49 lines
1.9 KiB
HTML
49 lines
1.9 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE HTML>
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<html lang="en">
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<title>'Why "suckless" software is important'</title>
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<meta name="date" content="2024/01/14">
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<link rel="stylesheet" href="/style.css">
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<style> html, body {
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display: unset !important;
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max-width: 80ch;
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margin: auto;
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} </style>
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<body id="blog">
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<p>
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When it comes to learning how to program there are a few things you can
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do:
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</p>
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<ol>
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<li>Read a textbook</li>
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<li>Watch videos</li>
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<li>Read some source code</li>
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</ol>
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<p>
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Of these options I find the best way to truly learn how to program is to
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read someone else's program and try and understand it. For example
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recently I've been working on my own
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<a href="https://tools.suckless.org/dmenu">dmenu</a> clone for Wayland.
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Throughout working on it instead of looking for tutorials on how to render
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a square using pixman I decided to take a look at
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<a href="https://github.com/djpohly/dtao">dtao</a> which is a clone of
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dzen for Wayland. By just reading the code and messing around with the
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program I was able to get an understanding for how rendering is done in
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pixman.
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</p>
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<p>
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Now you may be asking yourself something like: "But what does this have to
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do with suckless software?". The answer to that is in their philosophy
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which is about: "keeping things simple, minimal and usable". The idea of
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keeping things minimal and useable allows them to create wonderful
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programs that not only work, but also showcase how to do things without
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extra fluff that something like i3 might have.
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</p>
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<p>
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Even if you don't like suckless software it still serves as a great place
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to learn how to do the bare minimum. And for those who do enjoy using it,
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it can serve as a great starting place to hack upon until you get the
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software of your dreams.
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</p>
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</body>
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</html>
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