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Unix pipelines are small but coupled, not simple, essay argues
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An essay argues that Unix pipelines are small but coupled, and that simplicity should be understood as decoupling rather than small size.
This challenges the common assumption that small tools are simple, suggesting that decoupling is more important for maintainability. Engineers should evaluate tools based on coupling, not just size, and be aware that Unix pipelines can hide complexity.
Written by elseif from the cluster below · every claim links back to a sourceThe three things worth knowing
Unix pipelines like sort | uniq -c couple ordering with aggregation, making them small but not simple.
Simplicity is defined as having one braid, meaning decoupled, not necessarily small.
To build simple programs, we need to decouple concerns, even if it means larger code.
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