The nervous novice ...

[GreyGeek]

http://catb.org/esr/writings/unix-koans/nervous.html

Master Foo and the Nervous Novice

There was a novice who learned much at the Master's feet, but felt something to be missing. After meditating on his doubts for some time, he found the courage to approach Master Foo about his problem.

“Master Foo,” he asked “why do Unix users not employ antivirus programs? And defragmentors? And malware cleaners?”

Master Foo smiled, and said “When your house is well constructed, there is no need to add pillars to keep the roof in place.”

The novice replied “Would it not be better to use these things anyway, just to be certain?”

Master Foo reached for a nearby ball of string, and began wrapping it around the novice's feet.

“What are you doing?” the novice asked in surprise.

Master Foo replied simply: “Tying your shoes.”

Upon hearing this, the novice was enlightened.

Read more of Master Foo's sayings here:

Rootless Root
The Unix Koans of Master Foo

[Zhao]

Re: The nervous novice ...

Really nice Thanks for sharing.

[dibl]

Re: The nervous novice ...

Heh heh heh -- there went 30 very enjoyable minutes!

Thanks, GG!

[askrieger]

Re: The nervous novice ...

Yet more thanks. I've always been a fan of ESR, mainly because I think he's much more pragmatic than RMS, but I hadn't visited his site in (quite literally) years. Now, I've added it to my faves.

[GreyGeek]

Re: The nervous novice ...

Rob Landley believes that Eric S Raymond is the heir-apparent to RMS. I tend to agree. He has the same fighting spirit but is more ... diplomatic. They are both around 40 yrs old, +- 5, and still contribute significantly to FOSS at the development level.
Here's Eric's list accompishments:
http://catb.org/esr/software.html

Rob Landley

Rob Landley started programming at age 12. He's spoken at Ottawa Linux Symposium, wrote the kernel's initramfs documentation, co-founded Penguicon, maintained BusyBox and set up open source license enforcement for it through the SFLC, wrote three years of weekly investment columns for the Motley Fool, and once threw a bowl of liquid nitrogen into a swimming pool which has since been viewed over 3 million times on youtube. He currently maintains the Firmware Linux embedded build system, which cross compiles so you don't have to. He also does contract coding to support himself and his family and weaves chain mail.

[askrieger]

Re: The nervous novice ...

They are both around 40 yrs old, +- 5,

Actually, RMS: 57, ESR: 53. Whew, for a minute there, I thought I'd imagined the last twelve years.

[Detonate]

Re: The nervous novice ...

I read all of them. I even understood some of them.

[kyonides]

Re: The nervous novice ...

I guess something similar happened to me, Detonate. Probably I need to get more involved in the Linux world to understand the rest of it but the koan concerning the leaves that won't return to their branches was quite clear for me

[GreyGeek]

Re: The nervous novice ...

They are both around 40 yrs old, +- 5,

Actually, RMS: 57, ESR: 53. Whew, for a minute there, I thought I'd imagined the last twelve years.

I was, although my writing didn't show it ( ), referring to Rod and Eric, that's why I cited their work. I didn't realize that ESR was that old. I should have looked it up.