I'm surprised nobody mentioned dmenu.
dmenu reads lines as items, lets you choose one of them (with tab completion, etc) and prints the choice you made.
Example: FILE=$(ls | dmenu)
dzen does the same thing and much more.
All these tools are very small and only depend on the Xlib. No gtk/qt crap.

Are you stupid or just a really hairy troll?

Shall we play a game?

Try the car analogy next time.

All hail to the Sussman !

You must be new here.

It reminds me of a Clerks quote where a gum seller is trying to convince customers in a shop not to buy cigarettes by comparing the clerk to nazis:

The comparison is so stretched, it's just ridiculous...

ALSA is Linux-only, you can't run it on BSDs.

It's ok, they're just building a highway.
Obligatory quote:

  "But Mr Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning
office for the last nine month."
          "Oh yes, well as soon as I heard I went straight round to see them,
yesterday afternoon. You hadn't exactly gone out of your way to call
attention to them had you? I mean like actually telling anybody or
anything."
          "But the plans were on display..."
          "On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them."
          "That's the display department."
          "With a torch."
          "Ah, well the lights had probably gone."
          "So had the stairs."
          "But look, you found the notice didn't you?"
          "Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a
locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door
saying Beware of the Leopard."

Indeed, the powerglove did suck.