Re: program to compute gears, with table

[Emanuel Berg <moasen@zoho.com>]

DougC wrote:

> I have not written nor used a CLI program in
> many years. I'd rather do it in a GUI (Visual
> Basic) just for the copy & paste ability that
> comes along for free.

You can copy and paste, or "kill and yank" as
it is called in the Emacs world, writing CLI
programs as well. But actually it is a bad
habit. The same code shouldn't appear twice.
Instead, it should be "factored out" as it is
called, i.e. put into a neat little function of
its own, and then be invoked, the same
function, from anywhere where it is needed.

> PCs are so big and fast now that there's
> little point in worrying about saving a few
> kilobytes--or even, a few hundreds
> of kilobytes.

CLI programming is not because the programs are
smaller on the disk. Which they are, of course.
It is about other things - speed, creativity,
and the simple fact that some people don't like
clicking on icons with a mouse and pointer, or
searching in endless menus for what the want to
do. They like typing and text and combining
tools to do whatever. This way, one can just
use the computer at a whole other level.

Also, the GUIs are not esthetically appealing
to these people - when you understand what goes
on behind it, just looking at it can be an
unpleasant thing. Text on the other hand is the
truth, there is nothing manipulative to it.
The real deal.

> And arguing that a CLI is somehow "better"
> than a GUI is like arguing that a well and an
> outhouse are somehow "better" than
> indoor plumbing.

CLIs, or text interfaces in general, are
better, faster, more reliable in almost every
case, the exception being applications that are
graphical in nature, e.g. GIS, scientific
visualization programs, and such.

However, not all applications which to some
extent are graphical needs a GUI - examples
here are LaTeX and gnuplot, where very
good-looking documents, charts, and diagrams
can be produced straight from a text buffer.

> Also I have written programs in the past and
> not included any help files, and then
> forgotten how to use them. With the VB
> programs, I put in a few help buttons +
> message boxes that explain how to use the
> thing, so the help can't ever get separated
> from the program it goes with...

No comments :)

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573