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2007 12 19

Linus: Trial-and-error with feedback rocks!

Linux, Programming, Technology Add comments

Someone said that Linux was progressing only through sheer luck… And this make Linus Torvalds react:

And don’t EVER make the mistake that you can design something better than
what you get from ruthless massively parallel trial-and-error with a feedback cycle. That’s giving your intelligence much too much credit.

Linus was referring to the open source development model (have you read The Cathedral and the Bazaar? You really really should!) compared to the classical corporate model of software development.

And, of course, he is right.

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written by avinash

6 Responses to “Linus: Trial-and-error with feedback rocks!”

  1. Eddy Young says:
    December 19th, 2007 at 15:02

    Granted, Linux is enjoying massive success— But, Linus is pulling this out of his arse again.

    Man was landed on the moon not by trial-and-error, but by thoughtful design and engineering, something that would not be possible or practical if done the way that Linus is suggesting.

    — Eddy

  2. avinash says:
    December 19th, 2007 at 18:03

    Hi Eddy,

    He adds:

    I’m deadly serious: we humans have _never_ been able to replicate something more complicated than what we ourselves are, yet natural selection did it without even thinking.

    He is right of course. Nothing beats trial-and-error with feedback except that this process takes a lot of time. So sometimes, when time is short, we have to use something less “perfect”, thoughtful design :-)

    As far as I understand, design is about choice. And ultimately about the amount of knowledge the designer has. And no one can say that he/she knows everything hence every design is incomplete in some way…

  3. Eddy Young says:
    December 19th, 2007 at 18:40

    So, Linux is a fluke then? ;-)

    — Eddy

  4. avinash says:
    December 19th, 2007 at 18:50

    Yes :-)

    Like you and me!

  5. $3|v3n says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 20:53

    bein wai, trial and error boukou pli interessant pou fer ki all assizE all desinn bann ti dessin pou met dans documentation :p atleast in the end you get something that works, and you get just… build on it or perfect it, there’s something to start with.

    While planning everything soooo (bureaucratically (that’s my way of saying it) it soo much boring and you won’t even the get the “omg i am leet” feeling when your stuff works, because it just is sooo restraining.. enfin sa zis mo lopinion sa.

    do it the dirty way :p do it the brute’s way :p

    en+ avec tou sa dimoune ki pou work on it … it will definitely point to a perfect solution…

    now this doesn’t mean i am saying linux is the best system :p we all know BSD is the best :p

  6. avinash says:
    December 21st, 2007 at 23:38

    Hi Selven,

    For 30 seconds, I thought you were going to say that Linux is the best OS ever ;-)

    Anyway, I am also a big fan of BSD especially because Mac OS X has a BSD affinity.

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