Minimalism (computing)
Computing minimalism refers to keeping the environment of a computer operating system as minimalist as possible (or as needed). Computing minimalism is usually endorsed by computer literates rather than beginners, since beginners appreciate the easy to use, feature rich environments that are presented to them (usually by default). Also, because minimalism goal is to offer a more productive environment to the user, stripping all the unnecessary features is a process that develops with usage. Beginners start with a very large system and customize it gradually to fit their changing needs as they begin to remember the shortcuts, use the menus a little more, etc.
It is important to note here that minimalism does not necessarily imply abandoning the GUI. However, since GUIs tend to use more resources and command line interface programs tend to be more modular in functionality, the link between CLI and minimalism is strong. Still, there are some programs that need GUI because of their nature like graphics editors.
Domains of application
Interface
One reason (and probably the most important nowadays) to seek software minimalism is to increase the performance of the user. This kind of minimalism is illustrated by the user removing desktop icons, window decorations, toolbars or by the user preferring software with minimal feature bloat. Even if some find it easier to have everything on the desktop (one click away), many find that using the keyboard (keyboard shortcuts or simply a terminal emulator, instead of a mouse) is a lot faster. Also, removing toolbars and other window decorations allows the user to use more of his screen space for content. Removing functionality (such as daemons that check email) may also increase the user's productivity by preventing interruptions and freeing up the CPU and RAM for more important tasks.
Resources
Some software come with uneccesary features and use a large amount of resources (memory, CPU, etc). Minimalists try to replace these with lighter alternatives to improve performances (and start time in some cases). This tends to become less important with the continuing augmentation of computer performances, but still have a certain importance with operating systems that require more than 256M of RAM such as Microsoft Windows.
Programming Languages
In programming language design, it is considered good practice to attempt to express language features in function of already existing language features, which relates directly to minimalism. For instance, in the Scheme programming language, control structures like a while loop need not be defined at the language level, as they can be implemented using hygienic macros, thus making the language specification smaller (which is minimalist) and reusing existing features.
Hardware
Cases
The Mac mini is considered to be minimalist since it is compact and does not have visible ports.
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Operating System
Shells
Some Windows users, believe that Windows Explorer can be a "Resource hog" and/or is bloated due to the amount of memory it takes (usually 10 megabytes) and its excessive features. Computer minimalists may replace this with a shell that is both lighter in resource use and the objects that it contains. Litestep is an example of a "lite" shell for the Windows operating system.
This not only affects the Windows operating system, but others such as Unix-like operating system. KDE and GNOME are widely reguarded to use more resources than a light shell such as Fluxbox or IceWM.
Desktop
To keep a desktop uncluttered, a minimalist may remove desktop icons (or keep only as much as needed) all other operations is done by using the operational menu (Start Menu in Windows or Right-click with Fluxbox) or keyboard shortcuts. The result is only the wallpaper (or a blank background) being left.
Applications
Web browsers
Most web browsers that are used are GUI web browsers that usually come with features such as tabbed web browsing. Minimalist may consider this to be a resource hog and is not considered "advanced" (or "leet") in their respective social community. They may use a text based web browser such as Links (browser) or Lynx (browser) since they do not use much memory and are not cluttered with useless or unuseful menus; most operations are done with the keyboard.
Paradox situations
- An external modem may use less resources than an internal modem since the latter relies on the CPU of a computer rather than its own in built chip. Computer minimalists may use an external modem or not use the Internet at all. On the other hand, some may not appreciate an extra hardware component on their workstation and use an internal modem instead. One needs to balance between workstation bloat and computing bloat.
- Using a light shell may lack a notification area and may need a person to manually check a process manager every now and again to know which process is being run. One needs to balance between ease of use and minimalism.