Editing Unix philosophy (section)

=== Doug McIlroy on Unix programming ===
[[File:Dennis Ritchie (right) Receiving Japan Prize.jpeg|thumb|[[Doug McIlroy]] (left) with [[Dennis Ritchie]]]]

[[Douglas McIlroy|McIlroy]], then head of the Bell Labs Computing Sciences Research Center, and inventor of the [[Pipeline (Unix)|Unix pipe]],<ref>{{citation | author1=[[Dennis Ritchie]] | title=The Evolution of the UNIX Time-Sharing System | journal=[[AT&T Bell Laboratories Technical Journal]] | volume=63 | issue=8 | year=1984 | pages=1577–1593 | url=http://tech-insider.org/unix/research/acrobat/8410.pdf | doi=10.1002/j.1538-7305.1984.tb00054.x}}</ref> summarized the Unix philosophy as follows:<ref name=taoup-ch1s6 />

{{quote|This is the Unix philosophy: Write programs that do one thing and do it well. Write programs to work together. Write programs to handle [[standard streams|text streams]], because that is a universal interface.}}

Beyond these statements, he has also emphasized simplicity and [[minimalism]] in Unix programming:<ref name=taoup-ch1s6 />

{{quote|The notion of "intricate and beautiful complexities" is almost an oxymoron. Unix programmers vie with each other for "simple and beautiful" honors&nbsp;— a point that's implicit in these rules, but is well worth making overt.}}

Conversely, McIlroy has criticized modern [[Linux]] as having [[software bloat]], remarking that, "adoring admirers have fed Linux goodies to a disheartening state of [[obesity]]."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~doug/dmr.pdf|title=Remarks for Japan Prize award ceremony for Dennis Ritchie, May 19, 2011, Murray Hill, NJ|author=Douglas McIlroy|access-date=2014-06-19}}</ref> He contrasts this with the earlier approach taken at Bell Labs when developing and revising [[Research Unix]]:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/DougMcIlroy_AncestryOfLinux_DLSLUG|title=Ancestry of Linux&nbsp;— How the Fun Began (2005)|author=Bill McGonigle|access-date=2014-06-19}}</ref>

{{quote|Everything was small... and my heart sinks for Linux when I see the size of it. [...] The [[man page|manual page]], which really used to be a manual ''page'', is now a small volume, with a thousand options... We used to sit around in the Unix Room saying, 'What can we throw out? Why is there this option?' It's often because there is some deficiency in the basic design&nbsp;— you didn't really hit the right design point. Instead of adding an option, think about what was forcing you to add that option.}}