Elf scripsit:
The wise programmer is told about the Tao and follows it.
The average programmer is told about the Tao and searches for it.
The foolish programmer is told about the Tao and laughs at it.
[snip]
Thoughtful hackers hear about Unix
and try to use it.
Ordinary hackers hear about Unix
and mess about with it a little.
Thoughtless hackers hear about Unix
and crack wise about it.
It wouldn't be Unix
if there weren't wisecracks about it.
So we establish the following rules:
The most brilliant Unix seems the most obscure.
Advanced Unix seems like retrocomputing.
The most powerful code seems like just loops and conditionals.
The clearest code seems to be opaque.
The sharpest tools seem inadequate.
Solid code seems flaky.
Stable code seems to change.
Great methodologies don't have boundaries.
Great talent doesn't code fast.
Great music makes no sound.
The ideal elephant has no shape.
The Unix Way has no name.
Yet for just this reason
it brings things to perfection.
See more like this at http://ccil.org/~cowan/upc .