Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

news.ycombinator.com

161–170 of 272 posts

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#161

I wonder whether anybody has developed a CLI browser that also has a JavaScript engine. I've seen plenty of TUIs that have modals, text line inputs, etc. You could probably get pretty far so that at least you can support more of the Web. At least to start with just using an engine to allow JavaScript to have control over HTML elements would be a start that would solve many of the issues with text browsers.

W3m has some javascript support, but it's limited. As far as HTML5 goes, I believe you're out of luck.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes you can do all that stuff with like 2 plugins LITERALLY BUILTIN: - Edit code - Do all that remotely or with containers involved - Spell checking ALE: - Autocomplete - Navigate code, find references, go to definitions - Run multiple static analyzers simultaneously DISPATCH: - Run your code - Debug your code - Test your code (including running a specific test) - Profile your code FUGITIVE: - Use version control and…

By the time you are half-way configuring that I am already done with my tasks. By the end of the first sprint you'll have carpal tunnel syndrome.

Why do you care so much what workflow some rando on the internet uses?

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used IntelliJ plenty, and it's pretty bad at most of those tasks. Using the git CLI is much better for version control than the Jetbrains GUI wrapper; using Docker itself rather than a wrapper is much better for containers; etc etc. I'm sort of amazed the question of "can you do version control in a terminal" is even being asked... That's where git originated! That's the git team's primary development focus even…

> Using the git CLI is much better for version control than the Jetbrains GUI wrapper For some things. But for reviewing activity in git, and tracking changes across time, doing it in the terminal is unproductive and sucks. (e.g.: 10 levels deep of git blame) > That's sort of the point of *nix systems: multiple processes running simultaneously. Using the shell is of course going to allow that, especially with somethi…

>> Using the git CLI is much better for version control than the Jetbrains GUI wrapper

> For some things. But for reviewing activity in git, and tracking changes across time, doing it in the terminal is unproductive and sucks. (e.g.: 10 levels deep of git blame)

Magit[1] in Emacs is quite okay. It doesn’t feel duct-taped. I haven’t used fugitive[2] in Vim but that’s a thing that exists too.

[1] https://magit.vc/

[2] https://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I use Neovim all the time but although I do have some linters installed I find all the fancy stuff so much worse than in a more visually appealing editor. I love vim and I do have a lot of affection for the terminal but things get extremely visually noisy with language servers in a way they just don’t with a more graphical interface. It sucks because I want to use vim for TypeScript dev but I just can’t stand it comp…

You can use the vim extension for vs code, which let's you have your cake and eat it to. All the convenience of vs code with all the speed from using vim commands. https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vscodevi...

If you really want speed, you’ll want the neovim extension. This replaces VSCode in many ways, making it neovim under the hood…which means no waiting for VSCode to figure out what’s going on in your giant codebase, no wondering why it takes literally a full half-second sometimes before the characters you just typed pop onto the screen. But it’s still VSCode “on top,” so you can tap into the other features you might want when you want them.

Full disclosure: it’s been years since I used it, but I was super impressed

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've used IntelliJ plenty, and it's pretty bad at most of those tasks. Using the git CLI is much better for version control than the Jetbrains GUI wrapper; using Docker itself rather than a wrapper is much better for containers; etc etc. I'm sort of amazed the question of "can you do version control in a terminal" is even being asked... That's where git originated! That's the git team's primary development focus even…

> Using the git CLI is much better for version control than the Jetbrains GUI wrapper For some things. But for reviewing activity in git, and tracking changes across time, doing it in the terminal is unproductive and sucks. (e.g.: 10 levels deep of git blame) > That's sort of the point of *nix systems: multiple processes running simultaneously. Using the shell is of course going to allow that, especially with somethi…

> But for reviewing activity in git, and tracking changes across time, doing it in the terminal is unproductive and sucks

tig is great at that. "tig blame" and "," is the way to go for researching the history of some code.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By the time you are half-way configuring that I am already done with my tasks. By the end of the first sprint you'll have carpal tunnel syndrome.

Why do you care so much what workflow some rando on the internet uses?

No post body was provided.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#167
One of the upsides of the pervasive JS is that it often calls APIs that do useful things. If you take the time to capture and study those interactions, you can develop your own libraries and CLI tools that operate those useful APIs, too [0]. Then, you can think of "browser time" as an investment that begets more "terminal time." Also, if you stick with simple interfaces for your CLIs (e.g., read and write pretty printed JSON instead of inventing your own "human readable" formats), it's much easier to make your tools snap together like German nouns, like McIlroy intended [1].

[0] This is all subject to how much you care, of course. Not all automation is worth the hassle.

[1] His metaphor was actually garden hoses that screw together.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#168
post #10

I do almost everything in terminal windows, but for emails, Slack, video calls, and other support-related things I use native MacOS/iPadOS apps. It doesn't make sense to do everything in a terminal because not every useful service works in a terminal. Choose your environment and tools based on utility.

I agree. I don’t really understand the point in being a terminal maximalist. Yes, I do 90% of my work in vi or ssh and that’s what I prefer.

Checking my email or chatting though, why bother? The company pays for outlook and slack, I’d just be making my life pointlessly difficult.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#169

Many of our latest hires (new college grads) struggle with terminals and CLI in general. It seems like recently students have stopped getting this exposure which leads to them joining and not knowing how to ssh into a damn linux VM. It's a pretty daunting world.

I've talked with professors about this, and it seems that if students want to learn how to use the terminal, they need to figure it out themselves or take whatever UNIX/Linux-related classes that are offered, and those classes are usually electives and not required. Apparently some professors are leaning more and more on desktop & cloud IDEs, and other development platforms that just let students code and not worry a…

Interesting. I perhaps nearly singlehandedly torpedoed one of these a few years back. I think I'm glad I did.

Re: Ask HN: Is it still possible to live in a terminal?

#170

The Vim/Neovim ecosystem has gotten unbelievably better over the last 5-10 years. "Living in the terminal" for core development work is IMO better than pretty much anything else out there; my Neovim setup has a modern plugin manager; an IDE-like experience with fast autocompletion as I type, goto definition, and automated refactor support; and a side-drawer file browser navigable with Vim motions. It feels like an ID…

What setup/plugins do you recommend for using Neovim as an IDE replacement? I use vi for minor text editing but have never used it for development.

If you’re just jumping in, you can’t beat starting with lunarvim or astrovim and then customizing further from there if you need to. Neovim is fantastic, and the best way to edit code IMO, but getting it set up to a point where it has the features of vscode/IDEs can be a project in itself.
Post reply on HN