1. Do One Thing and Do It Well.

   Make each program do one thing well. To do a new job, build afresh rather than complicate old programs by adding new “features.”
   

2. Write programs to work together.

   Expect the output of every program to become the input to another, as yet unknown, program. Don’t clutter output with extraneous information. Avoid stringently columnar or binary input formats. Don’t insist on interactive input.
   

3. Build a prototype as soon as possible.

   Design and build software, even operating systems, to be tried early, ideally within weeks. Don’t hesitate to throw away the clumsy parts and rebuild them.
   

4. Build software tools.

   Use tools in preference to unskilled help to lighten a programming task, even if you have to detour to build the tools and expect to throw some of them out after you’ve finished using them.