>> (1 + 2 +
?>     4)
=> 7
>> (1 + 2
>>   + 4)
=> 4

>> t = "a\tx\tb"
=> "a\tx\tb"
>> re = Regexp.new("a\t\S\tb")
=> a    S       b
>> re.match(t)
=> nil
>> re = Regexp.new("a\t[^\t]\tb")
=> a    [       ]       b
>> re.match(t)
=> #<MatchData:0xb7e57c90>

>> re = Regexp.new('a\t\S\tb')
=> atStb
>> re.match(t)
=> #<MatchData:0xb7b411dc>
>> re = /a\t\S\tb/
=> atStb
>> re.match(t)
=> #<MatchData:0xb7ae8c1c>

Dear Ruby haters: I used to be afraid of the table saw until I learned how to use it safely. This did not involve nerfing the table saw.

>> def testfoo(foo)
>>     if foo.nil?
>>       puts "foo is nil"
>>     elseif foo.empty?
>>       puts "foo is empty"
>>     else
>>       puts "foo is #{foo}"
>>     end
>>   end
=> nil

>> testfoo("foo")
foo is foo
=> nil

>> testfoo("")
foo is 
=> nil

>> testfoo(nil)
foo is nil
NoMethodError: undefined method `empty?' for nil:NilClass
        from (irb):4:in `testfoo'
        from (irb):14
        from :0
>> 

• "Are you sure?" confirmations on non-destructive operations.


• Randomly chosen defaults to "protect" people from having to make decisions.


• Adding verbosity to everything in case the user hasn't looked at the documentation.

module Timeout
  class Error < Interrupt
  end
end

Exception
  - StandardError
    - RuntimeError
    - ZeroDivisionError
  - ScriptError
    - SyntaxError
  - SystemExit
  - SignalException
    - Interrupt

higher_order() {
    # some code
    eval "$1"
    # some more code
}

do_twice()
{
    for i in `seq 2`; do
        eval "$1"
    done
}

hello() {
    echo "Hello $1"
}

do_twice 'hello world'

0.472050191835
1.29025535937
2.04500017408
2.04324277025
1.82879307121
2.03375558369
0.681352665648

• Intersection (requires no duplicates in either file): cat foo bar | sort | uniq -d
  (Have a look at man uniq for details on the flags it takes.)
  


• Union (no input restrictions): cat foo bar | sort | uniq
  (The sort and uniq are not strictly required here, but they keep the output format the same. Also, the sort | uniq can be replaced with sort -u for a small efficiency gain.)

I have decided that the only way for me to finally get around to
learning Erlang is to write a nontrivial project in it.  To this end, I
have decided to implement a multiplayer online game of some kind.

I'm only really interested in the Erlang backend, so I'm thinking a
text-based MUD of some kind that players can telnet to, but if someone
wants to write a graphical client or something that's also good.  A
frontend can be in any language/platform combination as long as I can
run it in Linux for testing.

I could probably do the whole backend thing myself given enough time,
but collaborators make things easier and more fun, especially to bounce
ideas off and discuss bits of code.  This is a learning project, so I'm
not expecting anyone to know Erlang at all before they join.

Also, people interested in the game design and worldbuilding aspect are
welcome to help out in just those areas without having to write any
code.