1. The speaker advocates starting software projects small and scaling up using JavaScript, arguing that it is a versatile and reusable skill. 2. He demonstrates how simple Node.js scripts can be used to automate tasks and build up to more complex tools over time by starting small. 3. Following principles like Gall's Law, these small, hacky solutions can evolve into larger systems that work, whereas designing complex systems from scratch often fails.

1. When all you have is a
hammer, everything looks
like JavaScript

2. I’m Baldur Bjarnason
My job at Unbound is to, over time, automate everything
that can be automated about our ebook production

3. My goal is to convince you
of two things
• That software projects should start small and scale
up
• That Javascript is the tool for the job

4. Javascript all the things!
Alternate title for this talk…

5. Really? That can’t be a good idea.

6. Tool-buying
versus
Tool-making

7. Tool-making starts
small
Small, hacky solutions build up to larger things

8. The case for javascript

9. JS is web native
It mixes well with HTML and CSS

10. JS as a skill is
eminently reusable
Used in browsers, app automation, servers, plugins,
mobile apps, you name it

11. node.js
Javascript without the browser mess
https://nodejs.org

12. Node.js
• Opens up the possibility of standalone scripts
• No browser necessary
• Modularity let’s you start small and add as you
iterate

13. Node.js makes javascript fun

14. The laws of software
development

15. Gall’s law
"A complex system that works is invariably
found to have evolved from a simple system
that worked. The inverse proposition also
appears to be true: A complex system
designed from scratch never works and
cannot be made to work. You have to start
over, beginning with a working simple
system."

16. Let’s start off by taking
something BBedit does
well and do it badly

17. var fs = require("fs");
var glob = require(‘glob’);
var files = glob.sync(‘*.html’);
bodyre = new RegExp('(<h1[^>]*>|</h1>)', 'ig');
files.forEach(function(textname) {
var text = fs.readFileSync(textname, "utf8");
var title = text.split(bodyre)[2];
console.log(title);
});

19. The limits of Regular
Expressions
<[^<>/]*?class=”random-class-thing"[^<>/]*?>)
([^<>]*?)(</[^<>/]*?>
versus
document.querySelectorAll('random-class-thing');

20. var fs = require("fs");
var jsdom = require("jsdom");
var jquery = require("jquery");
book = fs.readFileSync("eBook Test-5March14.html", "utf8");
jsdom.env({
html: book,
done: function (errors, window) {
jquery(window);
window.$("h4").unwrap();
window.$("h1").addClass("test2");
fs.writeFileSync("bookbody3.html", window.document.documentElement.innerHTML);
}
});

22. The tool-making bit:
#!/usr/bin/env node
'use strict';
var program = require(‘commander');
program.version('0.1.0')
.option('-f, --folder [path]', 'Output folder')
.option('-o, --output [filename]', 'Filename')
.option('-v, --verbose', "Let's be chatty and loud")
.option('-m, --mangle', 'Obfuscate the font files');

23. Are we having fun yet?

24. The recipe for success
• One part hacky node.js scripts
• One part commander (or similar module)
• Mix well over time
• And the result…

25. Tools!

26. var mangler = function(fontpath, id) {
var font = fs.readFileSync(fontpath);
var shasum = crypto.createHash('sha1').update(id.trim(), 'utf8');
var key = new Buffer(shasum.digest('hex'), 'hex');
var prefix = font.slice(0, 1040);
var _fn = function(blob, i) { return prefix[i] = blob ^ key[i % key.length]; };
for (i = _i = 0, _len = prefix.length; _i < _len; i = ++_i) {
var blob = prefix[i];
_fn(blob, i);
}
font2 = Buffer.concat([prefix, font.slice(1040)]);
fs.writeFileSync(fontpath, font2);
};

27. That was a kick in the face
But can you guess what it was for?

28. Learning JS
• Mozilla’s re-introduction to JavaScript: https://
developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/
A_re-introduction_to_JavaScript
• Eloquent JavaScript http://eloquentjavascript.net
• JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford

29. Learning JS
• Khan Academy: http://www.khanacademy.org/
computing/computer-programming
• Codecademy: http://www.codecademy.com/tracks/
javascript