Rob Pike on the Origin of Unix Dot File Names
http://xahlee.info/UnixResource_dir/writ/unix_origin_of_dot_filename.html [xahlee.info]
2023-05-10 15:44
tags:
history
Long ago, as the design of the Unix file system was being worked out, the entries . and .. appeared, to make navigation easier....
The Most Expensive One-byte Mistake
https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=2010365 [queue.acm.org]
2023-03-02 07:53
tags:
c
history
phk
Observations for students - Richard Hamming
https://www.ece.uvic.ca/~cai/hamming.pdf [www.ece.uvic.ca]
2022-09-14 16:28
tags:
excellence
history
learning
a. Learn to learn
b. Learn to question things
c. Acquire the permanent habit of learning
On Holy Wars And A Plea For Peace
https://www.rfc-editor.org/ien/ien137.txt [www.rfc-editor.org]
2022-09-13 06:13
tags:
endianness
history
rfc
This is an attempt to stop a war. I hope it is not too late and that somehow, magically perhaps, peace will prevail again.
The latecomers into the arena believe that the issue is: “What is the proper byte order in messages?”.
Lawrence Roberts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Roberts_(scientist) [en.wikipedia.org]
2022-09-13 04:13
tags:
computing
history
network
Lawrence Gilman Roberts (December 21, 1937 – December 26, 2018) was an American engineer...
As a program manager and later office director at the Advanced Research Projects Agency, Roberts and his team created the ARPANET using packet switching techniques invented by British computer scientist Donald Davies and American Paul Baran.
source: book; where wizards stay up late
J. C. R. Licklider
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._R._Licklider [en.wikipedia.org]
2022-09-13 04:09
tags:
computing
history
network
Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider (/ˈlɪklaɪdər/; March 11, 1915 – June 26, 1990), known simply as J. C. R. or “Lick”, was an American psychologist[2] and computer scientist .... He is particularly remembered for being one of the first to foresee modern-style interactive computing and its application to all manner of activities; and also as an Internet pioneer with an early vision of a worldwide computer network long before it was built
source: book; where wizards stay up late
Paul Baran
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Baran [en.wikipedia.org]
2022-09-13 04:04
tags:
history
network
Paul Baran (born Pesach Baran /ˈbærən/; April 29, 1926 – March 26, 2011) was a Polish-American engineer who was a pioneer in the development of computer networks. He was one of the two independent inventors of packet switching.
source: book; where wizards stay up late
The Bikeshed email
http://phk.freebsd.dk/sagas/bikeshed/ [phk.freebsd.dk]
2022-09-03 16:50
tags:
history
kamp
The really, really short answer is that you should not. The somewhat longer answer is that just because you are capable of building a bikeshed does not mean you should stop others from building one just because you do not like the color they plan to paint it. This is a metaphor indicating that you need not argue about every little feature just because you know enough to do so. Some people have commented that the amount of noise generated by a change is inversely proportional to the complexity of the change.