3 ms·
A classic, from http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html > There was once a programme
by eesmith 4y ago
A classic, from http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html http://www.canonical.org/~kragen/tao-of-programming.html
> There was once a programmer who was attached to the court of the warlord of Wu. The warlord asked the programmer: ``Which is easier to design: an accounting package or an operating system?''
> ``An operating system,'' replied the programmer.
> The warlord uttered an exclamation of disbelief. ``Surely an accounting package is trivial next to the complexity of an operating system,'' he said.
> ``Not so,'' said the programmer, ``when designing an accounting package, the programmer operates as a mediator between people having different ideas: how it must operate, how its reports must appear, and how it must conform to the tax laws. By contrast, an operating system is not limited by outside appearances. When designing an operating system, the programmer seeks the simplest harmony between machine and ideas. This is why an operating system is easier to design.''
> The warlord of Wu nodded and smiled. ``That is all good and well, but which is easier to debug?''
> The programmer made no reply.
- AnhTho_FR 4y agoOMG love the story, thanks for sharing!
- PaulHoule 4y agoApplications programming has a complexity of it's own that's distinct from the problems in systems programming.
- alex_suzuki 4y agoThoughtful, and made me laugh. Thanks!
- bombcar 4y agoHeh, I'd say the operating system is easier to debug, because the accounting package could literally have "bugs" that are caused by errors in the tax laws, business processes, etc, which cannot be fixed, only worked around.
- teddyh 4y agoThe linked page does not show it, but The Tao of Programming is actually a book which you can buy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Programming https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tao_of_Programming I own a copy; it’s great.
- buescher 4y agoWhich came first? I am pretty sure it was computer accounting systems. Which is older, the oldest continuously supported operating system, or the oldest continuously supported (computer) accounting system?
- eesmith 4y agoThe oldest computer accounting system was likely LEO - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LEO_(computer), online in 1951 and doing accounts probably by 1955, if not earlier. I believe it predate operating systems by a few years. (Wikipedia claims the first OS was the GM-NAA I/O, produced in 1956.)