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Why is the terminal input so weird?

warp.dev

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Re: Why is the terminal input so weird?

#181

Post by bombolo »

thiht wrote: post #151
itslennysfault wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're on Apple iTerm solves most of the problems outlined in this blog post. Option+click moves cursor wherever you want, cmd+click on any url or path to open it. Plus tabs, panes, and a bunch of other neat stuff. Free, open source, no login required, but it'd be cool if you donated to them.

> Option+click moves cursor wherever you want So it doesn't solve the problem then. The problem is that terminal input doesn't respect[1] the other conventions we're used to. I've used iTerm for... 5 years now? and had no idea option+click was a thing. I even had to enable a non default keybinding preset (something named like "natural keybindings something") to get the basic option+left/right arrows to move the curso…

That's because the shell can actually use the mouse, so overriding that would break a number of things.

Re: Why is the terminal input so weird?

#182

Post by bombolo »

forgotpwd16 wrote: post #136
hprotagonist wrote: post #17

if $EDITOR is properly configured, C-x C-e and hey presto, all is well for complex commands.

The fact that such a command exists is an argument that terminal input is indeed bad.

readline is used by more than one kind of shell. I'd actually like if ipython used it.

Re: Why is the terminal input so weird?

#184

Post by bee_rider »

coldtea wrote: post #178
hansvm wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They do, they just work around them or are used to them. That's trivially true for any "problem" that people "don't suffer from," and it's not that interesting. Problem: Input editing in the shell is hard if you can't remember the appropriate keyboard shortcuts and don't use the relevant features. Workaround: Remember keyboard shortcuts and use them. Blog-proposed workaround: Download our app. If people want to use…

> That's trivially true for any "problem" that people "don't suffer from," and it's not that interesting. Yes, and it's called denial and compromise. > Workaround: Remember keyboard shortcuts and use them. Notice how that's not a "workaround": it's resigning to the problem and suffering the limitations of the system. The very opposite of a workaround, which is finding an alternative easier solution to something being…

This apparent distinction between finding workarounds vs working around things seems to be heavily dependent on your opinion of what is hard or easy. I guess if you want to be the oracle of which workflows are good that’s fine, seems like it would be a bit annoying on your end though.

Re: Why is the terminal input so weird?

#185

Post by rvbissell »

coldtea wrote: post #178
hansvm wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They do, they just work around them or are used to them. That's trivially true for any "problem" that people "don't suffer from," and it's not that interesting. Problem: Input editing in the shell is hard if you can't remember the appropriate keyboard shortcuts and don't use the relevant features. Workaround: Remember keyboard shortcuts and use them. Blog-proposed workaround: Download our app. If people want to use…

> That's trivially true for any "problem" that people "don't suffer from," and it's not that interesting. Yes, and it's called denial and compromise. > Workaround: Remember keyboard shortcuts and use them. Notice how that's not a "workaround": it's resigning to the problem and suffering the limitations of the system. The very opposite of a workaround, which is finding an alternative easier solution to something being…

Is remembering how to play different chords on a guitar and using them, also "resigning to the problem and suffering the limitations of the system"?
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