Basics of the Unix Philosophy

basics_of_unix_philosophy

Basics of the Unix Philosophy
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Rule of Modularity:     Write simple parts connected by clean interfaces

Rule of Clarity:        Clarity is better than cleverness

Rule of Composition:    Design programs to be connected with other programs

Rule of Separation:     Separate policy from mechanism; separate interfaces from engines

Rule of Simplicity:     Design for simplicity; add complexity only where you must

Rule of Parsimony:      Write a big program only when it is clear by demonstration that nothing else will do

Rule of Transparency:   Design for visibility to make inspection and debugging easier

Rule of Robustness:     Robustness is the child of transparency and simplicity

Rule of Representation: Fold knowledge into data, so program logic can be stupid and robust

Rule of Least Surprise: In interface design, always do the least surprising thing

Rule of Silence:        When a program has nothing surprising to say, it should say nothing

Rule of Repair:         Repair what you can — but when you must fail, fail noisily and as soon as possible

Rule of Economy:        Programmer time is expensive; conserve it in preference to machine time

Rule of Generation:     Avoid hand-hacking; write programs to write programs when you can

Rule of Optimization:   Prototype before polishing. Get it working before you optimize it

Rule of Diversity:      Distrust all claims for one true way

Rule of Extensibility:  Design for the future, because it will be here sooner than you think

Eric S. Raymond http://catb.org/esr/writings/taoup/html/graphics/taoup.pdf