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I like the idea of Powershell and how it's object driven as well, but it doesn't get you away from text in the sense of you're still typing commands into a cons
by na85 6y ago
I like the idea of Powershell and how it's object driven as well, but it doesn't get you away from text in the sense of you're still typing commands into a console.
Isn't the real solution to do away with the idea that we need to remain compatible with VT100 video terminals?
- naikrovek 6y agoThat's not what they are referring to. Powershell passes typed objects between cmdlets when pipes are used. This DEFINITELY better than plain text. We've learned a lot since the unix philosophy was created. One of those things is that, if you want software that lasts, software that performs well, you need to be strongly typed. Plain text is as far from strongly typed as you can get. Passing plain text between programs in 2020 goes against everything we've learned in the last 50 years.
- ethbr0 6y agoAd-hoc duck typing vs strong typing is a pragmatist vs theorist argument. In theoretical terms, strong typing every, always is preferred. In practical terms, this devolves into a Java-esque nightmare of what's-the-type-for-the-parent-type-of-the-thing's-type absurdity. Where people stop using your system because they don't want a second job learning its Borges-esque comprehensive type encyclopedia. In practical terms, bare minimum typing that prevents 80% of errors, but doesn't require gyrations to cover the remaining 20% works. And given a choice between the two, more software is going to be built in systems that function this way. Does it break all the damn time? Yes. Does it still get more done? Yes.
- na85 6y ago>Powershell passes typed objects between cmdlets when pipes are used. This DEFINITELY better than plain text. I know but my point is that the interface itself is still text.
- bigbizisverywyz 6y ago>Passing plain text between programs in 2020 goes against everything we've learned in the last 50 years. I would have to say the opposite is true. It's text based interfaces that have stood the test of time, and now even flourish in HTTP. We have more widely used text based interfaces than ever before where REST,HTML, XML and JSON seem to rule most machine-machine communication. Strongly typed binary RPC such as DCOM and CORBA however are now nearly gone.
- Dissley 6y agoI agree with your comment, but also want to point out that binary RPC seems to have a comeback with gRPC.
- bregma 6y ago> We've learned a lot since the unix philosophy was created. One of those things is that, if you want software that lasts, software that performs well, you need to be strongly typed. Unix itself, for example, won't last even 10 years. Look for it to be gone by the mid-late 1970s as it gets replaced by strongly-typed objects passed directly between applications to control our fusion-powered flying cars.
- naikrovek 6y agoIf you think the presence of Unix today is proof of anything good, you do not have an active imagination. What will computing look like in 500 years? Do we really believe that we reached the pinnacle of OS development in the 1970s?
- spookthesunset 6y agoDoesn’t even need to be strongly typed. Just having the ability to pass around JSON would fill about 80% of the imaginable use cases.