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The terminal of the future

(jyn.dev)
300 points miguelraz | 1 comments | 11 Nov 25 20:11 UTC | HN request time: 0.206s | source
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LeicaLatte ◴[12 Nov 25 17:56 UTC] No.45903345[source]▶
Instead of reinventing terminals, what if we standardized on structured data exchange between CLI tools (like JSON/msgpack) and let terminal emulators render it intelligently? The backwards compatibility problem that nixpulvis mentions is real - any "terminal of the future" needs to run existing tools well first while gradually enabling richer experiences.
replies(1): >>45904964 #
1. eikenberry ◴[12 Nov 25 19:26 UTC] No.45904964[source]▶
Shell tooling is as successful today in large part due to it's simple byte string/file based protocol. Adding structured data types to the shell and shell command pipelining would turn it from something with a good UI but meh for scripting to one that is good at scripting but meh for UI. Shells are primarily a UI and the focus should stay on that.