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I'm a polyglot programmer. I work in a variety of languages but mostly in C#[1], Typescript[2], and Rust[3]. Every few years, I try a new language to see if I can pick up new ideas or if one “fits” my current mental state better. This is also why I've done a lot dozens of other languages; I would say I know over thirty languages but I'm only a “master” in a handful.
I also flit from project to project. I have my writing[4] and games. I have little one-off programs and ones that I hope will become a major thing. But, like everything else in my life, I'm “gloriously unfocused” on my tasks which means I have to minimize the speed that I get into a project before the muse escapes me.
One of the earliest approaches I had to try getting a proper environment at the per-project level was asdf[5]. It worked out fairly well for a few years, but then I noticed that my various novels and stories were getting fragile. There were limitations that `asdf` couldn't handle easily which meant I needed something more reliable. That led me into Nix[6] which is my current setup because entering the directory sets up that project's settings while still giving me the reproducibility I need for my novels.
This means that most of my projects now have a `./flake.nix` and a `./flake.lock` in the root level.
Because I've fallen in love with Semantic Releases[7] and Conventional Commits[8], a lot of my processes are built around those. In earlier projects, that usually meant that almost every project also included Node in some form so I could use semantic-release[9]. That also meant I could use `package.json` to handle versioning.
8: /tags/conventional-commits/
9: https://github.com/semantic-release/semantic-release
Though, recent thoughts have suggested that I need to break that “one tool fits all” approach. Mostly it came while working on Nitride[10] and this website. I found myself trying to have “one build system” to create everything related to the site, including handling Javascript and CSS/SASS. Those are two very complicated projects in C#, so I realize it made sense that instead of creating a Nitride task to call webpack[11], I really should just call `webpack` directly. In other words, the Unix philosophy[12].
12: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unix_philosophy
This is where being a polyglot and using different tools comes into play. I have a website that does C#, Typescript, and SASS at the same time. Which one is the “root”, which command drives everything? What about a Rust project? Or something else?
That has kind of led me to my current approach. Instead of always packaging Node in my projects, I really should have a standard location to handle the various actions/targets that apply to any project. Right now, that seems to be shell scripts.
With shell scripts, I just have to know that `./scripts/build.sh` will do whatever is needed to build the target. Same with `./scripts/test.sh` and `./scripts/release.sh`. A Rust project may call Cargo, a .NET project will call `dotnet`, and polyglot will call any and all needed to build it.
This will give me room to experiment. If I decide I want to play with Cake[13] for my .NET projects, then it still works out because it is just a consistent place. If I want to use Lefthook[14] instead of Husky[15], I can.
I also went with `.sh` suffixes on the files because while I mostly code in Linux[16], I also want to support Powershell[17] and Windows[18]. That way, it is also clear that `build.sh` and `build.ps1` probably result in the same end-result, but specific for that language. (I know Powershell runs on Linux too.)
Obviously, some documentation would be required, but that could be a `README.md` file in that directory. That will look nice in GitLab[19] and give documentation.
Fortunately, I use direnv[20] and nix-direnv[21] frequently in my development. This loads the `flake.nix` file as soon as I enter the directory and sets up the tools I need. It also gives me a chance to modify the `PATH` variable but only for that directory which means I can add the `./scripts` folder into the path and have it available anywhere inside the project.
21: https://github.com/nix-community/nix-direnv
export PATH=$PWD/scripts:$PATH use flake || use nix
When working with packaging systems such as Node that also include scripts, I also add those into the path. In both cases, `$PWD` is always the directory with the `.envrc` file, even if I change directly into somewhere deeper into the proejct tree; using `$PWD/scripts` means that the `build.sh` command is available anywhere.
export PATH=$PWD/scripts:$PWD/node-modules/.bin:$PATH use flake || use nix
Over the half year or so that I've been using this, I found that I was introducing a few new patterns into my scripts. Mostly these were to support CI/CD environments but also because I like feedback that scripts are doing something.
The most notable aspects were to almost always move into the root directory of the project.
#! /usr/bin/env bash cd $(dirname $(dirname $0))
In the above case, `$0` is the name of the script. The first `dirname` gets me into the `./scripts` folder, the second gets me into the root. That means that even if I call this script from deep inside the project, the paths are always relative to the project root.
The other is to set up logging so I have something to see what is going on. This is useful for the CI process, but also just so I know something is working properly. I ended up using a consistent start to the scripts to help me identify where the build process was.
log() { echo "️🧪 $(basename $0): $@"; }
log "running tests/gregorian-tests.scm"
some testing code
When run, it looks like this:
$ test.sh 🧪 test.sh: running tests/gregorian-tests.scm ...................................... ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ran 38 tests in 0.001s OK $
Each script usually has their only Unicode character, which also gives the logs a nice colorful appearance and really makes it easier to see where things are going. I ended up using a Bash function for this because it simplifed the calls into a simple `log message` and made it easier to function.
Sadly, Bash doesn't have a good packaging story, so I just copy/paste this into the top of every script along with the `#! /usr/bin/env bash` shebang. Overall, it seems to work and I've been pretty happy with it since.
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