That's not the benefit of text, just adoption. All these tools could've just as well grown to be popular with a proper format, and your point would be exactly the same
Master Git and a novice were walking to the market to collect alms.
The novice asked: "Master, what is the advantage of unstructured text over structured? Is it not mere adoption?"
Master Git said nothing and pointed to the first shop, kept by the old scrooge Postgre.
As they entered, Master Git said quietly, shaping his mouth funnily:
SELECT weight/2 FROM shelf WHERE name = ''
Postgre, long weary of Master's wisdoms, took a weight of three from the nameless shelf and cut it unevenly. The whole piece he pressed into the novice's bowl; the larger part, he kept for himself.
Next stood a shop kept by a bright newcomer, Duck D'Bee.
Master Git repeated:
SELECT weight/2 FROM shelf WHERE name = ''
Duck D'Bee smiled, carefully took an unnamed jar from a vertical stack and handed over one piece and half of another.
Their journey ended at a giant abandoned building beneath a dead neon sign: ORCL. The door stood open. Inside, putrid odour and dust lay upon deflated balloons and faded banners saying A.I. The shelves were still full of unmarked boxes.
Master Git shouted into the dark:
SELECT weight/2 FROM shelf WHERE name = ''
Silence was the reply. At this point the novice became enlightened.
> All these tools could've just as well grown to be popular with a proper format, and your point would be exactly the same
And what would this "proper format" be? Currently JSON is in vogue (or JSON5, which allows comments?), but a few years ago it would have been XML, before that… CSV? TSV?
Yes, the lack of good design in that world is apparent and will continue to cripple a few more generations (but re. evolution that's often a false reading - in many cases it's some primitive napkin design made at the beginning of those decades that stuck without much evolution), but you've wandered into the wrong thread - it's not about the single best format that could've been, just about a circular logic flaw in the argument
You're damned right - much better is possible than the gnu tools. I'm one of the savages using pwsh on Linux (the other two are still on reddit). I have no need for sed/awk ascii salad, and jq can fuck off into the far distance.
How can text enable compabitility if you can't be certain how to parse it, and the rules can change any time???
Similarly with vendors - how can they lock you into themselves if you use some widespread open format?
Don't see that we get rid of either command lines in text or von Neumann any time soon.