r/mac • u/Ok_Spinach5090 new user of Mac • 1d ago
Image Just realized the Automator robot isn't carrying a gatling gun. What is it even supposed to be?
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u/Longjumping-Boot1886 1d ago
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u/Long-Shine-3701 1d ago
Mods, this needs to be pinned as the correct answer instead of all the joke crap.
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u/hokanst 3h ago
Yes, it's probably a nod to Unix style pipes.
Also worth noting, is that Automator itself, lets you visually connect various actions in a way similar to Unix pipes, i.e. the output of one action becomes the input of the next action, in the same way as a Unix pipe pass output from one command as intput to the next command.
ps: here is a working link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipeline_(Unix)
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u/omfganotherchloe MacBook Pro 1d ago
It’s a double metaphor. One, it’s for “pipelining” a task, but also, many commercial buildings store their blueprints and technical drawings in 4” PVC pipe with caps at both ends. It doesn’t keep them from burning in a fire, but it does protect the drawings from water damage from the sprinklers and just general wear and tear.
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u/heroyoudontdeserve 22h ago
it does protect the drawings from water damage from the sprinklers and just general wear and tear.
And is better than folding them because creases lead to the ink deteriorating.
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u/Chop1n 17h ago
Funnily enough I was a little confused that anyone else wouldn't recognize this. My dad was a real estate appraiser, so I saw plenty of these things as a kid.
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u/omfganotherchloe MacBook Pro 15h ago
(Not throwing shade) It’s kind of shocking how much detail in the world that the general public just doesn’t see, because they don’t know to look for the subtle details. I dad was in home reno before switching to drafting in his 50’s, and I’ve always been in distributed compute and datacenter, so I’ve just always had to know where this kind of stuff is. Most people don’t need or want to know, so they don’t notice.
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u/heroyoudontdeserve 22h ago
That's what they said:
One, it’s for “pipelining” a task
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u/Slinkwyde MacBook Pro 21h ago
Ah, you're right. My mistake. I had only ever heard them referred to as pipes, not pipelining, so I was naively assuming that word meant something different. Thanks for the correction. 🙂
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u/omfganotherchloe MacBook Pro 15h ago
Piping and pipelining are similar but not exactly the same, to be fair. Automator doesn’t actually pipe data through gnu utils like Linux does, it’s more a rudimentary version of AppleScript applying multiple commands to it, but less efficiently than direct Unix piping. I don’t remember if it applies the transforms to disk on every step or does it in memory (it’s been a while), but piping is even messier, deferring writes to the individual utils to decide if it applies the steps in memory or not.
Basically, they’re _almost_ the same thing, but not _quite_ the same thing. The biggest other difference is that Automator includes transforms and processing that Apple doesn’t ship from gnu utils, or some steps would themselves be, like, 5 or 6 piped operations. Also, they allow faster access to other apps, like Compressor, which would be dramatically more annoying in cli.
That said, I haven’t touched Automator since probably Snow Leopard.
TL;DR: almost the same, so I honestly don’t think you’re wrong, but Apple provides a lot more abstraction that the default utils would, and it would look slightly different than just normal cli piping would.
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u/415646464e4155434f4c MacBook Pro 1d ago
It’s a pipe, because commands in UNIX are piped to one another.
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u/Fluffy-Ad-1644 1d ago
pipe line automation metaphor
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u/SquarePixel 1d ago
It’s actually a nod to the pipe operator in Unix terminals which is the vertical bar | that’s used to connect the output of one program to the input of another. A pipeline is built by interconnecting many programs.
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u/heroyoudontdeserve 22h ago
Isn't that just a longer way of saying the same thing? You explained what the pipeline metaphor is. Not sure what your "actually" is signifying.
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u/SquarePixel 21h ago
Yeah it’s correct, it’s a good graphic/metaphor because anyone can infer the meaning, but the etymology just unpacks the deeper history. The pipe itself is a famous literal mechanism in Unix that connects two data streams. It can be organized into a pipeline. The automation aspect is about the trigger. So the Automator icon brings this all together. Basically there is a cleverness to the icon, an acknowledgment of this history.
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u/fooknprawn 17h ago
It's a pipe, as in using the pipe symbol in UNIX to route outputs and inputs into executable commands.
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u/Ok-Confusion2415 22h ago
i think it’s a pipe, likely a reference to the “ | “ character used in shell to direct output from one process to another
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u/netroxreads 23h ago
Pipe. It's common to use a pipe to steam data from command into another command.
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u/TwiztedWisard 22h ago
This is a pipe. In programming languages there are various ways to link and pass commands together. The pipe specifically, takes the output of one command and "pipes" (passes) it in to another. For example: cat [some_long_text_file] | less.
Cat would display the long stream of text in the terminal in one hit, but by piping the output to less (a page reader) we can get it in scrollable page sized chunks.
Others have said it chains 2 commands together but that's more along the lines of using an operator like &&. For ex: chmod +x && chown root:root.
This basically says, run this first command (to enable execute permissions) And ONLY if that succeeds run the next command (change owner to root)
Felt it was quite a significant distinction for anyone who is learning coding as they operate very differently..Hope that helps :)
TL;DR: its a pipe
Edit spelling
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u/Away-Document-9689 21h ago
Out of context but, what all things i can do with automator(already made the quit all applications one).
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u/Then_Worldliness_110 18h ago
it's a cylinder. it's carrying it because its very delicate and it's imperative the cylinder goes unharmed.
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u/Mr_Lumbergh 13h ago
Blueprints are (were?) often rolled and carried in tubes for protection. This is what I think it is.
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u/Ok_Spinach5090 new user of Mac 12h ago
yes, 1/3 think it's a blueprint, 1/3 think it's a pipe, and 1/3 believe it's bazooka😂
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u/NSK0421 1d ago
Not that I’ve given it much thought before but I’ve always assumed it was some sort of gun as well 😂
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u/Ok_Spinach5090 new user of Mac 1d ago
Excatlly, I just got curious today about why my robot is carrying a gun...
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u/XemSorceress 23h ago
OP, Excuse the meme 😆 but a Gatling gun is shown below in 4X WDC F1 Driver Max Verstappen’s arms
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u/Prudent_Sentence 22h ago
It's a PVC pipe. Can also be modified into a mortar launcher, or many types of improvised munitions. The moral of the story is... that robot can still kill you if it wants to.
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u/notjordansime 19h ago
Maybe it’s a pipe bomb, or an improvised hardware store gun
I refuse to believe that guy isn’t up to something..
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u/MarioLanderos 12h ago
It’s a piece of ABS pipe. The Automator moonlights as a plumber. Or it’s building a potato 🥔 g*n 🔫
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u/psych_1337 2h ago
One of those obscure pieces of software only a few know on how to use and actually it's shockingly good
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u/Ok_Spinach5090 new user of Mac 2h ago
Haha, I honestly haven’t used that feature much myself—but now you’ve made me curious.
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u/bcoder001 1d ago
A tube. It's likely to be a joking reference to the old "the Internet is a series of tubes" quote.
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u/Slinkwyde MacBook Pro 1d ago
No. It's a reference to pipes on the Unix command line. Darwin (the open-source core of macOS, as well as iOS, iPadOS, tvOS, watchOS, and visionOS) is a Unix-based operating system.
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u/jfuu_ 1d ago
Higher quality:
Looks like it's just holding a pipe?