4 ms·

I can never remember all the flags and syntax. Also I hate writing parsers all day which is what you really have to do with text interfaces. UIs are discoverabl

by gw99 4y ago

I can never remember all the flags and syntax. Also I hate writing parsers all day which is what you really have to do with text interfaces. UIs are discoverable. There are some compromises in the middle somewhere. I'm liking Apple Shortcuts when it fits the problem domain I am within.

blueflow 4y ago
I do forget flags as well, quite often. But instead disliking the console for it, i open the a manual with `man command-name` and use the '/' and 'n' keys to search for that option with good success so far. I do get mad tho when a program doesn't have a manpage.
spc476 4y ago
It depends upon the command line interface. A Cisco router CLI is very discoverable. Sitting at the prompt, hit '?' and get a list of commands. Type the command, then '?', get a list of options. At each point in typing out the command, you can always get a list of what you can type next. And even better, you only have to type enough to distinguish from multiple commands/options. So 'show interface Ethernet/0' and 'sh in Eth/0' are the same command. And on Unix, there's always the man command. Also, most commands will repond to "command -h" or "command --help", but yes, it's a far cry from the Cisco router command line.
- gw99 4y ago
  Oh god no I was a CCNA. IOS is horrible. manpages aren't always that great. Unless they are on a BSD derivative... PowerShell had some good ideas about making commands discoverable but the nuances and implementation really killed it for me.
HKH2 4y ago
> I can never remember all the flags and syntax. Why not write your own wrapper programs? I wish I could modify GUI menus that easily.
lelanthran 4y ago
> I can never remember all the flags and syntax. That's a feature, not a bug. If you find yourself often needing a specific arcane sequence, then wrap it up in a command (shell alias, function or script) so that you don't have to always have to type `-r -v --bad-copy -c -m`. If you find yourself always needing a different set of arcane flags, then wrap it in a wish script or similar (I've made a pomodoro alarm that generates notifications using nothing but zenity). With GUIs, OTOH, if you find yourself forgetting down which rabiit-hole-menu an option lives in, you're simply out of luck.

by gw99 4y ago

blueflow 4y ago

I do forget flags as well, quite often. But instead disliking the console for it, i open the a manual with `man command-name` and use the '/' and 'n' keys to search for that option with good success so far. I do get mad tho when a program doesn't have a manpage.

spc476 4y ago

It depends upon the command line interface. A Cisco router CLI is very discoverable. Sitting at the prompt, hit '?' and get a list of commands. Type the command, then '?', get a list of options. At each point in typing out the command, you can always get a list of what you can type next. And even better, you only have to type enough to distinguish from multiple commands/options. So 'show interface Ethernet/0' and 'sh in Eth/0' are the same command. And on Unix, there's always the man command. Also, most commands will repond to "command -h" or "command --help", but yes, it's a far cry from the Cisco router command line.

gw99 4y ago
Oh god no I was a CCNA. IOS is horrible. manpages aren't always that great. Unless they are on a BSD derivative... PowerShell had some good ideas about making commands discoverable but the nuances and implementation really killed it for me.

HKH2 4y ago

> I can never remember all the flags and syntax. Why not write your own wrapper programs? I wish I could modify GUI menus that easily.

lelanthran 4y ago

> I can never remember all the flags and syntax. That's a feature, not a bug. If you find yourself often needing a specific arcane sequence, then wrap it up in a command (shell alias, function or script) so that you don't have to always have to type `-r -v --bad-copy -c -m`. If you find yourself always needing a different set of arcane flags, then wrap it in a wish script or similar (I've made a pomodoro alarm that generates notifications using nothing but zenity). With GUIs, OTOH, if you find yourself forgetting down which rabiit-hole-menu an option lives in, you're simply out of luck.