The Trivial Program "yes"

A trivial program, one that simply prints “y” or a string that is given as an argument repeatedly, is explicated and examined at the levels of function and code. Although the program by itself is neither interesting or instructive, the argument is presented that by looking at “yes” it is possible to better understand how programs exist not only on platforms but also in an ecology of systems, scripts, and utilities.

(Source: Author's abstract, prepared for the Critical Code Studies Working Group 2012.)