On bash tricks and making things

Y’all remember Hobix?

It was a neat little static blogging tool written by Ruby’s Chief Whimsy Officer _why.¹ I don’t know where it sits in the pantheon of static blog tools, but it was the first one I’d ever seen and friend was it cool.

You did everything from the command line instead of a web interface, as was the fashion of the time.

Want a new blog post?

  $ hobix post blahhg shortName

Wanna rebuild the world?

  $ hobix upgen blahhg

Like I said: cooooool.

I’m using Jekyll for this here blog, but I still wanted a little coolness, so I wrote a script for whipping up new posts:

  $ ./scripts/new_post.sh
  Usage: ./scripts/new_post.sh "Brilliant thought piece"
  Please provide a post name.

It’s just a little thing:

  $ cat scripts/new_post.sh
  #!/bin/bash

  POST_NAME=$1

  if [[ -z ${POST_NAME} ]]; then
    echo "Usage: ./scripts/new_post.sh \"Brilliant thought piece\""
    echo "Please provide a post name."
    exit;
  fi

  DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
  FILENAME=${DATE}-$(echo ${POST_NAME} \
    | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' \
    | sed s/[[:punct:]]//g \
    | sed s/[[:space:]]/-/g ).md

  DIR="$( cd "$( dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}" )" && pwd )"

  FULL_PATH=${DIR}/../_posts/${FILENAME}

  cat << NEW_POST > ${FULL_PATH}
  ---
  title: ${POST_NAME}
  ---
  NEW_POST

  $EDITOR ${FULL_PATH}

It’s real simple - it figures out the date for the file name, then takes the title you give it and does some tring and some seding and before you know it you’ve got yourself a stew.

Finally, it opens up the new file in your $EDITOR of choice and now you’re thoughtleadering.

OMG bash you’re so old why are you so old

I know, I know. It’s bash, and only old people write bash scripts. But I’ve got a secret to tell you: i’m awful at writing bash scripts (ask my coworkers). I started out my career as a perl hacker, and perl was always available, so any little scripting I needed I used perl.

I just never learned bash fundamentals.

Then I started working at UM and have had the extreme pleasure of working with Jerry Chen. If you’ll forgive the use of an over-wrought sports metaphor, Jerry’s our very own Steph Curry. He’s elevated fundamentals to genius levels.

One of the most impressive things about watching Jerry work is the effortlessness with which he wields his tools. He doesn’t have to think about the tool - it’s an extension of him. It’s a lot like watching Steph Curry play. That mastery affords him a freedom to focus on the thing rather than the making. It’s an art and a fucking pleasure to watch and I’m wicked grateful every day that I get to work with him.²

Bring it on back, old man

That’s why I write little bash scripts every chance I get - I gotta get those fundamentals up and keep them sharp by practicing every day.

Sometimes I run across folks who are new to programming and they ask me questions like “How do I get that first programming job?” and “What should I be learning?” and “What the hell are you babbling about old man?” (I get that one a lot).

To them, I say practice your fundamentals. Work them everyday until they’re second nature. Then work them some more. Keep working them until you don’t even have to think about it - it’ll pay off, I promise.

If you wanna be as lucky as me and work with Jerry, send us an email at jobs@unionmetrics.com. We’re always looking for funny, humble, creative folks that want to make things the very best way possible.