http://hackertyper.com/
http://hackertyper.net/

The premise is simple: You prod the keyboard at random, and 
technical-looking text appears on the screen, as if you're actually 
doing something.

Tools like this are fine as far as they go... but I can't help feeling 
that they could go a lot further.

First of all, there *must* be an Emacs mode for this. Because, let's 
face it, there's an Emacs mode for everything else! :-P

Next, the "text" appears to simply be whatever file the author looked 
most cryptic out of the Linux kernel source code. (Some of these tools 
let you select some other programming language if you wish.)

Rather than typing at random, I think there should be real keyboard 
commands. Because typing randomly *looks* random, whereas if some of the 
keys actually do something, you'd type more carefully and it would look 
more real.

Clearly there should be commands to make windows appear and disappear - 
because if TV has taught me anything, it's that hackers never use the 
mouse, and yet are able to operate complex GUI tools using only a keyboard.

(If this sounds absurd, go use FractInt for a few months, and then 
imagine something like that, but with a real GUI not just ASCII art.)

There should be a "search" option which makes an actual window appear, 
with the data being searched flashing past at great speed - because 
that's how powerful computers search for things. Fingerprints, facial 
recognition, text searches, all of these work by displaying stuff on the 
screen really, really fast, and then freezing as soon as a match is 
found. (Sorry, "hit".)

It strikes me that when typing commands, you type from top to bottom, 
however when editing source code you usually scroll around all over the 
place, inserting text here and deleting text there.

And of course, this isn't 1974. We're not using green-screen dumb 
terminals. There should be syntax highlighting, with 8 colours of ugly 
terminal text. ;-)

Naturally there should be a button to activate that user interface they 
used in Jurassic Park - because apparently that's what "Unix" looks like.

Also we need a button which causes Japanese characters to rain down on 
the screen, followed by "follow the White Rabbit, Neo", and then zoom 
through the digits, Matrix style...

What other features should a *proper* hacker UI have?

Post a reply to this message