Re: Coding style - a non-issue

Daniel Phillips
2001-12-03T08:51:37Z

On December 2, 2001 09:25 pm, Larry McVoy wrote:
> On Sat, Dec 01, 2001 at 08:18:06PM -0300, Horst von Brand wrote:
> > Victor Yodaiken <yodaiken@fsmlabs.com> said:
> > > Linux is what it is because of design, not accident. And you know
> > > that better than anyone.
> >
> > I'd say it is better because the mutations themselves (individual patches)
> > go through a _very_ harsh evaluation before being applied in the
"official"
> > sources.
>
> Which is exactly Victor's point. That evaluation is the design.

Nope, that isn't design, that's reacting.

> If the mutation argument held water then Linus would apply *ALL* patches
> and then remove the bad ones. But he doesn't. Which just goes to show
> that on this mutation nonsense, he's just spouting off.

Hogwash ;) Please see my post above where I point out 'evolution isn't
random'. Your genes have a plan, if only a vague one. It goes something
like this: "we'll allow random variations, but only along certain lines,
within limits, and in certain combinations, and we'll try to stick to
variations that haven't killed us in the past."

Sounds a lot like how Linus does things, huh?

I'm sure Linus does have quite considerable talent for design, but I haven't
seen him execise it much. Mostly he acts as a kind of goodness daemon,
sitting in his little pinhole and letting what he considers 'good' stuff pass
into the box. There's no doubt about it, it's different from the way you
like to develop, you and me both. Equally clearly, it works pretty well.

--
Daniel