My impression is that this style started with apple products. I remember distinctly opening a terminal and many command lines (mostly Javascript frameworks) applications were showing emoji in the terminal way before LLMs.
But maybe it originated somewhere else.. In Javascript libraries..?
I thought it was JavaScript libraries written by people obsessed with the word "awesome", and separately the broader inclusivity movement. For some reason, I think people think riddling a README with emoji makes the document more inclusive.
> For some reason, I think people think riddling a README with emoji makes the document more inclusive.
Why do you think that? I try to stay involved in accessibility community (if that's what you mean by inclusive?) and I've not heard anyone advocate for emojis over text?
It's really only anecdotal — I observed this as a popular meme between ~2015-2020.
I say "meme" because I believe this is how the information spreads — I think people in that particular clique suggest it to each other and it becomes a form of in-group signalling rather than an earnest attempt to improve the accessibility of information.
I'm wary now of straying into argumentum ad ignorantiam territory, but I think my observation is consistent with yours insofar as the "inclusivity" community I'm referring to doesn't have much overlap with the accessibility community; the latter being more an applied science project, and the former being more about humanities and social theory.
I mean the diversity and inclusion world — people focused on social equity and representation rather than technical usability. Their work is more rooted in social theory and ethics than in empirical research.
But maybe it originated somewhere else.. In Javascript libraries..?