Luke Oliff · Blog
Writing.
Original posts, published first on this site. Imported posts live in the archive.
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264 posts
2023
TIL: Merging PDF Files With pdfuniteOriginalpdfunite combines multiple PDFs into one in a single command. No Adobe subscription, no drag-and-drop, just file paths.TIL
TIL: Implementing Exponential Backoff in TypeScriptOriginalA retry loop with exponential backoff and jitter absorbs transient API failures without hammering a server that is already struggling.TIL
TIL: Finding Duplicate Files With fdupesOriginalfdupes scans a directory tree for duplicate files by comparing checksums. Reclaim disk space from accidental copies and repeated downloads.TIL
TIL: Processing STT Word Timestamps With awkOriginalawk parses word-level timestamps from STT output in one line. Extract, filter, and reformat without importing a CSV library.TIL
2022
TIL: Using set -e and set -x in Bash ScriptsOriginalset -e exits on any error. set -x prints every command before running it. Together they make shell scripts fail fast and show their work.TIL
TIL: Trimming Silence From Audio Files With SoXOriginalsox detects and removes silence from audio files automatically. Clean up recordings before processing without a GUI editor.TIL
TIL: Creating Python Virtual Environments With venvOriginalpython -m venv gives each project its own virtual environment, so two projects needing different library versions never fight over global packages.TIL
TIL: Auto-Restarting Node.js Processes With nodemonOriginalnodemon watches your source files and restarts the process on any change. No manual Ctrl-C up-arrow-enter cycle during development.TIL
TIL: Parsing Command-Line Arguments With Python's argparseOriginalargparse generates --help text, validates types, and parses positional and optional arguments. Built into Python, no third-party deps.TIL
TIL: Using tmux for Persistent Terminal SessionsOriginaltmux keeps your terminal session alive when you disconnect. Reattach from anywhere — long-running processes survive SSH drops.TIL