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发信人: ClearMind (我是谁？), 信区: Linux
标 题: [连载]编程之道:Part III(续完:英文)
发信站: BBS 水木清华站 (Mon Oct 23 12:07:47 2000)
<The Tao of Programming> Part III(续完)
=====Part III Begin=================
Corporate Wisdom
Book Seven
_____________________________________________________
Thus spake the master programmer:
"You can demonstrate a program for a corporate
executive, but you can't make him computer literate."
_____________________________________________________
7.1
A novice asked the master: "In the east there is a great
tree-structure that men call 'Corporate Headquarters'. It is
bloated out of shape with vice-presidents and accountants. It
issues a multitude of memos, each saying 'Go, Hence!' or 'Go,
Hither!' and nobody knows what is meant. Every year new names
are put onto the branches, but all to no avail. How can such an
unnatural entity exist?"
The master replies: "You perceive this immense structure and
are disturbed that it has no rational purpose. Can you not take
amusement from its endless gyrations? Do you not enjoy the
untroubled ease of programming beneath its sheltering branches?
Why are you bothered by its uselessness?"
7.2
In the east there is a shark which is larger than all other
fish. It changes into a bird whose winds are like clouds
filling the sky. When this bird moves across the land, it
brings a message from Corporate Headquarters. This message it
drops into the midst of the program- mers, like a seagull
making its mark upon the beach. Then the bird mounts on the
wind and, with the blue sky at its back, returns home.
The novice programmer stares in wonder at the bird, for he
understands it not. The average programmer dreads the coming of
the bird, for he fears its message. The master programmer
continues to work at his terminal, for he does not know that
the bird has come and gone.
7.3
The Magician of the Ivory Tower brought his latest invention
for the master programmer to examine. The magician wheeled a
large black box into the master's office while the master
waited in silence.
"This is an integrated, distributed, general-purpose
workstation," began the magician, "ergonomically designed with
a proprietary operating system, sixth generation languages, and
multiple state of the art user interfaces. It took my
assistants several hundred man years to construct. Is it not
amazing?"
The master raised his eyebrows slightly. "It is indeed
amazing," he said.
"Corporate Headquarters has commanded," continued the magician,
"that everyone use this workstation as a platform for new
programs. Do you agree to this?"
"Certainly," replied the master, "I will have it transported to
the data center immediately!" And the magician returned to his
tower, well pleased.
Several days later, a novice wandered into the office of the
master programmer and said, "I cannot find the listing for my
new program. Do you know where it might be?"
"Yes," replied the master, "the listings are stacked on the
platform in the data center."
7.4
The master programmer moves from program to program without
fear. No change in management can harm him. He will not be
fired, even if the project is canceled. Why is this? He is
filled with the Tao.
_________________________________________________________________
Hardware and Software
Book Eight
_____________________________________________________
Thus spake the master programmer:
"Without the wind, the grass does not move.
Without software, hardware is useless."
_____________________________________________________
8.1
A novice asked the master: "I perceive that one computer
company is much larger than all others. It towers above its
competition like a giant among dwarfs. Any one of its divisions
could comprise an entire business. Why is this so?"
The master replied, "Why do you ask such foolish questions?
That company is large because it is so large. If it only made
hardware, nobody would buy it. If it only maintained systems,
people would treat it like a servant. But because it combines
all of these things, people think it one of the gods! By not
seeking to strive, it conquers without effort."
8.2
A master programmer passed a novice programmer one day. The
master noted the novice's preoccupation with a hand-held
computer game. "Excuse me", he said, "may I examine it?"
The novice bolted to attention and handed the device to the
master. "I see that the device claims to have three levels of
play: Easy, Medium, and Hard", said the master. "Yet every such
device has another level of play, where the device seeks not to
conquer the human, nor to be conquered by the human."
"Pray, great master," implored the novice, "how does one find
this mysterious setting?"
The master dropped the device to the ground and crushed it
under foot. And suddenly the novice was enlightened.
8.3
There was once a programmer who worked upon microprocessors.
"Look at how well off I am here," he said to a mainframe
programmer who came to visit, "I have my own operating system
and file storage device. I do not have to share my resources
with anyone. The software is self-consistent and easy-to-use.
Why do you not quit your present job and join me here?"
The mainframe programmer then began to describe his system to
his friend, saying: "The mainframe sits like an ancient sage
meditating in the midst of the data center. Its disk drives lie
end-to-end like a great ocean of machinery. The software is a
multi-faceted as a diamond and as convoluted as a primeval
jungle. The programs, each unique, move through the system like
a swift-flowing river. That is why I am happy where I am."
The microcomputer programmer, upon hearing this, fell silent.
But the two programmers remained friends until the end of their
days.
8.4
Hardware met Software on the road to Changtse. Software said:
"You are the Yin and I am the Yang. If we travel together we
will become famous and earn vast sums of money." And so the
pair set forth together, thinking to conquer the world.
Presently, they met Firmware, who was dressed in tattered rags,
and hobbled along propped on a thorny stick. Firmware said to
them: "The Tao lies beyond Yin and Yang. It is silent and still
as a pool of water. It does not seek fame, therefore nobody
knows its presence. It does not seeks fortune, for it is
complete within itself. It exists beyond space and time."
Software and Hardware, ashamed, returned to their homes.
_________________________________________________________________
Epilogue
Book Nine
_____________________________________________________
Thus spake the master programmer:
"Time for you to leave."
编程大师如是说:
“该是你出师的时候啦。”
（载注：看到此处不仅抚键一笑，深感可意会不可言传之道之妙。非不能
也，乃因道一经口舌，只能表其一面；而道乃完满，难道其全。
是故不道，令众人自悟之也。GNU之黑客道之吸引力足可鉴之。）
_____________________________________________________
=====Part III End: Book 7/8/9=======
公元2000年10月23日，《编程之道》（The Tao of Programming）分三部分
转载。希望众位道友编程悟道，以完编程人生，不亦乐乎！
ClearMind于清华科技园，与道友共勉。
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