The Power of Text

I spend a good deal of time on the computer – probably far more than I should.

In fairness, it is my trade as well as my hobby, so I have a good excuse.

Despite being very comfortable with technology, I use a GUI whenever possible because it’s easier and…I’m lazy.  Tools like Webmin and Toad have saved me from hand-typing commands and, usually, provide prompts to keep me on track.

My kids see me using these sort of tools all the time and never bat an eyelid.

But, the other day, I was making a change to a Linux test machine I had launched on Amazon’s EC2 and, since I had no GUI tools installed, I decided to just open up a terminal window to make the change.

The familiar black screen with white writing showed up and, instantly, Daniel appeared at my side and the following conversation ensued:

D: “Ooohh.  Are you writing code?”

Me: “Not really, just running some commands here because it’s faster.  I could show you what I’m doing if you like.”

D: “I don’t think so, I think my head would explode!”
Clearly going ‘old school’ had real credibility with him.  Apparently that is what ‘real’ programmers do.

Who knew?