[long rant alert] no matter how Prof Wirth "Plea for Lean Software, making things complex always pays better.
Self-inflicted complexity for the sake of adding a buffering of layer upon layer of abstraction so that object might be represented in a more human context, rather than in the context of the stupefying technical details occurring on the hardware level of memory management. In general, I wish to at least tinker around with crafting some kind of piggy-back off of some Linux From Scratch project to patch together a system suited for the tasks I am caught up in, and to free resources (including my attention). The system would be simple but powerful as a mathematical assistant.
That making things more complex provides professionals with careers is a frightening reality I had not considered. How naive I have been all my life, even as an aging rotten-toothed mad part-dog/part-man beast-machine. Still, I have lurked into modern C++, and, even as I might be fascinated by the Concepts being implemented by 'the eggheads,' I still get more fulfillment designing programs that perform one particular mathematical task. It is no wonder that I would be drawn to the concept or idea of creating Matrix objects from scratch rather than have to rely on oh-so-complex libraries with dependencies.
Note that the term 'eggheads' was used by my paternal grandfather, never for one minute believing that he was an egghead himself. Maybe some are brainwashed to believe that they themselves are the eggheads, and this massages their ever-so-sensitive narcissistic egos. There may be relatively few genuine eggheads who might bring some order to the chaos of modern computing, but they would have to be a dictator of sorts who would shut down this corrupting influence.
It must have happened in literature as well. That is the trail which Toole's
A Confederacy of Dunces leads to, the mischief in the publishing industry, the goings on right there on the east coast of Turtle Island. These corrupting complexities cause mayhem, and our age is not peculiar in this respect. Even in the Far East long ago, the "Religious and Pious" were influenced by their Darker Shadows. People would pay for "enlightenment" the same way modern day contemporary students pay for "degrees".
It is all so bloody corrupt, but this makes a hobbyist interest all the more compelling.
If I end up living isolated in the mountains, I will want my personal operating system to be minimalistic, lean, mean, and loaded with essential mathematics-oriented computer algebra system 'ecosystem' --- with personnel library of 'mathcodes' in my ~/bin. This is what I mean by 'simple'. I want that kind of simplicity as far as dependencies. It is alright to be eccentric in such a world. There are traps and pitfalls.
Thank you for sharing your dark and cynical perspective with me. This helps me understand my 'failures' to thrive economically throughout my life. Even without the corrupting influence of money, there is a level of complexity inherent in the systems themselves, dependencies that the so-called eggheads take for granted.
Things like the iostream of C++ ... There is an old book written by the author of this iostream library. It would take me a lifetime to comprehend it. The complexity of modern computing is daunting, and part of me wishes it might modernize its interaction with the machinery by enforcing a simple and minimalistic approach to setting up environments for interacting with 'digital computers'. It might be purist impulses, hobbyist tinkering, or just a last refuge for my dwindling will to live ... an interest to keep me waking up in the morning or baking more bread.
It is all tiresome for me, I tend to understand the system well in order to do anything ( this is the reason the underground man explains that he couldn't do anything, he needs a ground to stand on but it all murky). after long time to understand the mayhem of modern computing it is lackluster. the dependency hell is maddening.
In the novel, This Perfect Day, by Ira Levin, Chip's grandfather, one of the original computer programmers was able to see the ugliness [TOTAL RATIONAL MACHINE SYSTEM] underneath the UniComp World Computer System DICTATOR of The Human Family. They were all medicated and had State-sponsored counselors and advisers, much like social workers of today. Creepy read.
Dependency Hell. It appears as though the most influential eggheads want us all to depend upon their libraries, hence their tendency to scoff at those of us who prefer to explore and experiment and LEARN BY OUR OWN MISTAKES, experiencing the joy of building our own little brute-force Frankensteins that are simple enough for us to enjoy creating and working with.
It is all so very disheartening. No wonder there is this ambience of disillusionment.
dependency hell ... a reflection of the macrocosmic social worlds ... from fuel to grocery stores ... existential helplessness ...
I think that if I live to be an old man, the code I have written might help me reflect upon the math behind them, and rekindle an interest.
For me, it is all a trick to keep the Steppenwolf from taking an eternal nap.
How about the slogan, "Linux From Scratch, an alternative to suicide ..." ?
or, more honestly, maybe give
Alpine Linux a try instead of troubleshooting CMake/ZLIB issue on Kiss Linux. I can learn about s6/s6-rc using Artix and pacman. Alpine uses OpenRC like Funtoo, but there is the epro/ego/emerge learning curve with USE flags on Funtoo. Alpine uses its own package manager, apk. Void uses runit as init and package manager xbps. I will try to learn a little of each of the systemd alternatives.
footnote:
How to enable and start services on Alpine Linux (using OpenRC, like Funtoo)
Alpine would bring me closer to Funtoo while Artix teaches me about s6/s6-rc, and Void teaches me about runit. It is, as it has been for a few decades with me, very much a Learning Ecosystem, lean and modern in the nooks and crannies, but FAT as a Multiverse cross-platform home network where I am free to be a run-of-the-mill literary madman/mad-scientist/philosopher who has nurtured some kind of emotional connection with the machinery. I had rebelled as a teen (against mass-production of computers), but early in my twenties I became interested in mathematics. Computer Algebra Systems were what motivated my intitial obsession with this craft.
I'm not prepared for an all out Linux From Scratch Revolution, and willing to trust a handful of others to at least talk me through the details (to expand my own notes) of installing sleek, lean, mean environments, highly personalized as far as doing without things I can live without.
I can live without Alpine. Maybe two different versions of Void, on two different machines, one with musl C library, the other with glibc C library just to get some kind of idea what the difference is there.
It is Lovecraftain insane, isn't it?