tnew post: The Hard way - monochromatic - monochromatic blog: http://blog.z3bra.org
(HTM) git clone git://z3bra.org/monochromatic
(DIR) Log
(DIR) Files
(DIR) Refs
---
(DIR) commit fc70524428185c55e5099949f5e623b50978ae5d
(DIR) parent 694dddce27a8d5eff72bd44eb06d8599c47a79bf
(HTM) Author: Willy Goiffon <w.goiffon@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 9 Aug 2013 12:51:57 +0200
new post: The Hard way
Diffstat:
A 2013/08/the-hard-way.html | 123 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
M index.html | 19 +++++++++++++++++--
2 files changed, 140 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
---
(DIR) diff --git a/2013/08/the-hard-way.html b/2013/08/the-hard-way.html
t@@ -0,0 +1,123 @@
+<!DOCTYPE html>
+<html>
+ <head>
+ <meta charset='utf-8'/>
+ <link rel='stylesheet' href='/css/monochrome.css'/>
+ <link rel='stylesheet' href='/css/phone.css' media='screen and (max-width: 540px)'/>
+ <title>monochromatic</title>
+ </head>
+ <body>
+ <header>
+ <a href='/'><h1>Monochromatic</h1></a> <h2>— <a href='/about.html'>z3bra</a>, the stripes appart</h2>
+ </header>
+ <div id='wrapper'>
+ <section>
+ <h1>
+ <a href='#'>The Hard way</a>
+ </h1>
+ <h2>
+ — 9 August, 2013
+ </h2>
+ <article>
+
+ <p>
+ As you will notice, I am fond of learning things "The Hard Way".<br />
+ I'm going to tell you why, but before that, here is my background, so that you'll understand
+ how I came to that opinion:<br />
+ <ul>
+ <li><strong>2011, september</strong> — First attempt at linux, dual-booting Ubuntu 10.10</li>
+ <li><strong>2012, february</strong> — Upgrading to Archlinux, single booting</li>
+ <li><strong>2012, june</strong> — Obtaining an old computer, and setting it up as a home server</li>
+ <li><strong>2012, december</strong> — Switching to Archlinux at work, single booting</li>
+ <li><strong>2013, july</strong> — Installing CRUX on my notebook</li>
+ </ul>
+ I have alway tried to put myself in difficulties, to challenge myself and learn new things.<br />
+ During this period, I have searched plenty of tools matching the Unix Philosophy, by <cite>Ken Thompson</cite>:
+ <blockquote>
+ <p>
+ Write programs that do one thing and do it well. Write programs to work together.
+ Write programs to handle text streams, because that is a universal interface.
+ </p>
+ </blockquote>
+ This is the reason why I prefer using CLI based tools rather than GUI based ones. I've come to the point where
+ grabbing the mouse to click on a button is a <em>real</em> pain.<br />
+ But let's go back to <strong>the hard way</strong>.
+ </p>
+
+ <h3 id="what-is-it">What is that ? Can I eat it ?</h3>
+ <p>
+ Learning stuff the hard way is (talking about computers), starting using tools or learning stuff,
+ without a formation, any piece of help, or any hack to make it more simple to use/learn.<br />
+ Being put in front of a difficulty will force you to search how something works, how do this or that, and you will
+ know what not to do after you did it.<br />
+ Basically, by learning tstuff his way <strong>you will learn from your mistakes, and understand
+ what you are doing</strong>. <br />
+ To illustrate this, I will use my own experience with a hard to master tool: Vim.<br />
+ <br />
+ Vim, is an extremly powerful modal text editor. Modal means here that there are multiple modes, each one
+ made to do different tasks. We see here that it is totally different from the standard text editor everyone knows
+ (I'm looking at you notepad...).<br />
+ Vim is hard to approach, and difficult to master, because of your good ol' reflexes. So it is an excellent tool to
+ learn how to learn the hard way!<br />
+ Here are the basic steps:<br />
+ <ol>
+ <li>Use it as your <em>main editor</em>, stop using every other alternatives</li>
+ <li>Use it <em>before</em> starting to configure it</li>
+ <li>Do not use any plugin <em>at all</em></li>
+ <li>Don't give up !</li>
+ </ol>
+ Using Vim this way (at least, at the beginning), will help you mastering the tool faster than learning progressively.
+ Of course, you could still use the mouse, until you are ready to stop using it, use the arrow keys to move within the
+ buffer, delete by selecting your text in visual mode, and pressing <SUPPR>.<br />
+ But, WHEN will you be ready ? WHEN will you force yourself not to do that ? WHY not doing this now?<br />
+ <br />
+ I forced myself to use it this way, and after a week or two, I was putting ":wqjk{wB" in every other text editor,
+ because I were finally comfortable with, and used to Vim.
+ </p>
+
+ <h3 id='drawbacks'>Drawbacks</h3>
+ <p>
+ I see you raising the <q>I can't have a productivity loss at my work</q> card, and you are right.
+ This method is not shipped with only advantages, and sometimes, you should avoid it. If you think that you can't
+ handle a productivity loss, postpone the learning for when you will have the time. But don't do that to much, because
+ you have to be aware that <strong>you will have a productivity loss</strong>. So I will ask a single question:<br />
+ <q>Before being ultra-productive, would you rather be totally unproductive for one week, or almost productive
+ for one month ?</q><br />
+ Actually, I have never suffered from that 'bad productivity' the hard way implies. And believe me, it's worth the pain!
+ </p>
+
+ <p>
+ This is all about choice. Everybody has his learning curve, find yours!<br />
+ If you're not convinced about this. Please try it. You will, at least, have your own opinion, which is great.<br />
+ After that, you will be more pleased to tell if the tool is made for you or not, and if you want to make your life
+ easier. (Show me one Vim user that has choosen to enable the mouse because it enhance his productivity... I dare you
+ <span class='smiley'>;)</span> ).
+ </p>
+
+ <h3 id='homeworks'>Homeworks</h3>
+ <p>
+ There are a lot of place in the UNIX domain where the hard way can be applied, here are a few examples:
+ <ul>
+ <li>Write shell script that uses multiple tools to reproduce the behavior of another tool (eg,
+ <a href:'http://tools.suckless.org/ii'>irc it</a>)</li>
+ <li>Switch from a desktop environnement to a standalone window manager, like <a href='http://www.6809.org.uk/evilwm/'>evilwm</a></li>
+ <li>When you master a tool, search for another one, less featured</li>
+ <li>Put yourself in difficulties. Don't be affraid to break things</li>
+ <li><strong>Break things!</strong></li>
+ <li>...</li>
+ </ul>
+ I hope I conviced you, at least, to try it. It might be hard at first, But that's the point.
+ </p>
+
+ </article>
+ </section>
+ </div>
+ <!-- footer {{{ -->
+ <footer>
+ © 2013 WTFPL — <a href='http://www.wtfpl.net/about/'>Do What the Fuck You Want to Public License</a>
+ — contact : <<a href='mailto:willy@mailoo.org'>willy at mailoo dot org</a>>
+ </footer>
+ <!-- }}} -->
+ </body>
+</html>
+<!-- vim: set sw=2 et ai fdm=marker: -->
(DIR) diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
t@@ -12,6 +12,21 @@
</header>
<div id='wrapper'>
<section>
+ <!-- The Hard way {{{ -->
+ <h1>
+ <a href='/2013/08/the-hard-way.html'>The Hard way</a>
+ </h1>
+ <h2>
+ — 9 August, 2013
+ </h2>
+ <article>
+ <p>
+ Do you encounter difficulties to master a tool ? Or maybe you find that you don't
+ have enough free time to put yourself into learning how to do this or that ?
+ Here is a well-known technic, to learn stuffs quickly, and efficiently.
+ </p>
+ </article>
+ <!-- }}} -->
<!-- Test your CSS {{{ -->
<h1>
<a href='/2013/08/test-your-css.html'>Test your CSS !</a>
t@@ -21,8 +36,8 @@
</h2>
<article>
<p>
- Here a simple page with a few HTML tags.<br />
- It's pretty useful to test your CSS, even if there are no 'difficult' layouts.<br />
+ Here a simple page with a few HTML tags.
+ It's pretty useful to test your CSS, even if there are no 'difficult' layouts.
Feel free to download and share!
</p>
</article>