command line (was Thanks GNUCash)

[Robert Heller]

  warlord at MIT.EDU,
  In a message on Tue, 12 Jul 2005 17:51:40 -0400, wrote :

w> Quoting Neil Williams <linux at codehelp.co.uk>:
w> 
w> > 1. Users' data files can get seriously large - loading the entire data file 
w> > into a CLI could take as long as loading the file in an already open GUI, 
w> > which defeats the main objective of the CLI - speed.
w> 
w> I dont think that loading the data is necessarily the bottleneck here.  I think
w> it's module loading and then report generation and display that takes the vast
w> majority of load-time.

Right.  The GnuCash splash window gives the progress -- the 'loading
data' is very last and the time between 'loading data' and the main GUI
window popping up is a very *small* fraction of the loading time.

w> 
w> > 2. It can be hard, IMHO, in a CLI to check that the data is complete and 
w> > accurate in relation to existing data. Errors that will jump out at you in a
w> > GUI can be much harder to spot in a terminal window.
w> 
w> Sure, but we wouldn't recommend the CLI for everyday use.

Of course not!  The only thing *I* would use it for a quick bulk entry
of simple transactions, something like:

gnucash -importSimpleTransactions - /home/heller/Finances/Checking2005/Jan2005.xac
7/7/2005
Ritz - pictures
18.20
checking
random expenses
7/7/2005
Walmart - Drill and Bits
52.30
checking
tools
^D


w> 
w> > 3. It's rare, in my experience, to find a single package that has both GUI
w> > and 
w> > CLI programs - these are usually installed separately. It may therefore be 
w> > useful to not make the CLI package dependent on the GnuCash package but 
w> > instead be able to install it on systems where GnuCash cannot be used - even
w> > remotely over SSH or other crazy ideas.
w> 
w> Er, maybe.  What about "emacs"?  ;)

Maybe separate programs, but sometimes installed as a group.

The Matlab package can run with or without the X11/GUI interface.

The Tcl/Tk wiki program wikit.  *One* executable, runs using either the
local X11 or as a CGI script.

w> 
w> -derek
w> 
w> -- 
w>        Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
w>        Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
w>        URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
w>        warlord at MIT.EDU                        PGP key available
w> 
w> _______________________________________________
w> gnucash-user mailing list
w> gnucash-user at gnucash.org
w> https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user
w> 
w>                          

                                     \/
Robert Heller                        ||InterNet:   heller at cs.umass.edu
http://vis-www.cs.umass.edu/~heller  ||            heller at deepsoft.com
http://www.deepsoft.com              /\FidoNet:    1:321/153