[CLUE-Tech] A Simpler way

[Kevin Cullis]

ian wrote:
> 
> In a highly complex system the "simplest way" can be defined as the way
> you know how to do it.  When there is as many ways to do something as you
> can imagine and one more, getting it done in a way you know how counts
> pretty high in my definition.
> 
> It is an academic exercise to find the way that is the simplest.  What
> criteria will it be defined to do something the simplest?  Least keystrokes?
> Least button clicks?

The optimal perspective is process related: the fewest
keystokes/mouseclicks (i.e. time related) to get the job done!  That's
why I originally talked about this idea below.  However, learning more
about the CLI can create a more synergistic benefit when combined with
other commands and piping multiple commands together to achieve the end
result.  GUI's result in easy to use and follow after a 80/20 rule: 80%
of the people will only use 20% of the commands in a CLI. I, too, use
the a GUI when I'm in "mouse mode" and have to get things done, but I
find that I am beginning to switch to CLI for more and more things as I
begin to learn how to do more and more things with the CLI. The more
difficult thing is knowing what tips and tricks one can find in using
the CLI to be more productive than the GUI.

> 
> I routinely use both the CLI & GUI to do things.  Its all a matter of what
> I know now and what I have the time to learn.
> 
> ian
> 
> On Sun, Apr 15, 2001 at 08:49:40AM -1000, Cyberclops wrote:
> > I think you make a very good point about doing things the simplest way.
> > One of the problems I have is just understanding the command line
> > syntax.  Ideally. I would like a session with computers where a simple
> > file is created and then we learn to manipulate it with the CLI
> > interface and a variety of ways and then explore the possibility of
> > doing the same maneuvers with a GUI.  SOmetimes I believe the GUI is
> > simpler for simpler things, but I believe the CLI would be better for
> > more complex tasks.  I'm also wondering if the CLI is more error free
> > assuming you type the correct commands ion the first place.  THe reason
> > I say this is that I know for a fact that the KDE copy or move
> > operations can become overwhelmed and crash out in the middle of the
> > operation.  I doubt this happens in a CLI mode only.
> >
> > Kevin Cullis wrote:
> > >
> > > Hey all,
> > >
> > > I've been having a discussion with a programmer friend of mine and it's
> > > funny how we both have different views of the same problem.  I sometimes
> > > want to "cut and paste" data from the web browser into VIM in order to
> > > parse the data into useable form, such as records to be inported into a
> > > database. However, he has stated, along with other programmers I know,
> > > that I should save the file in HTML and then parse the HTML out of the
> > > file.  However, while both achieve the same results, my programming
> > > friends way takes considerably more work and knowledge than my "cut and
> > > paste" method.  In fact, all I have in my file is the data with a large
> > > number of spaces which require ONLY one command to use in order to
> > > remove the multiple spaces rather than his PERL or other method to
> > > parsing HTML tags.
> > >
> > > Why am I mentioning this?  Because most new people to Linux can be
> > > bombarded with more technical approaches to a problem when sometimes a
> > > simple problem requires a simple solution.
> > >
> > > In VIM, I type:
> > >
> > > :%s/   *//g
> > >
> > > to remove all multiple spaces leaving only my data in fields.  However,
> > > my friends approach can be used for more complex approaches to other
> > > problems which I can consider in future projects.
> > >
> > > Just a comment.
> > >
> > > Kevin