The User Interface of the future ?

Arguing whether the Command Line Interface (CLI) is superior to the Graphical User Interface (GUI) or vice versa strikes me as a futile exercise. It quickly becomes clear to anyone who has used both that the best way to interact with the computer is to use both methods. A CLI + GUI interface is vastly more powerful than a plain GUI interface. As you use both, you find more and more uses for the former, where it clearly surpasses the GUI. Why, you even start ordering your pizzas from the command line.

However, the difficulty many face in approaching the CLI initially is what Eric Raymond calls the 'mnemonic load'. Don Norman writes how the next major UI breakthrough should be in CLI. He anticipates the development of a more flexible command line language, with more resemblance to natural language and not requiring a strict adherence to an idiosyncratic syntax.

An alternative to an entire new language for the command line is to use a user-friendly intermediate layer which translates the user input into the syntax that the command line understands. This is analogous to the frequently used concept in Unix when a user friendly GUI actually uses command line tools, but provides a user friendly front end.

What you see below is a working prototype of such a program written in python. In its main loop, it collects user input and outputs a command to the terminal. When the input is a valid command line input, it is passed unchanged. But when it is not, it is 'translated' into a valid one. I call it the Genie. Here are a few examples of the genie in action.


The prompt includes a battery status monitor - I find it useful and it shows that the prompt is easily customizable. 'Normal' shell commands are interpreted directly - like 'ls -l | grep 2007-03' in the example. Navigation to usual places is easy just - 'go home' or 'go desk'. 'space' functions like an alias mapping to 'df -h / /home'. Note the genie says line which lets you know the command that is passed to the shell. So that a newcomer also learns shell syntax along the way.


When you want to install an application just 'install '. If the app is found in the apt-cache, installation is started. Otherwise you are allowed to choose from the matches in the apt-cache.


Any calculations are automatically recognized and passed on to bc. Finally, a listing of directory names is stored and searchable. So if you want to navigate to the python site-packages folder and didn't remember where it was, genie can help you.

Obviously, the possibilities are almost endless. The genie can be taught to understand new commands as you desire. It may be necessary to be able to carry genie around so that you have your custom genie on any computer you have to use. But finally, will the added ease of use facilitate introduction of the command line to new users or will the use of a simple interface like this preclude users from learning shell commands and thereby never being able to make full use of it ? Comments are welcome.