The Unix-Haters Handbook (1994) [pdf]

Re:The Unix-Haters Handbook (1994) [pdf] by pryce on Monday March 18, 2019 @12:13AM (#19418650)

It's probably been a long while since you've gone back to it, but The "Worse is Better" chapter in this book seems to show rather amazing foresight; it basically predicts the situation you describe regarding Unix being "the best operating system available without getting appreciably better" and offers compelling reasons why that was likely.

25 years ago. Who the hell does that?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:The Unix-Haters Handbook (1994) [pdf] by mpweiher on Monday March 18, 2019 @05:28AM (#19419684)

Richard Gabriel, that's who ;-)

I heartily recommend his other writings. In fact, he considers "Worse is Better" some of the worst of his writings, and it is the most successful. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Just one that I've gotten a lot of mileage out of is "Habitability and Piecemeal Growth" in Patterns of Software. Lots of other gems in there: Reuse vs. Compression, The Quality Without a Name, etc.

EDIT: Forgot the link

https://www.dreamsongs.com/Files/PatternsOfSoftware.pdf

[ Parent | on HN ]