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I firmly believe that a lot of really productive work can be done with shell-based applications, and that this environment represents the true power of producti

I firmly believe that a lot of really productive work can be done with shell-based applications, and that this environment represents the true power of productive computing. With the web taking front and centre priority, we've lost something very important in terms of human/computer interaction - many would say things are 'easier', but I have to laugh at this claim whenever I see someone clicking something in a list a hundred times when it could have been something they'd solved with a little script, had they known how. Too many times I've saved someones ass by a bit of script fu, only to be granted god-like status at how quickly it was done - but if people took a month of study on, say, bash scripting or something similar, it wouldn't seem so obtuse. Same goes for google-fu. What is happening that the arcane science of proper search semantics is not being taught kids in school? It seems to me the devolutionary effect of "ease of use computing" has wrought its anti-pattern woes over a few generations .. Anyway, my kids learned bash before they learned how to find the Settings panel, and there is something to be said for the teenager who knows how to wrangle his OS because his Dad taught him the basics of shell-based package management, something still not quite done well in certain environments...

stinos 6y ago
You're not really wrong on many of your points, but you look at everything from a power user/developer mindset and that's too narrow of an approach, sorry. I.e. you should realize programming is not for everybody, not even close, so the claim that things are easier now is very much true for a lot of people out there. As such there's not much to laugh at, in fact that sounds borderline disrespectful to me.
- mercer 6y ago
  > You're not really wrong on many of your points, but you look at everything from a power user/developer mindset and that's too narrow of an approach, sorry. I sometimes wonder if how people talked about 'this whole writing and reading thing' way back when. Perhaps there's a future where the average person will be what we now consider a 'power user'? Much as there's the criticize about current-day computer use, as someone who was considered a 'nerd' for chatting online in my teens, it's still amazing to see extremely non-typical 'nerds' sit at their laptops or phones chatting with others. Or to have conversation about gaming with people who fit the 'jock' stereotype. I'd love to hear from historians how the 'common people' thought about writing back in the day when most people were illiterate.
- smichel17 6y ago
  > programming is not for everybody I guess we (although I am not the person you replied to) have a fundamental disagreement here. I think absolutely, everyone is able to code, a little. Not to be a career programmer, mind you, and I have no expectation that they should be able to produce readable or maintainable code. I have a weakly-held opinion that people shouldn't have to code if they choose not to. However, I think a little coding knowledge is essential for digital autonomy, which is more and more synonymous with regular autonomy, and that everyone ought to have that.

stinos 6y ago

You're not really wrong on many of your points, but you look at everything from a power user/developer mindset and that's too narrow of an approach, sorry. I.e. you should realize programming is not for everybody, not even close, so the claim that things are easier now is very much true for a lot of people out there. As such there's not much to laugh at, in fact that sounds borderline disrespectful to me.

mercer 6y ago
> You're not really wrong on many of your points, but you look at everything from a power user/developer mindset and that's too narrow of an approach, sorry. I sometimes wonder if how people talked about 'this whole writing and reading thing' way back when. Perhaps there's a future where the average person will be what we now consider a 'power user'? Much as there's the criticize about current-day computer use, as someone who was considered a 'nerd' for chatting online in my teens, it's still amazing to see extremely non-typical 'nerds' sit at their laptops or phones chatting with others. Or to have conversation about gaming with people who fit the 'jock' stereotype. I'd love to hear from historians how the 'common people' thought about writing back in the day when most people were illiterate.
smichel17 6y ago
> programming is not for everybody I guess we (although I am not the person you replied to) have a fundamental disagreement here. I think absolutely, everyone is able to code, a little. Not to be a career programmer, mind you, and I have no expectation that they should be able to produce readable or maintainable code. I have a weakly-held opinion that people shouldn't have to code if they choose not to. However, I think a little coding knowledge is essential for digital autonomy, which is more and more synonymous with regular autonomy, and that everyone ought to have that.