Nowadays, using CLI (Command Line Interfaces) to perform programing tasks may look antiquated, and although modern graphical IDEs can represent a gain of productivity in our daily routines, I honestly believe that developers should master using CLI tools. Specially those who are initiating in the profession or when we are learning a new language or tool. And these are few of my reasons to do so:
1 - By using a CLI allows you to get into details. For example, using mvn or dotnet commands to build your Java or C# application requires from you to go deep on the cycle build-test-run of an application. It also forces you to explore error messages and parameters when things go wrong. This kind of effort during your learning process increases your problem-solving capacity.
2 - CLIs are well-suited for automation. If you are familiar with CLIs and do a lot of repetitive and tedious tasks using commands, then you can easily automate them with the help of some scripting language like Bash or PowerShell.
Finally, my idea is not to tell you to just abandon IDEs or GUIs. They are great for visualization and for quick and ad-hoc tasks. But for our developer and SREs world, CLIs still play a crucial role and they mandatory in our toolboxes.
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