The UNIX Philosophy

by Mike Gancarz

Overview

* Deals with powerful concepts in a simple way * Highlights important characteristics of Operating systems and other abstract entities in a new way * Explores the tenets of the UNIX operating system philosophy

Unlike so many books that focus on how to use UNIX, The UNIX Philosophy concentrates on answering the questions: ‘Why use UNIX in the first place?'. Readers will discover the rationale and reasons for such concepts as file system organization, user interface and other system characteristics. In an informative, non-technical fashion, The UNIX Philosophy explores the general principles for applying the UNIX philosophy to software development. This book describes complex software design principles and addresses the importance of small programs, code and data portability, early prototyping, and open user interfaces. The UNIX Philosophy is a book to be read before tackling the highly technical texts on UNIX internals and programming. Written for both the computer layperson and the experienced programmer, this book explores the tenets of the UNIX operating system in detail, dealing with powerful concepts in a comprehensive, straightforward manner.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781555581237
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	12/14/1994
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.88(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Mike Gancarz is an applications and programming consultant in Atlanta, Georgia. Using Linux, Unix, and Java tools, his team develops award-winning imaging solutions for the financial services industry. An expert in Unix application design, Mike has been an advocate of the Unix approach for more than twenty years. As a member of the team that gave birth to the X Window System, he pioneered usability concepts still found in modern window managers running on Linux today. While working at Digital Equipment Corporation's Unix Engineering Group in Nashua, New Hampshire, Mike led the port of the Unix commands and utilities to the 64-bit Alpha processor. His first book, The Unix Philosophy (Digital Press, 1995), has sold over 15,000 copies worldwide.

Read an Excerpt

Chapter 3: Rapid Prototyping for Fun and Profit

The Ramans do everything in threes.
—ARTHUR C. CLARKE, Rendezvous with Rama

If you'll take a random walk down Wall Street, you'll soon discover that the average amateur investor doesn't know what he"s doing. To make money in the stock market, everyone knows you must buy low and sell high. Yet year after year, the wolves fleece the lambs out of millions of dollars. It's well documented that the "little guys"-meaning you and me-are mostly wrong most of the time.

Many institutional investors don't do much better either. Most pension fund managers, mutual fund portfolio managers, and professional money managers have displayed an uncanny inability to beat the market consistently year after year, though many command annual salaries over a million dollars.

Recent studies have shown that index funds, which invest in securities represented by an index such as the Standard & Poor's 500, have outperformed 77 percent of all mutual funds on a long term basis. Despite the hype in the financial world about hot investment opportunities, the published records elucidate a stark reality: most of us can do about as well as any other investor amateur or professional, by throwing darts at the stock pages of the newspaper and buying the stocks found thereunder.

Although it is extremely difficult to beat the market consistently, some do. Peter Lynch, renowned former manager of the Fidelity Magellan Fund, racked up an impressive record in the 1980s, making his clients very wealthy. Warren Buffett, the "Oracle of Omaha," has reaped enormous profits for stockholders in Berkshire Hathaway.Sir John Templeton has made similar fortunes by seeking investment bargains the world over.

Despite their successes these legendary investors readily admit that they don't always get it right. They tell stories of the companies in which they had complete confidence whose stocks lost over half of their value in the year they purchased them. They lament the "ones that got away," the unlikely stocks that went on to score in the 1,000 percent range and higher. Though their performance far exceeds the norm in the investments, they know that they still have a lot to learn.

Other professionals have a lot to learn, too. Doctors must constantly strive to remain abreast of recent medical research developments. Accountants must learn new changes in the tax laws. Lawyers must study recent court decisions. Actuaries, salespersons, truck drivers, assemblers, plumbers, electricians, judges, researchers, dog catchers, engineers-they all have something to learn.

The fact is, everyone is on a learning curve

Think about it. When was the last time you met someone who knew the exact result of an action every time without fail? I'm not saying that such people don't exist. I'm only suggesting that they are rare. Such ability usually requires plenty of hard work and study plus a dose of good luck.

Engineers offer perhaps the best living proof that most people are still learning. For example, if aeronautical engineers know everything there is to know about aeronautics, then why do they need test pilots? Why do General Motors' engineers road test their cars? Why do computer engineers subject their products to a field test before putting them into mass production? If engineers had complete knowledge of what they were doing, quality assurance departments would be unnecessary because the quality would be built into the products during the developmental phase.

Software engineers are particularly burdened with a steep learning curve. Software is elusively difficult to write correctly the first time. The software engineering profession consists of constant revision, a job where trial and error are the norm and applications are born out of countless hours of frustrating rework.

Note that we're not saying that people cannot master any-thing. It's just that it takes longer than most people suspect. The average learning curve extends further and inclines more steeply than it first appears. So many variables exist in the world today that mastery can consume a lifetime, and complete knowledge may not even be attainable at all. . . .

Table of Contents

The UNIX philosophy: A cast of thousands; One small step for humankind; Rapid prototyping for fun and profit; The portability priority; Now THAT's leverage!; The perils of interactive programs; More UNIX philosophy: Ten lesser tenets; Making
UNIX do one thing well; UNIX and other operating system philosophies

Editorial Reviews

"It's a pleasant read-it's short and non-technical, focussing on ideology." —Mactech

From the Publisher