10 ms·

This is really cool. Reminds me of the original Unix was invented in a couple weeks while Ritchie's family went on vacation to CA to visit his in-laws. Source:

This is really cool. Reminds me of the original Unix was invented in a couple weeks while Ritchie's family went on vacation to CA to visit his in-laws. Source: UNIX: A History and a Memoir Paperback – October 18, 2019 by Brian W Kernighan (Author)

balder1991 2y ago
But I think it’s relevant to say that before writing Unix he was working on Multics for a long time already. Unix was a “simplified” version of it, if I remember well. So it didn’t “spring out of thin air.”
- trollerator23 2y ago
  Absolutely.
- fuzztester 2y ago
  >So it didn’t “spring out of thin air.” Right. Almost nothing does. You see, it's https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down
- eichin 2y ago
  Mmm, even early versions ended up being more the "anti-multics" than actually simplified-from, despite the name pun...
- DiggyJohnson 2y ago
  Where did the quoted text come from? Something might have gotten edited.
- teleforce 2y ago
  Unix was a kind of play word for Unique as an anti-thesis for Multics that latter was originally designed for modern multi-user and multi-process OS. Ironically as any real-world OS Unix eventually becomes multi-user system similar to Multics but the name stucked. Granted Unix has a very simple (as in simple as possible but no simpler) multi-user permission and security system that work reliably for many decades until now. Of all the organizations NSA actually even come up with a better replacement for the modern Unix permission and security model with SELinux, but most users just ignored and disabled SELinux although it's installed by default by many major Linux distros [1]. [1] SELinux is unmanageable; just turn it off if it gets in your way: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31176138 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31176138
  - JoeAltmaier 2y ago
    I understood it was Unix for 'one mechanism' or 'unified' instead of the broad everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Multix approach. That was the joke I understood. Notthing about single-user.
  - pjmlp 2y ago
    Not something that you can disable on Android, or on properly managed Linux servers, where devs only get what they should touch on.
  - musicale 2y ago
    "We even knew that it had a joke name, Unix, coined by Brian Kernighan, that was a reference to Multics." https://multicians.org/unix.html https://multicians.org/unix.html "Brian Kernighan takes credit for the idea, but adds that 'no one can remember' the origin of the final spelling Unix." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix Also note that Prof. Kernighan has written a historical memoir about Unix: https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~bwk/ https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~bwk/
naitgacem 2y ago
i thought that story was about 3 programs that were missing, a text editor being one of them. I'll have to check because my memory is failing me atm.
- Zambyte 2y ago
  > I allocated a week each to the operating system, the shell, the editor and the assembler http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050414215646742 http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050414215646742
laxd 2y ago
I think you mean Ken Thompson. I can't be bothered searching through youtube interviews but I'm pretty shure that on more than one occasion, he tells a story something along the lines of having a disk driver, some programs, and maybe some other components. His wife went on a trip and he figured it would be enough time to fill in the gaps and make a complete OS.
- jasone 2y ago
  I'm pretty sure that is mentioned in this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqI7MrtxPnk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqI7MrtxPnk By the way the CHM oral history video series is full of gems.
- mtillman 2y ago
  Yes. But it is written in no edit stone now. I’m sorry for the future google searches in which this received top billing instead of Ken Thompson’s name.
dboreham 2y ago
But Unix itself took many years to write (if you count V7 as "properly finished Unix"). The first version was only a filesystem, for example.
- lproven 2y ago
  So was MS-DOS. Sold in the tens of millions and kick-started the entire x86 PC industry, though. Sometimes small and simple is good.
  - jauntywundrkind 2y ago
    I struggle like hell to imagine what the enduring lasting lessons of DOS are. It doesnt seem to have any real legacy in OS design. Not a single aspect but was copied or emulated or expanded on (although DOS in the whole was cloned purely for sale of having a DOS compatible system). The lesson seems to be: it's a race to the bottom on price. The lesson seems to be: get lucky and have your competitor just happen to be on a trip the day IBM knocks at their door. The lesson seems to be: have a parent who sells your stuff direct the board. The lesson seems to be: take advantage of decades of now-non-existant anti-trust atmosphere to make the world's biggest computer company seek outside OS. DOS itself? I struggle to think of anything remarkable at all. Maybe the availability of very cheap BASIC on-ramps for enthusiasts.
    - lproven 2y ago
      > Not a single aspect but was copied or emulated or expanded on The business computing world still, to this day, largely runs on Windows, and Windows NT was built on the foundations of DOS: it bootstraps from a DOS filesystem, as UEFI still does in 2024, and it could be installed from DOS. It implements an API designed on DOS for a DOS GUI and to this day supports DOS-compatible filenames. All the core system folders in Windows 11 still have DOS-compatible names, from `SYSTEM32` to `SYSWOW64`. DOS itself was emulated by DR-DOS, FreeDOS, PTS-DOS, and other OSes. > it's a race to the bottom on price. Always was, still is. Why do you think Linux does so well? It's not technical merit! > have your competitor just happen to be on a trip the day IBM knocks at their door. Absolutely cast-iron lie, and you should be ashamed of yourself for repeating it.
AlexeyBrin 2y ago
I think you are confusing Dennis Ritchie with Ken Thompson.

balder1991 2y ago

But I think it’s relevant to say that before writing Unix he was working on Multics for a long time already. Unix was a “simplified” version of it, if I remember well. So it didn’t “spring out of thin air.”

trollerator23 2y ago
Absolutely.
fuzztester 2y ago
>So it didn’t “spring out of thin air.” Right. Almost nothing does. You see, it's https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtles_all_the_way_down
eichin 2y ago
Mmm, even early versions ended up being more the "anti-multics" than actually simplified-from, despite the name pun...
DiggyJohnson 2y ago
Where did the quoted text come from? Something might have gotten edited.
teleforce 2y ago
Unix was a kind of play word for Unique as an anti-thesis for Multics that latter was originally designed for modern multi-user and multi-process OS. Ironically as any real-world OS Unix eventually becomes multi-user system similar to Multics but the name stucked. Granted Unix has a very simple (as in simple as possible but no simpler) multi-user permission and security system that work reliably for many decades until now. Of all the organizations NSA actually even come up with a better replacement for the modern Unix permission and security model with SELinux, but most users just ignored and disabled SELinux although it's installed by default by many major Linux distros [1]. [1] SELinux is unmanageable; just turn it off if it gets in your way: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31176138 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31176138
- JoeAltmaier 2y ago
  I understood it was Unix for 'one mechanism' or 'unified' instead of the broad everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Multix approach. That was the joke I understood. Notthing about single-user.
- pjmlp 2y ago
  Not something that you can disable on Android, or on properly managed Linux servers, where devs only get what they should touch on.
- musicale 2y ago
  "We even knew that it had a joke name, Unix, coined by Brian Kernighan, that was a reference to Multics." https://multicians.org/unix.html https://multicians.org/unix.html "Brian Kernighan takes credit for the idea, but adds that 'no one can remember' the origin of the final spelling Unix." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix Also note that Prof. Kernighan has written a historical memoir about Unix: https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~bwk/ https://www.cs.princeton.edu/~bwk/

naitgacem 2y ago

i thought that story was about 3 programs that were missing, a text editor being one of them. I'll have to check because my memory is failing me atm.

Zambyte 2y ago
> I allocated a week each to the operating system, the shell, the editor and the assembler http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050414215646742 http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20050414215646742

laxd 2y ago

I think you mean Ken Thompson. I can't be bothered searching through youtube interviews but I'm pretty shure that on more than one occasion, he tells a story something along the lines of having a disk driver, some programs, and maybe some other components. His wife went on a trip and he figured it would be enough time to fill in the gaps and make a complete OS.

jasone 2y ago
I'm pretty sure that is mentioned in this interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqI7MrtxPnk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqI7MrtxPnk By the way the CHM oral history video series is full of gems.
mtillman 2y ago
Yes. But it is written in no edit stone now. I’m sorry for the future google searches in which this received top billing instead of Ken Thompson’s name.

dboreham 2y ago

But Unix itself took many years to write (if you count V7 as "properly finished Unix"). The first version was only a filesystem, for example.

lproven 2y ago
So was MS-DOS. Sold in the tens of millions and kick-started the entire x86 PC industry, though. Sometimes small and simple is good.
- jauntywundrkind 2y ago
  I struggle like hell to imagine what the enduring lasting lessons of DOS are. It doesnt seem to have any real legacy in OS design. Not a single aspect but was copied or emulated or expanded on (although DOS in the whole was cloned purely for sale of having a DOS compatible system). The lesson seems to be: it's a race to the bottom on price. The lesson seems to be: get lucky and have your competitor just happen to be on a trip the day IBM knocks at their door. The lesson seems to be: have a parent who sells your stuff direct the board. The lesson seems to be: take advantage of decades of now-non-existant anti-trust atmosphere to make the world's biggest computer company seek outside OS. DOS itself? I struggle to think of anything remarkable at all. Maybe the availability of very cheap BASIC on-ramps for enthusiasts.
  - lproven 2y ago
    > Not a single aspect but was copied or emulated or expanded on The business computing world still, to this day, largely runs on Windows, and Windows NT was built on the foundations of DOS: it bootstraps from a DOS filesystem, as UEFI still does in 2024, and it could be installed from DOS. It implements an API designed on DOS for a DOS GUI and to this day supports DOS-compatible filenames. All the core system folders in Windows 11 still have DOS-compatible names, from `SYSTEM32` to `SYSWOW64`. DOS itself was emulated by DR-DOS, FreeDOS, PTS-DOS, and other OSes. > it's a race to the bottom on price. Always was, still is. Why do you think Linux does so well? It's not technical merit! > have your competitor just happen to be on a trip the day IBM knocks at their door. Absolutely cast-iron lie, and you should be ashamed of yourself for repeating it.

AlexeyBrin 2y ago

I think you are confusing Dennis Ritchie with Ken Thompson.