Slides: UNIX and "Worse is Better"

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# UNIX and "Worse is Better"
## CSC 213 – December  8, 2025

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# Agenda for Today
1. Department Events
2. Upcoming Work
3. Reading Discussion
4. Wrap Up

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# Department Events

## CS Table: Nvidia and OpenAI Infrastructure
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  Tuesday, December 9th at noon in JRC 224C
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*To receive 0.25% extra credit, send an email to let me know you attended no more than 48 hours after the event.*

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# Upcoming Work

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# Lab: P2P
**Due:** Wednesday, December 10th by 11:59pm  
**Late Deadline:** Wednesday, December 17th by 11:59pm

## Q&A
**What can we send through sockets?**  
You can transmit any bytes you want, whether they are individual characters or the bytes that make up a struct filled with all different types of data.
The one thing you probably don't want to transmit is a **pointer**, since that pointer is only valid in the address space of the process that created it.

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# Project
**Presentations:** Thursday, December 18th during final exam time  
**Implementation Due:** Friday, December 19th by 5pm *(college-mandated deadline)*

Keep in touch with your project groups, and make sure you're prioritizing tasks that help you cover course concepts.

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# Reading Discussion

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# *Worse is Better:* Basic Concepts
Instead of our usual pairs, we will switch to small groups (3–5 students) after an initial reflection period.

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**Questions for think, pair, share:**

1. What is the MIT approach?

2. What is the New Jersey approach?

*Start by thinking of answers on your own. I will let you know when to start discussion.*

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# *Worse is Better:* Author's Perspective
**Questions for think, pair, share:**

1. Why does Gabriel refer to C and UNIX as "the ultimate computer viruses?"

2. Which approach do you think Gabriel prefers? Why does he prefer it?

*Start by thinking of answers on your own. I will let you know when to start discussion.*

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# *Worse is Better:* Your Perspective
**Questions for think, pair, share:**

1. Which approach do you prefer? Why?

2. Which approach are using for your final project? Why?

*Start by thinking of answers on your own. I will let you know when to start discussion.*

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# UNIX: Basics
**Questions for think, pair, share:**

1. What is UNIX?

2. When and where was UNIX developed?

3. Why was UNIX developed?

*Start by thinking of answers on your own. I will let you know when to start discussion.*

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# UNIX: Good Ideas
**Questions for think, pair, share:**

1. What ideas from UNIX have had long-term impact?

2. Why do you think those ideas had impact over such a long period?

*Start by thinking of answers on your own. I will let you know when to start discussion.*

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# UNIX: Less-Good Ideas
**Questions for think, pair, share:**

1. What ideas in UNIX have changed significantly since the original version?

2. Why do you think these these ideas didn't last?

*Start by thinking of answers on your own. I will let you know when to start discussion.*

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# Discussion: Takeaways
**Questions for think, pair, share:**

1. Does either reading change how you think about building systems? How?

*Start by thinking of answers on your own. I will let you know when to start discussion.*

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# Wrap Up

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# Reminders

## Lab
The P2P lab is due this Wednesday.
Make sure you have a plan to work with your group.

## Project
Continue work on your projects.
Talk to me if you run into major issues or if you need to make a big change in your project plans.

## Need Help?
My office hours schedule is back to normal, and mentor sessions are continuing on their regular schedule.

I will have office hours during finals week, but it will be on a different schedule.
The updated schedule should be available before Friday this week.