Today I typed psql to start a database session. That put me in the wrong place, so I typed \connect org_viz to get into the database I wanted.
But then I stopped myself, quit psql, and typed psql -d org_viz at the command prompt.
Why?
It smooths my work. I knew I would exit and re-enter that database session several times today, and this way pushing up-arrow to get to the last command would get me to the right command. No more “oh, right, I have to \connect” for today.
It makes my work more reproducible. As a dev, every command I type at a shell or REPL is either an experiment or an action. If it’s an experiment, I’ll do different things as fast as I can. If it’s an action, I want it to express my intention.
What I’m not doing is meandering around a toilsome path to complete some task that I know perfectly well how to do. Once known, all those steps belong in one repeatable, intention-expressing automation.
Correcting the command I typed is a tiny thing. It expresses a development aesthetic: repeatability. If I’m not exploring, I’m executing, and I execute in a repeatable fashion. I executed that tiny command to open the database I wanted. Then I re-used it a dozen times. Frustration saved, check. Developer aesthetic satisfied, check.
