4 ms·
I think the best way to describe pipes to the uninitiated is in terms of copy & paste. Copy & paste is the basic, ubiquitous, doesn't-try-to-do-too-much IPC me
by ohazi 6y ago
I think the best way to describe pipes to the uninitiated is in terms of copy & paste.
Copy & paste is the basic, ubiquitous, doesn't-try-to-do-too-much IPC mechanism that allows normal users to shovel data from one program into another. As simple as it is, it's indispensable, and it's difficult to imagine trying to use a computer without this feature.
The same applies to pipes, even though they work a little bit differently and are useful in slightly different situations. They're the "I just need to do this one thing" IPC mechanism for slightly more technical users.
- boring_twenties 6y ago> difficult to imagine trying to use a computer without [copy & paste] Remember the first iPhone? I wasn't into it, but a bunch of my (senior developer) colleagues were. I asked them how they lived without copy & paste and they all told me it was just no big deal.
- servercobra 6y agoA phone and a computer are used in very different ways. Even now, I probably use copy/paste once a week on my iPhone, and at least once an hour on my laptop, often more.
- jimmaswell 6y agoI do it multiple times a day on my Android. I've even taken to using ctrl-c/x/v in Hacker's Keyboard because it's faster.
- waheoo 6y agoI use copy and paste on my phone constantly. I would guess the reason you dont do it much on iphone is the lack of multitasking support. Android alt tabbing has always been a basic part of life and now split screening is a thing too. You lot getting widgets soon, maybe you'll get alt tab next year?
- vxNsr 6y agoWhat’s alt+tab without a physical keyboard?
- Izkata 6y agoAn easily-understandable reference for non-Android users. One of Android's buttons (the square) goes to the app switcher, it functions as alt+tab on its own.
- vxNsr 6y agowe have that on iOS though, it's the swipe up and/or to the right gesture. It's honestly the fastest way to switch between apps on any device I've ever used. the android dedicated button feels clunky in comparison. I understand it's a "hidden gesture" and thus all the UX complaints apply, but from pure observation most android users use the app switcher about as often as PC users use alt+tab... basically not as many as you think. Most mobile phone users who are even slight technophobes will switch apps the old way from the home screen or app drawer. at least with the iPhone the "going home" behavior can accidentally surface the app switcher which after enough exposure might train such users to use it. Idk, I kinda hate all the UX paradigms that android introduced, it often felt like they ignored much of what xerox parc taught as objectively good UX and tried to go it on their own, only to have to relearn all the same mistakes that Mac and Windows learned over the last 3 decades.
- servercobra 6y agoI use Android and iOS constantly (mobile dev), and iOS's multitasking on the iPhone X is as easy as Android's (swipe the bottom of the phone, same action as double tapping the app switcher icon on Android). Same with split screen, I use the all the time on iPad.
- fiddlerwoaroof 6y agoThe Apple “Universal Clipboard” as well as airdrop is another example of this: the ability to easily copy text and files from one device to another is game-changing compared to the infrastructure you need to run in other systems.
- esperent 6y agoI've used copy/paste on my phone at least ten times today, and it's barely lunchtime.
- gcbw3 6y ago> iPhone > no copy paste (ignoring everyone young enough to not remember that iphone first many years didn't have copy paste) The iphone NEVER replaced a computer. It replaced the television. No need for copy paste there. The ipad is today trying, very shy, to hint at replacing a couple small use cases of the computer.
- boring_twenties 6y agoThey did feel the need to implement copy & paste a year or two later, so something seems off here.