https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/ Recent content in The Textsmith's Workshop 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/your-personal-toolbox-growing-local-bin-one-script-at-a-time/ Wed, 29 Jul 2026 06:27:03 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/your-personal-toolbox-growing-local-bin-one-script-at-a-time/ Before long, every Linux user accumulates little command snippets. A clever find pipeline copied from a forum. A five-line shell script that renames photographs. An awk one-liner that extracts exactly the report you need. The question is not whether you will collect these solutions. The question is whether you will lose them. 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/from-one-liners-to-utilities-when-should-a-shell-command-become-a-script/ Mon, 27 Jul 2026 17:27:20 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/from-one-liners-to-utilities-when-should-a-shell-command-become-a-script/ In a previous post, I discussed handling personal frustration through building my own utility, and learning programming in the process. The question now is: at what point should a group of commands, ofen represented as one-liners, be turned into a script? 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/the-workshop/why-system-administration-is-applied-text-processing/ Thu, 23 Jul 2026 15:40:00 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/why-system-administration-is-applied-text-processing/ In this article, I look at what system administration entails. We see that the real work is understanding, producing, transforming, and maintaining text. https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/build-your-workshop-bench/ Wed, 22 Jul 2026 10:23:03 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/build-your-workshop-bench/ Whenever working on your computer as a textsmith, never let it hold any mysteries beyond its binary data. This post looks at the five directories that you have to harness as part of your workbench. https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/your-home-directory-is-your-workshop/ Tue, 21 Jul 2026 12:10:11 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/your-home-directory-is-your-workshop/ While you are wondering which area of your computer you have to bakup first, this article demonstrates the importance of your $HOME directory. In fact, you have to treat it as your workshop. https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/why-every-textsmith-should-learn-git/ Fri, 10 Jul 2026 10:08:52 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/why-every-textsmith-should-learn-git/ Any work that you value has to be placed under version control, not only as part of history but preservation. This article shows why textsmiths should use git. https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/the-joy-of-dotfiles/ Thu, 09 Jul 2026 18:08:30 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/the-joy-of-dotfiles/ Dotfiles make it possible to backup your customizations without necessarily starting all over: find the true joy of working with these powerful files https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/the-appeal-of-configuration-files/ Wed, 08 Jul 2026 17:52:10 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/the-appeal-of-configuration-files/ It was the ini file that started my journey as a textsmith: understanding how these text files, rather than the registry, can change the application behavior made me appreciate the beauty of simple configurations. https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/the-textsmith-s-secret-advantage/ Fri, 03 Jul 2026 19:09:28 +0200 https://blog.thetextsmith.com/the-workshop/the-textsmith-s-secret-advantage/ This post shows that textsmithing is not merely about writing, but about understanding and shaping computer systems.