Lazy shortcuts lead to mistakes

I just un-published post 22.00.0177 as it shouldn't have appeared. It's not finished and was published by mistake. Here's how.

Without getting too technical, I add things to this site using the ubiquitous software git. Normally this is a conscious action, and it takes two steps.

First:

git add 22.00.0177

– to say please add this file to the list of things I'd like to commit.¹

And then:

git commit [some message to say what you did]

– to commit those changes to the site.

Well, why do in two steps what can be done in one? Long ago I created an alias – a shortcut – that merges these two steps. So now I just:

git addcommit [some message to say what I did]

The problem is that this git addcommit alias adds every new file to the commit. Which is very often what you want: but clearly not always. In this case, it added this unfinished post.

There's a reason this isn't a built-in command. It's a bad idea. I was being lazy.

I've deleted the shortcut. The post will be finished and re-published tomorrow. Apologies for the error.

These git commands are what we call pseudocode. They're not the exact commands, but they vaguely resemble them. The idea is to give the layperson an idea of what's going on while not getting caught up in the details. ↩

Lazy shortcuts lead to mistakes

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