Comment by nativeit
7 days ago
I don't have a dog in this fight, and anyway dogfighting is bad, but the intro to the Wikipedia article[0] reads:
> An operating system shell is a computer program that provides relatively broad and direct access to the system on which it runs. The term shell refers to how it is a relatively thin layer around an operating system.
> Most shells are command-line interface (CLI) programs. Some graphical user interfaces (GUI) also include shells.
The last line I think supports the notion that the term "shell" at least implies a CLI, but I can understand both positions.
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0. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shell_(computing)
Edit: I'm shite at formatting on HN
Not "implies", just "more commonly refers to".
Both usages (graphical and CLI) of the term are correct. Saying "shell" doesn't by itself imply one or the other, even if the technology that is more commonly discussed when we say "shell" is those CLI things in UNIX-like OSs.
A bit like how cars are typically small vehicles with internal combustion engines, but that doesn't mean EVs are not a classification of cars too.