Rules to Better Command Lines - 4 Rules
Enhance your command line utilities with effective design and organization principles. This collection of rules provides guidance on creating user-friendly interfaces, managing terminal sessions, and optimizing argument lists for improved functionality.
There should never be a command line utility without a UI. Take an example of Visual Studio 2008:
Figure: Bad example - In website project, Visual Studio does not have a UI for its command line 
Figure: Good example - In web application project, Visual Studio provides a UI for its command line It is always a good practice to have UI opened when specifying
\[ApplicationName].exefrom command line. If the GUI is not done, show a messagebox "GUI coming...".Note: If you prefer for not putting UI as the default, it should have be at least "/GUI" as the argument. Do not use "/i", because too many command lines are using “/i” already.
Figure: Bad example - /i should not be needed to get to the GUI – it should be by default 
Figure: Good example - UI is opened by default When you develop an application that supports command line, you must provide a list of arguments / help on how to use the application through command line.
It can be as easy as typing:
\[ApplicationName].exe /?for listing the arguments.
Figure: Bad example - Do no provide supported argument through /? 
Figure: Good example - Provide supported argument through /? Windows Terminal is a modern terminal application that allows users to manage multiple command-line tools from a single interface. One standout feature is the ability to split the main window into multiple panes, enabling the running and viewing of multiple sessions side by side within a single window.
This feature serves as an alternative to having multiple terminal windows open simultaneously. Panes help keep everything in one place, making it simpler to navigate between different sessions.
Figure: APIs and front-end applications running in different windows 
Figure: APIs and front-end applications running in panes Use cases:
- Monitoring different processes simultaneously
- Running multiple projects locally
- Executing commands concurrently
Main shortcuts:
- Alt + Shift + +: to split the pane vertically
- Alt + Shift + -: to split the pane horizontally
- Alt + Shift + W: to close the pane
- Alt + Arrow: to move between panes
- Alt + Shift + Arrow: to resize a pane
