Luke Oliff.
2025
TIL: Deduplicating Lines With sort -uOriginalsort -u sorts and deduplicates lines in a single pass. Clean up word lists, logs, and API response extracts without writing a throwaway script.TIL
TIL: Formatting Terminal Output Into Tables With columnOriginalcolumn -t aligns whitespace-separated data into clean columns. Pipe any command output through it for instantly readable tables.TIL
TIL: Mirroring Sites With wget Recursive ModeOriginalwget -r downloads an entire site recursively. Useful for offline reference copies of documentation when you are without internet.TIL
TIL: Structuring Monorepos With TypeScript Project ReferencesOriginalTypeScript project references let you split a codebase into composable packages. Each reference builds independently and incremental builds get faster.TIL
TIL: Speeding Up GitHub Operations With gh AliasesOriginalgh alias set maps custom shortcuts to any gh command. Common workflows become two-word commands instead of multi-flag incantations.TIL
TIL: Building JSON Payloads in Shell Scripts With jqOriginaljq builds valid JSON payloads in shell scripts straight from variables, so a missing quote or an unescaped newline never breaks a request again.TIL
2024
TIL: Checking SSL Certificate Expiry With opensslOriginalopenssl connects to any TLS endpoint and prints the certificate details including expiry date. Automate cert monitoring in a cron job.TIL
An open letter on AIOriginalAn open letter on AI as a tool rather than a verdict: what it means for creativity, for programming, and for staying human through the next revolution.AI
TIL: Benchmarking Commands With hyperfineOriginalhyperfine benchmarks a command over many runs and reports min, max, mean and standard deviation, so you can compare tools with real confidence.TIL
An open letter on politicsOriginalAn open letter on politics: why neutrality is a choice too, what media manipulation costs democracy, and why I judge people by the harm they will accept.Opinion