Add daily email for 2024-08-24

Abbreviations are better than aliases

source/_daily_emails/2024-08-24.md

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+---
+title: Abbreviations are better than aliases
+date: 2024-08-24
+permalink: daily/2024/08/24/abbreviations-are-better-than-aliases
+tags:
+    - software-development
+    - shell
+    - zsh
+    - linux
+cta: ~
+snippet: |
+    Why I prefer abbreviations over aliases in my zsh configuration.
+---
+
+Shell aliases are a useful way to shorten long or complicated commands or to easily add additional arguments when running commands.
+
+Common aliases are I see are `gs` for `git status`, `a` for `artisan` and `dr` for `drush`.
+
+I've been experimenting with Zellij for the last day or so, and have written aliases like `zl` for `zellij list-sessions`, but have also added extra arguments such as `zellij list-sessions | sort | grep -v EXITED` to sort the sessions and filter any exited sessions.
+
+Running aliases makes it easier and quicker for me to run these commands, and less likely for me to make errors and type incorrectly.
+
+The issue with aliases is that you can forget that the underlying commands are if you only type and see `gs` or `zl`.
+
+It's also not easy when giving demos or pair or mob programming for others to see and understand the commands that are being run.
+
+Instead of aliases, I mostly use abbreviations with zsh-abbr that expand automatically after pressing the space key.
+
+That way, I and others get to see and understand the commands being run.
+
+I still have some aliases that don't expand but now I use abbreviations as my default approach.