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Ask HN: How do I distinguish the fourth from the third of these?
There are (at least) four types of interfaces that occur in programming.
Type #1. Command line. "foo --bar --baz". You step into the program, and then step out of it.
Type #2. REPL. You step into a program, do something, then it does something back in a sequential manner. You exit it when you want to.
Type #3. Word processor. The same as Type #2 except the REPL happens in real time instead of sequentially.
Type #4. GUI.
How do I distinguish the fourth from the third of these?
- keyle 7y agoGUI stands for Graphical User Interface, emphasis on Graphical. If it's in a text buffer it's a TUI, text user interface. I mean you could get pedantic about these things, but basically if it's rendered with a graphic framework, it's a GUI, whether it's CPU, deferred or immediate, or GPU rendered.
- ErotemeObelus 7y agoSo GUI is a REPL but with graphical components instead of text buffer. This is what I suspected, but I wanted to make sure.
- ksaj 7y agoIts a multiply-persistent repl. For example, clisp is a lispy repl. Scratch is a lispy gui. Both repls and guis have text buffers. But guis are an order of magnitude separated by their presentation layer.
- ErotemeObelus 7y agoActually you might be forgetting something. There is a difference in type between a text buffer and a GUI. A GUI has multiple types of "text buffers" running in parallel.
- ksaj 7y agoI believe "word processor" refers less to wysiwyg and more to the technologies behind Siri and whatever other real-time voice input technologies are out there. No GUI needed. GUIs usually have things you point and click, and by definition need a screen monitor of some type. The other, you simply talk to. The list skips autonomous sensor, but I think they are common enough to warrant inclusion. We recently saw two Boeing disasters in a row resulting from autonomous sensor failures.