Solve Real Problems

One real-world problem I want to tackle involves Victor Effendi. Victor has always been kind and respectful, and I’ve known him for as long as I can remember. I think he lives in Singapore.

Victor’s challenge is feeding files from a Windows machine, and he’s trying to keep the solution as simple as possible. Like many others, he’s struggled with the complexity of Windows file permissions—figuring out which user to run under can be a real headache.

I initially suggested using another instance of Iguana 6, but honestly, that’s a heavy solution for such a straightforward need.

Instead, I think Flow (or Shell/Lua—the name is still in flux) could be perfect for Victor. This would also push me to focus and actually bring the tool to life.

Victor’s requirements are simple:

1. Write a Lua script (using Flow) to read a directory.
2. Send the files it finds to an Iguana server.
3. Ideally, use HTTPS—maybe just call curl from the command line as a first pass.

We can start simple, then refine and simplify until we arrive at the best possible solution. The goal is to help Victor create robust, maintainable systems—something I know he values, having stayed in the same job for ages, always trying to do things right.

We'll need to figure out together how to make this very secure.

Maybe if it just runs in a command prompt it can just be very obvious what is doing and just copy across the network. It's not necessary the worst solution if it is simple and easy to understand.

I’m genuinely motivated to help him find an elegant, long-term solution. Writing about this process will also help me keep the goal in focus.

And it gives me a more positive thing to focus on than some of hellish things people do to each other.