The Art of Unix Programming
The Art of Unix Programming by Eric Raymondby Eric Raymond
Shares rank 59 of 115 programming books by recommenders
Recommended for its Unix design lessons, including connecting programs to users' existing knowledge. One critic found its object-orientation coverage overblown.
Recommended for its Unix design lessons, including connecting programs to users' existing knowledge. One critic found its object-orientation coverage overblown.
5 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 4
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 80%
Recommended in 3 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 4 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 4 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 3 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Programs that fit existing user knowledge
“the easiest programs to use are those that most effectively connect to the user's pre-existing knowledge”
Comment from 12 Apr 2026 in “Bring Back Idiomatic Design”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Overemphasis on object-orientation
“I have read "The Art of Unix Programming", where a very big fuss is made over object-orientation.”
Comment from 23 Dec 2025 in “Oberon et al., vs. Rust”
Other programming books people recommend
The four most recommended other programming books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crafting Interpretersby Robert Nystrom | 60 | 4 | 94% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Clean Codeby Robert C. Martin | 31 | 87 | 26% | 9 | — | — |
| The Pragmatic Programmerby Hunt and Thomas | 28 | 1 | 97% | 7 | — | Approved |
| How to Design Programsby Felleisen, Findler, Flatt and Krishnamurthi | 18 | 2 | 90% | 7 | — | Approved |
| The Art of Unix Programmingby Eric RaymondThis page | 4 | 1 | 80% | 3 | — | — |
What people said
2 of the 5 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“the easiest programs to use are those that most effectively connect to the user's pre-existing knowledge”
“I have read "The Art of Unix Programming", where a very big fuss is made over object-orientation.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.