Weird and inscrutable can be good: think genetic algorithms [1] such as antenna optimization for EM radiation [2]. But I like my source code on the intelligible side.
Tytler's quote is trying to say too much. It might be acceptable as historical commentary, but it carries little weight to me; it seems overly confident about what the future might hold.*
Tytler died in 1813. We have learned much since then: much about human nature, institutions, experimentation, statistics, evidence, constructing good theories, and governance.** Sure, the quote is worth some reflection; it has grains of truth, but it should not be given undue weight.
* I am not saying "we can predict nothing"! Far from it. I am ok with predictions (even bold ones) to the extent they are deeply rooted in the best understandings and models we have available.
** I'm talking about what motivated people figure out through careful reasoning and evidence, not simply how the median person funnels information from their ears to their mouth. And I'm certainly not commending the effort and thought that the median person puts into stewarding their democracy (if they have one). While we (in the USA, for the time being?) have something like one.
CEL looks interesting and useful, though it isn't common nor familiar imo (not for me at least). Quoting from https://github.com/google/cel-spec
# Common Expression Language
The Common Expression Language (CEL) implements common
semantics for expression evaluation, enabling different
applications to more easily interoperate.
## Key Applications
- Security policy: organizations have complex infrastructure
and need common tooling to reason about the system as a whole
- Protocols: expressions are a useful data type and require
interoperability across programming languages and platforms.
> All things equal, you’d be better off not exposing yourself to risk of financial harm or other punitive measures.
This isn't necessarily true. This is a complex decision; the logic above frames the decision narrowly, with a short-term time horizon. This kind of decision calls for game theory, not merely an individualistic calculus. Appeasing Trump isn't a winning strategy in the long-run. History shows that cooperation (e.g. pushing back) against authoritarianism is often a better strategy. Consumers may reward companies that behave well. Bottom line: you have to game it out -- no one commenting here has done that, I'll bet. So until someone has ... stay agnostic analytically.
> and incompatible with grep syntax, which makes it useless to most system admins
I wonder how much the above reflects a dated and/or stereotyped view? Who here works with "sysadmins"? I mean... devops-all-the-places now, right? :P Share your experiences?: I'm curious.
If I were a sysadmin, I'd have some kind of "sanity check" script if I had to manage a fleet of disparate systems. I'd use it automatically when I logon to a system. Checking things like: Linux vs BSD, what tools are installed, load, any weirdnesses, etc. Heck, maybe even create aliases that abstract over all of it, as much as possible. Maybe copy over a helix binary for editing too, if that was kosher.
> we're working on a new terminal sequence specification that would allow terminal programs to expose any of their actions directly in the command palette (e.g. imagine Neovim commands being fully available in the command palette).
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