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How I'm still not using GUIs in 2019: A guide to the terminal

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Re: How I'm still not using GUIs in 2019: A guide to the terminal

#11

Post by jandrese »

hyperman1 wrote: post #7

For me, things like VIM where you first have to configure the hell out of it are a pain. Every time you're on some other machine, all your customization is gone. So after switching machines a bazillion times over the years, making the same little tweaks over and over, I've learned to deal with the default config. What I didn't expect: It made me a lot more productive in the long run.

This is why defaults matter. People sometimes downplay changes with "well, you can just tweak it if you don't like it", but in the long run tweaking the install every time is effort. Especially when you're working on non-internet connected machines. It's why I get annoyed when for example Ubuntu stops shipping the ability to burn DVDs on the install disk.

Re: How I'm still not using GUIs in 2019: A guide to the terminal

#12

Post by estsauver »

I always find the benefits of portability to be a rather funny one: It's always immediately followed by 800 lines of dotfiles that do an incredible amount of customization.

The IDE vs. vim/emacs purist debate is always crazy to me. There are some places where IDE's are almost certainly better: Java in a large project in IntelliJ has to be 100x better than in Vim. For new languages or languages where there isn't substantial IDE integration, it's probably 5x better in Vim/Emacs with a nice configuration.

Re: How I'm still not using GUIs in 2019: A guide to the terminal

#13

Post by agumonkey »

frou_dh wrote: post #4

I like command-lines. I don't like TUIs. Here's the litmus test for whether a program truly belongs there: Would it shit the bed if its stdout was a printer?

reminds me my litmus test for website design: elinks

we should have a curated litmus list.. listmus.com

Re: How I'm still not using GUIs in 2019: A guide to the terminal

#14

Post by brootstrap »

estsauver wrote: post #12

I always find the benefits of portability to be a rather funny one: It's always immediately followed by 800 lines of dotfiles that do an incredible amount of customization. The IDE vs. vim/emacs purist debate is always crazy to me. There are some places where IDE's are almost certainly better: Java in a large project in IntelliJ has to be 100x better than in Vim. For new languages or languages where there isn't subst…

Just wait for the vim guy who will be like "but muh java plugins make it more efficient then IntelliJ"...

I think i am more productive in an IDE, faster. Sure if you have this insane VI/EMACS setup that you have tuned for years. Good for you, you probably are a fucking wiz.

My standard right now is a terminal & IDE combo. Working in the cloud era as a data person, you need to be comfortable with terminal & vi/emacs (vi for me but whatevs) as it makes life a ton easier. I hate watching co-workers do terminal shit and write code. Seriously guys if you invest a little time into VI pretty soon you are flying around your code. People literally watch my screen and are like WTF are you doing. I feel like a surgeon with precise incisions, cuts, tweaks. Compare this to spamming down arrow 30 times and then right arrow 80 times to get to a character in your editor...

Re: How I'm still not using GUIs in 2019: A guide to the terminal

#17

Post by brootstrap »

jandrese wrote: post #11
hyperman1 wrote: post #7

For me, things like VIM where you first have to configure the hell out of it are a pain. Every time you're on some other machine, all your customization is gone. So after switching machines a bazillion times over the years, making the same little tweaks over and over, I've learned to deal with the default config. What I didn't expect: It made me a lot more productive in the long run.

This is why defaults matter. People sometimes downplay changes with "well, you can just tweak it if you don't like it", but in the long run tweaking the install every time is effort. Especially when you're working on non-internet connected machines. It's why I get annoyed when for example Ubuntu stops shipping the ability to burn DVDs on the install disk.

I think vanilla VI (basically just modal editing in general) empowers the user enough to make it worth knowing. I'm pretty damn proficient editing code in a project (that I know granted) with hundreds of files using standard VI when i ssh to a VM or AWS machine etc. Still more proficient than people using an IDE locally without VI modal editing :p

Re: How I'm still not using GUIs in 2019: A guide to the terminal

#18

Post by olig15 »

I'm a game developer mainly writing/reading/debugging C++ on a codebase that's well over a million lines of code. As with most game-dev I'm developing almost entirely using Visual Studio, and I can't imagine trying to navigate code using a terminal based editor.

Maybe it's just because this is what I'm used to, however I just don't see how some of the tools would even be displayed in a terminal (parallel stacks window, for example) without some horrible ascii node graph.

GUI's are definitely more than just bloat. Possibly not for what the author us developing, but there is definitely a use for IDEs/GUIs.

Re: How I'm still not using GUIs in 2019: A guide to the terminal

#19

Post by tom_ »

You can always run a terminal alongside your IDE, you know! The IDE-type approach is generally very convenient, making your day go past that bit more smoothly, and the terminal is good for all sorts of things that are just a faff to do with a GUI.

(Interop is straightforward: just save from the IDE, operate on the file from the command line, then reload.)

This probably won't be to all tastes, but I've been happy working like this for years.

Re: How I'm still not using GUIs in 2019: A guide to the terminal

#20

Post by weliketocode »

estsauver wrote: post #12

I always find the benefits of portability to be a rather funny one: It's always immediately followed by 800 lines of dotfiles that do an incredible amount of customization. The IDE vs. vim/emacs purist debate is always crazy to me. There are some places where IDE's are almost certainly better: Java in a large project in IntelliJ has to be 100x better than in Vim. For new languages or languages where there isn't subst…

Only a sith speaks in absolutes.

I have known several vim purists who are extremely productive in Java/Scala/Kotlin.

I both understand and respect your preference for Intellij. But, your dismissiveness of others is misguided.

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