Terminology 101: Intuition, ease of learning 3301
Tim Murray Glad you broke this out of that thread. It's approaching 1000 posts. Yes but with a caveat. Overall this is true. But for new and...
Tim Murray
Not quite. OS-X is a BSD distribution, it's not a Linux kernel. It will run GPL code, but it's not their primary strategic offering.
You are correct, a CLI is not intuitive. On the other hand, once you create the first iteration, adding new variations to a script can be more intuitive. On the other hand, having a CLI interface simplifies the process of creating a GUI interface - the two can be almost completely decoupled - even better, the GUI generated commands can be saved into scripts.
GUI interfaces can also be confusing. In some cases, the logic involved in a GUI is so complex that even the slightest change can take months to develop, test, and deploy correctly.
When the ONLY way to access a particular resource or function is through a GUI interface, routine operations can become painfully tedious. Something as simple as moving information from one format to another can become incredibly expensive.
The biggest challenge for CLI is that there are so many options. Learning the Java programming language is easy, but learning the vast array of clbuttes and methods can take a great deal longer. It's very difficult to keep up. But would you want to limit your ability to add new functions and capabilities by putting all of it an GUI?
Kelsey Bjarnason Samuel Adams to the rescue... maybe. OS X isn't any easier than Linux. What the younguns don't get...
The problem is that many GUI interfaces are designed so that the HUMAN BEING has to become the script interpreter.
Take the simple act of customizing a machine that has been previously configured. With Windows, you would have to install Windows, install the applications, and manually configure all of the special functions using the GUI. The process can take hours, even days. You can back up documents in "My Documents" but it's quite likely that saving and restoring all of the "Documents and Settings" can backfire in a really ugly way.
Sure. I am having a similar discussion in another thread. A well designed GUI is far, far more discoverable, easier to remember how to use, and clearly fits the idea...
In a Linux machine, the configuration can be saved in scripts andetc files, when the machine is rebuilt or replaced, the installation and the configuration can all be done from the back-up media.
Terminology 101: Intuition, ease of learning 3302
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