The GUI was developed within the operating system as soon as the mouse became a new input device to operate the computer. We should admit that GUI is visually attractive and easily understood. But, for some tasks which are vital, CLI is way more powerful.
Here, we would like to pick some points why you would use CLI over GUI. However, we leave it to you to choose depending on your type of work.
- Less Resource
It is not a secret that the text-based program needs very little resources of your computer. This means that with CLI you can do similar tasks with minimum resources. - High Precision
You can use a specific command to target specific destinations with ease. As long as you don’t type the wrong command, it will work like a charm. Once you learn the basics, writing syntax is not as hard as you might think. - Repetitive Tasks Friendly
GUI has developed well over the years. But, the operating system may not give you all the menus and buttons to perform all tasks. One of the reasons is safety. This leaves you overwhelmed if you have to do repetitive tasks. For example, when you have to handle hundreds of files within a folder, CLI enables you to use a single command to do automate the repetition easily. - Powerful
Most operating systems today prevent you from messing up the system’s core process. Windows has system protection and MacOS has SIP (System Integrity Protection). You won’t be able to perform certain tasks which are system protected. However, with CLI, you will have full control over your system.
To give an illustration of why you need to know how to use CLI we will need to rename 1000 files in a directory. If we want to find all .txt files to .rtf in a GUI environment we would need to rename each file individually. That sounds exhausting. Let’s use CLI instead. Via a terminal I can “mv *.txt *.rtf” in a quick command. NOW all files in that directory have been renamed in 3 seconds. This is the power of CLI.
While you want to understand how things are coded as a professional. The same thing goes for CLI in the operating system. While the GUI may seem appealing, CLI is light, powerful and straightforward. SO LEARN YOUR CLI!
Conclusion
Despite a long debate that CLI is only for the experts, you have now learned it is for average users as well.
The fact that most operating system still provides CLI along with GUI proves that CLI is crucial. Also, using CLI gives more positive points than GUI because:
- It needs fewer resources
- It ensures high precision
- It handles repetitive task easily
- It is powerful
Now, let’s get the job done using CLI! Can you hack it?