Always bet on text (2014)

Posted by jesseduffield 12/26/2025

Always bet on text (2014)(graydon2.dreamwidth.org)

347 points | 181 commentspage 3

jancsika 12/27/2025|

I don't understand the dichotomy. What's the situation where I'd ever be forced to choose between, say, UTF-8 or Linear Pulse-Code Modulation?

This reads like someone who got really excited about a subject but only ever learned to communicate in breathless "Ford vs. Chevy" kid-argument style.

We all like text here. Stop selling.

Edit: clarifications

Lucent 12/27/2025||

It's easy to be a text maximalist now we're in the LLM era, but I disagree that ideas are a separate, nonphysical realm that cannot otherwise be described. https://lucent.substack.com/p/one-map-hypothesis

didip 12/27/2025||

I agree. As a simple exercise, look at all software tools that’s GUI only. They become a large walled garden unable to be penetrated by LLM.

Tools that are mostly text or have text interfaces? Greatly improved by LLM.

So all of those rich multimedia and their players/editors really need to add text representations.

tombert 12/27/2025|

People make fun of it, but I think the fact that Unixey stuff can use tools that have existed since the 70's [1] can be attributed to the fact that they're text based. Every OS has its own philosophy on how to do GUI stuff and as such GUI programs have to do a lot of bullshit to migrate, but every OS can handle text in one form or another.

When I first started using Linux I used to make fun of people who were stuck on the command line, but now pretty much everything I do is a command line program (using NeoVim and tmux).

[1] Yes, obviously with updates but the point more or less still stands.

ffuxlpff 12/27/2025||

And when everything is a text file you have (optimally) a human readable single source of truth on things... Very important when things get complicated and layered. In GUI stuff your only option is often to start anew, make the same movements as the first time and hope you end with what you want.

exe34 12/27/2025||

Does anyone have much of a feel for geometry and spatial reasoning in text? I've been trying to think about Euclid's elements - I think you can express some of it with just text, but most of it really only makes sense once you see a picture. Spatial reasoning with 2/3d objects being rotated/flipped/etc seems much harder to me. Any hints/references/papers would be welcome. I'm not an academic, I just get intrigued by ideas now and again!

vacuity 12/27/2025||

I was going to disagree, along the lines of the people bringing up Bret Victor or other modes of communication and learning, but I have long accepted that the written word has been one of the largest boons for learning in human history, so I guess I agree. Still, it'll be an interesting and worthwhile challenge to make a better medium with modern technology.

doctorleff 12/29/2025||

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/a-satellite-captur...

Hazematman 12/28/2025||

This reminds me of No boiler plate's video on plain text. I have to agree that the diff-ability and support of version control are one of the best features of plain text.

https://youtu.be/WgV6M1LyfNY?si=AavUO_aNuvSlJ0a5

ksec 12/27/2025||

Given all the replies here that are within last 10 - 30 mins. I guess I am the only one getting "403 Forbidden" ?

taneq 12/27/2025|

I guess that’s text. Text win every time.

calebm 12/27/2025||

I just recently intentionally made the decision to keep the equation input in FuzzyGraph (https://fuzzygraph.com) plain text (instead of something like stylized latex like Desmos has) in order to make it easy to copy and paste equations.

skydhash 12/27/2025|

This is one of the core reason I've been focused on building small tools for myself using Emacs and the shell (currently ksh on OpenBSD). HTML and the Web is good, but only in its basic form. A lot of stuff fancies themselves being applications and magazines and they are very much unusable.

More comments...