Linux and the Unix Philosophy

flash, but full of substance. But that’s okay. Remember that in the Unix world,

small is beautiful.

Eric Raymond referred to these works as software that “scratches a pro

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grammer’s personal itch.” What appears to be a common goal of many OSS

developers is that they just want to get it written. Their backs are often against

the wall because of their daily job pressures, and they don’t have much time

for frills. So, they usually skip most of the fancy glittery stuff that the market

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ing droids love and, instead, do one thing well, which is to produce a lean,

mean application that solves a personal need. In the case of the successful ones,

these bare-bones ...