Blog > IT Aphorisms - Make one thing well (UNIX philosophy)

February 3, 2023

Make each program do one thing well.

Douglas McIlroy, Bell System Technical Journal, Vol. 57, No. 6, July-August 1978, page 1902

This is the fist maxim defining the UNIX philosophy. The complete quote is this:

Make each program do one thing well. To do a new job, build afresh rather than complicate old programs by adding new "features".

This idea guides into building simple and powerful things. To avoid huge coupled constructions that are difficult to reuse and maintain.

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