31 Jul
2021
31 Jul
'21
11:30 p.m.
Michael Siegel <msi(a)malbolge.net> once said:
So, I've prepared a bit of a write-up, pondering
on the pros and cons
of two different ways of having task-specific tool sets
(non-hierarchical command sets vs. sub-commands) that is available at
https://www.msiism.org/files/doc/unix-like_command-line_interfaces.html
I tend to think the sub-command approach is better. But I'm neither a UI
nor a Unix expert and have no formal training in computer things. So, I
thought this would be a good place to ask for comment (and get some
historical perspective).
You're missing the approach taken in Plan 9 (and
10th edition Unix): put related commands in a
directory and use a shell that doesn't restrict
the first argument of a command to a single path
element.
This lets you execute commands like:
auth/as
disk/prep
git/rebase
ip/ping
ndb/dns
upas/send
without having a prefix on every command name or
single large binaries with every command linked
in as subcommands.
Cheers,
Anthony