[geeks] learning script/prog [was: search and replace]

[Jonathan C. Patschke]

On Sat, 6 Sep 2003, Jonathan C. Patschke wrote:

> After HTdP, I'd recommend:

And I forgot the most important things:

  4) PRACTICE

Even if it's cobbling something together in ksh so that you don't have
to type it in twice, script -everything-.  Make your scripts work
together.  Keep an archive of scripts, and improve rather than start
over each time you need a variation on a theme.

It sounds trite, but you'd be amazed how much your skills will improve
if you use them, just a little bit, each day.  I -still- find myself
looking a code I wrote a year ago, being embarrassed at how I could ever
churn out something so crude with my name on it, and I've been
experiencing that since I started programming nearly 17 years ago.

And, in the same vein:

  5) Relish toy problems

Don't turn something down as a possible scripting (or, if you're feeling
bold, programming) candidate just because it's simple.  For example, I
don't own an alarm clock.  I've used a computer for that since I was in
junior high.

The first iteration, in BASIC, was neat, because GW-BASIC has so many
cool sound functions.  The second, in C for Windows, was even better,
because I learned how to use MCI[0] to play CDs.  I woke up to AC/DC's
"Back in Black" every morning for nearly four years.  Even now, it can
snap me out of a sound sleep by reflex.

Then, when I moved to Unix from Windows, I got to do it all over again,
as neither GW-BASIC nor Windows programs will run on a SPARC.  I started
with:

   sleep $((3600 * hours)) ; echo ^G^G^G

Then, I wrote an "annoy" script that beeped, waited 1 to 3 seconds
(chose at random), and beeped again:

   sleep $((3600 * whatever)) ; annoy

Now I have a lump of Bourne script and AppleScript that tells iTunes to
play either my Depeche Mode, Thomas Dolby, or Information Society
playlist, starting at a random track.

And I'll probably rewrite it again to learn Cocoa. :)



[0] The old API for manipulating multimedia devices under Windows.  It
    has...."issues".
-- 
Jonathan Patschke   )  "Gamer weenies...are the sludge at the bottom
Elgin, TX          (    of the user swamp."           --Gary Nichols