Re:Even my mother can run Linux
by xg15 on Thursday January 12, 2017 @05:04AM
(#13381138)
"The command line" (i.e. text-based user interfaces) are not the problem - I'd say the problem is more the specific way windows and nix shells are structured: You get minimal feedback, yet there is an enormous amount of complexity hidden behind the commands. A lot of that stuff is* difficult.
Right out of my head, I could think of the following skills you need to actively learn to put the command line to use:
- tracking a lot of state in your head as opposed to have all state changes directly reflected on the screen.
- memorizing known commands, flags and microsyntaxes (this is not helped by the essay-like writing style of many manpages and the fact that many commands introduce their own auxiliary concepts that you need to understand before you can use the command)
- finding the appropiate new command for a task you want to do
- memorizing interaction between commands (and the shell) to correctly use pipes, quoting and nested commands (find -exec etc)
- "knowing what you are doing". Many commands are built with the explicit assumption that they are to be used by experts only: If such a command is used wrongly, the consequences can be dire.
A GUI provides significant assistance for all of those tasks and provides opportunities for explorative learning. A command line could do the same but in practice doesn't.
Right out of my head, I could think of the following skills you need to actively learn to put the command line to use:
- tracking a lot of state in your head as opposed to have all state changes directly reflected on the screen.
- memorizing known commands, flags and microsyntaxes (this is not helped by the essay-like writing style of many manpages and the fact that many commands introduce their own auxiliary concepts that you need to understand before you can use the command)
- finding the appropiate new command for a task you want to do
- memorizing interaction between commands (and the shell) to correctly use pipes, quoting and nested commands (find -exec etc)
- "knowing what you are doing". Many commands are built with the explicit assumption that they are to be used by experts only: If such a command is used wrongly, the consequences can be dire.
A GUI provides significant assistance for all of those tasks and provides opportunities for explorative learning. A command line could do the same but in practice doesn't.