I get that it's a story, but I can't help but chuckle at some of the situational irony, that so much of the enduring longlasting bits of computing are the little bricks. The coreutils, posix, and the various little options added to them over time.
Most of thr cathedrals get swept under the sands of time. But the bricks keeps being useful.
Another take: mathematicians like to have theorems (cathedrals) named after them ... but they say the height of distinction is to have an eponymous lemma (brick).
Most of thr cathedrals get swept under the sands of time. But the bricks keeps being useful.