You're Magnetic Ink...

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"In the beginning was the command line" was the title of Neil Stephenson's 1999 book comparing various computer operating systems of the time. Of course, the reality is somewhat different: in the beginning there were no operating systems at all, just machines hand-coded by whatever means were available: hard-wiring, switches, and later, paper tape and so on. The layer of abstraction between machine and programmer that is an operating system first kicked in in the 1950's, and the idea of a command line really only started when suitable input/output devices came about. 

The input modus operandi for many years owed much to the tabulating machines that preceded the general purpose computing machine: the punched card, which itself had its origins in the 1804 invention of the Jacquard loom, where cards perforated with a carefully arranged matrix of holes controlled the weave in the eponymous loom. On the output side, the ubiquitous method until the 1970's was the teletype: first the physical paper & ink machine, replaced initially by the Virtual Teletype - still actually extant as a family of video terminals, starting with DEC's late seventies VT-100 - that were all eventually superseded with the explosion of 'modern era' operating systems that all started with command line interfaces, which in turn developed into the sophisticated working environments that we now take for granted.

But I agree with Neil Stephenson in one regard: what we have now essentially started with the original CLI's (command line interfaces) like DOS and which are still with us in all the UNIX/LINUX variants and the systems (e.g macOS) whose fancy GUI's (graphical user interfaces) are larded on top of. My late friend Jean-Charles always preferred the command line for many of the more routine daily computer tasks: email, installing/uninstalling software, etc. The latter functions I too feel are easier via a terminal than otherwise, and the lack of clutter, directness of response and spartan elegance of the CLI is particularly compelling to those of us of a certain mindset; although as a generalised replacement for a modern GUI? Not a chance.

Comments

  1. Phil.3 February 2022 at 18:16

    Sat and used one of these back in the day, late 70's I guess. Lucas had a pile of DEC equipment.

    ReplyDelete

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