What UNIX Cost Us
summary
Describes having rewrote libusb in Rust to talk to a USB product across Windows (WinUSB), macOS (IOKit plugin interfaces) and Linux (udev, sysfs, functionfs) and finds Windows and macOS APIs more straightforward while Linux’s echo-to-files and magical directories are brittle. Argues UNIX I/O model (blocking, select/poll) forces awkward workarounds until recent kernel changes like IO_uring added recently, shows C’s mismatch with modern superscalar/vector CPUs (Spectre/Meltdown fallout), and warns that UNIX philosophy and meritocracy mindset now gate innovation.
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chapters (9)
- 0:00Introduction to UNIX
- 1:26USB programming challenges
- 8:11File systems and USB
- 10:41UNIX I/O evolution
- 14:20Modern I/O hardware
- 17:23The C language's limitations
- 22:18The UNIX philosophy
- 25:45UNIX and user experience
- 29:14Final thoughts and community
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