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This project embodies Donald Knuth's principle of being the author of software, rather than just consumers of other's APIs. Yes, it takes patience and chutzpah

This project embodies Donald Knuth's principle of being the author of software, rather than just consumers of other's APIs. Yes, it takes patience and chutzpah, but I can also imagine how satisfying it is to build something from scratch and see all the pieces coming together into a working OS. And if you put your heart (and time) to it, you can build anything from scratch. A lesson the newer generation of developers still haven't fully grasped. Congrats, good luck, and carry on!

stavros 4y ago
> This project embodies Donald Knuth's principle of being the author of software, rather than just consumers of other's APIs. I feel that this comment unfairly criticizes people who build on other things. This OS runs on hardware, which is someone else's API, and is a hobby project, as far as I can tell. If someone wants to build something cool that uses others' APIs as a hobby project, more power to them.
- yardshop 4y ago
  It's not criticizing anything at all, just suggesting an alternative. We're all always using products that are other people's work, why not ALSO work on something where you author and build your own system?
  - stavros 4y ago
    Ah, I thought you were talking about projects that make something novel vs projects that glue together APIs to create something new. I see what you mean now, sorry.
    - yardshop 4y ago
      I'm not who you initially replied to, but I just felt he wasn't being critical of something else, just promoting an idea that is also of good value. I think there's value in creating new things by combining existing ones as well.
  - urthor 4y ago
    Whilst that's a valid point of view, it needs to be balanced against good old "don't reinvent the wheel." I'm not quite sure how I would marry those two concepts.
  - origin_path 4y ago
    Seen another way, SerenityOS is almost entirely built on the work of others. Code isn't the hard part in any software project, it's usually the design and architecture that's the hard part (the source of competitive advantage). The reason Andreas was able to build a community around SerenityOS so fast is the same reason Stallman/Linus were able to do so - everything about it is a direct clone of designs proven out by commercial OS vendors. The core is UNIX (well understood) and the GUI is Windows 2000 (well understood). The code may be fresh, but even there, it is just an ordinary C++ based OS, as conventional as can be. This means working on it is fun for the developers because there are relatively few debates over direction or design, and little risk - you know what you're getting right from the start. But to claim that such a project is doing it all from scratch zero-rates the design aspect, which seems wrong.
- low_tech_punk 4y ago
  Thanks yardshop for clarifying my point of view. And I agree with you stavros. There should be multiple ways of building things, some of which must be practical. Most of our day-to-day job should not be building things from scratch, even though there is a lot of fun in doing so :)

stavros 4y ago

> This project embodies Donald Knuth's principle of being the author of software, rather than just consumers of other's APIs. I feel that this comment unfairly criticizes people who build on other things. This OS runs on hardware, which is someone else's API, and is a hobby project, as far as I can tell. If someone wants to build something cool that uses others' APIs as a hobby project, more power to them.

yardshop 4y ago
It's not criticizing anything at all, just suggesting an alternative. We're all always using products that are other people's work, why not ALSO work on something where you author and build your own system?
- stavros 4y ago
  Ah, I thought you were talking about projects that make something novel vs projects that glue together APIs to create something new. I see what you mean now, sorry.
  - yardshop 4y ago
    I'm not who you initially replied to, but I just felt he wasn't being critical of something else, just promoting an idea that is also of good value. I think there's value in creating new things by combining existing ones as well.
- urthor 4y ago
  Whilst that's a valid point of view, it needs to be balanced against good old "don't reinvent the wheel." I'm not quite sure how I would marry those two concepts.
- origin_path 4y ago
  Seen another way, SerenityOS is almost entirely built on the work of others. Code isn't the hard part in any software project, it's usually the design and architecture that's the hard part (the source of competitive advantage). The reason Andreas was able to build a community around SerenityOS so fast is the same reason Stallman/Linus were able to do so - everything about it is a direct clone of designs proven out by commercial OS vendors. The core is UNIX (well understood) and the GUI is Windows 2000 (well understood). The code may be fresh, but even there, it is just an ordinary C++ based OS, as conventional as can be. This means working on it is fun for the developers because there are relatively few debates over direction or design, and little risk - you know what you're getting right from the start. But to claim that such a project is doing it all from scratch zero-rates the design aspect, which seems wrong.
low_tech_punk 4y ago
Thanks yardshop for clarifying my point of view. And I agree with you stavros. There should be multiple ways of building things, some of which must be practical. Most of our day-to-day job should not be building things from scratch, even though there is a lot of fun in doing so :)