“After presenting my cases, I find it tempting to look for a common theme. What makes a good enlightenmentware?
For me, these are the key points:

• All these tools address a deep problem, and a kind of problem that I face every day, such as making programs on my computer cooperate, managing concurrent work streams, or generalizing a piece of code.
  • 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. - They invite and encourage you to explore their internals. It’s not only about being free and open-source; mastering them is also well worth the investment.”