Whatsa is a CLI app that allows you to search a word or phrase and receive a quick summary about that subject.
It searches your query on Wikipedia and finds the page you're most likely looking for. If you've been somewhat vague, or your search term could refer to multiple things, it will ask you to select from a disambiguation of topics. Usually, however, your term will go straight to an article. Whatsa then gives you the first paragraph of that article (often a surprisingly decent summary).
If you're not super satisfied with that bit of information (and you need to know a little more) you can type more to get a better picture of that subject. If you're still not satisfied, and you want to know something specific about the thing you've searched, type other, and it will list the categories of information Wikipedia knows about the subject (its "History", "Early Life", "Uses", etc.). You can select one of those sections, if you'd like, and it will give you the first paragraph of that section, too (which you can extend similarly with another more command). You can make a new query with new, ask for help at any time with help, or exit the application with exit.
Simple?
Simple!
You can find a little more information in a blog post I made!
userloser@lappytoppy:~$ gem install whatsa
Simple as pie.
userloser@lappytoppy:~$ whatsa
After you run this command, Whatsa will ask you what you'd like to learn about, and you can enter a word or phrase.
If your search term could mean multiple things, it will let you know, and you can select a choice by its name or number.
If you would like a longer explanation, type more.
If you would like to select a category of information about the topic, type other, then select a choice by its name or number.
If you'd like to search for something else, type new.
If you wanna be slick, you can provide your search terms right from the command line:
userloser@lappytoppy:~$ whatsa club sandwich
That'll return the article for Club Sandwich, the same way it would have, had you done it the longer way above. However, it won't give you the warm welcome and instructions that a newbie might find valuable right off the bat, so keep that in mind. Using the help command still works, though, so you'll be okay.
Bug reports and pull requests for this project are welcome at its GitHub page. If you choose to contribute, please adhere to the Ruby Community Conduct Guideline so I don't have to go around breaking necks, running out of bubblegum, etc.
This project is open source, under the terms of the MIT license.