Unix Files (was Re: Xerox

From: Doug Yowza <yowza_at_yowza.com>
Date: Thu Dec 17 21:18:05 1998

On Thu, 17 Dec 1998, Hans Franke wrote:

> Shure, every Unix program starts with the riddle how to read a
> file, and whats in it. This is maybe one of the reasons why it
> took such a long time until some level has been reached. And
> why a X configuration is still some kind of lotto game.

The Unix philosophy is simplicity. The filesystem is simple --
everything's just a byte stream, but that doesn't mean that information
can't be embedded into the file that describes its content. That's what
"magic numbers" are all about. See file (1).

And what the heck does that have to do with X configuration? X may be
big, cumbersome, and somewhat ugly, but don't blame Unix for that!

ObCC: Does anybody remember a nice small GUI that came out for Unix around
the same time as X? I think it was called MGR, or something like that.

-- Doug
Received on Thu Dec 17 1998 - 21:18:05 GMT