<s>
In	O
computing	O
,	O
minimalism	B-Device
refers	O
to	O
the	O
application	O
of	O
minimalist	O
philosophies	O
and	O
principles	O
in	O
the	O
design	O
and	O
use	O
of	O
hardware	B-Architecture
and	O
software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Minimalism	B-Device
,	O
in	O
this	O
sense	O
,	O
means	O
designing	O
systems	O
that	O
use	O
the	O
least	O
hardware	B-Architecture
and	O
software	O
resources	B-General_Concept
possible	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
late	O
1970s	O
and	O
early	O
1980s	O
,	O
programmers	O
worked	O
within	O
the	O
confines	O
of	O
relatively	O
expensive	O
and	O
limited	O
resources	B-General_Concept
of	O
common	O
platforms	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Eight	O
or	O
sixteen	O
kilobytes	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
was	O
common	O
;	O
64kilobytes	O
was	O
considered	O
a	O
vast	O
amount	O
and	O
was	O
the	O
entire	O
address	B-General_Concept
space	I-General_Concept
accessible	O
to	O
the	O
8-bit	O
CPUs	O
predominant	O
during	O
the	O
earliest	O
generations	O
of	O
personal	B-Device
computers	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
most	O
common	O
storage	O
medium	O
was	O
the	O
5.25inch	O
floppy	B-Device
disk	I-Device
holding	O
from	O
88	O
to	O
170	O
kilobytes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Over	O
time	O
,	O
personal-computer	O
memory	O
capacities	O
expanded	O
by	O
orders	O
of	O
magnitude	O
and	O
mainstream	O
programmers	O
took	O
advantage	O
of	O
the	O
added	O
storage	O
to	O
increase	O
their	O
software	O
's	O
capabilities	O
and	O
to	O
make	O
development	O
easier	O
by	O
using	O
higher-level	B-Language
languages	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
contrast	O
,	O
system	O
requirements	O
for	O
legacy	B-Device
software	I-Device
remained	O
the	O
same	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
example	O
of	O
a	O
program	O
whose	O
system	O
requirements	O
once	O
gave	O
it	O
a	O
heavyweight	O
reputation	O
is	O
the	O
GNU	B-Application
Emacs	I-Application
text	O
editor	O
,	O
which	O
gained	O
the	O
backronym	O
"	O
Eight	O
Megabytes	O
And	O
Constantly	O
Swapping	O
"	O
in	O
an	O
era	O
when	O
8	O
megabytes	O
was	O
a	O
lot	O
of	O
RAM	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
Today	O
,	O
Emacs	O
 '	O
mainly	O
textual	O
buffer-based	O
paradigm	O
uses	O
far	O
fewer	O
resources	B-General_Concept
than	O
desktop	B-Application
metaphor	I-Application
GUI	B-Application
IDEs	B-Application
with	O
comparable	O
features	O
such	O
as	O
Eclipse	B-Application
or	O
Netbeans	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
a	O
speech	O
at	O
the	O
2002	O
International	O
Lisp	B-Language
Conference	O
,	O
Richard	O
Stallman	O
indicated	O
that	O
minimalism	B-Device
was	O
a	O
concern	O
in	O
his	O
development	O
of	O
GNU	B-Operating_System
and	O
Emacs	O
,	O
based	O
on	O
his	O
experiences	O
with	O
Lisp	B-Language
and	O
system	O
specifications	O
of	O
low-end	O
minicomputers	B-Architecture
at	O
the	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
the	O
capabilities	O
and	O
system	O
requirements	O
of	O
common	O
desktop	O
software	O
and	O
operating	O
systems	O
grew	O
throughout	O
the	O
1980s	O
and	O
1990s	O
,	O
and	O
as	O
software	O
development	O
became	O
dominated	O
by	O
teams	O
espousing	O
conflicting	O
,	O
faddish	O
software	O
development	O
methodologies	O
,	O
some	O
developers	O
adopted	O
minimalism	B-Device
as	O
a	O
philosophy	O
and	O
chose	O
to	O
limit	O
their	O
programs	O
to	O
a	O
predetermined	O
size	O
or	O
scope	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
early	O
21st	O
century	O
,	O
new	O
developments	O
in	O
computing	O
have	O
brought	O
minimalism	B-Device
to	O
the	O
forefront	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
what	O
has	O
been	O
termed	O
the	O
post-PC	B-Device
era	I-Device
it	O
is	O
no	O
longer	O
necessary	O
to	O
buy	O
a	O
high-end	O
personal	B-Device
computer	I-Device
merely	O
to	O
perform	O
common	O
computing	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mobile	O
computing	O
devices	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
smartphones	B-Application
,	O
tablet	B-Device
computers	I-Device
,	O
netbooks	B-Device
and	O
plug	B-General_Concept
computers	I-General_Concept
,	O
often	O
have	O
smaller	O
memory	O
capacities	O
,	O
less-capable	O
graphics	O
subsystems	O
,	O
and	O
slower	O
processors	O
when	O
compared	O
to	O
the	O
personal	B-Device
computer	I-Device
they	O
are	O
expected	O
to	O
replace	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
,	O
heavy	O
use	O
of	O
graphics	O
effects	O
like	O
alpha	B-Algorithm
blending	I-Algorithm
drains	O
the	O
battery	O
faster	O
than	O
a	O
"	O
flat	O
ui	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
growing	O
popularity	O
of	O
these	O
devices	O
has	O
made	O
minimalism	B-Device
an	O
important	O
design	O
concern	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Google	B-Application
's	I-Application
Chrome	B-Application
browser	I-Application
and	O
ChromeOS	B-Operating_System
are	O
often	O
cited	O
as	O
examples	O
of	O
minimalist	O
design	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Windows	B-Application
8	I-Application
,	O
Microsoft	O
decided	O
to	O
drop	O
the	O
graphics-intensive	O
Aero	O
user	B-Application
interface	I-Application
in	O
favor	O
of	O
the	O
"	O
simple	O
,	O
squared-off	O
"	O
Metro	O
appearance	O
,	O
which	O
required	O
fewer	O
system	B-General_Concept
resources	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
7	O
of	O
Apple	O
's	O
iOS	B-Application
made	O
similar	O
changes	O
for	O
user	B-Application
experience	I-Application
reasons	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Developers	O
may	O
create	O
user	B-Application
interfaces	I-Application
to	O
be	O
as	O
simple	O
as	O
possible	O
by	O
eliminating	O
buttons	O
and	O
dialog	O
boxes	O
that	O
may	O
potentially	O
confuse	O
the	O
user	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Minimalism	B-Device
is	O
sometimes	O
used	O
in	O
its	O
visual	B-Device
arts	I-Device
meaning	I-Device
,	O
particularly	O
in	O
the	O
industrial	O
design	O
of	O
the	O
hardware	B-Architecture
device	O
or	O
software	B-Application
theme	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Some	O
Linux	B-Application
distributions	O
mention	O
minimalism	B-Device
as	O
a	O
goal	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Alpine	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Arch	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Puppy	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
Bodhi	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
CrunchBang	O
Linux	B-Application
,	O
dynebolic	B-Application
and	O
Tiny	O
Core	O
Linux	B-Application
are	O
examples	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
early	O
development	O
of	O
the	O
Unix	B-Application
system	I-Application
occurred	O
on	O
low-powered	O
hardware	B-Architecture
,	O
and	O
Dennis	O
Ritchie	O
and	O
Ken	O
Thompson	O
have	O
stated	O
their	O
opinion	O
that	O
this	O
constraint	O
contributed	O
to	O
the	O
system	O
's	O
"	O
elegance	O
of	O
design	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Programming	O
language	O
designers	O
can	O
create	O
minimal	O
programming	O
languages	O
by	O
eschewing	O
syntactic	O
sugar	O
and	O
extensive	O
library	B-Library
functions	I-Library
.	O
</s>
<s>
Creating	O
a	O
minimal	O
Lisp	B-Language
interpreter	B-Application
is	O
a	O
common	O
learning	O
task	O
set	O
before	O
computer	B-General_Concept
science	I-General_Concept
students	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Lambda	B-Language
calculus	I-Language
,	O
developed	O
by	O
Alonzo	O
Church	O
is	O
a	O
minimal	O
programming	O
language	O
that	O
uses	O
only	O
function	O
definitions	O
and	O
function	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Scheme	B-Language
,	O
Forth	B-Application
,	O
and	O
Go	B-Application
are	O
cited	O
as	O
examples	O
of	O
practical	O
,	O
minimal	O
programming	O
languages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
John	O
Millar	O
Carroll	O
,	O
in	O
his	O
book	O
Minimalism	B-Device
Beyond	O
the	O
Nürnberg	O
Funnel	O
pointed	O
out	O
that	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
minimalism	B-Device
results	O
in	O
"	O
instant-use	O
"	O
devices	O
such	O
as	O
video	O
games	O
,	O
ATMs	O
,	O
voting	O
machines	O
,	O
and	O
mall	O
kiosks	O
with	O
little-or-no	O
learning	B-General_Concept
curve	I-General_Concept
that	O
do	O
not	O
require	O
the	O
user	O
to	O
read	O
manuals	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
User	B-Application
Interface	I-Application
researchers	O
have	O
performed	O
experiments	O
suggesting	O
that	O
minimalism	B-Device
,	O
as	O
illustrated	O
by	O
the	O
design	O
principles	O
of	O
parsimony	O
and	O
transparency	B-Operating_System
,	O
bolsters	O
efficiency	O
and	O
learnability	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Minimalism	B-Device
is	O
implicit	O
in	O
the	B-Operating_System
Unix	I-Operating_System
philosophies	I-Operating_System
of	O
"	O
everything	O
is	O
a	O
text	O
stream	O
"	O
and	O
"	O
do	O
one	O
thing	O
and	O
do	O
it	O
well	O
"	O
,	O
although	O
modern	O
Unix/Linux	O
distributions	O
do	O
not	O
hold	O
so	O
rigorously	O
to	O
this	O
philosophy	O
.	O
</s>
