3 ms·

Interview with Bill Joy (1984)

28 points by 6ren 14y ago

atsaloli 14y ago
Thank you! I really enjoyed that. Here is a 1999 interview with Bill Joy on the design of vi: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/09/11/bill_joys_greatest_gift/print.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/09/11/bill_joys_greatest_g...
- mmahemoff 14y ago
  While we're at it, his AI warning from 2000: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html
- pasbesoin 14y ago
  In that article , George Coulouris cites a description of em linked to at the following page: http://www.dcs.qmul.ac.uk/~george/history/index.html http://www.dcs.qmul.ac.uk/~george/history/index.html Unfortunately, that page is 403 and archive.org never captured a working copy of it [1] -- in case anyone is in a position to address this. -- I see one copy from 2010; however, it is simply the 403 message: http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~george/history/index.html http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/... http://web.archive.org/web/20100818011111/http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~george/history/index.html http://web.archive.org/web/20100818011111/http://www.eecs.qm...
  - georgio8 14y ago
    I've got the same material (and more) on my personal website at: http://www.coulouris.net/cs_history/em_story/ http://www.coulouris.net/cs_history/em_story/ There's complete source code for 'em' there too. George Coulouris
pfraze 14y ago
This is really insightful read. > I think the wonderful thing about vi is that it has such a good market share because we gave it away. Everybody has it now. So it actually had a chance to become part of what is perceived as basic UNIX. EMACS is a nice editor too, but because it costs hundreds of dollars, there will always be people who won't buy it.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- damian2000 14y ago
  Its hard to imagine unix without vi; I didn't realise there was a time when it wasn't there.
  - georgemcbay 14y ago
    ed is the standard editor.
  - pdw 14y ago
    Also hard to imagine paying $400 (source: http://www.jwz.org/doc/emacs-timeline.html http://www.jwz.org/doc/emacs-timeline.html) for a text editor. Even if it's Emacs.
- stevenrace 14y ago
  FWIW, 'EMACS' referenced here is not the 'GNU Emacs' which we are familiar with today - but from Gosling/Unipress. Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3427495 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3427495
SparrowOS 14y ago
I find this funny.
dm8 14y ago
It must have been one hell of a time during 60s/70s as a student at UC Berkeley's CS dept. You had opportunity to work with folks like Joy, Thompson etc. (who were also students) who became legends of the field by contributing things like UNIX, BSD, vi etc.

28 points by 6ren 14y ago

Thank you! I really enjoyed that. Here is a 1999 interview with Bill Joy on the design of vi: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/09/11/bill_joys_greatest_gift/print.html http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/09/11/bill_joys_greatest_g...

mmahemoff 14y ago
While we're at it, his AI warning from 2000: http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html
pasbesoin 14y ago
In that article , George Coulouris cites a description of em linked to at the following page: http://www.dcs.qmul.ac.uk/~george/history/index.html http://www.dcs.qmul.ac.uk/~george/history/index.html Unfortunately, that page is 403 and archive.org never captured a working copy of it [1] -- in case anyone is in a position to address this. -- I see one copy from 2010; however, it is simply the 403 message: http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~george/history/index.html http://wayback.archive.org/web/*/http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/... http://web.archive.org/web/20100818011111/http://www.eecs.qmul.ac.uk/~george/history/index.html http://web.archive.org/web/20100818011111/http://www.eecs.qm...
- georgio8 14y ago
  I've got the same material (and more) on my personal website at: http://www.coulouris.net/cs_history/em_story/ http://www.coulouris.net/cs_history/em_story/ There's complete source code for 'em' there too. George Coulouris

pfraze 14y ago

This is really insightful read. > I think the wonderful thing about vi is that it has such a good market share because we gave it away. Everybody has it now. So it actually had a chance to become part of what is perceived as basic UNIX. EMACS is a nice editor too, but because it costs hundreds of dollars, there will always be people who won't buy it.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
damian2000 14y ago
Its hard to imagine unix without vi; I didn't realise there was a time when it wasn't there.
- georgemcbay 14y ago
  ed is the standard editor.
- pdw 14y ago
  Also hard to imagine paying $400 (source: http://www.jwz.org/doc/emacs-timeline.html http://www.jwz.org/doc/emacs-timeline.html) for a text editor. Even if it's Emacs.
stevenrace 14y ago
FWIW, 'EMACS' referenced here is not the 'GNU Emacs' which we are familiar with today - but from Gosling/Unipress. Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3427495 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3427495

SparrowOS 14y ago

I find this funny.

dm8 14y ago

It must have been one hell of a time during 60s/70s as a student at UC Berkeley's CS dept. You had opportunity to work with folks like Joy, Thompson etc. (who were also students) who became legends of the field by contributing things like UNIX, BSD, vi etc.