started work on modern cli renaissance

content/posts/rustclirenaissance.adoc

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+title = "The modern CLI Renaissance, In Rust?"
+date = 2024-03-04T12:20:02-06:00
+draft = true
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+:caution-caption: pass:[<span style="font-size: 2em">☠</span>]
+:important-caption: pass:[<span style="font-size: 2em">❗</span>]
+:note-caption: pass:[<span style="font-size: 2em">✏️</span>]
+:tip-caption: pass:[<span style="font-size: 2em">💡</span>]
+:warning-caption: pass:[<span style="font-size: 2em">⚠</span>]
+:toc:
+:toclevels: 6
+
+// btop, 2021, c++
+// bat, 2018, rust
+// helix, 2020, rust
+// zoxide, 2020, rust
+// starship, 2019, rust
+// difftastic, 2018, rust
+// git-delta, 2019, rust
+// nushell, 2018, rust
+// hyperfine, 2018, rust
+// sd, 2018, rust
+// tre, 2019, rust
+// typst, 2019, rust
+// yazi, 2024, rust
+// fd, 2017, rust
+// ripgrep, 2016, rust
+// ast-grep, 2022, rust
+// pueue, 2015, rust
+// diskonaut, 2020, rust
+// broot, 2018, rust
+// just, 2016, rust
+// zellij, 2020, rust
+// scc, 2018, go
+// fzf, 2013, go
+// lazygit, 2018, go
+// grex, 2019, rust
+// micro, 2016, go
+// oh-my-posh, 2019, go
+// nnn, 2016, c
+// qalculate, 2016, c++
+// eza/exa, 2014, rust
+// lsd, 2018, rust
+// neovim, 2015, c
+
+// cat, cd, rm, cp, man was included in the first version of unix, in 1971 
+// ls specifically can trace its history to 1961 (https://tldp.org/LDP/LG/issue48/fischer.html)
+// vi was made in 1976
+// sed in 1974
+// awk in 1985
+// bc in 1975
+// diff in 1974
+// make in 1976
+// vim in 1991
+// ssh in 1995
+// midnight commander in 1994
+// rust 1.0 in 2015
+
+The terminal has been a staple of computer user interfaces since before computer monitors were available,
+with some of the first computers offering an interactive mode in the late 1950's.
+The 'modern' Linux terminal traces its linage to the very first version of Unix, in 1971.
+Many utilities that a Linux user uses every day,
+commands like `rm`, `cat`, `cd`, `cp`, `man` and a host of other core commands trace their initial versions to this first version of Unix.
+Other tools are a bit newer, such as `sed` (1974), `diff` (1974) `bc` (1975), `make` (1976) or `vi` (1976).
+There where a few more tools introduced in the 90's, such as `vim` (1991) and `ssh`, (1995), but you get the picture.
+The majority of the foundational CLI tools on a Linux pc, even one installed yesterday, are older than Linux itself is.
+
+== Ok, so?
+
+Now, theres nothing wrong with this, the tools work fine still, but,
+in the half-century since they were first written,
+Terminals, users, and the broader linux ecosystem have all changed.
+Terminals now have capacity to display more colours, Unicode symbols, and even inline images.
+TODO: how have things changed?
+
+Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, our knowledge has expanded,
+our knowledge of user interfaces,
+of what works and what doesnt,
+of what usecases are common and what usecases are niche,
+and the value of documentation that is easy to find and digest.
+
+== The revival of the terminal
+
+In recent years, Ive noticed a resurgence in development of command line utilities.
+Instead of just developing tools that dont exist,
+Ive noticed that people are remaking, rethinking, tools that have existed since the early days of Unix.