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md updates, including browser support info; fixes #30
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Omar Rizwan
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tabfs.md
106
tabfs.md
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@ -22,8 +22,7 @@ pre { white-space: pre-wrap; }
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mounts your browser tabs as a filesystem on your computer.
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Out of the box, it supports Chrome and (to a lesser extent[^firefox])
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Firefox, on macOS and Linux. ([see full
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list](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS/blob/master/install.sh))[^otherbrowsers]
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Firefox, on macOS and Linux.[^otherbrowsers]
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[^firefox]: because of the absence of the [chrome.debugger API for
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extensions](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/extensions/reference/debugger/).
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@ -32,12 +31,13 @@ list](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS/blob/master/install.sh))[^otherbrowsers]
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get that second level of functionality that is currently
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Chrome-only.
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[^otherbrowsers]: ... and Brave, Vivaldi, FreeBSD, etc. It could
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probably be made to work on other browsers like
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[Safari](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS/issues/6) that support the
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WebExtensions API, and [on Windows using Dokan or WinFUSE/WSL
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stuff (?)](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS/issues/13), but I haven't
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looked into that yet.
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[^otherbrowsers]: plus some related browsers and platforms: it also
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supports [Brave](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS/issues/30),
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Vivaldi, FreeBSD, etc. It could probably be made to work on other
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browsers like [Safari](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS/issues/6)
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that support the WebExtensions API, and [on Windows using Dokan or
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WinFUSE/WSL stuff (?)](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS/issues/13),
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but I haven't looked into that yet.
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Each of your open tabs is mapped to a folder.
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@ -63,8 +63,8 @@ for that tab</p>
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This gives you a _ton_ of power, because now you can apply [all the
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existing tools](https://twitter.com/rsnous/status/1018570020324962305)
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on your computer that already know how to deal with files -- terminal
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commands, scripting languages, etc -- and use them to control and
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communicate with your browser.
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commands, scripting languages, graphical explorers, etc -- and use
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them to control and communicate with your browser.
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Now you don't need to [code up a browser extension from
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scratch](https://twitter.com/rsnous/status/1261392522485526528) every
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@ -177,7 +177,12 @@ The [`debugger/`
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subdirectory](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS/blob/fef9289e3a7f82cda6319d5f19d5a5f13f3cc44b/extension/background.js#L355)
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in each tab folder has synthetic files that let you access loaded
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resources (in `debugger/resources/`) and scripts (in
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`debugger/scripts/`). (this is experimental)
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`debugger/scripts/`).
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(this is experimental.)
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(TODO: edit the images in place? you can already kinda edit the
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scripts in place)
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### Retrieve what's playing on YouTube Music: [youtube-music-tabfs](https://github.com/junhoyeo/youtube-music-tabfs)
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@ -218,6 +223,10 @@ that every time I want to reload my extension code.
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edit `page.html` in the tab folder. I guess it could just stomp
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outerHTML at first, eventually could do something more sophisticated
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then you can use your existing text editor! and you'll always know
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that if the file saved, then it's up to date in the browser. no flaky
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watcher that you're not sure if it's working
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(it would be cool to have a persistent storage story here
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also. I like the idea of being able to put arbitrary files anywhere in
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the subtree, actually, because then you could use git and emacs
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@ -276,6 +285,11 @@ and saving inside a tab's folder, that tab suddenly really
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want it to survive as long as a normal file would, unlike most browser
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tabs today)
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(the combination of these last 3 TODOs may be a very powerful, open,
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dynamic, flexible programming environment where you can bring whatever
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external tools you want to bear, everything is live in your browser,
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you never need to restart...)
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## Setup
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**disclaimer**: this extension is an experiment. I think it's cool and
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@ -289,6 +303,15 @@ extension is to create a gigantic new surface area of communication
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between stuff inside your browser and software on the rest of your
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computer.
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(The installation process is pretty involved right now. I'd like to
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simplify it, but I also don't want a seamless installation process
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that does a bad job of managing people's expectations. And it's
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important to me that users [feel
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comfortable](https://twitter.com/rsnous/status/1345113873792126976)
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looking at [how TabFS works](#design) -- it's pretty much just two
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files! -- and that they can mess around with it; it shouldn't be a
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black box.)
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Before doing anything, clone [this repository](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS):
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```
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@ -301,12 +324,9 @@ Then, install the C filesystem.
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### 1. Install the browser extension
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(I think for Opera or whatever other Chromium-based browser, you could
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get it to work, but you'd need to change the native messaging path in
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install.sh. Not sure about Safari. maybe Edge too? if you also got
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everything to compile for Windows)
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#### in Chrome, Chromium, and related browsers
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#### in Chrome
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(including Brave and Vivaldi)
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Go to the [Chrome extensions page](chrome://extensions). Enable
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Developer mode (top-right corner).
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@ -350,7 +370,7 @@ $ make
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Now install the native messaging host into your browser, so the
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extension can launch and talk to the filesystem:
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#### Chrome and Chromium
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#### Chrome, Chromium, and related browsers
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Substitute the extension ID you copied earlier for
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`jimpolemfaeckpjijgapgkmolankohgj` in the command below.
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@ -359,11 +379,11 @@ Substitute the extension ID you copied earlier for
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$ ./install.sh chrome jimpolemfaeckpjijgapgkmolankohgj
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```
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or
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```
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$ ./install.sh chromium jimpolemfaeckpjijgapgkmolankohgj
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```
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(For Chromium, say `chromium` instead of `chrome`. For Vivaldi, say
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`vivaldi` instead. For Brave, say `chrome`. You can look at the
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contents of
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[install.sh](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS/blob/master/install.sh) for
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the latest on browser and OS support.)
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#### Firefox
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@ -458,19 +478,15 @@ marshalling)
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TODO: make diagrams?
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## FIXME: Credits
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- etc
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- etc
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- etc
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## License
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GPLv3
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## things that could/should be done
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(maybe you can do these?)
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(maybe you can do these? lots of people are [already pitching in on
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GitHub](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS); I wish it was easier for me to
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keep up listing them all here!)
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- [add more synthetic files!! (it's just
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JavaScript)](https://twitter.com/rsnous/status/1345113873792126976)
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@ -489,16 +505,19 @@ GPLv3
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- why can't Preview open images? GUI programs often struggle with the
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filesystem for some reason. CLI more reliable
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- multithreading. the key constraint is that I pass `-s` to
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- ~~multithreading. the key constraint is that I pass `-s` to
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`fuse_main` in `tabfs.c`, which makes everything
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single-threaded. but I'm not clear on how much it would improve
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performance? maybe a lot, but not sure. maybe workload-dependent?
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performance? maybe a lot, but not sure. maybe workload-dependent?~~
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the extension itself (and the stdin/stdout comm between the fs and
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the extension) would still be single-threaded, but you could
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~~the extension itself (and the stdin/stdout comm between the fs
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and the extension) would still be single-threaded, but you could
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interleave requests since most of that stuff is async. like the
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screenshot request that takes like half a second, you could do other
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stuff while waiting for the browser to get back to you on that (?)
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stuff while waiting for the browser to get back to you on that (?)~~
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*update: [we are
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multithreaded](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS/pull/29) now, thanks to
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[huglovefan](https://github.com/huglovefan)!*
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another issue is that _applications_ tend to hang if any
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individual request hangs anyway; they're not expecting the
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@ -513,12 +532,17 @@ GPLv3
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sure impact of these
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- TypeScript (how to do with the minimum amount of build system and
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package manager nonsense?)
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package manager nonsense?) (now realizing that if I had gone with
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TypeScript, I would then have to ask people to install npm and
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webpack and the TS compiler and whatever just to get this
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running. really, really glad I didn't.) maybe we can just do dynamic
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type checking at the fs op call boundaries?
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- look into support for Firefox / Windows / Safari / etc. best FUSE
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equiv for Windows? can you bridge to the remote debugging APIs that
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all of them already have to get the augmented functionality? or just
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implement it all with JS monkey patching?
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- [look into support for Firefox / Windows / Safari /
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etc.](https://github.com/osnr/TabFS/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Aport)
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best FUSE equiv for Windows? can you bridge to the remote debugging
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APIs that all of them already have to get the augmented
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functionality? or just implement it all with JS monkey patching?
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- window management. tab management where you can move tabs. 'merge
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all windows'. [history management](https://anildash.com/2021/01/03/keeping-tabs-on-your-abstractions/)
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@ -554,9 +578,9 @@ suggests making an extension is a whole Thing, a whole Project. like,
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why can't I just take a minute to ask my browser a question or tell it
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to automate something? lightness
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- ["files are a sort of approachable 'bridge' that everyone knows how
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- "files are a sort of approachable 'bridge' that everyone knows how
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to interact with" / files are like one of the first things you learn
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if you know any programming language / "because of this fs thing any
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if you know any programming language / ["because of this fs thing any
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beginner coding thing can make use of it now"](https://twitter.com/rsnous/status/1345490658836926464)
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- a lot of existing uses of these browser control APIs are in an
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