Is a command line interface better than a GUI?
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Horses for courses
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@evan @heliomass Yes, but less convenient
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@evan hard to say... depends on the person and task. IMO a CLI is far more versatile and powerful than a GUI for someone who knows the tool(s) being used, but a GUI can make its use possible in the first place by a non-techie. Also, a GUI can offer all kinds of visual data like charts, etc. I use both at different times. I said "yes, but...".
@jamesmarshall I ask hard questions!
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@evan The more interesting question: is there a lossless conversion back and forth between a grammar and a GUI toolkit?
@kzurell hard disagree, my question is more interesting
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@evan Is an apple better than an orange? Well, do you want to make an apple pie or orange juice?
@machinaecrire also apples are better than oranges
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@evan "There is yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."
@pauamma don't die wondering
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Horses for courses
@gwhilts what
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@evan No, neither is generally better than the other. They are both suited to different applications.
@earth_walker boooooooooooooooo
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@evan@cosocial.ca No, not in general. But it highly depends on what the application does.
is a keyboard and mouse better than a touchscreen?
for a text editor, yeah! but for a drawing application, I'd rather take the touch screen (or a pen).
for like, a wifi menu? it shouldn't really matter. both work just as well and it's mostly a personal preference.
for a first person shooter? you could argue either way, but don't forget that lots of folks love joypads/controllers.
for a text editor, i'd much rather have a GUI than a CLI (likeed). but a lot of people prefer a TUI (likenano).
for file management, it doesn't really matter. most people know how to use a GUI, lots of them even have a lot of shortcuts and tricks. but nothing beats the inline scripting of a CLI for flexibility (and again, some people swear by a TUI, likeranger).
for a patchbay graph (likecrosspipe), I feel like a GUI is infinitely better than a CLI. you could implement the same operations in CLI, but it would not be the same category of application.
for something like ffmpeg? it has a bazillion switches that would be incredibly overwhelming to present in a WYSIWYG-GUI style. it's difficult to make it anything but a CLI. arguably, the CLI sucks too, but at least you can copy paste magic incantations instead of needing to follow a tutorial with twelve screenshots on exactly where to click. -
@machinaecrire also apples are better than oranges
@evan Ha ha. I should have added
at the end of my reply. Didn't want to sound arrogant. -
@evan Ha ha. I should have added
at the end of my reply. Didn't want to sound arrogant.@machinaecrire lol, ofc, thanks for replying
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@gwhilts what
@gwhilts ohhhhhhh
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@evan If you need to build up a complex structure or even some sort of selective batch operation (eg, ripping a DVD you own), it's a lot easier to do these things interactively via a GUI than on a command line.
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@evan @heliomass Yes, but less convenient
@EdwinG @heliomass @evan Depends on your definition of convenient. With a GUI, I actually have to go over to my computer rather than SSHing in from whatever device I happen to have on hand. -
@evan If you need to build up a complex structure or even some sort of selective batch operation (eg, ripping a DVD you own), it's a lot easier to do these things interactively via a GUI than on a command line.
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