I agree, the LLM porting things is a game changer.

Does it also follow that we can have pretty much any shape for valuable apps? API, CLI, TUI, Web, SwiftUI, WinUI...

Yes. Developers are conditioned to expect the only convenient answer is a TUI (actually, a CLI; TUIs are show-off projects most of the time) and, if you really want to go all out, Electron. That's not the case anymore.

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nzoschke 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

I'm with you here.

In the "before times" an API and web UI that double times as native via Electron was the biggest bang for your buck.

CLI would be a hacker's side project, TUI would be them showing off more. Native would require hiring a team of specialists which is a total non-starter.

In the "after times" API and CLI are getting more love rebranded as MCP and tools.

To the parent topic, I suspect "build a TUI around my CLI" is a slam dunk for an LLM text in / text out machine which is why there is a resurgence of these too.

Hopefully that is the gateway drug to "build a SwiftUI around this", and an antidote to doing everything in Electron.

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colesantiago 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

[flagged]

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akerl_ 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The guidelines are pretty clear that basically all of this comment is not ok, and that this kind of comment is net negative for the quality of the site.

> Be kind. Don't be snarky.

> Edit out swipes.

> When disagreeing, please reply to the argument instead of calling names.

> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.

It seems pretty clear that saying most TUI projects are show-off projects does not mean all TUI projects are show-off projects.

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colesantiago 5 hours ago | parent [-]

> It seems pretty clear that saying most TUI projects are show-off projects does not mean all TUI projects are show-off projects.

Which ones are show off projects? Examples?

Be objective.

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akerl_ 5 hours ago | parent [-]

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=pastWeek&page=0&prefix=fal...

That's a good start.

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colesantiago 5 hours ago | parent [-]

Let's check the first one:

Systemd-manager-TUI: A TUI application for managing systemd services

Somebody said that they use this, so it is not a 'show off' project.

You realise you made a silly sweeping generalisation right? People actually use them.

	▲	akerl_ 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		I don't know why you're so aggressively attacking the idea of people making projects to show off. The claim isn't that zero people use them, or that all TUI projects are made to show off. But most of the TUIs you see land on HN are things somebody made to play around with a technology / scratch a momentary itch. No shade on those people; making a project that brings the author joy is an awesome reason to make something, and sharing it with folks here is one of the better things about this site. But the TUIs you see here are, by and large, not aiming for (and not going to get) broad adoption.

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tptacek 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Every time I read a comment like this, I flash to the episode of the Office where Michael steals one of Dwight's clients while Dwight is on the phone with him in the car. He pitches the client, and Dwight screams into his phone "ARE YOU SAYING YOU INVENTED PAPER?!"

No, friend-o, I'm not saying htop and emacs are show-off projects --- though everyone I know who uses Emacs (myself included) uses graphical emacs.

My point is that most developer tooling is CLI, not TUI; most developer tools are shop jigs, not packaged tools. Though most of the packaged tools: also CLIs!

All of them can very quickly be made into native UIs, though.

You'll get further on HN not calling people "very dishonest".

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colesantiago 5 hours ago | parent [-]

> I'm not saying htop and emacs are show-off projects...

> TUIs are show-off projects most of the time.

Your statement and anecdotes means nothing and are meaningless since you provided 0 examples of the preported "show off" TUI projects.

Maybe you should re-read what you said again before backpedalling after I gave solid counter examples and you provided none.

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nzoschke 5 hours ago | parent [-]

The screenshot in the post demonstrates show-off TUIs.

That git TUI doesn't offer anything over `git` CLI.

The network / battery / performance TUI is redundant with the tools in the window menu bar.

I love the aesthetic of TUIs but their actual day-to-day install base and usage must pale in comparison to CLIs and GUIs.

	▲	colesantiago 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The whole point of a TUI is that it is faster than typing hundreds of commands and options you're likely to forget and made a mistake on. That is not 'showing off'. And you providing anecdotes based on a single blog post doesn't change that. TUIs are not for everyone sure, but they also save developers a lot of time typing and using a mouse. I don't even like TUIs and this is obvious.

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dragonwriter 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

LLM reimplementations for parallel versions are going to be fun to maintain, eepecially when AI market maturity ends the era of AI firms subsidizing coding tools as part of their marketshare competition efforts.

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tptacek 2 hours ago | parent [-]

If you think it’s all a house of cards, obviously none of my arguments hold. I’m not going to hedge that every time I write anything that intersects with AI though.

	▲	dragonwriter an hour ago \| parent [-]
		> If you think it’s all a house of cards, obviously none of my arguments hold. I don't think its all a house of cards; LLMs are real technology with real utility, in coding and lots of other domains. They are also massively and unsustainably subsidized for certain uses (and the increasing crackdowns on repurposing the subsidized services for other uses should make it clear to anyone that the subsidies are unsustainable, and that there is a very clear focus on owning certain markets before when the music stops motivating them.)