Hello and welcome to the very first installment of a series of development diaries for my project, Pantomime. Throughout these posts, we will be delving deep into the creation process of Pantomime, thoroughly documenting the project’s successes and setbacks along the way.

What is Pantomime?

Pantomime is a terminal client for the Music Player Daemon (MPD) that utilizes the NCURSES library and features a vim-like interface. It is inspired by other MPD clients such as ncmpcpp and Practical Music Search.

Goals of the Project

As this is solely a learning project, I do not have any expectations regarding user numbers or popularity. I am undertaking this project because I want to, and if others decide to join me on this journey, it’ll be a bonus!

My three primary goals for Pantomime are:

1. Improve my C programming skills
2. Create a piece of software that I might actually use
3. Have fun

I’m not sure when I’ll stop working on this project and move on to a new one. It could be in a few weeks or even years. However, I will continue until I am confident that I have acquired all the knowledge that I can from this project.

Who Are These Diaries For?

Everyone is invited to read these posts. Hopefully, you find them helpful or enjoyable in some way.

I write these diaries to keep myself motivated and to track my progress, while also recording any potential issues. Although I usually take extensive notes, this will be my first time keeping a public “dev diary.” As a result, the first few posts may be a little unpolished.

What’s Next?

In my next diary entry, I will explain the steps I follow to set up a new C project. I will demonstrate how to verify that the toolchain is working properly, and create a basic scaffolding to use during the initial stages of the project.

That’s all for now. See you next time!