Command Line vs. GUI

You'll hear the terms "terminal," "shell," "command line," "CLI," and "command prompt" used interchangeably by some developers (despite some technically-correct differences). But they usually refer to the same thing: a program that allows you to interact with your computer in a text-based way.

The alternative to a terminal is a graphical user interface (GUI). When you use a mouse to click on fancy icons, buttons, and menus, you're using a "GUI" (pronounced "goo-ee").

To be fair, it's usually easier to teach people to use a GUI than a CLI. You can just point to things and say "click here" or "drag this there", but they do have some drawbacks:

• They're weak. A CLI gives you much more control over your computer. With a GUI you're limited to the options that the developer of the GUI has given you.

• They're slow. Once you know the commands to type, it's much faster to type them than to click through endless menus with a mouse.

• They're not automatable. Commands can be copied, pasted, and scripted. Clicks can't.

• They're not as cool. You will be invited to 90% fewer romantic outings if you are a GUI user.