I’m kind of annoyed by the bait and switch of the title. It’s a play on Knuth’s classic but then turns into showing why Unix/Linux is better than Windows, etc.
As a disclaimer: I really don’t respect ESR and his work, and admire Brian Kernighan immensely. Very odd to be in a situation where those names are put side by side. Just want to call out that I do have bias on the people here. Don’t want to get into why as that’s not constructive.
I wasn't aware of the bait and switch at the time I read it, but I did really enjoy the history of how the Unix/Linux ethic came together and evolved over time. Had I heard of The Unix Programming Environment when I read it in 2014 I may have gone with that instead, as I was looking for something more along the lines of a technical handbook rather than a code of ethics.
Yeah and ESR can be revisionist in his history, projecting intention on something organic. He alienated a lot of people over time with this… and other behavior.
The book I recommended is both a handbook and a “how to think.” It applies forward to things introduced well after the book. But it also helped me understand why the Byzantine behavior of a tty is what it is.
If you are interested in the history from a first person perspective, I do recommend Kernighan’s “Unix: A History and a Memoir”. He went from originally trying to write something objective to realizing it was necessarily his personal experience. Even the culture aspect of his story has influenced how I try to foster teamwork. It was an engaging read for me.
I felt it was a good dive into "good" programs at a bit of higher level, rather than "here's how to do X". Quite a bit applies to Windows software and other software that never touches Unix as well.
Some bits are better than others, some bits haven't aged too well in the last 20 years, and it's a shame esr has since turned crazy. But I still feel the book holds up reasonably well.
"Bait and switch" certainly seems too strong of an accusation, especially for a book that's available for free.
I do agree that even pre-crazy esr was never on the level of Kernighan in any way.
How does this compare to The Art of Unix Programming, if you've read both?