Delete Things

Fri, Dec 30, 2016

Clean up after yourself

One of the great things about computers is that you don’t have to delete anything you can write the same shell script 100 times with 100 different names and keep them all. But just like your garage, the more things you save, the harder it is to really find what you need. So, when you realize that your clever directory just for scripts that help with parsing log files is totally unused, take a few minutes to look through and see if any of them are generally useful, and delete any that aren’t. Then delete the folder. Do this often and things will generally stay pretty organized.

Periodic Purge

Sometimes you will change gears and leave behind vast archives of started work. You so completely leave it behind that you don’t even remember you’ve left it. So, every few months, or once a year, seek these out and delete them. You can tell which files are totally worthless pretty quick usually. Delete the obviously worthless files first, then go back later and you will find that some of the others seem totally worthless, and soon all of your files are interesting.

Empty your trash

I know it can be scary, but after a big purge, empty your trash. Once this is done, there is no point wondering if you delted something you need, you can’t get it back anyway.

P.S. - It is not lost on me that after I cleaned house, I wrote a new file about it.