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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

#51

Post by iheartmemcache »

tremon wrote: post #50
tunesmith wrote: post #12

I don't know why so many people make the point that hierarchical structures are how the brain works. Graphical structures are how the brain works. The hierarchical structure is how the physical world works (you can't put the same shirt in two closets), and we have an unfortunate habit of trying to force our brain to work the same way, but it's an impedance mismatch. Unless I'm the only one that is frustrated that you…

Graphical structures are how the brain works Not my brain. Mine is spacially topographic, and ontologically N-way associative (and, fafaik, ontologies are hierarchical). But I can't think of any way to describe my brain as graphical. What is a graphical structure, btw?

Since this is a computer science (well, sort of..) board, I'm guessing he means 'graph like structures' in the sense that we're taught as first year undergrads -- nodes and edges.

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

#52

Post by MollyR »

rogeryu wrote: post #48

I use my own wiki for everything I want to remember, and have used it as a GTD method. But in the end I moved away for GTD stuff. I used Chandler, and really liked it, but then it was abandoned. Then I used Quickfox Notes in Firefox to make a simple plaintext todo list. That works OK til now. Lately I've been using Evernote more and more, and now I mix them all more or less. I've tried Emacs, tried the Eclipse todo,…

I had a similar issue has well. I ended up in Onenote for years, and honestly I had no real issue. . . until my move to linux mint. Now I'm using raw text for the time being.

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

#53

Post by ascagnel_ »

fsiefken wrote: post #13
laughinghan wrote: post #6

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 l…

Have you tried evil mode with vi bindings? The good thing of org-mode is that it runs locally and through ssh, but any task outliner tool is useful to organize thoughts or tasks.

evil mode is pretty good, but I find that there's a few rough edges. Also, I can't find a good type-ahead search plugin for picking files like in TextMate, Sublime Text, or (my current preferred tool) the Ctrl-P plugin for Vim [0].

[0] https://github.com/ctrlpvim/ctrlp.vim

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

#54

Post by commenter23 »

kjhughes wrote: post #47
tunesmith wrote: post #12

I don't know why so many people make the point that hierarchical structures are how the brain works. Graphical structures are how the brain works. The hierarchical structure is how the physical world works (you can't put the same shirt in two closets), and we have an unfortunate habit of trying to force our brain to work the same way, but it's an impedance mismatch. Unless I'm the only one that is frustrated that you…

You're right about hierarchy in the world, but there's a deeper truth that you're missing that relates to hierarchical structures being more amenable to description: The fact then that many complex systems have a nearly decomposable, hierarchic structure is a major facilitating factor enabling us to understand, describe, and even "see" such systems and their parts. Or perhaps the proposition should be put the other w…

Nit: The pigeonhole principle is exactly the opposite of "only one object being in one location at a time".

It says that if you have m pigeons and n holes, and m > n pigeons, at least one hole is going to have two pigeons in it.

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

#55

Post by pmoriarty »

cyphar wrote: post #15
kleiba wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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!

Pencil and paper is much better for me for making quick notes to be honest. I actually don't like writing my brain dumps on a computer because it makes it harder for me to think about them. I find that physically using a pencil helps me develop my ideas more because I have to reiterate what I'm writing while writing it. It's definitely a personal preference, maybe it comes from the fact that I always draw things on p…

The problems with paper notes are poor searchability, linking, extracting/copying of data, and portability.

But yes, there are advantages to paper, like the ability to easily draw diagrams and link ideas with arrows, etc.

On the other hand, if you need that, you could always use something like a Wacom tablet, or maybe some other touch-screen device with a stylus. That would give you the best of both worlds.

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

#58

Post by Derbasti »

kleiba wrote: post #8
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!

Also, time tracking and reference management, and calendar integration.

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

#59

Post by wainstead »

lolidaisuki wrote: post #22
tunesmith wrote: post #12

I don't know why so many people make the point that hierarchical structures are how the brain works. Graphical structures are how the brain works. The hierarchical structure is how the physical world works (you can't put the same shirt in two closets), and we have an unfortunate habit of trying to force our brain to work the same way, but it's an impedance mismatch. Unless I'm the only one that is frustrated that you…

It doesn't really have much to do with how brain works. Graphical way of arranging stuff is just something you are accustomed to. I find graphical ways of organizing information harder to use and much prefer hierarchical structures.

But arguably you can remember far more with Memory Palaces or the Dominic System.

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

#60

Post by kjhughes »

commenter23 wrote: post #54
kjhughes wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're right about hierarchy in the world, but there's a deeper truth that you're missing that relates to hierarchical structures being more amenable to description: The fact then that many complex systems have a nearly decomposable, hierarchic structure is a major facilitating factor enabling us to understand, describe, and even "see" such systems and their parts. Or perhaps the proposition should be put the other w…

Nit: The pigeonhole principle is exactly the opposite of "only one object being in one location at a time". It says that if you have m pigeons and n holes, and m > n pigeons, at least one hole is going to have two pigeons in it.

You're right. I've removed the erroneous reference so that it doesn't detract from the rest of the post. Thank you.
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