Editing Unix philosophy (section)

=== Eric Raymond's 17 Unix Rules ===
In his book ''[[The Art of Unix Programming]]'' that was first published in 2003,<ref>{{cite book
|title=The Art of Unix Programming
|first=Eric
|last=Raymond
|author-link=Eric S. Raymond
|date=2003-09-19
|isbn=0-13-142901-9
|publisher=Addison-Wesley
|url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/
|access-date=2009-02-09
}}</ref> [[Eric S. Raymond]] (open source advocate and programmer) summarizes the Unix philosophy as [[KISS Principle]] of "Keep it Simple, Stupid."<ref>{{cite book
|title=The Art of Unix Programming
|first=Eric
|last=Raymond
|author-link=Eric S. Raymond
|date=2003-09-19
|isbn=0-13-142901-9
|publisher=Addison-Wesley
|url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/
|chapter=The Unix Philosophy in One Lesson
|chapter-url=http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/taoup/html/ch01s07.html
|access-date=2009-02-09
}}</ref>  He provides a series of design rules:<ref name=taoup-ch1s6 />

* Build [[Modularity (programming)|modular]] programs
* Write readable programs
* Use composition
* [[Separation of mechanism and policy|Separate mechanisms from policy]]
* Write simple programs
* Write small programs
* Write transparent programs
* Write robust programs
* Make data complicated when required, not the program
* Build on potential users' expected knowledge
* Avoid unnecessary output
* Write programs which fail in a way that is easy to diagnose
* Value developer time over machine time
* Write [[Generative programming|abstract programs that generate code]] instead of writing code by hand
* [[Software prototyping|Prototype]] software before polishing it
* Write flexible and open programs
* Make the program and protocols extensible.