Excelente ensayo, Biculturalism, de Joel Spolsky sobre las diferencias entre los programadores de Windows y Unix, aprovechando la lectura del libro The Art of Unix Programming. Su conclusión, más bien premisa, pero bueno, es que la diferencia es cultural, producto de la evolución de ambas plataformas:
What are the cultural differences between Unix and Windows programmers? There are many details and subtleties, but for the most part it comes down to one thing: Unix culture values code which is useful to other programmers, while Windows culture values code which is useful to non-programmers.
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How did we get different core values? This is another reason Raymond’s book is so good: he goes deeply into the history and evolution of Unix and brings new programmers up to speed with all the accumulated history of the culture back to 1969. When Unix was created and when it formed its cultural values, there were no end users. Computers were expensive, CPU time was expensive, and learning about computers meant learning how to program. It’s no wonder that the culture which emerged valued things which are useful to other programmers. By contrast, Windows was created with one goal only: to sell as many copies as conceivable at a profit. Scrillions of copies. «A computer on every desktop and in every home» was the explicit goal of the team which created Windows, set its agenda and determined its core values. Ease of use for non-programmers was the only way to get on every desk and in every home and thus usability über alles became the cultural norm. Programmers, as an audience, were an extreme afterthought.
La lectura es muy interesante.
[Estoy escuchando: «Dumbo drop» de Le diablo Mariachi en el disco Fanatique fantastique]