Re: [PLUG] Why = history (was Re: ...PLUG Central - "OpenVPN" by Keith C. Perry (7pm at USP))

[bergman@merctech.com]

In the message dated: Fri, 06 Nov 2015 12:33:34 -0500,
The pithy ruminations from JP Vossen on 
<[PLUG] Why = history (was Re: ...PLUG Central - "OpenVPN" by Keith C. Perry (7pm at USP))> were:
=> On 11/05/2015 10:00 PM, Mike DePaulo wrote:
=> [...]
=> > I have recently come to learn that many designs we encounter today do
=> > not make sense at all unless you understand the history of prior
=> > designs. Keith's talk was the perfect demonstration of this.
=> 
=> Yes!  I've always wanted to know "why" partly because I'm just curious
=> and partly because it helps me understand and remember.  I find that is
=> especially true in the Unix/Linux world, which has such a neat history
=> and does have solid reasons for almost all of the stuff that looks odd
=> today.  (I suspect the same for medicine and law, but can't prove it.)

I'd put "Life With Unix" on the top of the list... Used copies are $0.03 (plus
shipping), so you can't go wrong:

	http://www.amazon.com/Life-UNIX-A-Guide-Everyone/dp/0135366577

Of course, The Unix Programming Environment by Kernighan and Pike has
a lot of the history as well, but it's much less conscious about being
_historic_, so it often implies the "why" without giving it explicitly.

=> 
=> For my money, the best books on this are:
=> 1) _Absolute FreeBSD_
=> 2) _UNIX Power Tools_
=> 3) _Essential System Administration_
=> 
=> If you only get one, get _Absolute FreeBSD_.  The others are still great
=> and have tons of tools, tips, and techniques, but I found I really got a
=> lot of the "why" out of the first one.
=> 
=> Bonus coolness, not quite the same thing, but:
=> * https://github.com/dspinellis/unix-history-repo

Nice.

=> 
=> Later,
=> JP
=> ----------------------------|:::======|-------------------------------
=> JP Vossen, CISSP            |:::======|      http://bashcookbook.com/
=> My Account, My Opinions     |=========|      http://www.jpsdomain.org/
=> ----------------------------|=========|-------------------------------
=> "Microsoft Tax" = the additional hardware & yearly fees for the add-on
=> software required to protect Windows from its own poorly designed and
=> implemented self, while the overhead incidentally flattens Moore's Law.

-- 
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