From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from [192.168.2.90] ([108.95.88.138]) by ewsd; Fri Jun 7 10:09:43 EDT 2019 Date: Fri, 7 Jun 2019 10:09:42 -0400 From: Stanley Lieber To: 9Front <9front@9front.org> Message-ID: In-Reply-To: <0629FD2FA066BC323F1D2EEC32CCB0F1@kvik.link> Subject: Re: [9front] Manpage Previews MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="5cfa7026_74b0dc51_1409" List-ID: <9front.9front.org> List-Help: X-Glyph: ➈ X-Bullshit: stable DOM base locator --5cfa7026_74b0dc51_1409 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline when you get tired of doing something manually, put it in a script. = when you get tired of running the script manually, add it to your profile= , or to another script that you=E2=80=99ll be running anyway. when all th= at fails, program the shell interactively=21 making all this easy is a ma= jor feature of the system. =20 =20 i do a lot of stuff (maybe too much) in my profile, and in other scripts = that run when i setup network mounts or launch rio (both are separate and= are triggered manually); everything from polluting my environment with t= ons of utility variables (mainly, shorthand for various frequently used l= ong path names) and functions, to binding all kinds of local and remote d= irectories over non-standard locations. it eases the need for a lot of ot= herwise necessary code. thankfully, the plan 9 tools don=E2=80=99t care, = and are happy to go on with their work while remaining completely ignoran= t of how i=E2=80=99ve wrecked the place. =20 =20 here=E2=80=99s a completely unrelated example of this way of thinking: =20 =20 since there is no shell completion in rio, i=E2=80=99m constantly creatin= g tiny, single-character variables (mostly containing the results of shel= l globbing) so that i can manipulate those values in various ways without= having to type out long strings of characters. this comes in very handy = when (for instance) running a disgusting app -> ssh -> tmux -> drawter= m -G rube goldberg connection to plan 9 from a touchscreen mobile device.= =20 =20 what i=E2=80=99m advocating here may seem like simply transplanting effor= t from automation over to your consciousness, and therefore wasting more = of your precious mental processing capabilities (read: limited and alread= y stretched attention span), but consider that in many cases you=E2=80=99= d have to decide things like which flag to invoke, how to use it, and its= proper arguments anyway. =20 =20 and code that doesn=E2=80=99t exist never fails. =20 =20 sl =20 --5cfa7026_74b0dc51_1409 Content-Type: text/html; charset="utf-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: inline when you get tired of doing something manually, put it in a s= cript. when you get tired of running the script manually, add it to your = profile, or to another script that you=E2=80=99ll be running anyway. when= all that fails, program the shell interactively=21 making all this easy = is a major feature of the system.

i do a lot of stuff = (maybe too much) in my profile, and in other scripts that run when i setu= p network mounts or launch rio (both are separate and are triggered manua= lly); everything from polluting my environment with tons of utility varia= bles (mainly, shorthand for various frequently used long path names) and = functions, to binding all kinds of local and remote directories over non-= standard locations. it eases the need for a lot of otherwise necessary co= de. thankfully, the plan 9 tools don=E2=80=99t care, and are happy to go = on with their work while remaining completely ignorant of how i=E2=80=99v= e wrecked the place.

here=E2=80=99s a completely= unrelated example of this way of thinking:

sinc= e there is no shell completion in rio, i=E2=80=99m constantly creating ti= ny, single-character variables (mostly containing the results of shell gl= obbing) so that i can manipulate those values in various ways without hav= ing to type out long strings of characters. this comes in very handy when= (for instance) running a disgusting app -> ssh -> tmux -> drawt= erm -G rube goldberg connection to plan 9 from a touchscreen mobile devic= e.

what i=E2=80=99m advocating here may seem lik= e simply transplanting effort from automation over to your consciousness,= and therefore wasting more of your precious mental processing capabiliti= es (read: limited and already stretched attention span), but consider tha= t in many cases you=E2=80=99d have to decide things like which flag to in= voke, how to use it, and its proper arguments anyway.

and code that doesn=E2=80=99t exist never fails.

sl

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