View Source: UnixWay - Waikato Linux Users Group

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;__Small is beautiful__: Write a program to do one thing, and one thing well.  Don't try and add every possible feature.  eg: grep(1)
;__Scriptability__: Everything is inherently scriptable, Programs read their commands from either stdin or from the command line, and a simple bash(1) script can automate any of these.
;__Policy__: Policy is not defined for you, you get to decide what you want.  If policy is required, a reasonable default will often be provided.
;__Transparency__: Someone familiar with Unix can look at every process running and explain precisely what it is there for, what it does, and can decide if it's needed or not, and what (if any) replacements would be appropriate for this use.  You almost always have the source, if the documentation doesn't work, go [RTFS].
;__Text file Configuration__: Configuration files are stored in simple, easy to read text files which can be edited with your favourite text editor, or processed by Unix's powerful text processing tools.
;__Complex behaviour from simple components__: By stringing simple tools together (such as grep(1), sed(1), awk(1), cut(1)...) you can get complicated behaviour.  Many programs are just shell scripts using just these commands (see TwoLetterCommands).
;__Automation Rules__: Anything can be automated
;__User is right__: If you ask the computer to do something it will do it, no confirmation dialogs, no undo's.  if you rm(1) a file, it's gone.
;__Silence is Success__: Only print a message if the program fails or requires more input.  Many programs do not output anything if the operation was successfully completed.

See also Wiki:UnixWay and WhyUnix

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Last edited on Thursday, September 11, 2003 9:36:41 am by StuartYeates

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