Unix Design Philosophy

Mike Gancarz published a little book on this in 1995:

The UNIX Philosophy

Digital Press, Newton, MA 1995, 151 pp., $19.95, ISBN 1-55558-123-4

He has two lists of tenets: 9 main ones and 10 lesser ones. Here are some examples:


The full list, with commentary by Simon Dobson, taken from http://www.cs.tcd.ie/Simon.Dobson/teaching/unix-philosophy.html :

The major tenets

The minor tenets


And some, equally important ones, not normally voiced.

  SGI: I'm not dead yet!
  NASDAQ: Here -- he says he's not dead!
  CUSTOMER: Yes, he is.
  SGI: I'm not!
  NASDAQ: He isn't.
  CUSTOMER: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
  SGI: I'm getting better!
  CUSTOMER: No, you're not -- you'll be stone dead in a moment.
  NASDAQ: Oh, I can't trade him like that -- it's against
    regulations.
  SGI: I don't want to be delisted!
  CUSTOMER: Oh, don't be such a baby.
  NASDAQ: I can't take him...
  SGI: I feel fine!
  SGI: I think I'll go for a walk.
  SGI (singing): I feel happy... I feel happy.
  CUSTOMER: You're not fooling anyone y'know. 

[with apologies to Monty Python and the Holy Grail]


See SmallIsBeautiful, DoOneThingAndOneThingOnly, EarlyPrototyping, PowerOfPlainText, IncrementalUnixShellDevelopment, PipesAndFilters, ManPage, RuleOfSilence, WorseIsBetter.


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