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I wrote Task Manager and I just remembered something (2020)

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Re: I wrote Task Manager and I just remembered something (2020)

#31

Dave also has his own YT channel full of "hidden" stories about old microsoft tech he worked on. Be sure to check him out, he's got quite a few good ones :) https://www.youtube.com/c/DavesGarage/videos

YouTube just recommended his channel to me the other morning and I spent a few hours watching his videos. Good stuff. Worth the time spent. Unique insights.

Re: I wrote Task Manager and I just remembered something (2020)

#32
post #21
post #11

> Task Manager will load in reduced mode if resources are short, like only loading the Processes page if that's what's needed to get going. It's one of the very few apps that won't just "fail and bail" when things go wrong. This has saved me a few times, but every time I've seen it I always figured task manager was just failing to completely load. Glad to know that this was a deliberate state.

Is there a name for a process like this? Very interesting approach I want to take with future software.

Graceful degradation

Re: I wrote Task Manager and I just remembered something (2020)

#33
> I initially drew the meters as 7-segment LEDs but that wasn't localizable to all cultures (How do you do a right-to-left reading 7-segment LED for Saudi Arabia?) so they only lasted for one version or so.

I don't get it. Why isn't that localizable? You can write the numbers in either direction with it, can't you? What am I missing?

Re: I wrote Task Manager and I just remembered something (2020)

#35
post #21
post #11

> Task Manager will load in reduced mode if resources are short, like only loading the Processes page if that's what's needed to get going. It's one of the very few apps that won't just "fail and bail" when things go wrong. This has saved me a few times, but every time I've seen it I always figured task manager was just failing to completely load. Glad to know that this was a deliberate state.

Is there a name for a process like this? Very interesting approach I want to take with future software.

It’s similar to the circuit breaker design pattern as well.

Re: I wrote Task Manager and I just remembered something (2020)

#36
post #33

> I initially drew the meters as 7-segment LEDs but that wasn't localizable to all cultures (How do you do a right-to-left reading 7-segment LED for Saudi Arabia?) so they only lasted for one version or so. I don't get it. Why isn't that localizable? You can write the numbers in either direction with it, can't you? What am I missing?

I don't think right-to-left is the issue, since numbers in Arabic are still written left-to-right. However, they use different digits, which don't fit on a 7-segment display, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Arabic_numerals .

And there's also Thai numerals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_numerals .

Re: I wrote Task Manager and I just remembered something (2020)

#37
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows, when it’s good, is actually great, and task manager is an example of good UI and functional backend. Linux just hasn’t built the same easy interface but of course it can do the same things, but no one has built the UI

I think it's a matter of getting used to. The task manager drives me mad. I never feel like I'm full control or know what's going on. Whereas with kill, ps, top and friends I feel like I can diagnose things a lot better. The task manager doesn't even seem to have a search bar, whereas I can just use "grep" in linux. Just right now I was trying to see if indeed it didn't have a search bar and task manager crashed when…

I also used to be linux nerd but as I grow old I find such thing uninteresting. I wish for simple interface where I can kill process, view cpu use etc. In htop its like 3-4 steps to send kill signal which I don't like. And task manager is easy to access to like right click on task bar and click on task manager or Ctrl + Alt + Del.

Also searching is generally not hard in task manager, you can just type process name and it should select it. Yes, it can be tricky sometime but most of time I use it to see process which consumes high cpu or internet bandwidth.

I do agree with GP, windows task manager is simple. If we need advance feature we can use process hacker etc.

I do agree with you too. So its just a matter of taste. But most user aren't nerd and they want something simple like task manager. My mom would simply refuse to use linux because she simply doesn't like cli interface.

Re: I wrote Task Manager and I just remembered something (2020)

#39
post #3

I miss taskmgr so much on Linux/macOS. Everything in taskmgr feels so logical and manageable without extra steps.

What do you like about task manager compared to e.g. Activity Monitor? Activity Monitor has always seemed powerful and well-designed to me.

Lack of right click in activity monitor really frustrates me, especially since I'm more likely to be irritated already when I have to open it.

Re: I wrote Task Manager and I just remembered something (2020)

#40
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Windows, when it’s good, is actually great, and task manager is an example of good UI and functional backend. Linux just hasn’t built the same easy interface but of course it can do the same things, but no one has built the UI

I think it's a matter of getting used to. The task manager drives me mad. I never feel like I'm full control or know what's going on. Whereas with kill, ps, top and friends I feel like I can diagnose things a lot better. The task manager doesn't even seem to have a search bar, whereas I can just use "grep" in linux. Just right now I was trying to see if indeed it didn't have a search bar and task manager crashed when…

Windows has somewhat stripped down versions of the same kind of commandline process management:

  tasklist | findstr chrome.exe

  taskkill /IM chrome.exe /F

  taskkill /PID  /F
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