"Linux and other UNIX-like systems have always come with a broad variety of tools that perform functions ranging from the obvious to the arcane. The success of UNIX-like programming environments comes largely from the quality and selection of tools, and the ease with which they can be joined together.
"As a developer, you may have found that existing utilities don't always solve your problem. While you can solve many problems easily by stringing together existing utilities, solving other problems requires at least some amount of real programming. These latter tasks are often candidates for creating a new utility that, when combined with existing utilities, will solve the problem with a minimum of effort. This article looks at the qualities that make for a good utility and the design process that goes into it..."
