The Unix Philosophy

January 24, 2005

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Originally from Mike Gancarz’s book, here are the 9 primary tenets of Unix.

  1. Small is Beautiful

  2. Make Each Program Do One Thing Well

  3. Build a Prototype as Soon as Possible

  4. Choose Portability Over Efficiency

  5. Store Data in Flat ASCII Files

  6. Use Software Leverage to Your Advantage

  7. Use Shell Scripts to Increase Leverage and Portability

  8. Avoid Captive User Interfaces

  9. Make Every Program a Filter

I think this is one of the biggest ideas in computer science, and I don’t feel it gets the respect it deserves.

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