From: Eleanor McHugh <eleanor@...>
Date: 2010-08-22T23:15:27+09:00
Subject: Re: Unix Philosophy in Ruby Programing

On 16 Aug 2010, at 13:34, Diego Bernardes wrote:
> I use Linux about 5 years, but, this year that i started to "use" linux.
> Now i understand a little more about the unix philosophy and some other
> trick things windows dont do/have.
> This changed the way i program. Ruby was build to help manage linux
> systems, rigth?
> 
> So, this is the question, what you guys think about the way ruby
> programs are made?
> Why build a gem/program to send mail if you can send with sendmail?
> Why build process monitor if you can use monit?
> And so..
> 
> A nice post about this is: http://tomayko.com/writings/unicorn-is-unix

The classic philosophical principles of Unix are simplicity and reusability. Build small tools which perform a given task well and then reuse them whenever you need to perform that particular task as part of your workflow.

It's hard to find any modern *nix which follows that philosophy.

On the other hand, Unix is also an embodiment/enabler of the punk DIY philosophy: if you don't like what's shipped with your system, it's easy to rip it up and start again.

So to answer your questions, there's no reason not to wrap sendmail etc. if that's a good fit for the problems you're solving. The real gain of *nix isn't in using the particular software tools which ship with any given distribution, it's in embracing the underlying architectural model of independent processes collaborating via pipes and sockets.


Ellie

Eleanor McHugh
Games With Brains
http://feyeleanor.tel
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raise ArgumentError unless @reality.responds_to? :reason