The Joys of the Command Line

April 8, 2009

I’ve found myself sliding back towards command-line interfaces (CLI) lately… it’s been more of a slow drift than a sudden shift, and I haven’t really given it much thought. It’s not like I’m late to the party, exactly – I started out on the command line, and now I’m coming full circle, or at least partially so.

I find I’m much more efficient when I can interact entirely through the keyboard – yes, one must use a pointing device for some kinds of tasks (and I love my Space Navigator for flying around Google Earth) but most of my time these days is spent reading and writing, in a bunch of different applications (list to follow) with little need for mousing if the interfaces are good. I do make an effort to learn keyboard shortcuts, and for the apps I use a lot that has definitely paid off.

The Joys of the Command Line - April 8, 2009 - chad r. frost