I
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97 A toolchest (coreutils)
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98
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99
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100
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101 .P "What is the Unix Phil?
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102
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103
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104
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105 .S "What is the Unix Phil *itself*?
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106 .LP
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107 ``The Unix philosophy is a set of cultural norms and philosophical
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108 approaches to developing software based on the experience of
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109 leading developers of the Unix operating system.''
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110 (wikipedia)
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111 .sp 2
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112 .LP
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113 How the inventors of Unix write software.
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114 .LP
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115 Common things of classic Unix tools.
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116 .sp 2
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117 .LP
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118 Difficult to define
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119
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120
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121 .S "Unix Phil vs. SW dev processes
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122 .LP
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123 The Unix Phil
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124 .I
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125 much: *what* to program
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126 .I
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127 few: *how* to program
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128
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129 .LP
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130 Software developments processes:
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131 .I
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132 few: *what* to program
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133 .I
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134 much: *how* to program
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135
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136 .sp 2
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137 .LP
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138 Extreme Programming is like the Unix Phil
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139 but with more *how* than *what*,
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140 and with formalisms
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141
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142
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143
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144
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145
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146 .S "What is the Unix Phil?
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147 .I
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148 Doug McIlroy (1978)
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149 .I
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150 Mike Gancarz: ``The Unix Philosophy'' (1994)
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151 .I
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152 Eric S. Raymond: ``The Art of Unix Programming'' (2003)
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153 .sp 2
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154 .I
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155 Richard Gabriel: ``Worse is Better'' (1989)
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156
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157
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158 .S "Doug McIlroy
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159 .LP
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160 This is the Unix philosophy:
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161 .I
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162 Write programs that do one thing and do it well.
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163 .I
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164 Write programs to work together.
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165 .I
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166 Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface.
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167
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168
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169 .S "Mike Gancarz: ``The Unix Philosophy''
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170 .I
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171 Small is beautiful.
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172 .I
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173 Make each program do one thing well.
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174 .I
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175 Build a prototype as soon as possible.
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176 .I
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177 Choose portability over efficiency.
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178 .I
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179 Store data in flat text files.
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180 .I
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181 Use software leverage to your advantage.
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182 .I
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183 Use shell scripts to increase leverage and portability.
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184 .I
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185 Avoid captive user interfaces.
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186 .I
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187 Make every program a filter.
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188 .sp 1
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189 .LP
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190 Plus ten lesser tenets
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191
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192
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193
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194
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195 .P "The Unix Phil after Gancarz
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196
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197
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198
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199 .S "Small is beautiful
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200 .LP
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201 Small software is easier to understand, write, maintain
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202 .LP
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203 Less lines of code contain less bugs
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204 .LP
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205 Monsters are large
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206
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207
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208 .S "Make each program do one thing well
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209 .LP
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210 Programs with many functions are large
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211 .LP
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212 One thing is easier to understand
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213 .LP
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214 Often straight forward to implement
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215 .LP
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216 Reusable
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217
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218
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219 .S "Build a prototype as soon as possible
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220 .LP
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221 Shows the quality of the design
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222 .LP
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223 Shows the problems of the software
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224 .LP
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225 The best way to shape a software
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226 .LP
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227 Users find bugs
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228
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229
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230 .S "Choose portability over efficiency
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231 .LP
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232 (Originates in a lot of incompatible hardware in history)
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233 .LP
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234 Use is most important
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235 .LP
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236 Availability
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237 .LP
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238 Only needs to be fast enough
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239
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240
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241 .S "Store data in flat text files
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242 .LP
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243 Binary data is machine-dependent
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244 .LP
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245 Human readable data is:
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246 .I
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247 As generic as possible
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248 .I
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249 Is very likely supported
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250 .I
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251 Many tools work on it (Unix toolchest)
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252 .I
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253 Directly editable by humans
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254 .LP
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255 Processing needs only to be fast enough
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256
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257
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258 .S "Use software leverage to your advantage
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259 .LP
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260 What do we have computers for?
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261 .LP
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262 Make best use of computing power
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263 .LP
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264 Reduce development effort
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265
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266
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267 .S "Use shell scripts to increase leverage and portability
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268 .LP
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269 Was very important in history
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270 .LP
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271 High level languages
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272 .LP
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273 Prototyping
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274 .LP
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275 Quick hacks
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276
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277
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278 .S "Avoid captive user interfaces
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279 .LP
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280 Don't assume the user to be human
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281 .LP
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282 Exclude the user whenever possible
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283 .LP
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284 Automate
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285
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286
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287 .S "Make every program a filter
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288 .LP
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289 Programs transform data
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290 .LP
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291 Combine programs
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292 .LP
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293 Have one common interface
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294
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295
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296
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297 .P "real world examples
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298
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299
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300 .S "find -printf
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301 .LP
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302 How to reformat the output of find(1) to have ``FILENAME PATH''
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303 instead of ``PATH/FILENAME''?
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304
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305 .LP
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306 The ``easy'' way:
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307 \f(CWfind /dir -printf "%P %h\en"\fP
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308
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309 .LP
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310 The ``good'' way:
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311 .br
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312 .CW "\s-1find /dir | sed 's,\e(.*\e)/\e(.*\e),\e2 \e1,'
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313
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314 .LP
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315 The difference shows off when one wants, for instance,
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316 the path to be manipulated further.
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317
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318
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319 .S "various
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320 .LP
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321 Who uses
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322 .CW "grep -R
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323 ?
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324 .sp 1
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325 .LP
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326 .CW "cat -v
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327
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328 .sp 1
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329 .LP
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330 Pagers are taken for granted
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331
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332 .sp 1
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333 .LP
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334 What about the readline?
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335
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336
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337
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338 .S "MH / nmh
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339 .LP
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340 A Mail User Agent (MUA)
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341 .LP
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342 Is a toolchest
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343 .LP
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344 Work with mails like with generic files
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345 .LP
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346 The only(?) MUA that follows the Unix Phil
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347 .LP
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348 Has a very special feeling
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349
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350
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351 .S "uzbl
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352 .LP
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353 A web browser that adheres to the Unix Phil
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354 .LP
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355 A young project (about 1 year)
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356 .LP
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357 Central question:
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358 .br
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359 What is the one task a web browser covers?
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360 .LP
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361 Makes very visible use of software leverage
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362 .LP
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363 Suffers hard from our broken web
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364
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365
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366
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367
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368
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369 .P "Some final thoughts
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370
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371
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372 .S "Say no!
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373 .LP
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374 In today's computer world, the Unix Phil is often asceticism
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375 .LP
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376 One needs to abjure a lot of ``nice'' features
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377 .LP
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378 Actually it is abjuring the bad solutions
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379 .LP
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380 IMO that leads to a valuable attitude
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381 .LP
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382 .sp 2
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383 Transfer it to your everyday life
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384
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385
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386 .S "Avoid complexity
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387 .LP
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388 Avoid complexity first and foremost
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389 .LP
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390 Complexity is the ``boss enemy'', software developers fight against
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391 .LP
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392 Strive for simplicity, clarity, generality
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393 .LP
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394 .sp 2
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395 Transfer it to your everyday life
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396
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397
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398 .S "Good solutions
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399 .LP
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400 We don't need just solutions, we need good ones
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401 .LP
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402 Today, we can make almost everything possible,
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403 but we still cannot make it good
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404 .LP
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405 .sp 2
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406 Transfer it to your everyday life
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407
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408
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409 .S "Live it!
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410 .LP
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411 The Unix Phil is not just a few guidelines
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412 .LP
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413 You cannot follow just some of the tenets
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414 .LP
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415 You will not understand the Unix Phil when you don't engage with it
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416 .sp 3
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417 .LP
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418 .ce
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419 It's a philosophy \(en live it!
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420
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421
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422
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423 .P "Appendix
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424
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425
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426 .S Literature
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427 .I
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428 ``\fBThe Unix Philosophy\fP''
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429 by Mike Gancarz
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430 .br
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431 Go and get it!
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432 .I
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433 ``\fBThe Unix Programming Environment\fP''
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434 by Kernighan and Pike
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435 .br
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436 A Bible for Unix-lovers.
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437 .I
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438 ``\fBThe Mythical Man-Month\fP''
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439 by Fred Brooks
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440 .br
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441 The case about complexity.
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442 .I
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443 ``\fBThe Practice of Programming\fP''
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444 by Kernighan and Pike
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445 .br
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446 How good code should look like.
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447 .I
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448 ``\fBcat -v Considered Harmful\fP''
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449 by Pike and Kernighan
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450 .CW \s-2http://harmful.cat-v.org/cat-v/\s+2
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451 .br
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452 A must-read.
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453
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454
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455 .S
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456 .LP
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457 This talk was prepared using tools of the Heirloom project:
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458 .CW \s-2http://heirloom.sf.net\s+2
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459 .LP
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460 The slides macros are based on
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461 .br
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462 .CW \s-2http://repo.cat-v.org/troff-slider/\s+2
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463 .sp
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464
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465 .LP
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466 The slides are available on my website
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467 .CW \s-2http://marmaro.de/docs\s+2
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468 and on
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469 .CW \s-2http://ulm.ccc.de/ChaosSeminar/\s+2
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470 .sp
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471 .LP
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472 See my paper on the topic, too.
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473
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474 .sp 2
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475 2010-03-08
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