Reviews Linux Command Line UI
Many functions can be performed by either the command interface or through a Graphical User Interface (GUI) in a typical Linux system. As a system administrator, I prefer the simpler interface provided by the commands line. It is with the command line that I find efficiency is optimized allowing my ability to perform tasks much faster. Task automation is the friend of the system administrator. And It is with a script that commands can be invoked easily through the commands interface, making the system administrator look like a magician to the uninitiated. In my own opinion, the command line epitomizes the elegance of a good User Interface design. It is simple in design, yet powerful. More powerful than what is available through the GUI. It is functional, practical and fast. Let’s look at a very common command in Linux. The ls command is used to list the contents of a directory. Using the command line for an example, I quickly created three test files in less than 30 seconds using a command called touch. I then did a list using the ls command with some options that give me information about these files.
ls -al
total 8
drwxrwxr-x 2 user group 4096 Oct 29 23:08.
drwx—— 3 user group 4096 Oct 29 23:07..
-rw-rw-r– 1 user group 0 Oct 29 23:08 another
-rw-rw-r– 1 user group 0 Oct 29 23:08 big_file
-rw-rw-r– 1 user group 0 Oct 29 23:08 small_file
It is outside the scope of this article to discuss the outcome of the ls command. What my intention of pointing out is how quickly the User Interface of the line gives information. I find this to be much more effective than launching a GUI application and navigating to the directory I am interested in. It is typing in five characters and BAM! there are my results.
The Linux command User Interface also lets you combine commands to increase the power and function of your command line glorious interaction. Let’s say you only wanted to see the file with the name small_file in this directory. If this were a long list of files in a directory, filtering for the filename you are looking for would perhaps be desirable.
ls -al | grep small_file
-rw-rw-r– 1 user group 0 Oct 29 23:08 small_file
Now, using the power of the ability to combine commands with this User Interface of the line we only get the result we are interested in by leveraging the pattern matching command of grep. The capability of combining commands at the command line interface is nothing short of amazing. Functions like file manipulation with a command line interface is the only way to go. You can make files, make directories, change permissions, change ownership, and copy files in seconds.
So what is the downside to the user interface as provided by the line? The answer to that is simple. You have to know the commands to take advantage of the power and speed. You lose all efficiency and power if you do not have your commands known to you. A GUI interface makes up for that by presenting information in an intuitive manner to find. A command line doesn’t do that for the user.
You have to know it to benefit. Sure, you can look things up. But the more you have to look up information, the less efficiency you gain.
A illustration of this is the editor preferred by most system administrators. The editor is called vi, or some might prefer vim which stands for vi improved. Both editors are fast and powerful – just like the command line. However, without committing the shortcut keys to memory, vi loses much of its strengths. It becomes frustrating to navigate. Simple tasks become more difficult. But in the hands of an experienced user, editing in vi can be magical.
The purpose of this article is to remind the world there are those of us who prefer a simple interface on occasion. We’ll take the advice of Albert Einstein and prefer our interactions with technology to occasionally be more raw. Give us the more powerful interface versus the elegant one any day. User Interface as an industry will continue seeking graphical representations of underlying functions. But we as system administrators will always prefer not having to use our mouse device as a user interface to interact with our Linux operating systems.
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Source by Viktor Zizic