Yak Shaving

"Yak shaving" is a programmer's slang term for the distance between a task's start and completion and the tangential tasks between you and the solution. If you ever wanted to mail a letter, but couldn't find a stamp, and had to drive your car to get the stamp, but also needed to refill the tank with gas, which then let you get to the post office where you could buy a stamp to mail your letter—then you've done some yak shaving. - Zed Shaw

Yak shaving is one of my least favorite and most frustrating parts of software development. I have vague memories of enjoying the chase when I was younger, but my tolerance for it seems to decrease the older I get. Nowadays it just pisses me off.

I haven't worked on suneido.js for a while but I got a pull request from another programmer that's been helping me with it. I merged the pull request without any problems. Then I went to try out the changes.

I get a cryptic JavaScript error. Eventually I figure out this is a module problem. I see that my tcconfig.js is set to commonjs, which is what is needed to run the tests in node.js, but to run in the browser I need amd. I change it. I love JavaScript modules.

Now I need to recompile my TypeScript. I happen to be using Visual Studio Code, which follows the latest trend in editors to not have any menu options that are discoverable. Instead you need to type commands. I eventually find the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+Shift+B. (After some confusion because I was reading the web site on OS X and it auto-magically only shows you the keyboard shortcuts for the platform you're on.)

Nothing happens. I try tsc (the TypeScript compiler) from the command line but it's not found. Maybe it's just not on my path? I figure out how to see the output window within Code. It's not finding tsc either. (Although it hadn't shown any sign of error until I opened the output window.)

Do I have tsc installed? I'm not sure. Doesn't Code come with TypeScript support? Yes, but does that "support" include the compiler? I find that exact question on StackExchange but it's old and there seems to be some debate over the answer.

I try reinstalling Code. It adds to my path but still doesn't find tsc. (The ever growing path is another pet peeve. And yes, the older I get the longer my list of pet peeves is.)

What the heck was I using last time I worked on this? I'm pretty sure I never deliberately uninstalled TypeScript. I search my computer but all I find are some old versions of TypeScript from Visual Studio (not Code).

I get the bright idea to check my work computer (I'm on my home machine.) I don't find anything there either. Then I remember it's a brand new computer that I set up from scratch. So much for that idea.

I give up and decide to install TypeScript. There are two methods given, via npm (Node.js) or Visual Studio. I'm pretty sure I used Node.js before so that seems to be the way to go.

I try to run npm but it's not found either. Did I lose Node.js as well as TypeScript? No, I find it on disk. I see there's a nodevars.bat file that sets the path. I try that and now I have npm. I bask in the warm glow of accomplishment for a few seconds until I remind myself that running npm was not what I was trying to accomplish.

I run npm install -g typescript. And now I have tsc. But my path didn't change. Maybe I had tsc all along and just needed node on my path? Hard to tell now.

Then I find my tsconfig.js is wrong - it lists .ts files that don't exist because they are just .js files. Again, how did that work last time around? I fix that and it seems to compile.

And finally, miraculously (but several hours later) my suneido.js playground works!

Wait a minute, the pull request was improvements to the CodeMirror Suneido mode, it had nothing to do with the playground. No problem, I'll just start over ...