Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

---

If the web had a command line...

Author:	Ken MacLeod
Posted:	10/25/1999; 8:23:04 AM
Topic:	Today's scriptingNews Outline
Msg #:	12321 (In response to 12310)
Prev/Next:	12320 / 12322

Dave asks:

Question: If the web had a command line, what would it look like?

I believe a HyperCard-like message box would be one of the easiest (without being tied to one language, of course).

For power users, the Unix command line can't be beat. Well, actually, it could by restricting the command set to web-related and web-compatible tools and a consistent command language. The real strength to the Unix command line is not Unix but the semantics of breaking things into fetchers, filters, transformers, and outputers, and then being able to string together these little tools to perform big tasks. This could be done on any OS (and most current software will run on most OSs), but Unix is about the only one that includes a focus on the CLI UI.

---

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:53:11 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.