From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on inbox.vuxu.org X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.6 required=5.0 tests=DKIM_INVALID,DKIM_SIGNED, HEADER_FROM_DIFFERENT_DOMAINS,MAILING_LIST_MULTI,UNPARSEABLE_RELAY autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (minnie.tuhs.org [50.116.15.146]) by inbox.vuxu.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F389527426 for ; Wed, 3 Jul 2024 17:18:01 +0200 (CEST) Received: from minnie.tuhs.org (localhost [IPv6:::1]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id C83CD4294F; Thu, 4 Jul 2024 01:17:55 +1000 (AEST) Received: from mx1.dyne.org (mx1.dyne.org [65.109.67.92]) by minnie.tuhs.org (Postfix) with ESMTPS id A8137427C7 for ; Thu, 4 Jul 2024 01:17:51 +1000 (AEST) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=simple/simple; d=freaknet.org; s=mail; t=1720019869; bh=mB0vbsA73LzraWBf6/N/uCHkxOTV0+YBrWdrEPRBnkw=; h=Date:From:To:Subject:References:In-Reply-To:From; b=WcI3TtEwwfO9rBFon90YEAMdmQ1Ck7gWNQNKafy9MliMLAC2G4RQvmslNTYZlNXRk LESxEgiggztfmTGg1RUoiVBoKvVrOZgrJzjIA6+8pkPWyVRunI2XhmcU5NdrLm5GV6 MbaDXU2iKBfh0ETA6bFInmiGa3F2GFCbIa/8zWdM= Received: from [127.0.0.1] (localhost [127.0.0.1]) (Authenticated sender: katolaz@freaknet.org) with ESMTPSA id 77BDC766930 Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2024 15:17:38 +0000 From: Vincenzo Nicosia To: TUHS Message-ID: References: <93529CA0-7097-443C-999B-384BE6BD5683@canb.auug.org.au> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <93529CA0-7097-443C-999B-384BE6BD5683@canb.auug.org.au> Message-ID-Hash: ILTQLR3BN2WPME2FEKNBF7WICUPKOLGC X-Message-ID-Hash: ILTQLR3BN2WPME2FEKNBF7WICUPKOLGC X-MailFrom: katolaz@freaknet.org X-Mailman-Rule-Misses: dmarc-mitigation; no-senders; approved; emergency; loop; banned-address; member-moderation; header-match-tuhs.tuhs.org-0; nonmember-moderation; administrivia; implicit-dest; max-recipients; max-size; news-moderation; no-subject; digests; suspicious-header X-Mailman-Version: 3.3.6b1 Precedence: list Subject: [TUHS] Re: Anyone ever heard of teaching a case study of Initial Unix? List-Id: The Unix Heritage Society mailing list Archived-At: List-Archive: List-Help: List-Owner: List-Post: List-Subscribe: List-Unsubscribe: On Wed, Jul 03, 2024 at 02:51:01PM +1000, sjenkin@canb.auug.org.au wrote: > I???ve never heard of a Computer Science or Software Engineering program > that included a ???case study??? component, especially for Software Development & Projects. > > MBA programs feature an emphasis on real-world ???case studies???, to learn from successes & failures, > to give students the possibility of not falling into the same traps. > > Creating Unix V6, because it profoundly changed computing & development, > would seem an obvious Case Study for many aspects of Software, Coding and Projects. > I personally believe that the comparison of "mainstream" software development principles and the birth and development of projects like Unix, Linux, or any other major successful free software project is fundamentally flawed. The programmers considered as "fungible workforce" by mainstream software engineering and project management theories are *paid* to to their programming job, and they mostly have to carry that job over working on prescribed objectives and timelines which have been decided by somebody else, managers who know nothing at all about software development. Personal interest in the project, passion, motivation, curiosity, creative power, sense of beauty, the joy of belonging to a community of likeminded people, are never part of the equation, at any point. Remove one of those latter ingredients from Unix, Linux, or any other major successful free/open source software project, and that project would have not existed, at all. I think it would be terribly misleading to teach young CS students that software projects should be managed "as Unix v6 came to life". They will never, ever find anything even close to that environment in a professional workplace. We should tell them that some of the most beautiful software projects ever crafted by humans did not come out of the "professionalism churches" that the overwhelming majority of software companies are nowadays, based on the blind application of "mainstream" software development and project management principles, according to which they (the CS majors) are just "as fungible and replaceable as a chair, or a wallpaper". That would be only true and fair to tell them. I don't know if that would be of any avail to them, but at least we do not mislead them in thinking that their paid programming time will actually change the world in any meaningful way..... My2cents Enzo Nicosia --