To add to your point, it's really simple, clear, and flexible to just use environment variables as program arguments, as in $ FOO=BAR THIS=THAT ./myprog I

To add to your point, it's really simple, clear, and flexible to just use environment variables as program arguments, as in $ FOO=BAR THIS=THAT ./myprog I think the hyphen syntax for arguments once was primarly useful for interactive use; it still is, but GNU-style long arguments and hundreds of options seem increasingly absurd.