4 ms·

Every couple of years I need pandoc for some project. And teach time I relearn the same idiosyncrasies. Some odd defaults, the sometimes annoying depths you hav

Every couple of years I need pandoc for some project. And teach time I relearn the same idiosyncrasies. Some odd defaults, the sometimes annoying depths you have to do to customize HTML templates, the weird filter infrastructure. What a neat strange program it is.

michaelcampbell 3y ago
I have this same issue, and the same with `jq` and `GNU Parallel`. When you need them you need them, and nothing else quite works, but I have to re-learn them every time.
- tambourine_man 3y ago
  Set a huge number for your shell history and dedup. You’ll effectively save every command you ever typed in chronological order. You can even append comments to the end of the command for your future self. Then, fzf your history.
  - michaelcampbell 3y ago
    I do, and use fzf, and that helps, but with most tools I'm a bit OCD about understanding what I'm doing. I also use Anki SRS flashcards and put a lot of tool usage exemplars in there; it not only helps me remember a bit of what I need to do, but if nothing else I remember THAT I put it there so I can use that to go look it up again. And this is coming from someone who grew up with and is comfortable with `--help` screens and man pages.
- on_the_train 3y ago
  Which is actually quite a strong point for guis, amidst all their problems
  - meonkeys 3y ago
    Agreed, surely if there's one button in a GUI that will just do the thing you need (say, spitting out a PDF version of the document you're editing) but you'd otherwise need to recall multiple command-line programs, options, and/or arguments. However, often I'll open up a GUI I haven't used in a while and feel like I'm just as lost as I am with a command-line tool I haven't used in a while. I rely on notes I've taken and try to stick with stable software.
- jbranchaud 3y ago
  I outsource most of my esoteric `jq` syntax questions to ChatGPT. It does really well with them, usually turning up solutions that I'd struggle to munge together from several different google search results. I wonder how ChatGPT would do with focussed pandoc requests.
  - michaelcampbell 3y ago
    I'm not allowed to use chatgippity at work, sadly. But Ive heard a lot of people mention this so I might try it at home and see what's what.
- meonkeys 3y ago
  Same here! Haha. Can you think of any command-line tool you might not use for 6 or 12mo but when you crack it open after a long time it is intuitive how to do what you need to? I hypothesize muscle memory is required for efficiency at the command line.
  - michaelcampbell 3y ago
    > Can you think of any command-line tool you might not use for 6 or 12mo but when you crack it open after a long time it is intuitive how to do what you need to? Most of them that I do use; sed, awk, even perl. I don't bust them out often, but when I do most of what I need is pretty "front of mind". I'm not asserting it's necessarily a tool issue vs a "me" issue, but jq, parallel, and pandoc (although pandoc the least of these) just don't "click" with me, and even if I use them multiple times a month I have to go back to previous commands, --help, or man pages routinely.

michaelcampbell 3y ago

I have this same issue, and the same with `jq` and `GNU Parallel`. When you need them you need them, and nothing else quite works, but I have to re-learn them every time.

tambourine_man 3y ago
Set a huge number for your shell history and dedup. You’ll effectively save every command you ever typed in chronological order. You can even append comments to the end of the command for your future self. Then, fzf your history.
- michaelcampbell 3y ago
  I do, and use fzf, and that helps, but with most tools I'm a bit OCD about understanding what I'm doing. I also use Anki SRS flashcards and put a lot of tool usage exemplars in there; it not only helps me remember a bit of what I need to do, but if nothing else I remember THAT I put it there so I can use that to go look it up again. And this is coming from someone who grew up with and is comfortable with `--help` screens and man pages.
on_the_train 3y ago
Which is actually quite a strong point for guis, amidst all their problems
- meonkeys 3y ago
  Agreed, surely if there's one button in a GUI that will just do the thing you need (say, spitting out a PDF version of the document you're editing) but you'd otherwise need to recall multiple command-line programs, options, and/or arguments. However, often I'll open up a GUI I haven't used in a while and feel like I'm just as lost as I am with a command-line tool I haven't used in a while. I rely on notes I've taken and try to stick with stable software.
jbranchaud 3y ago
I outsource most of my esoteric `jq` syntax questions to ChatGPT. It does really well with them, usually turning up solutions that I'd struggle to munge together from several different google search results. I wonder how ChatGPT would do with focussed pandoc requests.
- michaelcampbell 3y ago
  I'm not allowed to use chatgippity at work, sadly. But Ive heard a lot of people mention this so I might try it at home and see what's what.
meonkeys 3y ago
Same here! Haha. Can you think of any command-line tool you might not use for 6 or 12mo but when you crack it open after a long time it is intuitive how to do what you need to? I hypothesize muscle memory is required for efficiency at the command line.
- michaelcampbell 3y ago
  > Can you think of any command-line tool you might not use for 6 or 12mo but when you crack it open after a long time it is intuitive how to do what you need to? Most of them that I do use; sed, awk, even perl. I don't bust them out often, but when I do most of what I need is pretty "front of mind". I'm not asserting it's necessarily a tool issue vs a "me" issue, but jq, parallel, and pandoc (although pandoc the least of these) just don't "click" with me, and even if I use them multiple times a month I have to go back to previous commands, --help, or man pages routinely.