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[EPILEPSY WARNING] How fast should an unoptimized terminal run?

Casey Muratori shows how fast a terminal renderer can run, building a simple reference renderer that handles Unicode and colored text far quicker than Windows Terminal. He argues that common excuses for slow terminals do not hold up.

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Why HN readers recommended it

It is the canonical reference for the claim that modern software wastes hardware, and the proof-of-concept behind the Windows Terminal performance debate.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel
Molly Rocket
Topic
software performance
Format
demo
Level
intermediate
HN recommenders in dataset
6
HN mentions in dataset
20
Recommendation years in dataset
2021–2026

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

  • As luck would have it, here's the continuation to Windows Terminal. Casey Muratori made a reference terminal renderer: [LINK] This uses all the constraints that the Windows terminal team cited as excuses: it uses Windows subsystems etc. One person, 3k lines of code, it runs …

    dmitriid on Hacker News · 2021-07
    In Apple and Intel first to use TSMC 3nm

  • Worth watching Casey Muratori's series of videos on terminals, and how to implement them, where he often makes specific comparison to Windows Terminal. He has some specific criticisms that are easy to disagree with, but the vast majority are well warranted. His broader series of …

    dundarious on Hacker News · 2022-05
    In Windows Terminal Source Code

  • With some limitations that I can’t remember, that I believe were minor and not insurmountable, Casey actually implemented a windows terminal with the “PhD” level work mentioned in this issue. He showcases it here. [VIDEO] I watched it months ago, but from memory, I believe: …

    dundarious on Hacker News · 2021-10
    In Microsoft: Extremely slow performance when processing virtual terminal sequences

Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.

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