2018-07-07
Automating workflows
Since some years, i'm looking more for CLI options of the software i use, to a point where i learned to enjoy "command-line interfaces". This way i can create scripts and automate repetitive tasks. Even after two decades of typing characters into computers, it still feels like breathing life into all these things to me. Maybe like giving birth to Minions, despite being relatively simple, they are helpful and fun. Although i don't mind using or building a GUI, since i sit on both sides.
Creating rules and throwing "input" against it, to see how the program reacts, is a bit like playing with Lego Technic from my childhood. But the difference is that i can now make the parts myself, just by adding lines of code into a text editor. Connecting all these pieces, written by others or me, is a jigsaw puzzle without a real end, but certainly with the goal to get the job done by integrating them correctly.
Here i'm listing a few free apps i use regularly through a graphical user interface: 7Zip, AllDup, Audacity, "Everything" by David Carpenter, FileZilla, Notepad by Don Ho, TrayBackup, and WinMerge. Last but not least some icing on the cake: Dolphin Emulator with Mario Kart Wii via RomUlation. FYI, i got my first copy of Adobe Photoshop from an internship in June 2001.