Build Awesome Command-Line Applications in Ruby: Control Your Computer, Simplify Your Life

Cover......Page 1
Table of Contents......Page 6
Introduction......Page 8
How This Book Is Organized......Page 10
What You\'ll Need......Page 12
Conventions Used in the Book......Page 13
Online Resources......Page 15
Acknowledgments......Page 16
1. Have a Clear and Concise Purpose......Page 18
Problem 1: Backing Up Data......Page 19
Problem 2: Managing Tasks......Page 22
What Makes an Awesome Command-Line App......Page 27
Moving On......Page 28
Understanding the Command Line: Options, Arguments, and Commands......Page 29
Building an Easy-to-Use Command-Line Interface......Page 34
Building an Easy-to-Use Command-Suite Interface......Page 39
Moving On......Page 47
Documenting a Command-Line Interface......Page 48
Documenting a Command Suite......Page 53
Including a Man Page......Page 57
Writing Good Help Text and Documentation......Page 62
Moving On......Page 65
4. Play Well with Others......Page 67
Using Exit Codes to Report Success or Failure......Page 68
Using the Standard Output and Error Streams Appropriately......Page 73
Formatting Output for Use As Input to Another Program......Page 77
Trapping Signals Sent from Other Apps......Page 82
Moving On......Page 83
5. Delight Casual Users......Page 85
Choosing Names for Options and Commands......Page 86
Choosing Default Values for Flags and Arguments......Page 90
Deciding Default Behavior......Page 96
Moving On......Page 100
Why External Configuration?......Page 102
Reading External Configuration from Files......Page 103
Using Configuration Files with Command Suites......Page 107
Design Considerations When Using Configuration......Page 111
Moving On......Page 112
Distributing with RubyGems......Page 113
Distributing Without RubyGems......Page 120
Collaborating with Other Developers......Page 121
Moving On......Page 127
8. Test, Test, Test......Page 128
Testing User Behavior with Acceptance Tests......Page 129
Testing in Isolation with Unit Tests......Page 142
Moving On......Page 150
Dividing Code into Multiple Files......Page 151
Designing Code for Maintainability......Page 156
Moving On......Page 161
10. Add Color, Formatting, and Interactivity......Page 162
Adding Color Using ANSI Escape Sequences......Page 163
Formatting Output with Tables......Page 168
Providing Interactive User Input with readline......Page 173
Moving On......Page 182
A1. Common Command-Line Gems and Libraries......Page 183
Alternatives for Simple Command-Line Apps......Page 184
Alternatives for Command Suites......Page 192
Other Relevant Libraries......Page 197
A2. Bibliography......Page 200
Index......Page 201