Code and Gems

On a whim, I started work on anew toy.

A ruby script to process in an M3U play list and output a track list in HTML (with some nice options and stuff too).


While I could probably find a script for amarok or google some thing to do it. I've been itching for some thing to sink my teeth in, thats not going to take years to do. To be honest, I've been going crazy.... Can't stand not to have some program to work on, ether writing, debugging, configuring, or testing.


I've never really been the sort of guy, that could just sit down and say "Ok, we need to get result foo... So we've got to do bar to get it". When I have most of what I'm doing formed in my minds eye, I can write it out. And kick it about till I make it work (usually). But if I just knock my head on the wall, I usually fail to figure out how to do the things in the middle. Unless my brain kicks into gear and figures out a nice overview $_$

Needless to say, I doubt I'd ever be happy playing with searching and sorting algorithms.. lol. To night, I've had a lot of fun. The program might not be one I'll use much but the important thing is

1. I've had fun working on it and
2. It lets me learn more about the Language
3. Enjoying working on a little some thing every now and then is my favorite way to learn the features, standard library/e.t.c, and memorize the syntax of the language

It's been one of the rare times where I got a simple idea, a ruby script to take M3U files and spit out HTML track listings (simple and fancy/detailed). Sat down and started munching on the problem... step by step, without any real overview of how to do it.


When I worked on rf.c, a little program I made... Because using cat(1) to print an entire file to stdout instead of concatenating files annoys me 0.o


I had a lot of fun learning, it helped me get used to using GDB and writing C instead of reading for a change. but when I did rf.c, I had a pretty complete mental picture of the program before I ever started, I knew I'd want it to do x.y.z. And I knew how I would have to implement it more or less, before I started line one. With this toy, I had no idea what the heck I would be doing in Ruby other then I'd be dealing with strings and file paths.

So, it's been a wonderful time just sitting and working as I go along... Hell when I do some thing. I test sections of it before I use it, make a prototype, fix the errors I can find, adopt it into a semi-finalized version. And work on it till it's the best quality program I can make of it. So, whats the harm in playing with a toy? xD

Instead of having to sit down and create the blue print before hand !


0442 local, nearly 1000 Hours Zulu time... So I'm glad that I've only got a short run to work tomorrow and little need of waking up EARLY besides walking the dogs.. Ok, bed time !