Explaining The Windows/UNIX Cultural Divide 685
giampy writes "Joel Spolsky writes a review-like article on the last book of Eric S. Raymond (The Art of Unix Programming). His views on the cultural differences among Windows and Unix programmers are well explained. Overall, an interesting read." Also on the topic of Windows, badriram writes "Microsoft is reorganizing the windows team, it seems the are separating the
OS core development. Seems like things heading in the right direction in creating a more secure OS, and making it more business oriented. Read the
article here."
to sum it up... (Score:3, Funny)
THE WINDOWS/UNIX PATRIOTISM DIVIDE (Score:0, Funny)
Far-fetched? Think about it: With MySQL, the People's Army will now be able to do multiple queries on their tables of democratic activists in Olog(n) time instead of lengthy searches in card catalogs. The bureaucratic overhead previously allowed activists enough time to flee the country. How about building cheap firewalls so the people can't get the unbiased reporting that CNN provides? Or using Apache to publish lists of Falun Gong people to their police forces instantly? I doubt that never crossed your minds when you were coding away in your parents' basements. Consider putting that little thought in your mental resolv.conf file.
If that does not concern you ( which it probably doesn't, since the lashout.org paradigm is publishing articles about how not to pay for things ), consider something else. When China eventually goes to war with Taiwan, we want to be able turn their command and control facilities into the computing equivalent of a train-wreck. One of the advantages of Windows never mentioned in the article is the ability of Microsoft to remotely deactivate Windows XP in the case of a national emergency. Thanks to GNU/Lunix, Taiwan will be on a collision course with the mainland in the near future.
Which throws into question Mr. Stallman's motives. A known proponent of socialism, the Chinese government and RMS are natural allies. Could it be a back door to Stallman's dream of an uber-Socialist United States? We may never know for sure. Next time you consider contributing to an open source project, ask yourself this question: don't you want to make sure your work isn't used for nefarious purposes? Will you risk having blood on your hands?
That's too bad (Score:4, Funny)
I hadn't heard that he died. My condolences to his friends and family. He will be sorely missed.
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Re:bad reflexes (Score:5, Funny)
Don't worry, plenty of slow readers have gone on to lead successful lives.
Re:to sum it up... (Score:0, Funny)
Re:to sum it up... (Score:5, Funny)
It's just a test!!! (Score:2, Funny)
"slashdot-karma-whoring sectarianism" is tucked way down near the end in the last paragraph. Over 40 posts already and nobody else has spotted it yet!
Re:can this guy actually code? (Score:0, Funny)
Re:to sum it up... (Score:2, Funny)
Re:That's too bad (Score:5, Funny)
Sourcely missed! SOURCELY! He was an advocate of open SOURCE, you idiot, not open...oh. Nevermind.
Re:Does the story start with... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:It's all about the shell! (Score:1, Funny)
He said whatnow? (Score:2, Funny)
I put it forth that this "review-like article" is competely "domestic bovine excrement"-like.
Here are some of the best/worst bits:
Huh? What exactly is return code 0, then? Or syslog entries? And how do you distinguish between cases where the program output was correct and cases where the output was incorrect but the program was unable to decide this?
By contrast, in the Windows culture, you're programming for Aunt Madge
Funny that. What does Aunt Madge do with all the hundreds of complicated scientific/industrial/financial/simulation software packages that exist for Windows (as well as Unix)?
Here again, we see that the Unix culture values creating code that is useful to other programmers, something which is rarely a goal in Windows programming.
Huh? What does reusability and well-documented interfaces between modules have to do with the platform? Did ESR really write this crap or is the "reviewer" making it up as he goes along?
The Windows programmer will tend to start with a GUI, and occasionally, as an afterthought, add a scripting language which can automate the operation of the GUI interface.
I wonder which specific Windows programmer this sentence refers to. Hopefully one that's been fired for incompetence by now.
When Unix was created and when it formed its cultural values, there were no end users. Computers were expensive, CPU time was expensive, and learning about computers meant learning how to program. It's no wonder that the culture which emerged valued things which are useful to other programmers. By contrast, Windows was created with one goal only: to sell as many copies as conceivable at a profit.
And commercial Unixes are created with what goal again?
Aunt Marge can't really use Unix
Can't even keep the lame metaphors consistent.
That's OK; he's not a Windows programmer; we'll forgive that.
Huh? If somebody writes a book pretending to be an expert on something they're clearly not, I'd call that bornerline fraudulent and at least take any viewpoints offered with a huge mountain of salt.
If the actual book is even half as bad as the review makes it out to be, maybe Eric S. Raymond should go back to writing the Nethack Guidebook. It probably has more insight on Windows software development.
Know Them By Their Injuries (Score:5, Funny)
that Windows programmers hurt their arms and wrists after clawing their way through one too many pull-down menus while Unix programmers hurt their pinky fingers after a heavy emacs session in the world of Control Meta.
As a result, Windows programmers have spastic arms from all this GUI action, looking like zombies from Night of the Living Dead, while UNIX programmers have hands curled up like Igor from Frankenstein's Lab.
Re:Command line? Hell, how about process? Security (Score:2, Funny)
Would you mind sending me your IP? I'll send you a check.
Re:Command line? Hell, how about process? Security (Score:3, Funny)
It sounds to me like you are trying to get fired. But, since I am looking for a job at the moment, what company are your working for?
I'm willing to get paid to sit around letting the system fall apart -- then heaping all the blame on the boss. That works for me... it's a built-in promotion.
Once the boss is out of the way, I can fix the stuff... built-in raise + respect from upper management.
Once I have acheived that state, then I can coast to retirement... built-in retirement plan. This part, of course, requires hiring people to do the actual work... and you'll need a job. I could probably talk them into rehiring you.
Re:That's too bad (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Separation (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Crossing the Chasm (Score:3, Funny)
needs complete, fully functional, headache-free solutions for their specific needs
So they use Windows?????
Re:Various slashes, a history lesson (Score:3, Funny)
Thankfully slashdot wasn't spawned from the VAX world.
Think of colonbracketsemicolondotcom.com