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.