Author: Roy Eassa
Date: 14:47:57 04/06/02
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On April 06, 2002 at 17:00:49, Dann Corbit wrote: >On April 06, 2002 at 07:58:04, Roy Eassa wrote: >[snip] >>Dann, I had a funny vision: you producing a different 50-page document every >>month using Microsoft Word XP -- the CLI version! >> >>The document would contain style sheets, graphics, a table of contents, an >>index, differing column layouts in different sections, tables, outlines, >>colors/shadings, footnotes, active links (e.g., URLs), etc. The version of Word >>you would use would be entirely CLI, running in a DOS box with no graphics of >>any sort. Word's thousands of commands would be completely available to you via >>command-line switches and command text files. >> >>(How many of us would even use Fritz 7 if it had only a CLI? Every feature, >>including playing on Playchess.com, would be available but accessible only by >>textual commands. I somehow think fewer of us would use it under that >>scenario.) > >Your image is pretty true to form. People are often horrified when I drop to a >command prompt and start clicking away like mad at the keyboard. > >There are some GUI's that I do like. But (for instance) I would never build a >GUI for chest just for myself. It would be a complete waste of time, since I >would never use it. Other things of similar ilk would be a configuration front >end for crafty or things like that. Once I learn what the text form of the >commands are, what use would I possibly have for a GUI? > >Now, with things that have visual value (e.g. pieces moving around on a chess >board) I see value in it. Even at that, the first games of computer chess that >I played were completely from the command line with no GUI of any sort. Oh, mine too. Chess programs were CLI at my university (circa 1980) and at a job I had where there was a PDP-11. It was such an incredible thrill to have a computer opponent at all that it seemed no trouble to get a physical board and type the moves. (Or are you are saying you played without a physical board either -- blindfold??) As for the GUI, if there's something you need to do repeatedly or something involving bulk (filling in a lot of fields) then I definitely see the advantage of a CLI. Like I said, I knew ONLY CLIs for many years. But surely you recognize the clarity of a checkbox or the elegance a set of radio buttons? What a simple and clear way to offer a yes/no decision or a selection of one item from several! Anyway, my first thought was to make it easier for me to get at the power of Chest, but it quickly became my goal to open that great program up to a large number of people who simply will not use it currently. The more people who can use from it, the better it is able to serve humanity, IMHO, and serving humanity is what computers are all about (also MHO).
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