Linux and the Unix Philosophy

This presents a dilemma for the software designer. He wants maximum

flexibility for his application, so he constructs it from a collection of small

modules. Yet he is also bound by the requirement that his software be easy to

use. People have difficulty dealing with too many small modules.

Unix takes a different approach to resolving this issue. Most other systems

try to bridge the ever-widening gap between the user and the module perform

-

ing the task with a piece of software known as a captive user interface (CUI).

Unix developers, on the other hand, recognize that this gap is ever widen-

ing. Instead of linking the user and the underlying modules ...