Lane chats with BadCop, a senior Bash engineer and Twitch streamer. They discuss scripting languages, focusing on Bash, shells, terminals, and more. They explore the origins of 'BadCop' and the recent emergence of 'BashCop.' They also delve into the intricacies of online identity and the technical landscape of Unix shells. Other topics include writing web applications in Bash, building a CDN with GitHub's CLI, and discussing key values, security, and vulnerabilities in Bash.
Bash is a powerful tool for scripting and automation, allowing for the composition of small, well-made tools to solve complex problems.
Having a breadth of knowledge and being adaptable can help solve complex problems from different perspectives, especially in smaller companies where diverse skills are valued.
Deep dives
Overview of the Podcast Episode
In this podcast episode, the host interviews Bad Cop, also known as Bash Cop, who shares their experience and passion for shipping web applications in Bash. Bad Cop explains that Bash is a Unix shell that allows for the composition of small, well-made tools to solve complex problems. They discuss the benefits of using Bash, such as its convenience and productivity for certain tasks, and how it can be a powerful tool for scripting and automation. Bad Cop also showcases the Bash Stack, a lightweight framework they created for building web applications in Bash. They touch on using the file system for data storage and handling different aspects of web development in Bash, including templating HTML with tools like SED and AWK. Throughout the conversation, they highlight the challenges and unique approaches taken when working with Bash for web development.
The Unique Journey and Motivation
Bad Cop shares their unconventional career trajectory that spans AWS, embedded development, mobile app development, and site reliability engineering (SRE). They explain that their interest in different fields arises from a tendency to get bored easily and seek out new challenges. While some may view their lack of specialization negatively, Bad Cop believes that having breadth of knowledge helps them solve complex problems from a wide perspective. They discuss the benefits of being adaptable and seeing solutions from different angles, especially in smaller companies where diverse skills and problem-solving approaches are valued.
Comparing Working Experiences
Bad Cop reflects on their experiences working with different technologies, including AWS, embedded development, mobile apps, and the cloud. They express frustration with the design and usability of cloud dashboards, such as the AWS dashboard, which prioritize low cost and backwards compatibility over developer experience. They also share their dislike for native mobile development tools like Android Studio and Xcode. Despite these challenges, they find more satisfaction working on embedded development projects due to the uniquely chaotic and collaborative nature of the work. Additionally, they express a preference for smaller companies over larger ones, as the latter often involve bureaucratic overhead that disrupts their focus on coding.
Future and Impact of Bash Stack
Bad Cop discusses the future of Bash Stack, mentioning that it already works in production and can be deployed with platforms like Fly.io. They contemplate what features would qualify for a 1.0 release but maintain that their goal is not to have serious companies use Bash Stack. Instead, they jest about potentially archiving the repo if that were to happen. Bad Cop's focus is on enjoying the development process and pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved with Bash for personal projects and entertainment purposes.
Lane chats with BadCop-- a senior Bash engineer, Twitch streamer and the mastermind behind their online presence. From the origins of 'BadCop' to the recent emergence of 'BashCop,' they explore scripting languages, focusing on Bash, shells, terminals and more. Follow the conversation in this enlightening episode, unraveling the intricacies of online identity and the technical landscape of Unix shells!
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