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// terminals & ink

Category: Blog

  • # articleOct 10, 2020· 2 min

    Does Not Contain

    I occassioanlly need to scan a folder and all of its subdirectories to see if any of them DO NOT contain files of a certain type. I'm fully aware you can do this with some combination of shell commands, but I always spent 20 minutes googling for how to do it again every time I needed to. It was faster just to write this small utility myself. I call it dnc , which stands for "does not contain". You can download the source or a pre-built binary on GitHub . The builds aren't notarized. So be sure to ask Apple if it's OK to run this on your Mac. Read the full post for an example of why I need this script.

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  • # articleOct 9, 2020· 6 min

    Dot Dee Tee

    Inline with my affinity for backing up and owning my data , one component of that strategy is avoiding proprietary file formats and databases whenever possible and reasonable. That's why I prefer plain text (and more recently .textbundle ) for all of my notes, and why I'm so meticulous about how I organize my family's photo archives . It gives me the agility to move from app to app or even (heaven forbid, it may eventually happen) to a new platform as my needs change. If you own your own data, there's no lock-in. So along those lines, here's a very tiny optimization (is that the right word for this?) that I've been doing for years that helps keep my reference material organized and more easily searchable and filterable. (Oh, and also a quick story about how I effed up someone else's data.)

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  • # articleOct 9, 2020· 1 min

    Five

    I don't quite understand how it's been five years already. Nevertheless, happy birthday to the most fearless and persistent young lady I've ever known.

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  • # articleOct 8, 2020· 1 min

    Solving Problems on Systematic

    If you need something to listen to this weekend or during your next commute, here's a link to me prattling on for forty-six minutes about how and why I build the software I do. Brett Terpstra was kind enough to invite me on as the guest of his Systematic podcast this week. And when he says I'm "on about the same level of geek frequency as" he is, well, that's a heck of a compliment in my book.

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  • # articleOct 1, 2020· 5 min

    The App That Never Was

    While using one of my favorite iOS Shortcuts the other day, it occurred to me how much things have changed in six years. I say six years ago specifically because it was in 2014 that I made an iOS app called Upshot. Sadly, Upshot never saw the light of day because I couldn't get it past App Review for very dumb reasons. Lucky for you though, after I show the ridiculously simple Shortcut that I now use instead, this gives me the opportunity to tell you my very favorite App Store rejection story.

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