What are CLIs and GUIs? Differences and Similarities, Explained

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CLI, GUIs, shells? You may not know it, but you're very familiar with all three.

Today we'll get more familiar with the differences between a CLI and a GUI. These terms are thrown around a lot. And honestly, their definitions are pretty easy to understand. Just defining them wouldn't justify a blog article.

As such, in this article, I am going to go a couple of steps deeper. The reason for this more-in-depth exploration is that understanding the relationship between an Operating System and CLIs/GUIs will help you think through more complicated processes later on.

Shell Summary

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We chatted briefly about Shells in Day 3 and 4 when we talked about Operating Systems. Here's a quick reminder of that discussion: a Shell is an interface that gives you access to your computer's Operating System. Think of the Shell as a wrapper around your Operating System - technically it wraps around your Operating System's kernel. Hence the name Shell - a shell/protective barrier - around the brain/core of your computer.

Shells come in two forms:

1. Command Line Interface: CLI for short, pronounced C. L. I.
2. General User Interface: GUI for short, pronounced "gooey."

CLI

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An example of a CLI is the Bash Shell that we played with via the terminal in yesterday's article.

GUI

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GUIs are programs designed to make it easy for the everyday computer user to do things with their computer. They use graphics, icons, and menus to make navigation and executing commands accessible.

GUIs are on smartphones, smartwatches, anything computer-based you'll find GUIs. Here is an example of a GUI on the iPhones iOS. The GUI provides the icons, and menus you use to navigate or do things on your iPhone.

Here's one more example of a GUI on a smartwatch that starts your Tesla - wouldn't that be nice!

Before GUIs, computer users only had a keyboard and computer screen as tools. To do anything on the computer the user had to type out commands via a CLI. This process is not intuitive for today's average computer user. That's where GUIs come in; GUIs make navigation and actions easier to figure out.

In the following Exercise, we are going to spend time with the Finder program (the equivalent program in Windows is “File Explorer”), doing simple, everyday navigation. The Finder / File Explorer programs are of course GUIs.

Exercise: Playing with a GUI

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1. macOS Users: Open the Finder program on your mac (cmd + spacebar, type "Finder")

1. Windows Users: This process is the same, but your GUI will look a little different. Instead of using the Finder program, you'll be using your File Explorer program.

2. Once open, navigate to your Downloads folder.

3. In your Downloads folder, go to the Finder menu at the top of your computer screen and click File -> New Folder.

4. Name the folder whatever you would like and move some files into it.

Ta-da you just used a GUI 🥳.

GUIs are everywhere. If you find yourself navigating, clicking, or selecting graphical elements to do something to a device, then it's a safe bet that you are using a GUI.

More on CLIs

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Unlike a GUI, a CLI only takes typed commands. It (generally) does not accept mouse inputs, nor does it have icons and buttons to help you do things. Instead, you command it to do things via your keyboard.