From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.2 (2018-09-13) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.0 required=5.0 tests=HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS, MAILING_LIST_MULTI,RCVD_IN_DNSWL_NONE autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.2 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [45.79.103.53]) by inbox.vuxu.org (OpenSMTPD) with ESMTP id 5f955ac8 for ; Fri, 16 Nov 2018 19:30:00 +0000 (UTC) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 56D14A2708; Sat, 17 Nov 2018 05:29:59 +1000 (AEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 430E2A26D4; Sat, 17 Nov 2018 05:29:45 +1000 (AEST) Received: by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix, from userid 112) id 20870A26D4; Sat, 17 Nov 2018 05:29:43 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mercury.lcs.mit.edu (mercury.lcs.mit.edu [18.26.0.122]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id BC6FF93FC6 for ; Sat, 17 Nov 2018 05:29:42 +1000 (AEST) Received: by mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Postfix, from userid 11178) id DFB6218C073; Fri, 16 Nov 2018 14:29:41 -0500 (EST) To: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org Message-Id: <20181116192941.DFB6218C073@mercury.lcs.mit.edu> Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2018 14:29:41 -0500 (EST) From: jnc@mercury.lcs.mit.edu (Noel Chiappa) Subject: Re: [TUHS] man-page style X-BeenThere: tuhs@minnie.tuhs.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: jnc@mercury.lcs.mit.edu Errors-To: tuhs-bounces@minnie.tuhs.org Sender: "TUHS" > From: Clem Cole > Actually I blame the VAX and larger address spaces for much of that and > no enough real teaching of what I refer to as 'good taste.' When you > had to think about keeping it small and decomposable, you did. ... > Truth is, it is a tough call, learning when 'good enough' is all you > need. ... The argument of course is - "well look how well it works and I > can do this X" -- sorry not good enough. Exactly; the bloat in the later Unix versions killed what I feel was the _single best thing_ about early Unix - which was its awesome, un-matched bang/buck ratio. _That_ is what made me such a huge fan of Unix, even though as an operating system person, I was, and remain, a big fan of Multics (maybe the only person in the world who really likes both :-), which I still think was a better long-term path for OSes (long discussion of why elided to keep this short). I mean, as an operating system, I don't find Unix that memorable; it's (until recently) a monolithic kernel, with all that entails. Doing networking work on it was a total PITA! When I looked across as what Dave Clark was able to do on Multics, with its single-level memory, and layered OS, doing TCP/IP, I was sky-blue pink with envy. Noel