By: Ashwini Selvakumaran
Ever
wanted to be able to interact with your computer? Well who would’ve thought that
you can?
And
no, sadly I’m not talking about a walking, talking, computer, but rather the
wonder behind the command-line interface.
Now
if you’re scratching your head, disappointed that your computer can’t talk back
to you, don’t get so upset yet! Take the time to explore the interesting ways
computers communicate with us, and you might just be captivated after all.
The command-line interface allows the user to interact with the
computer by typing in commands. The computer displays a prompt; the user
keys in the command and presses enter or returns.
Many
commands have what are called 'switches'. These are basically, an extra set of
instructions, which add extra functionality to the command. For example if I
typed this into the command-line interface:
»Dir
/p
We
would now be able to pause at the bottom of every page! Neat, huh?
Before
Windows was developed, this type of user interface was what most people used to
get the computer to follow basic instructions. Nowadays, very few people have
the knowledge to be able to use a command-line interface. With all the complex
technology and advanced programing that has been developed today, it’s easy to
see why. However, it’s important to go back to the roots and explore the
benefits of the command-line interface.
Pressing the ENTER key
after typing in a command causes that command to be passed to the shell. A shell is a program that provides the command-line interface as well as reads commands that
are typed on the keyboard and then runs them. The results of executing many,
but not all, commands are also shown on the command line.
There
are many different types of command-line interfaces, but the two most popular
ones are DOS
(for Windows) and the bash shell
(for Linux). Most people these days prefer graphical user interface, a modern
and visual way of interacting with your computer, or AKA probably what you’re
using to read this now. However, command-line interfaces aren’t just out of
style yet, in fact, some operations can actually be completed faster by typing
commands. Therefore, people like Network administrators and Webmasters use it for
common tasks like transferring files and checking server statuses. Or you know,
all of the things that enable you to log into Facebook, or check your email.
Though
the graphic user interface is the latest trend with modern computers, the
command-line interface is pretty neat if you want to be able to enter a bundle
of commands. Though it does not let our computer talk to us physically, it does let us communicate with the
computer through the keyboard. That’s some pretty neat stuff!
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