In the desktop world, we have the option to use the command line: a uniform interface for a multitude of apps that would otherwise be very different when implemented as GUIs.

Using the same interface, I can move or edit files, cross out tasks on my to-do list, retrieve my password for my email account (using Bitwarden or pass), etc. All in the command line. The GUI for each of those are wildly different.

The other benefit is it is very easy to create a new command line app, as opposed to a GUI.

Is anything like this possible for the smartphone world (even if it doesn’t or will never exist)? What would it look like?

Since smartphone typing is much slower, we can’t simply reuse the command line. We’d need something different. An interface that can still support a various spectrum of different operations, yet ergonomic for a smartphone. What are your thoughts?

  • Chocrates@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    7 months ago

    I really don’t think that the command line is a uniform interface. Every command has its own syntax, its own take on what its switches mean, its own take on regexes/globs and so on.

    Powershell was kind of an answer to that. All commands are supposed to emit objects and take objects as input. For me though it is horribly unintuitive. Id love to see an open source attempt at it, but it would be hard since by necessity every dev works on their own tool, while Microsoft could enforce something because they own all the tools.

    • WIPocket@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      7 months ago

      Well, the fact they emit objects doesn’t really help that much with the user interface. This just means that the standard input and output of commands is (usually) more unified and parse-able. I really like the idea, and have seen multiple attempts at it including PowerShell, however none have reached the level of usability that the good old *NIX shells provide.

      Id love to see an open source attempt at it

      Here you go!

      • BearOfaTime@lemm.eeEnglish
        31·
        7 months ago

        It seems the difference stems from *Nix treating everything like a file (or stream) from day 1, while windows was built from DEC Alpha, which had a completely different approach.

        (In the early 90’s a group of DEC Alpha engineers were laid off, and Microsoft hired them. Technet magazine had an article (written by Mark Minasi I think), showing how clearly NT reflects the structure of Alpha. They may have been working on NT before that, but the influence of DEC was pretty clear).