Jan 13, 2009

My First Automation


A lil happy today :)

i made a script today, on my own. Since i had that amazing session with Shantanu (God bless him), i have had a strong urge to dedicate myself to Shell scripting. But then, that calls 4 takin time out of ur work responsibilities and then pull hairs when u r on it. i mean, at d first glance, sed/awk are bloody scary, aren't they?

today, finally, i thought i'd giv it a break. i got stuck at every step, pulled my locks on evry pathetic problem that arose, and finally got done with a 34 line code. Might be a cinch for geeks, but it was d very first fish i trapped.

Shell is funny u c. Sucks at times. the black screen gets in2 the back of ur head. But as Shantanu said, it is worth dedicating a life. i feel the same urge, but that needs a lil bit of time, as well as enthusiasm. Not preaching, no. It's just that i'm happy.

every new language takes time 2 b picked. i know many of them, if not a lot, so i can say that 4 sure. now i made the script for one particular account, it worked. but i wanted to give the account as a parameter, and when i did cd ~$1/((something..)) it failed, & i had no clue why. Now how would i know that tilda won't bloody work here. so i had to search for absolute path in a flexible way. to be specific, grep for the entered variable in a particular file that stores all the account details and then use awk and so on. (please pardon me for puttin in a lil technical things, if u don't get them)

The gist is that i learnt a lot. Every new error, that arose out of ignorance or a petty mistake, gave me insight into Shells, & into life. That's how life is right !!

gharwaalon ne bola, achche doston ke saath raha karo beta (way back in 6th). i defied - i know who i'm with. & i later realised i was better off him. gharwaalon ne bola dawai khaana nahin chodna (for a certain illness). i quit, & saw severe repurcussions, & i make sure i take the tablets daily now. there r a million examples that i can mention here, but that wil make u yawn right? i ain't an Obama or sumthin. This is a very simple filthy caricature that talks to u.

Poeple around u put in their efforts to guide u, with the experiences they have had. but u have 2 c 4 urself. u can read a million books on any programming language, but u won't get it until u try (except at the campus placement times. read a buk thrice, and go give the written + interview in flying colors. hehe)

Anyways, i'm gonna c more shell scripting now. Automating tasks is a part of our annual objectives as well. so that can b taken as a liability as well in a market fuelling with recession. but seems lyk, i'm lovin it !!