6 ms·

What's wrong with the book ? I have read it and I think it provides a great introduction to Unix.

DonHopkins 8y ago
One obvious problem with the book which this article demonstrates is that it leaves the reader with the mistaken impression that "In Unix Everything Is a File". I assumed this was common knowledge, but apparently not, so here goes: Another reason not to buy the book is that the author, Eric S Raymond, is a racist sexist Islamophobic conspiracy theory spreading global warming denying gun nut, who threatened to kill Bruce Perens. In summary, and just because you asked, Eric S Raymond is a mediocre programmer who has made a career of trying to pose as a hacker, define what a hacker is, tell people how to become a hacker, all while viciously, personally, professionally, and unfairly attacking actual successful influential hackers like Richard Stallman, including his philosophy and his life's work, by hijacking and distorting the definition of Free Software and the very definitions of words in the hacker's dictionary, to reflect his own extremist narcissistic racist political ideology, which most certainly does not align with the non-bigoted ideology in the Hacker's Manifesto: "We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias." https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond "In the U.S., blacks are 12% of the population but commit 50% of violent crimes; can anyone honestly think this is unconnected to the fact that they average 15 points of IQ lower than the general population? That stupid people are more violent is a fact independent of skin color." -Eric S Raymond "A clash of civilizations driven by the failure of Islamic/Arab culture (though I would stress the problem of the Islamic commandment to jihad more than he does). I think he [Steven den Beste] is also right to say that our long-term objective must be to break, crush and eventually destroy this culture, because we can't live on the same planet with people who both carry those memes and have access to weapons of mass destruction. They will hate us and seek to destroy us not for what we've done but for what we are." -Eric S Raymond "And for any agents or proxy of the regime interested in asking me questions face to face, I’ve got some bullets slathered in pork fat to make you feel extra special welcome." -Eric S Raymond "When I hear the words "social responsibility", I want to reach for my gun." -Eric S Raymond As much as he thinks he and everyone else should own lots guns, Eric S Raymond has recently stated (2017) that he believes blacks are too unintelligent to own or to be trained to use guns: https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/816449724127608833 https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/816449724127608833 >Unfortunately, this doesn't cover the BLM crowd, which would have an average IQ of about 85 if it's statistically representative of American blacks as a whole. I've never tried to train anyone that dim and wouldn't want to. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond Eric S. Raymond (born 1957) is a computer programmer, advocate of open source software, and author or editor of several written works, including The Cathedral and the Bazaar and the Jargon File. Coincidentally, "Yonder Racism" is an anagram of his name. Unfortunately, his work and expertise in computer technology[1][2] has been all but overshadowed by his batshit insane wingnut tendencies in the wake of 9/11, his misogynistic claims,[3] and his increasingly wanky ego-gazing,[4][5] as he acknowledges that people aren't so crazy about him anymore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Russ_Nelson#Blacks_are_lazy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Russ_Nelson#Blacks_are_la... Eric S Raymond threw down the gauntlet and defended Russ Nelson's infamous "Blacks are Lazy" article by calling everyone who wanted him to resign his position as president of OSI "fools and thugs", and demanded OSI spend their precious time and resources fighting critics of racism and defending Russ Nelson's racist beliefs which ESR shares, instead of promoting open source software. http://www.eweek.com/servers/new-osi-president-steps-down http://www.eweek.com/servers/new-osi-president-steps-down >“Abetting somebody elses witch hunt is no less disgusting than starting your own.” “Personally, I wanted to fight this on principle,” Raymond said. “Russ resigned the presidency rather than get OSI into that fight, and the board quite properly respected his wishes in the matter. That sacrifice makes me angrier at the fools and thugs who pulled him down.” This would be funny if it weren't exactly like Trump's recent "'nt" flip-flop on Putin: >Nelson subsequently sought to explain himself in an essay titled "Blacks are Not Lazy." https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Eric_S._Raymond https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Eric_S._Raymond In 1999, Debian developer Bruce Perens published an "email threat" that he allegedly received from Raymond. Raymond then "clarified" that he only meant to defame Perens. From this we can assume that he is batshit insane and will fucking kill and or write to anyone that says anything about him or his software. If you are lucky you might get an O'Rielly book about you. https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/1999/04/msg00623.html https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/1999/04/msg00623.html To: debian-user@lists.debian.org Subject: email threat From: bruce@perens.com Date: 5 Apr 1999 22:48:42 -0000 Message-id: <19990405224842.2386.qmail@perens.com> Today I received the following threat in e-mail from Eric Raymond. The message was copied to the Silicon Valley Linux User's Group officers, who you may consult regarding its authenticity. The police have been notified. Because I know that Eric is a firearms enthusiast, for my own protection, I feel the best strategy is for me to publicize the threat widely. Thanks Bruce Perens > Damn straight I took it personally. And if you ever again behave like > that kind of disruptive asshole in public, insult me, and jeopardize > the interests of our entire tribe, I'll take it just as personally -- > and I will find a way to make you regret it. Watch your step. The irony of Eric S Raymond threatening someone else for behaving "like that kind of disruptive asshole in public" is rich -- very rich. https://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/cat/bruce-perens/page/10 https://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/cat/bruce-perens/page/10 https://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/archive/terrorismistic https://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/archive/terrorismistic
- ernst_klim 8y ago
  Your reasons are totally ad hominem and dictated by your political views and have nothing to do with the topic.
  - DonHopkins 8y ago
    Sure they do. He asked about what was wrong with the book, which I answered. Besides the obvious factual error I pointed out (which you chose to ignore, but is literally the topic of this discussion, therefore relevant), there is the well known fact that Eric S Raymond is a racist with a long history of making ad hominem attacks against entire races and religions, as well as his personal death threat against Bruce Perens and long career of attacking Richard Stallman and the Free Software community. I'm sorry that a single quote is just not capable of capturing the vast depth and breadth of his racism and hatred of Perens and Stallman. Is there something you find inappropriate or annoying about me expressing my (apparently controversial) political view that racism is wrong, and quoting Eric Raymond's own words to prove he is a racist? Why is that more annoying to you than ESR's racism, threats and ad-hominem attacks themselves? In the same vein (or bloody car seat), whenever anyone mentions the Reiser File System, the fact that he murdered his wife often comes up. Do you also find it inappropriate to mention that fact on Hacker News or Wikipedia too? https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comparison_of_file_systems&oldid=209063556#Features https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comparison_of_fil... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReiserFS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReiserFS
    - ernst_klim 8y ago
      I don't see what Islam or irrational wiki or racism has to do with unix programming and the book. Your political beliefs contradicting with ones of the author does not make a programming book bad.
      - DonHopkins 8y ago
        I was directly responding to a question from somebody who didn't know about ESR. Were you previously aware of the fact that Eric Raymond is a batshit crazy racist, or did you just learn something new from me that you didn't previously know? If so, then mission accomplished! I'm glad to have opened your eyes even a little bit. Do my political beliefs about racism being bad and obligatory to call out contradict your own beliefs, and annoy you so much that you're compelled to argue and continue to drag this out? Or do you know some actual facts you can prove about ESR that contradict the proof I posted with links and quotes? Then by all means share your proof I'm wrong, instead of stifling the discussion! Why are you so irritated and motivated to suppress those widely known facts from being mentioned on Hacker News? If simply stating the facts and quoting ESR's own words sounds to you like an ad hominem attack, then that's ESR's problem, and maybe he should have kept his mouth shut instead of publicly saying things like "The average IQ of the Haitian population is 67... Haiti is, quite literally, a country full of violent idiots", and he exercises enough personal responsibility that he doesn't need you to bravely step up and defend his racism. http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=7011 http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=7011 Or is your real issue with the valid criticism I raised about the book (and that you awkwardly ignored and haven't countered) about "In Unix Everything Is A File" being wrong, which is LITERALLY the topic of this conversation, a point many other people are discussing, and a major mistake of the book and the article? If you really believe that my criticism of the book in response to Lordarminius's direct question has "nothing to do with the topic", then why aren't you criticizing Lordarminius for asking me "What's wrong with the book ?" And why aren't you arguing with all the other people here who have pointed out that the API for reading directories is different than the API for reading files, that ioctl is a kitchen sink of non-file-like operations, that many objects in the Unix kernel are simply not files, etc? Or is it just my second criticism of ESR's racism what ticks you off so much that you totally ignored and failed to address my first criticism of his book's factual errors, and incorrectly claimed my reasons for disliking the book are "totally ad hominem"? Go re-read the very first sentence of my reply. I don't see what ESR recasting the Jargon file to reflect his own political beliefs has to do with hacking, but that's what he did, and it's also valid to raise that point when discussing the flaws of other books he wrote. https://news.slashdot.org/story/03/06/08/1534249/esr-recasts-jargon-file-in-own-image https://news.slashdot.org/story/03/06/08/1534249/esr-recasts... http://www.ntk.net/2003/06/06/ http://www.ntk.net/2003/06/06/

One obvious problem with the book which this article demonstrates is that it leaves the reader with the mistaken impression that "In Unix Everything Is a File". I assumed this was common knowledge, but apparently not, so here goes: Another reason not to buy the book is that the author, Eric S Raymond, is a racist sexist Islamophobic conspiracy theory spreading global warming denying gun nut, who threatened to kill Bruce Perens. In summary, and just because you asked, Eric S Raymond is a mediocre programmer who has made a career of trying to pose as a hacker, define what a hacker is, tell people how to become a hacker, all while viciously, personally, professionally, and unfairly attacking actual successful influential hackers like Richard Stallman, including his philosophy and his life's work, by hijacking and distorting the definition of Free Software and the very definitions of words in the hacker's dictionary, to reflect his own extremist narcissistic racist political ideology, which most certainly does not align with the non-bigoted ideology in the Hacker's Manifesto: "We exist without skin color, without nationality, without religious bias." https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond "In the U.S., blacks are 12% of the population but commit 50% of violent crimes; can anyone honestly think this is unconnected to the fact that they average 15 points of IQ lower than the general population? That stupid people are more violent is a fact independent of skin color." -Eric S Raymond "A clash of civilizations driven by the failure of Islamic/Arab culture (though I would stress the problem of the Islamic commandment to jihad more than he does). I think he [Steven den Beste] is also right to say that our long-term objective must be to break, crush and eventually destroy this culture, because we can't live on the same planet with people who both carry those memes and have access to weapons of mass destruction. They will hate us and seek to destroy us not for what we've done but for what we are." -Eric S Raymond "And for any agents or proxy of the regime interested in asking me questions face to face, I’ve got some bullets slathered in pork fat to make you feel extra special welcome." -Eric S Raymond "When I hear the words "social responsibility", I want to reach for my gun." -Eric S Raymond As much as he thinks he and everyone else should own lots guns, Eric S Raymond has recently stated (2017) that he believes blacks are too unintelligent to own or to be trained to use guns: https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/816449724127608833 https://twitter.com/tqbf/status/816449724127608833 >Unfortunately, this doesn't cover the BLM crowd, which would have an average IQ of about 85 if it's statistically representative of American blacks as a whole. I've never tried to train anyone that dim and wouldn't want to. https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Eric_S._Raymond Eric S. Raymond (born 1957) is a computer programmer, advocate of open source software, and author or editor of several written works, including The Cathedral and the Bazaar and the Jargon File. Coincidentally, "Yonder Racism" is an anagram of his name. Unfortunately, his work and expertise in computer technology[1][2] has been all but overshadowed by his batshit insane wingnut tendencies in the wake of 9/11, his misogynistic claims,[3] and his increasingly wanky ego-gazing,[4][5] as he acknowledges that people aren't so crazy about him anymore. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Russ_Nelson#Blacks_are_lazy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Russ_Nelson#Blacks_are_la... Eric S Raymond threw down the gauntlet and defended Russ Nelson's infamous "Blacks are Lazy" article by calling everyone who wanted him to resign his position as president of OSI "fools and thugs", and demanded OSI spend their precious time and resources fighting critics of racism and defending Russ Nelson's racist beliefs which ESR shares, instead of promoting open source software. http://www.eweek.com/servers/new-osi-president-steps-down http://www.eweek.com/servers/new-osi-president-steps-down >“Abetting somebody elses witch hunt is no less disgusting than starting your own.” “Personally, I wanted to fight this on principle,” Raymond said. “Russ resigned the presidency rather than get OSI into that fight, and the board quite properly respected his wishes in the matter. That sacrifice makes me angrier at the fools and thugs who pulled him down.” This would be funny if it weren't exactly like Trump's recent "'nt" flip-flop on Putin: >Nelson subsequently sought to explain himself in an essay titled "Blacks are Not Lazy." https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Eric_S._Raymond https://encyclopediadramatica.rs/Eric_S._Raymond In 1999, Debian developer Bruce Perens published an "email threat" that he allegedly received from Raymond. Raymond then "clarified" that he only meant to defame Perens. From this we can assume that he is batshit insane and will fucking kill and or write to anyone that says anything about him or his software. If you are lucky you might get an O'Rielly book about you. https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/1999/04/msg00623.html https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/1999/04/msg00623.html To: debian-user@lists.debian.org Subject: email threat From: bruce@perens.com Date: 5 Apr 1999 22:48:42 -0000 Message-id: <19990405224842.2386.qmail@perens.com> Today I received the following threat in e-mail from Eric Raymond. The message was copied to the Silicon Valley Linux User's Group officers, who you may consult regarding its authenticity. The police have been notified. Because I know that Eric is a firearms enthusiast, for my own protection, I feel the best strategy is for me to publicize the threat widely. Thanks Bruce Perens > Damn straight I took it personally. And if you ever again behave like > that kind of disruptive asshole in public, insult me, and jeopardize > the interests of our entire tribe, I'll take it just as personally -- > and I will find a way to make you regret it. Watch your step. The irony of Eric S Raymond threatening someone else for behaving "like that kind of disruptive asshole in public" is rich -- very rich. https://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/cat/bruce-perens/page/10 https://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/cat/bruce-perens/page/10 https://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/archive/terrorismistic https://geekz.co.uk/lovesraymond/archive/terrorismistic

ernst_klim 8y ago
Your reasons are totally ad hominem and dictated by your political views and have nothing to do with the topic.
- DonHopkins 8y ago
  Sure they do. He asked about what was wrong with the book, which I answered. Besides the obvious factual error I pointed out (which you chose to ignore, but is literally the topic of this discussion, therefore relevant), there is the well known fact that Eric S Raymond is a racist with a long history of making ad hominem attacks against entire races and religions, as well as his personal death threat against Bruce Perens and long career of attacking Richard Stallman and the Free Software community. I'm sorry that a single quote is just not capable of capturing the vast depth and breadth of his racism and hatred of Perens and Stallman. Is there something you find inappropriate or annoying about me expressing my (apparently controversial) political view that racism is wrong, and quoting Eric Raymond's own words to prove he is a racist? Why is that more annoying to you than ESR's racism, threats and ad-hominem attacks themselves? In the same vein (or bloody car seat), whenever anyone mentions the Reiser File System, the fact that he murdered his wife often comes up. Do you also find it inappropriate to mention that fact on Hacker News or Wikipedia too? https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comparison_of_file_systems&oldid=209063556#Features https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Comparison_of_fil... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReiserFS https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ReiserFS
  - ernst_klim 8y ago
    I don't see what Islam or irrational wiki or racism has to do with unix programming and the book. Your political beliefs contradicting with ones of the author does not make a programming book bad.
    - DonHopkins 8y ago
      I was directly responding to a question from somebody who didn't know about ESR. Were you previously aware of the fact that Eric Raymond is a batshit crazy racist, or did you just learn something new from me that you didn't previously know? If so, then mission accomplished! I'm glad to have opened your eyes even a little bit. Do my political beliefs about racism being bad and obligatory to call out contradict your own beliefs, and annoy you so much that you're compelled to argue and continue to drag this out? Or do you know some actual facts you can prove about ESR that contradict the proof I posted with links and quotes? Then by all means share your proof I'm wrong, instead of stifling the discussion! Why are you so irritated and motivated to suppress those widely known facts from being mentioned on Hacker News? If simply stating the facts and quoting ESR's own words sounds to you like an ad hominem attack, then that's ESR's problem, and maybe he should have kept his mouth shut instead of publicly saying things like "The average IQ of the Haitian population is 67... Haiti is, quite literally, a country full of violent idiots", and he exercises enough personal responsibility that he doesn't need you to bravely step up and defend his racism. http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=7011 http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=7011 Or is your real issue with the valid criticism I raised about the book (and that you awkwardly ignored and haven't countered) about "In Unix Everything Is A File" being wrong, which is LITERALLY the topic of this conversation, a point many other people are discussing, and a major mistake of the book and the article? If you really believe that my criticism of the book in response to Lordarminius's direct question has "nothing to do with the topic", then why aren't you criticizing Lordarminius for asking me "What's wrong with the book ?" And why aren't you arguing with all the other people here who have pointed out that the API for reading directories is different than the API for reading files, that ioctl is a kitchen sink of non-file-like operations, that many objects in the Unix kernel are simply not files, etc? Or is it just my second criticism of ESR's racism what ticks you off so much that you totally ignored and failed to address my first criticism of his book's factual errors, and incorrectly claimed my reasons for disliking the book are "totally ad hominem"? Go re-read the very first sentence of my reply. I don't see what ESR recasting the Jargon file to reflect his own political beliefs has to do with hacking, but that's what he did, and it's also valid to raise that point when discussing the flaws of other books he wrote. https://news.slashdot.org/story/03/06/08/1534249/esr-recasts-jargon-file-in-own-image https://news.slashdot.org/story/03/06/08/1534249/esr-recasts... http://www.ntk.net/2003/06/06/ http://www.ntk.net/2003/06/06/