In your opinion, of course. Many of us find the * nix command line not only elegant and highly-productive, but actually enjoyable.
In fact, the only Linux command line tools that I did not immediately start using in a highly productive manner are `tar` and `find`, arguably two of tools that least abide by the ideals of * nix command line tools (I've since gotten used to `find`, but `tar` may always send me searching for my personal wiki's corresponding entry[1]).
If you want to argue that there are better ways to program on the console, I grant that it's possible -- although as mentioned, I find the composability of * nix tools to be an almost magically productive approach.
But to condemn anyone to a life of GUI tools is not only going to drastically increase their chance of developing carpal tunnel syndrome, but also inevitably will slow down their work flow -- often drastically. It's simply not possible for even an experienced user to point and click with a mouse as fast as an fluent typist can issue commands on the terminal.
I too love the CLI, but I wish someone would go through and standardize flags, naming, ordering concerns, long-form arguments, etc across all of the POSIX tools. GNU put in some effort here, but in my opinion they didn't go far enough and non-GNU operating systems (BSD, OSX, etc) are missing out.
Actually, as much as I dislike Apple, they're probably one of the few entities that could pull off something like this.
Honestly I feel like most Unix command-line tools are pretty good. I can make a good guess what "-n" and "-i" will mean on a new Unix tool based on context.
The git commands are a big exception; it's like each individual git command was written by its own committee, each deep with NIH syndrome. The one example I remember is two different git tools having a different way of colorizing their output.
I so agree with you. The only thing I hate about the *nix userland is that all tools follow their own set of arbitrary concerns regarding the things you mentioned. Really limits the intuitiveness and discoverability of the system.
In your opinion, of course. Many of us find the * nix command line not only elegant and highly-productive, but actually enjoyable.
In fact, the only Linux command line tools that I did not immediately start using in a highly productive manner are `tar` and `find`, arguably two of tools that least abide by the ideals of * nix command line tools (I've since gotten used to `find`, but `tar` may always send me searching for my personal wiki's corresponding entry[1]).
If you want to argue that there are better ways to program on the console, I grant that it's possible -- although as mentioned, I find the composability of * nix tools to be an almost magically productive approach.
But to condemn anyone to a life of GUI tools is not only going to drastically increase their chance of developing carpal tunnel syndrome, but also inevitably will slow down their work flow -- often drastically. It's simply not possible for even an experienced user to point and click with a mouse as fast as an fluent typist can issue commands on the terminal.
1. http://xkcd.com/1168/