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I'd agree that tiling is the less useful function, but the name refers to the tiling. Tmux is short for Terminal Multiplexer, in other words, it's a program tha

by adrusi 11y ago

I'd agree that tiling is the less useful function, but the name refers to the tiling. Tmux is short for Terminal Multiplexer, in other words, it's a program that turns one terminal into multiple terminals, by way of tiling.

gkya 11y ago
http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/multiplexer http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/multiple... multiplexer or multiplexor (ˈmʌltɪˌplɛksə) noun (computing) a device that enables the simultaneous transmission of several messages or signals over one communications channel
- adrusi 11y ago
  That definition doesn't apply any better to the attach/detach functionality of tmux than the window management functionality, so you're going to have to use a more flexible definition than that for the term to ever apply to tmux. A USB hub multiplexes a USB port by making it so that multiple USB devices can be connected to the same port and all pretend that they're the only ones connected to it. The Ogg container format multiplexes a bitstream so that multiple timecoded media streams can be streamed through the same data channel and pretend that they're the only things going through it. An preemptive-multitasking OS kernel multiplexes the CPU so that multiple processes can run on the cpu and all pretend that they're the only ones on it A terminal multiplexer multiplexes the terminal so that multiple processes can output to the terminal and all pretend that they're the only ones using it. That describes the window management functions of tmux.
  - coldtea 11y ago
    >That definition doesn't apply any better to the attach/detach functionality of tmux than the window management functionality It does apply with 100% to what it's meant to be applied: multiplexing terminal IO. It has nothing to do with "window management". In fact it could also offer no window management at all, except for switching between sessions, which is was what it did initially. Multiplexing is a well known, precise term, and terminal multiplexing as a technique existed before both tmux and its introduction of tiling (e.g. screen).
dllthomas 11y ago
The name does not refer to the tiling - one can multiplex by time slicing. I assert that this was the original intent of the usage. If you look at the man page in the archive here: https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=net.sources/5V9QWdIynTY/nrJLMWpznEUJ https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=net.sources/... you'll see "screen is a full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal between several processes", describing a piece of software that - at that point - didn't do any splitting or tiling.
- adrusi 11y ago
  OK, I said "tiling" instead of "window management", I should have been more precise but instead opted to use the same language the parent used. Coldtea claimed that the name tmux was a reference to "multiple sessions, kept open, switching between them, persisting", which I interpret as all the non-window-manager functionality — the attach/detach ability that makes tmux attractive for use on remote machines where the connection might die and you don't want to lose your processes.
  - dllthomas 11y ago
    "Multiple sessions, switching between them" is multiplexing. "Kept open, persisting" is orthogonal, I agree. The parent said "tiling" and I assume they were referring to, well, tiling - putting multiple non-overlapping windows on the screen at the same time by dividing up the available space.

by adrusi 11y ago

gkya 11y ago

http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/multiplexer http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/multiple... multiplexer or multiplexor (ˈmʌltɪˌplɛksə) noun (computing) a device that enables the simultaneous transmission of several messages or signals over one communications channel

adrusi 11y ago
That definition doesn't apply any better to the attach/detach functionality of tmux than the window management functionality, so you're going to have to use a more flexible definition than that for the term to ever apply to tmux. A USB hub multiplexes a USB port by making it so that multiple USB devices can be connected to the same port and all pretend that they're the only ones connected to it. The Ogg container format multiplexes a bitstream so that multiple timecoded media streams can be streamed through the same data channel and pretend that they're the only things going through it. An preemptive-multitasking OS kernel multiplexes the CPU so that multiple processes can run on the cpu and all pretend that they're the only ones on it A terminal multiplexer multiplexes the terminal so that multiple processes can output to the terminal and all pretend that they're the only ones using it. That describes the window management functions of tmux.
- coldtea 11y ago
  >That definition doesn't apply any better to the attach/detach functionality of tmux than the window management functionality It does apply with 100% to what it's meant to be applied: multiplexing terminal IO. It has nothing to do with "window management". In fact it could also offer no window management at all, except for switching between sessions, which is was what it did initially. Multiplexing is a well known, precise term, and terminal multiplexing as a technique existed before both tmux and its introduction of tiling (e.g. screen).

dllthomas 11y ago

The name does not refer to the tiling - one can multiplex by time slicing. I assert that this was the original intent of the usage. If you look at the man page in the archive here: https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=net.sources/5V9QWdIynTY/nrJLMWpznEUJ https://groups.google.com/forum/message/raw?msg=net.sources/... you'll see "screen is a full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal between several processes", describing a piece of software that - at that point - didn't do any splitting or tiling.

adrusi 11y ago
OK, I said "tiling" instead of "window management", I should have been more precise but instead opted to use the same language the parent used. Coldtea claimed that the name tmux was a reference to "multiple sessions, kept open, switching between them, persisting", which I interpret as all the non-window-manager functionality — the attach/detach ability that makes tmux attractive for use on remote machines where the connection might die and you don't want to lose your processes.
- dllthomas 11y ago
  "Multiple sessions, switching between them" is multiplexing. "Kept open, persisting" is orthogonal, I agree. The parent said "tiling" and I assume they were referring to, well, tiling - putting multiple non-overlapping windows on the screen at the same time by dividing up the available space.