> They are "round": they pack the most volume in the smallest surface area. unix surface area is tiny, but it unlocks much power. Emacs and Git are all over the place, but their core is small, sweet, and easy to appreciate.
I really like this 'round' concept, seems very precise. Maximum interface area / use cases (surface area) with minimum core volume.
Unfortunately, a sphere of characterized by exactly the opposite property. The article switches the intended meaning of surface and volume to get away with the metaphor, but I’m less than thrilled about the metaphor.
I am not defending this specific metaphor as I am not sure it is really good in this case. But they are right about this specific property of spheres: they have the highest volume/surface ratio (i.e. that’s the way of minimising the surface area of the enveloppe for a given volume).
I really like this 'round' concept, seems very precise. Maximum interface area / use cases (surface area) with minimum core volume.