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Basics of the UNIX Philosophy

• Modularity: Write simple parts connected by clean interfaces.
• Clarity: Clarity is better than cleverness.
• Composition: Design programs to be connected with other programs.
• Separation: Separate policy from mechanism; separate interfaces from engines.
• Simplicity: Design for simplicity; add complexity only where you must.
• Parsimony: Write a big program only when it is clear by demonstration that nothing else will do.
• Transparency: Design for visibility to make inspection and debugging easier.
• Robustness: Robustness is the child of transparency and simplicity.
• Representation: Fold knowledge into data, so program logic can be stupid and robust.
• Least Surprise: In interface design, always do the least surprising thing.
• Silence: When a program has nothing surprising to say, it should say nothing.
• Repair: Repair what you can — but when you must fail, fail noisily and as soon as possible.
• Economy: Programmer time is expensive; conserve it in preference to machine time.
• Generation: Avoid hand-hacking; write programs to write programs when you can.
• Optimization: Prototype before polishing. Get it working before you optimize it.
• Diversity: Distrust all claims for one true way.
• Extensibility: Design for the future, because it will be here sooner than you think.

From: The Art of Unix Programming by Eric Steven Raymond

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