"A/UX includes a utility called Commando (similar to a tool of the same name included with Macintosh Programmer's Workshop) to assist users with entering Unix commands. Opening a Unix executable file from the Finder opens a dialog box that allows the user to choose command-line options for the program using standard controls such as radio buttons and check boxes, and display the resulting command line argument for the user before executing the command or program."
That description doesn't do it justice. You didn't have to open an executable from the Finder; you could call it from the command line, as in
>commando ls
That popped up a dialog box with checkboxes for -l, -R, etc., with a text field for file names, a button that allowed you to pick files, etc.
There were two ways to exit the dialog. One executed the command, the other entered it in your shell for further editing, copy-pasting in a script (in MPW shell, that copy-pasting wasn't even needed, as every shell window was a file), etc.
And even better: the shell (at least in MPW) knew about commando, so typing
>ls…
or just typing ls and hitting command-option-return (or some other magic incantation) opened the dialog, too.
I may misremembered it, but IIRC, commando even parsed partial inputs to populate the dialog box when you opened it.
Thinking of MPW and the early Mac, I also miss the consistent distinction between return (the key to the right of the letter 'l' that starts a new line) and command-return or enter (on the numeric keypad, starts a command) that made it possible to enter multi-line text in input dialogs without living in the constant fear of dismissing the dialog early.
Your comment reminds me of the show-command verb in powershell, which automatically infers all the options available and maps them to a gui, and then has a run or copy option(though it does need a paste.)
Its really nice when you are exploring new stuff or just forgot which flag it was again and dont feel like reading the get-help.
"A/UX includes a utility called Commando (similar to a tool of the same name included with Macintosh Programmer's Workshop) to assist users with entering Unix commands. Opening a Unix executable file from the Finder opens a dialog box that allows the user to choose command-line options for the program using standard controls such as radio buttons and check boxes, and display the resulting command line argument for the user before executing the command or program."