The Command Line Comeback

Before GUIs, every computer interface was a command-line interface (CLI). You typed memorised text-based commands into an input. This certainly kept the screen free of clutter but had several downsides. It was difficult to remember what commands were available. You couldn't see the current state of the system. Everything was hidden away b

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- “… why are we seeing a resurgence in this trend now? I think the easiest factor we can identify is that more people entering the workforce are unafraid of textual interfaces, because they’ve been typing and messaging and tagging their friends online all their life.”

Here’s another favorite compilation of lambastations on Apple from its early days. Apparently the advent of a GUI was lamented as much as the calculator — there was even a study that suggested students were dumber when they used GUIs over command lines.

I get the feeling that the median vocabulary of interactions with computers is shrinking. I see so many people who’s entire computing experience is laboriously moving the mouse, clicking on buttons, and maybe poking ⌘C and ⌘V. For knowledge workers who spend half their waking hours using a computer, that’s akin to being a professional athlete who n... See more

The paradox of ChatGPT: it's both a step forward beyond GUIs, because you can ask for anything not just what’s been built as a feature with a button, but also a step back, because very quickly you have to memorise obscure incantations, like the command lines GUIs replaced.

- “Textual interfaces are everywhere in the modern workplace. Slash-commands in Slack and Discord and Notion, hash-tags for channels and tagging, special syntax for searching and querying data across applications, @-mentions in social media and team work environments, and so on. We’re training ourselves to be more savvy users of the textual interfa... See more