Is a command line interface better than a GUI?

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@hans

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[terryhancock@realsocial.life]

@evan
Most of the time, no. But when you need it, the CLI is essential.

[samupstate@hachyderm.io]

@evan not inherently, no. But there are situations where it's the better tool for the job.

[kzurell@cosocial.ca]

@evan The more interesting question: is there a lossless conversion back and forth between a grammar and a GUI toolkit?

[martyfouts@mastodon.online]

@evan Each is better suited to some tasks than the other. You can do CAD with a command line but anything that visual is usually easier with a good GUI.

Likewise, tasks that are suitable for scripting are usually better done with a command line.

The best systems mix them, using each where it is more suitable and have done for more than 50 years.

[mpjgregoire@cosocial.ca]

@evan Depends on the task, as others have said. But as a general matter, the CLI is more powerful. Yes, but.

(I run Emacs both in GUI and terminal mode.)

[toothpaste_sandwich@mastodon.nl]

@evan It depends on the task. I.e. no, it isn't better. Cold hard logic. Bam. Boom. Kablooie.

[virtuous_sloth@cosocial.ca]

@evan As an IT administrator, I've found that the best-designed software has a language with objects and verbs. The language may be surfaced in a CLI and/or and API. I'm sure the code underneath follows this design.

The GUIs for these apps are layered on top of this and provide easy access to more complex actions with lots of options, the one case where a GUI is superior to a CLI.

[pauamma@mstdn.social]

@evan "There is yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer."

[earth_walker@mindly.social]

@evan No, neither is generally better than the other. They are both suited to different applications.

[machinaecrire@mstdn.social]

@evan Is an apple better than an orange? Well, do you want to make an apple pie or orange juice?

[gwhilts@xoxo.zone]

@evan

Horses for courses

[edwing@mstdn.moimeme.ca]

@evan @heliomass Yes, but less convenient

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@jamesmarshall I ask hard questions!

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@kzurell hard disagree, my question is more interesting

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@machinaecrire also apples are better than oranges

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@pauamma don't die wondering

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@gwhilts what

[evan@cosocial.ca]

@earth_walker boooooooooooooooo

[sodiboo@gaysex.cloud]

@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 (like ed). but a lot of people prefer a TUI (like nano).
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, like ranger).
for a patchbay graph (like crosspipe), 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.