1---
 2template:
 3title: Status update
 4subtitle: Exams, stuff, etc.
 5date: 2019-11-16
 6slug: 2019-11-16
 7---
 8
 9This month is mostly just unfun stuff, lined up in a neat schedule --
10exams. I get all these cool ideas for things to do, and it's always
11during exams. Anyway, here's a quick update on what I've been up to.
12
13## Blog post queue
14
15I realized that I could use this site's
16[repo](https://github.com/icyphox/site)'s issues to track blog post ideas.
17I've made a few, mostly just porting them over from my Google Keep note.
18
19This method of using issues is great, because readers can chime in with
20ideas for things I could possibly discuss -- like in [this
21issue](https://github.com/icyphox/site/issues/10).
22
23## Contemplating a `vite` rewrite
24
25[`vite`](https://github.com/icyphox/vite), despite what the name suggests
26-- is awfully slow. Also, Python is bloat.
27Will rewriting it fix that? That's what I plan to find out. I have
28a couple of choices of languages to use in the rewrite:
29
30- C: Fast, compiled. Except I suck at it. (`cite`?)
31- Nim: My favourite, but I'll have to write bindings to [`lowdown(1)`](https://github.com/kristapsdz/lowdown). (`nite`?)
32- Shell: Another favourite, muh "minimalsm". No downside, really.
33  (`shite`?)
34
35Oh, and did I mention -- I want it to be compatible with `vite`.
36I don't want to have to redo my site structure or its templates. At the
37moment, I rely on Jinja2 for templating, so I'll need something similar.
38
39## IRC bot
40
41My earlier post on [IRC for DMs](/blog/irc-for-dms) got quite a bit of
42traction, which was pretty cool. I didn't really talk much about the bot
43itself though; I'm dedicating this section to
44[detotated](https://github.com/icyphox/detotated).[^1]
45
46Fairly simple Python code, using plain sockets. So far, we've got a few
47basic features in place:
48
49- `.np` command: queries the user's last.fm to get the currently playing
50track
51- Fetches the URL title, when a URL is sent in chat
52
53That's it, really. I plan to add a `.nps`, or "now playing Spotify"
54command, since we share Spotify links pretty often.
55
56## Other
57
58I've been reading some more manga, I'll update the [reading
59log](/reading) when I, well... get around to it. Haven't had time to do
60much in the past few weeks -- the time at the end of a semester tends to
61get pretty tight. Here's what I plan to get back to during this winter break:
62
63- Russian!
64- Window manager in Nim
65- `vite` rewrite, probably
66- The other blog posts in queue
67
68I've also put off doing any "security work" for a while now, perhaps
69that'll change this December. Or whenever.
70
71With that ends my status update, on all things that I _haven't_ done.
72
73[^1]: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dedotated-wam (dead meme, yes I know)