Hey, I’m Dex!
Welcome to my playground for ideas that might someday catch fire (sometimes literally).
Here are some of the things I do here:
- Deep dives into my favorite tools (VIM, Linux, TypeScript, and more)
- Automation scripts, dotfiles, and productivity hacks
- Showcases of my bigger projects
- Honest write-ups about what works, what breaks, and what I learn along the way
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Featured Projects
Advent of Code Automation (TypeScript)
A lightweight, feature-rich TypeScript template for automating Advent of Code participation fetch challenges, inputs, and submit solutions without leaving your terminal.
June 10, 2024
completed
web and terminal automation
Technologies
TypeScriptNode.jsCLIWeb scraping
Features & Functionality
- Pulls Advent of Code challenges by year and day
- Organizes solutions in separate directories for each year
- Fetches puzzle input files locally for easy test runs
- Downloads the question description as a markdown file
- Automatically fetches Part 2 as soon as Part 1 is submitted and accepted
- CLI-driven: no need to open a browser
- Handles answer submission and prevents duplicate submissions
- Lightweight, minimal dependencies, and easy to set up
Learning & Takeaways
- Efficient CLI and web automation
- Handling dynamic content fetching and file organization
- Integrating with external web services (AOC)
Challenges & Solutions
- Pulling the challenge content and saving as markdown was tricky due to web scraping and formatting
- Automating the fetch of Part 2 immediately after Part 1 is accepted
- Preventing post-flooding: ensuring submissions for Part 2 don't re-trigger Part 1 submission logic