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It makes no sense in the first place for such a tool to even need a login functionality and cloud saves... What's really needed to store information about a few

It makes no sense in the first place for such a tool to even need a login functionality and cloud saves... What's really needed to store information about a few http requests? Maybe a few kilobytes. I never understood it and I particularly don't understand how any company could fall for that. If they instead invested in teaching their engineers how to use curl even that would have paid off more.

gardenhedge 3y ago
The benefit of using postman is that you can open the app, see your (shared) collections, easily change the params and hit send. Can curl be used like that?
- leosanchez 3y ago
  You can use hurl which uses libcurl. You can save it to git and commit your hurl testa in the same repo.
- soraminazuki 3y ago
  Of course you can. You can use any tool that lets you write down commands, run it, and edit it. Shells, editors, interactive notebooks like Org Mode, etc. The beauty is that it's just text that you can copy and paste between your tool of choice. You're not locked in to a single tool.
  - throwitaway222 3y ago
    It's not very fun to run the auth call, then copy and paste the access token to the next call, and have to update all of your curl cmds all the time... Even if you use env variables, that's a horrible way to use env variables.
    - soraminazuki 3y ago
      You’re making the case for automation, which happens to be something the shell excels at. Use unexported shell variables or command substitution (e.g., “$(pbpaste)”). Directly use the result of the auth call without going through the clipboard if possible. Create a shell script if shell history isn’t enough. Use interactive notebooks if you need something more advanced. The possibilities are infinite.
      - throwitaway222 3y ago
        At this point, just write a script Or perhaps write a script that has some kind of GUI. Or maybe make the gui run the URL You're right the possibilities are endless. And this Bruno and postman or permutations of that endlessness.
        soraminazuki 3y ago
        If I understood correctly, you claimed that saving requests, modifying it, or parametrizing it was somehow more cumbersome to do with curl than with a GUI. I was just pointing out that the shell is literally designed for all those use cases. And human users don't interactively use curl without a shell. Also, using curl and the shell allows you to progressively iterate. So "write a script at that point" was kind of the point. Though you don't need to go that far to just feed authentication info. GUI solutions don't have endless possibilities. You start and end with the exact same tool. The clicks and form fillings can't easily be copied around and iterated on unlike commands in a REPL. You can only perform tasks defined by the author of the application.
      - gardenhedge 3y ago
        This feels along the lines of the infamous Dropbox comment
        soraminazuki 3y ago
        I was responding to a claim that essentially boiled down to shells can't parametrize input. How is it even remotely comparable to "the infamous Dropbox comment" to point out that shells can do that better than GUI tools? Also expecting end users to develop their own file syncing solution on top of FTP is unreasonable. Expecting software engineers to be able to use curl instead of a GUI form is not.
  - eviks 3y ago
    You're describing the same tool with a much worse UI of recreating the tool yourself (by everyone). There is much value in avoiding that, hence people use integrated tools even with the risks of lock in
    - soraminazuki 3y ago
      What UI do you need to recreate and how is it "much worse?" You essentially type in the same information with curl, but without all the mouse clicks and cursor movements.

gardenhedge 3y ago

The benefit of using postman is that you can open the app, see your (shared) collections, easily change the params and hit send. Can curl be used like that?

leosanchez 3y ago
You can use hurl which uses libcurl. You can save it to git and commit your hurl testa in the same repo.
soraminazuki 3y ago
Of course you can. You can use any tool that lets you write down commands, run it, and edit it. Shells, editors, interactive notebooks like Org Mode, etc. The beauty is that it's just text that you can copy and paste between your tool of choice. You're not locked in to a single tool.
- throwitaway222 3y ago
  It's not very fun to run the auth call, then copy and paste the access token to the next call, and have to update all of your curl cmds all the time... Even if you use env variables, that's a horrible way to use env variables.
  - soraminazuki 3y ago
    You’re making the case for automation, which happens to be something the shell excels at. Use unexported shell variables or command substitution (e.g., “$(pbpaste)”). Directly use the result of the auth call without going through the clipboard if possible. Create a shell script if shell history isn’t enough. Use interactive notebooks if you need something more advanced. The possibilities are infinite.
    - throwitaway222 3y ago
      At this point, just write a script Or perhaps write a script that has some kind of GUI. Or maybe make the gui run the URL You're right the possibilities are endless. And this Bruno and postman or permutations of that endlessness.
      - soraminazuki 3y ago
        If I understood correctly, you claimed that saving requests, modifying it, or parametrizing it was somehow more cumbersome to do with curl than with a GUI. I was just pointing out that the shell is literally designed for all those use cases. And human users don't interactively use curl without a shell. Also, using curl and the shell allows you to progressively iterate. So "write a script at that point" was kind of the point. Though you don't need to go that far to just feed authentication info. GUI solutions don't have endless possibilities. You start and end with the exact same tool. The clicks and form fillings can't easily be copied around and iterated on unlike commands in a REPL. You can only perform tasks defined by the author of the application.
    - gardenhedge 3y ago
      This feels along the lines of the infamous Dropbox comment
      - soraminazuki 3y ago
        I was responding to a claim that essentially boiled down to shells can't parametrize input. How is it even remotely comparable to "the infamous Dropbox comment" to point out that shells can do that better than GUI tools? Also expecting end users to develop their own file syncing solution on top of FTP is unreasonable. Expecting software engineers to be able to use curl instead of a GUI form is not.
- eviks 3y ago
  You're describing the same tool with a much worse UI of recreating the tool yourself (by everyone). There is much value in avoiding that, hence people use integrated tools even with the risks of lock in
  - soraminazuki 3y ago
    What UI do you need to recreate and how is it "much worse?" You essentially type in the same information with curl, but without all the mouse clicks and cursor movements.