Linux supports the notion of a command line or a shell for the same reason that only children read books with only pictures in them. Language, be it English or

Linux supports the notion of a command line or a shell for the same reason that only children read books with only pictures in them. Language, be it English or something else, is the only tool flexible enough to accomplish a sufficiently broad range of tasks. -- Bill Garrett If programming really is the new high school diploma, I expect to see a big failure in the "there's an app for that" meme. If it's the case, at some point people will need to compose apps in new, creative ways that suit their particular individual goal, which no one else has currently thought of to implement in a single one-click app (if it's even possible) and/or which an app that's almost there can't go the rest of the way because the request is too specific to that one user. Of course, I'm more in favor of using the same simple argument made when students ask why they must learn algebra. It shapes their thinking in a positive manner regardless of whether they advance further in the field.