Programming

A summary of the UNIX design philosophy, this book is a bit out of date and needs a more abstract and less dogmatic second edition.

I was rather disapointed by ‘The UNIX Philosophy’ (TUP). First of all, the book feels out of date. This feeling is partly due to the fact that TUP was published in 1995 and thus many of the examples are anachronistic. However, the datedness of TUP also stems from a second flaw – some of the tenets of the UNIX philosophy outlined in the book are too concrete and thus appear to conflict with some present-day practices which many ‘UNIX people’ would not, I think, consider improper. Finally, the book sometimes presents practical (and thus adaptable) design principles as unshakeable articles of faith in the UNIX Religion.