I really don't get it.
Started using computers when that was the only affordable way to use computers.
For some reason, some people really love to live in 1970's with their expensive HiDPI monitors.
Started using computers when that was the only affordable way to use computers.
For some reason, some people really love to live in 1970's with their expensive HiDPI monitors.
A few years ago I watched an account work through my companies numbers using their accounting software. It's entry method? A windows commander like tool. The menu options like add expense etc were all numbered. So he never left the numeric part of his keyboard.
The tool looked super old and obsolete but as soon as you see a power user use it, you see why.
I can string together a complex series of text-related tasks far more effectively as a shell pipeline than I can by pointing and clicking in a UI. I can scale that sequence of tasks out to operate on every file on the filesystem if I want, or down to a single character in a single file.
Claude Code being a full-featured TUI is also helpful because I can quickly/easily use it remotely via SSH without having to deal with setting up X forwarding, VNC, Parsec, etc. The remote host doesn't even need to have a window manager. Sure, it'd be nice if it also had an elegant multi-page GUI so I could more easily drill into the actions its performing and make better use of my large screen to watch it do multi-agent things, but if I have to choose between the two, I prefer the TUI.
That said, I'd much rather use a GUI to do things that are actually visual/spatial in nature.
Such statements can only be voiced by those that never experienced what using a proper REPL actually feels like.
Not something that emulates a vt100 teletype.
> Such statements can only be voiced by those that never experienced what using a proper REPL actually feels like.
Maybe. What do you mean with proper REPL? SBCL just runs fine in my terminal emulator. As do all other kind of programming languages, like Prolog.
When I interface with the OS, I want to start programs, control the processes, setup communication channels (pipes) and tell to computer to combine multiple programs to filter, combine, split stuff and redirect it to files and other programs. These should be also be able to run several times with slight differences. All of that works just fine in my shell. What are you missing?
Inline graphics from 1981,
https://youtu.be/o4-YnLpLgtk?t=376Or
Or using S-PACKAGE used to develop Nintendo 64.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gV5obrYaogU
You are missing integration with live debugging, calling anything on the OS during a REPL session, e.g. OS APIs, calling into automation points of the OS,
Can try out directly on the browser, courtesy of WebAssembly and recovery of Xerox PARC software, https://interlisp.org.
Or get either Squeak or Pharo, and see how using the Transcript integrates with the whole platform
Windows, with either PowerShell ISE, or its new VSCode integration, are the closest to these kind of experiences.
To finalise with Xerox PARC view on UNIX, from 1989
"UNIX Needs A True Integrated Environment: CASE Closed"
https://www.bitsavers.org/pdf/xerox/parc/techReports/CSL-89-...
For those interested: https://github.com/madarco/agentbox
Electron is the reason, and the elusive dream of "write once, run anywhere" that got us cross platform UIs that are bespoke and don't follow native OS conventions (or keyboard navigation), plus once marketing got involved and GUIs started needing to be branded instead of just fitting in with every other native app on that OS.
The "elusive dream" of 'write once, run anywhere' is realistically just people wanting to write software with direct product or service use in mind. Native OS conventions are subject to the middlemen of OS vendors, whereas the web (while basically subject to the same vendors) makes a substantial attempt at bridging the gap of writing software for your own purposes without native OS problems. This is a symptom of OSes catering/selling to developers as a platform and hooking them in the 1990s and 2000s.
This attitude that wanting to just make useful code for people and not worry about a windows 11 update breaking everything because they are irresponsible - to think that is not a valid desire is IMO a big problem.
On the other hand, you have a point that it quickly gets out of hand in terms of standards and accessibility and performance bottlenecks. WebAssembly and the WASI are so slow to come out and will by design always be slower than native performance. This doesn't and shouldn't stop us from having decently performant and decently usable program experiences, but it is a prerequisite to care about those things, and the other inheritors of the web development sphere clearly do not want to develop things properly if they take longer than the next fiscal quarter.
There is 100% good Electron code out there, just as 100% there is bad native OS code. The problem isn't inherently the goals of the 'write once, run anywhere' idea; it's more the casualty of other interests pulling away from what developers actually want.