Merging .less files with identical variables - less

I am migrating one site into another and need to merge the styles for both sets of templates into a single CSS file (for company workflow reasons). My problem is that both templates use Less files with many identical variable names, so I can't just combine the files to compile. I'm a novice with Less, so if there is an obvious solution, I'm not seeing it.

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Edit files as if concatenated as one -- Do any IDEs or text editors have this feature?

Background: I am working with Angular (but my problem is not particular to any language or framework). In Angular, each component requires four separate files. So, we often find ourselves with 40+ files open. But, most of these files can be tiny, less than 20 lines each.
Many IDEs allow you to open your files in multiple windows. Each window can have a different panel, and each panel can have different tabs. This is great, but honestly, still isn't enough.
What I want: In addition to windows, panels, and tabs, I'd like to add another level of organization.
I speculate this has probably existed for decades, but I just don't know what it's called. At the very least, I speculate this has existed at least since Angular was a thing.
For example, here is a screenshot of VSCode with four files open across four panels. (Code taken from Angular dynamic component tutorial):
And here is a quick mockup showing what I'm looking for. Four files are open, but the three shortest ones are "concatenated" into one editor. Arrow-key down from the bottom of one file will bring you to the first line of the next file.
Notably, these files are not actually concatenated on-disk.
TLDR: What text editor can allow me to edit multiple files as if they were concatenated, as in the mockup above?
If the files stay as separate windows/tabs, the file editor would have to shrink each tab to a minimal height, and then tile them vertically. If any editor can do it, I suspect it would be emacs or vim. You might also be able to do it by opening separate editor windows and using a tiling window manager.
We can achieve a similar effect with some text editing magic. It would be something like:
Add a header to each file consisting of a unique separator (e.g. # === magic separator === filename my_file.js ===)
Use cat to combine all the files into one file
Edit this one file
When done, use the separator to break them up and put the text back into the original files
You could easily write some scripts for combining and splitting so you can do it quickly. You can also set up a background script that automatically runs the splitter as you edit the combined file. However, the combined file would essentially be a new file, so you could not view changes on it with git, and VS Code's CodeLens/Inline blame wouldn't work.
One option would be to develop your codebase with the combined files checked in to VCS, and then only have the splitter script as part of your "build" step. So you would make your changes, run ./build.sh which splits the files into some temp directory, and then run your application from there.
Lastly, and I hate to be snide, but the fact is that this problem is best solved by avoiding poorly designed frameworks that do not consider developer ergonomics. Many other languages give the developer much freedom and many tools to organize their code as they wish, rather than imposing constraints like requiring many small components to be in separate files. Java for example also had a similar problem (dunno if more recent versions fixed it) - you can only have one class per file, which creates a huge mess if you like having many small files. C# does not have this limitation and as a result C# codebases can be much tidier than Java codebases.

Build Output Files

I am in the process of evaluating a couple of web component libraries/helpers/frameworks and based on its simplicity as well as its robustness I am inclined to select stenciljs but...
I am having a second thoughts since I don't know how to solve that the project created with npm init stencil and selecting component as part of the presented options containing two components generates about 17 files.
If those files are needed, I really don't care how many are generated.
However I noticed that by creating another project for another set of components, the setup generate files with same name and content as in the other project, and also files with different names but content about 90% similar.
Both set of components (from each project) will be used from the same page and I am wonder if there is a way to deploy both projects output to the same location avoiding files and code duplication.
Any idea in how to solve the deployment issue without me having the set of components in the same project?

Kotlin to Javascript file compilation

Currently, I have two .kt files in a Kotlin/JS project I'm working on. These two .kt files compile to one single .js file (the one in "out/production/myprojectfolder/myproject.js" which is the default directory).
Each of the .kt files represent two separate html pages. I want each of the html page to have its own single .js file.
My question is that, is there a way the two .kt files compile to two separate .js files?
It would seem that this is not possible at the moment [source], you can workaround the issue by using multiple modules, but that would mean 1 module per page, which may get complicated quickly.

Comparison of files of two folders

I want to compare files of two folders in vb.net with respect of date time and size and put the odd ones in two list boxes for each folder. I am not getting through the logic. Can any one of you help me with logic or code?
Thank you.
Get the FileInfo for each file in each of the directories.
Compare the required properties of each.
Consider what to do if there are files in one directory which are not in the other.
Question scope is too wide to be covered on StackOverflow.
However, there is an open source project called DirComp.NET.
It looks like a good starting point for you.
DirComp.NET is a simple command-line tool written in VB.NET, which compares two directories, and either lists differences or mirrors one directory onto another. For example, it can be used to backup large file repository by maintaining a mirror copy. It lives well with existing Windows infrastructure, which already provides file shares. And finally, DirComp.NET is based on .NET Framework 2.0, which is available from Windows 2000 and up.

Naming convention for assets (images, css, js)?

I am still struggling to find a good naming convention for assets like images, js and css files used in my web projects.
So, my current would be:
CSS: style-{name}.css
examples: style-main.css, style-no_flash.css, style-print.css etc.
JS:
script-{name}.js
examples: script-main.js, script-nav.js etc.
Images: {imageType}-{name}.{imageExtension}
{imageType} is any of these
icon (e. g. question mark icon for help content)
img (e. g. a header image inserted via <img /> element)
button (e. g. a graphical submit button)
bg (image is used as a background image in css)
sprite (image is used as a background image in css and contains multiple "versions")
Example-names would be: icon-help.gif, img-logo.gif, sprite-main_headlines.jpg, bg-gradient.gif etc.
So, what do you think and what is your naming convention?
I've noticed a lot of frontend developers are moving away from css and js in favor of styles and scripts because there is generally other stuff in there, such as .less, .styl, and .sass as well as, for some, .coffee. Fact is, using specific technology selections in your choice of folder organization is a bad idea even if everyone does it. I'll continue to use the standard I see from these highly respected developers:
src/html
src/images
src/styles
src/styles/fonts
src/scripts
And their destination build equivalents, which are sometimes prefixed with dest depending on what they are building:
./
images
styles
styles/fonts
scripts
This allows those that want to put all files together (rather than breaking out a src directory) to keep that and keeps things clearly associated for those that do break out.
I actually go a bit futher and add
scripts/before
scripts/after
Which get smooshed into two main-before.min.js and main-after.min.js scripts, one for the header (with essential elements of normalize and modernizr that have to run early, for example) and after for last thing in the body since that javascript can wait. These are not intended for reading, much like Google's main page.
If there are scripts and style sheets that make sense to minify and leave linked alone because of a particular cache management approach that is taken care of in the build rules.
These days, if you are not using a build process of some kind, like gulp or grunt, you likely are not reaching most of the mobile-centric performance goals you should probably be considering.
I place CSS files in a folder css, Javascript in js, images in images, ... Add subfolders as you see fit. No need for any naming convention on the level of individual files.
/Assets/
/Css
/Images
/Javascript (or Script)
/Minified
/Source
Is the best structure I've seen and the one I prefer. With folders you don't really need to prefix your CSS etc. with descriptive names.
For large sites where css might define a lot of background images, a file naming convention for those assets comes in really handy for making changes later on.
For example:
[component].[function-description].[filetype]
footer.bkg-image.png
footer.copyright-gradient.png
We have also discussed adding in the element type, but im not sure how helpful that is and could possibly be misleading for future required changes:
[component].[element]-[function-description].[filetype]
footer.div-bkg-image.png
footer.p-copyright-gradient.png
You can name it like this:
/assets/css/ - For CSS files
/assets/font/ - For Font files. (Mostly you can just go to google fonts to search for usable fonts.)
/assets/images/ - For Images files.
/assets/scripts/ or /assets/js/ - For JavaScript files.
/assets/media/ - For video and misc. files.
You can also replace "assets" with "resource" or "files" folder name and keep the name of it's subfolders. Well having an order folder structure like this isn't very important the only important is you just have to arrange your files by it's format. like creating a folder "/css/" for CSS files or "/images/" for Image files.
First, I divide into folders: css, js, img.
Within css and js, I prefix files with the project name because your site may include js and css files which are components, this makes it clear where files are specific for your site, or relating to plugins.
css/mysite.main.css css/mysite.main.js
Other files might be like
js/jquery-1.6.1.js
js/jquery.validate.js
Finally images are divided by their use.
img/btn/submit.png a button
img/lgo/mysite-logo.png a logo
img/bkg/header.gif a background
img/dcl/top-left-widget.jpg a decal element
img/con/portait-of-something.jpg a content image
It's important to keep images organized since there can be over 100 and can easily get totally mixed together and confusingly-named.
I tend to avoid anything generic, such as what smdrager suggested. "mysite.main.css" doesn't mean anything at all.
What is "mysite"?? This one I'm working on? If so then obvious really, but it already has me thinking what it might be and if it is this obvious!
What is "Main"? The word "Main" has no definition outside the coders knowledge of what is within that css file.
While ok in certain scenarios, avoid names like "top" or "left" too: "top-nav.css" or "top-main-logo.png".
You might end up wanting to use the same thing elsewhere, and putting an image in a footer or within the main page content called "top-banner.png" is very confusing!
I don't see any issue with having a good number of stylesheets to allow for a decent naming convention to portray what css is within the given file.
How many depends entirely on the size of the site and what it's function(s) are, and how many different blocks are on the site.
I don't think you need to state "CSS" or "STYLE" in the css filenames at all, as the fact it's in "css" or "styles" folder and has an extension of .css and mainly as these files are only ever called in the <head> area, I know pretty clearly what they are.
That said, I do this with library, JS and config (etc) files. eg libSomeLibrary.php, or JSSomeScript.php. As PHP and JS files are included or used in various areas within other files, and having info of what the file's main purpose is within the name is useful.
eg: Seeing the filename require('libContactFormValidation.php'); is useful. I know it's a library file (lib) and from the name what it does.
For image folders, I usually have images/content-images/ and images/style-images/. I don't think there needs to be any further separation, but again it depends on the project.
Then each image will be named accordingly to what it is, and again I don't think there's any need for defining the file is an image within the file name. Sizes can be useful, especially for when images have different sizes.
site-logo-150x150.png
site-logo-35x35.png
shop-checkout-button-40x40.png
shop-remove-item-20x20.png
etc
A good rule to follow is: if a new developer came to the files, would they sit scratching their head for hours, or would they likely understand what things do and only need a little time researching (which is unavoidable)?
As anything like this, however, one of the most important rules to follow is simply constancy!
Make sure you follow the same logic and patterns thoughout all your naming conventions!
From simple css file names, to PHP library files to database table and column names.
This is an old question, but still valid.
My current recommendation is to go with something in this lines:
assets (or assets-web or assets-www); this one is intended for static content used by the client (browser)
data; some xml files and other stuff
fonts
images
media
styles
scripts
lib (or 3rd-party); this one is intended for code you don't make or modify, the libraries as you get them
lib-modded (or 3rd-party-modified); this one is intended for code you weren't expected to modify, but had to, like applying a workaround/fix in the meantime the library provider releases it
inc (or assets-server or assets-local); this one is intended for content used server side, not to be used by the client, like libraries in languages like PHP or server scripts, like bash files
fonts
lib
lib-modded
I marked in bold the usual ones, the others are not usual content.
The reason for the main division, is in the future you can decide to server the web assets from a CDN or restrict client access to server assets, for security reasons.
Inside the lib directories i use to be descriptive about the libraries, for example
lib
jquery.com
jQuery
vX.Y.Z
github
[path]
[library/project name]
vX.Y.Z (version)
so you can replace the library with a new one, without breaking the code, also allowing future code maintainers, including yourself, to find the library and update it or get support.
Also, feel free to organize the content inside according to its usage, so images/logos and images/icons are expected directories in some projects.
As a side note, the assets name is meaningful, not only meaning we have resources in there, but meaning the resources in there must be of value for the project and not dead weight.
The BBC have tons of standards relating web development.
Their standard is fairly simple for CSS files:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/futuremedia/technical/css.shtml
You might be able to find something useful on their main site:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/guidelines/futuremedia/