this post was submitted on 22 Mar 2024
639 points (96.0% liked)

linuxmemes

21251 readers
1492 users here now

Hint: :q!


Sister communities:


Community rules (click to expand)

1. Follow the site-wide rules

2. Be civil
  • Understand the difference between a joke and an insult.
  • Do not harrass or attack members of the community for any reason.
  • Leave remarks of "peasantry" to the PCMR community. If you dislike an OS/service/application, attack the thing you dislike, not the individuals who use it. Some people may not have a choice.
  • Bigotry will not be tolerated.
  • These rules are somewhat loosened when the subject is a public figure. Still, do not attack their person or incite harrassment.
  • 3. Post Linux-related content
  • Including Unix and BSD.
  • Non-Linux content is acceptable as long as it makes a reference to Linux. For example, the poorly made mockery of sudo in Windows.
  • No porn. Even if you watch it on a Linux machine.
  • 4. No recent reposts
  • Everybody uses Arch btw, can't quit Vim, and wants to interject for a moment. You can stop now.

  • Please report posts and comments that break these rules!

    founded 1 year ago
    MODERATORS
    639
    submitted 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
     

    Though the Windows thing was really funny ๐Ÿ˜‚.

    you are viewing a single comment's thread
    view the rest of the comments
    [โ€“] [email protected] 95 points 7 months ago (15 children)

    the linux-file-deletion is used as a example for good software design. It has a very simple interface with little room for error while doing exactly what the caller intended.

    In John Ousterhout's "software design philosophy" a chapter is called "define errors out of existence". In windows "delete" is defined as "the file is gone from the HDD". So it must wait for all processes to release that file. In Linux "unlink" is defined as "the file can't be accessed anymore". So the file is gone from the filesystem immediately and existing file-handles from other processes will life on.

    The trade-off here is: "more errors for the caller of delete" vs "more errors due to filehandles to dead files". And as it turns out, the former creates issues for both developers and for users, while the later creates virtually no errors in practice.

    [โ€“] [email protected] 116 points 7 months ago (12 children)

    doing exactly what the caller intended.

    No, no. Exactly what the user told it to do. Not what they intended. There's a difference.

    [โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    Machines will always do what you tell them to do, as long as you do what they say.

    [โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 7 months ago

    What do they say?

    load more comments (1 replies)
    load more comments (10 replies)
    load more comments (12 replies)