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Emac’s Org Mode will improve your software engineering

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Re: Emac’s Org Mode will improve your software engineering

#2

Post by hashkb »

I spent a few months on emacs, mostly so I could experience the magic of org. I didn't get it. It's a super powerful outliner with scripting... Through that experience I rediscovered pen and paper, actually. No scripting, but I can write sideways and sketch things. A pocket sized notebook was the answer for me.

Re: Emac’s Org Mode will improve your software engineering

#3

Post by themodelplumber »

I like this. Not because I use this process or even Emacs, but because it focuses on the center of the issue: Bringing your full mind to bear on the object at hand. If there's anything that will de-stress a frustrated hacker, it's that sort of directed, decisive action toward the best perceivable outcome.

Often you don't even have to save your notes file if you are just using this as a method to defeat procrastination or build up momentum for a busy day. Many of mine don't survive the day and that's fine.

Re: Emac’s Org Mode will improve your software engineering

#5

Post by ciroduran »

hashkb wrote: post #2

I spent a few months on emacs, mostly so I could experience the magic of org. I didn't get it. It's a super powerful outliner with scripting... Through that experience I rediscovered pen and paper, actually. No scripting, but I can write sideways and sketch things. A pocket sized notebook was the answer for me.

The nature of the tool differs, but it's definitely a good idea to carry around something to put down your ideas and organise them, it doesn't matter if it's not Org mode.

Re: Emac’s Org Mode will improve your software engineering

#6

Post by laughinghan »

Do people here have opinions on Workflowy? https://workflowy.com/

As a Vim adherent, I never really got into Org-Mode, but from what I've seen from my Emacs friends, Workflowy seems kinda like Org-Mode Online, but with additional features like being able to share a sublist as a URL (which was noted in this blogpost as a weakness of Org-Mode: "The caveat here is that it’s mostly a one man show.").

I use it very much like this blogpost describes, to quickly jot-down and organize thoughts, then later reorganize them, update them, or archive them.

Re: Emac’s Org Mode will improve your software engineering

#8

Post by kleiba »

hashkb wrote: post #2

I spent a few months on emacs, mostly so I could experience the magic of org. I didn't get it. It's a super powerful outliner with scripting... Through that experience I rediscovered pen and paper, actually. No scripting, but I can write sideways and sketch things. A pocket sized notebook was the answer for me.

> I didn't get it. It's a super powerful outliner with scripting...

At its very heart, yes. And that alone is cool, I think (the scripting part).

But it's also a lot more: org-mode supports a simple form of task management (TODOs, Agenda views,...), it has a built-in spreadsheet editor (with formula support, all in ASCII), you can export contents to various backends (HTML, Beamer, ...) -- it really is a beast!

Re: Emac’s Org Mode will improve your software engineering

#9

Post by sndean »

hashkb wrote: post #2

I spent a few months on emacs, mostly so I could experience the magic of org. I didn't get it. It's a super powerful outliner with scripting... Through that experience I rediscovered pen and paper, actually. No scripting, but I can write sideways and sketch things. A pocket sized notebook was the answer for me.

I'm currently using both org-mode and a stack of index cards. I use Emacs a lot, so that could be why I'm sticking with it. org-mode is now solely for note taking.

At least for me, it's hard to beat physically crossing something out (or tearing a card in half) after finishing something on my to-do list.

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