On Unix Primitivism
===================
Yesterday i read that great post about "UNIX primitivism"
on the GopherICU phlog and i think it highlights a very
important point:
While there is always this yearning for a Lisp machine,
for a Smalltalk system or something like that overlooking
the point that we have something not THAT far removed from
that already at our hands: UNIX is not only an application
launcher like other operating systems of similar age
(i am looking at you DOS), it is a whole "programming
environment" where you get a really nice toolset to
create you own tools to solve your problems. there is a
nice piece of history on youtube [1] where you can see
(besides other notable persons) a young Mr. Kerningham
describing the principles UNIX is build of in wonderful
simple and understandable terms.
Quiet fitting, yesterday i also heard the Lunduke
podcast where he was talking about if old software may
be better... and while Lunduke surely is a controversial
person, he had quiet a good point there: Software that is
decades old is "battle tested". Yeah, there may be still
bugs and security vulnerabilities lurking somewhere in
the dark depths of their sourcecode, but many others have
already been spotted and eliminated over the years. Also
people tend to get really, really good at using a tool if
you give them enough time to master it without trowing out
the old every couple of months and installing something
working slightly different... a sentiment that was brought
forward by an employee of our local hospital while we were
there during my wifes pregnancy. The old system that was
developed inhouse and was maintained by a local wizard
was still mourned even years after it was replaced with
something shiny and new.
[1]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc4ROCJYbm0
