EmbeddingGemma 2: an open, lightweight multimodal embedding model
deepmind.google·6d ago
AI Engineering
Lobsters·Aug 19·5 min read
Reclaim the terminal
TL;DR
A method was discovered to allow interactive programs to accept keyboard input even when reading from a piped input. This was achieved by cleverly managing file descriptors in a single binary piped multiple times.
✦ Why It Matters
Explore using multiple pipes in your interactive applications to enhance user input capabilities.
Key Takeaways
- Use /dev/tty to regain terminal access in piped processes.
- Check stdin and stdout to determine process position in a pipeline.
- Understand file descriptors for effective process management.
- Explore interactive tools like less and fzf for terminal applications.
How It Works
Each process in the pipeline checks its stdin and stdout to determine its role. The first process reads from the terminal, while subsequent processes read from the previous stage's pipe.
When a downstream process needs user input, it opens /dev/tty, creating a new file descriptor that points to the terminal, allowing it to read keystrokes directly.