Why 8-Bit Computers

I got a ZX Spectrum +2A a few months before coming to Australia. That was my first computer in 1989, and by 2016 I wanted to get a unit back, so that I could get into some tinkering and old-school gaming and programming.

However, pretty much the second time I was pulling it off the box, I decided to move countries. I didn’t want to risk it and I decided that the Spectrum wasn’t going to come with me in the plane, so I gave it to my brother.

And, fast forward to today, I recently got a similar unit (a +2, grey case) and a Commodore 64. I am not going to write about them, or post pictures –I have done it on Mastodon–, but rather about what I want to get from them.

head | tail: Bash Challenge

EDIT: Incorporate a better solution

I broke my own bash limits this week.

We were given the following challenge in a forum:

Given a file (ASCII text) called input.txt, which contains 
the following string IN A SINGLE LINE:

DirticaVduURPjDwfEkzjTAmPbDRelukkuraPhedgdnrKSXlIJgMrKayBq
PTTFdngQXoCxJZMImwMrhFidkixjLSAwnqkhdYgWlkbwjEEtwBdZaJhakS
bHQYVBknit

 - Extract the first 4 characters of the string,
 - followed by the 2 characters at positions 56 and 57 
   (counting from 1),
 - and then the last 2 characters of the string. 
 
For a total of 8 characters to be represented in the 
standard output: DirtyBit
 
Do this in one line strictly, using only the 'head' and 
'tail' commands. Pipes are allowed. The following are not:
'if', 'while', 'for', ';', '&', '&&', '${}', '||', 
'$(command)'.

Can you solve it? I think I did!, but not with the best solution.

Testing New Permalinks

When you begin a new Jekyll site with the only intention of writing, you usually begin with the default theme and configuration. With those, the permanent links (permalinks) of the posts have the following structure:

/:categories/:year/:month/:day/:title:output_ext

Blog More, Blog Again.

They stole the web. And we were instrumental to it. They did it thanks to us.

They stole our attention and the energy we were putting in our own sites. In our blogs, forums, message boards and user groups.