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The problem in the article is that he talks about the two extremes of interface design, the gui vs the linux command line.

There are better interfaces for complex tasks.just try a good python Shell , with auto-complete and context sensitive help(like wing ide). the learning curve is much shorter. and you don't lost power along the way.

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I haven't used AutoCAD since R13 and I was still a teenager working in an engineering office, but it was one of the best GUI/CLI hybrids I've ever used. You could learn with the GUI, and it would parrot the CLI commands in the command window. Eventually, you'd familiarize with the CLI commands through pointyclicky GUI usage and just rip through work at ridiculous speeds.

Mapping the commands (lisp-based DSL if I remember correctly...) to left-hand-only single key macros while your right hand moused the coordinates on the canvas ... holy crap was that fast. You could whip up fully qualified engineering drawings in a matter of minutes.

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