https://blog.thetextsmith.com/tags/programming/ Recent content in Programming on Under the Anvil Hugo en-us Fri, 31 Jul 2026 06:50:52 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/thinking-like-a-shell-programmer/ Fri, 31 Jul 2026 06:50:52 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/thinking-like-a-shell-programmer/ In this post, I argue that in programming, it is no longer about Bash or any other language. It is about habits of mind. The shell merely provides the vocabulary through which we learn them. https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/programming-as-composition/ Thu, 30 Jul 2026 06:35:01 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/programming-as-composition/ Most programming books begin with variables, loops, and functions. A textsmith, however, encounters programming from the opposite direction: composition. Before writing a single if statement, they are already composing grep, sort, awk, sed, pandoc, and dozens of other tools into something larger. By the time they sit down to learn a programming language, they have already been programming—they simply didn’t call it that. https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/take-control-of-your-computer/ Tue, 28 Jul 2026 06:20:15 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/take-control-of-your-computer/ This post continues the discussion on shell scripting. In a sense, a shell script is simply text that instructs other text-processing tools how to cooperate. https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/the-best-programming-language-is-the-one-that-solves-your-annoyance/ Mon, 27 Jul 2026 07:45:06 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/the-best-programming-language-is-the-one-that-solves-your-annoyance/ How does one become a programmer? Based on my own experience, this is all about agency—the moment you stop waiting for software to exist and start creating software that fits your own way of working. The key is discovering that if configuration isn’t enough, you can write the missing tool yourself. https://blog.thetextsmith.com/bookshelf/the-textsmith-bookshelf-shell-scripting-by-steve-parker/ Sun, 26 Jul 2026 06:54:08 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/bookshelf/the-textsmith-bookshelf-shell-scripting-by-steve-parker/ This week’s book helps every textsmith to understand shell scripting—the subject we had been dealing with starting last week. It also complements Efficient Linux at the Command Line by moving from using the shell effectively to teaching it to work for you. https://blog.thetextsmith.com/bookshelf/book-review-effective-awk-programming/ Sun, 12 Jul 2026 14:15:16 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/bookshelf/book-review-effective-awk-programming/ This is a review of a classic book that does not only teach you the art of text-processing, but eases you into the world of programming.