When working within terminal on a mac, I found that I was constantly wanting to open up into finder. The problem was I kept forgetting what the command was and having to look it up.
My solution to the problem was to create a script with open . as the only command, and call it finder. I can hear the crowd jeering now – that’s a load of crap, that script isn’t better at all!
To this I say, you’re wrong. And here’s why: finder reduces the level of abstraction. Let’s look at the step you’d run through your head for each command:
For open .
- I want to open a finder window
- I want to open on the current directory
- Type
open .
For finder
- I want to open a finder window
- Type
finder
Do you see that there? Step 2 is completely removed.
finder makes an assumption – that you always want to open on the current directory – and removes it from the steps. With that assumption there is a reduction to the abstraction level.
Are there any areas where you are making an assumption that can be abstracted away?