Re:I made an ls alternative for my personal use
by burntsushi on Sunday November 24, 2024 @09:16PM
(#42232595)
I don't know what you're trying to say and I don't see how it's in conflict with anything I've said.
Re:I made an ls alternative for my personal use
by fsckboy on Monday November 25, 2024 @01:05AM
(#42233665)
>not an end to itself
it is an end to itself. the reason it's a means to an end is because that was its end goal. in being a means to an end, it is an end (its end) unto itself, opposite to what you said, imho
Re:I made an ls alternative for my personal use
by burntsushi on Monday November 25, 2024 @10:58AM
(#42237303)
I still can't parse what you're saying. The Unix philosophy is a means to an end, where the ultimate end is improved user experience. The means is de-coupling and composition. But there are other means to improving the user experience.
> in being a means to an end, it is an end (its end) unto itself
This either makes zero sense or is vacuously true and clearly not in conflict with what I'm saying.
it won't be a means to an end any more if you don't preserve it, so not breaking that aspect of it has to be one of your ends. if you use it to take ls to a new place but that place is not within the ecosystem, it will be an evolutionary dead end, or worse, the first meteor in the meteor storm that ends all life.
current/traditional unix may not be the be-all/end-all, but replacing it/changing it requires viewing it comprehensively and changing all the tools at once or having a plan to. A good example of this is Plan9