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Org Mode – Organize Your Life in Plain Text

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Re: Org Mode – Organize Your Life in Plain Text

#211

Post by taeric »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #202
taeric wrote: post #186

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what you are describing. Note that doing this with python and org is already pretty easy. Or R. No, you don't fully open the csv in org. But, that usually seems a feature. The firehose that is large csv is typically best as a related file.

I'm thinking of the middle-sized use cases. A table with couple hundred to couple thousand rows. Small enough that you can load it into Emacs without a performance penalty, but too large to pivot by hand. Personal and freelance business budgeting come to mind. However, at this point I'm OK with shelling out to external tool for data wrangling.

That is still easy with pandas/babel. Just set the table as an input for the snippet, and then you can output a pivoted table. (That make sense?)

Re: Org Mode – Organize Your Life in Plain Text

#212

Post by zelphirkalt »

One very special use-case for org-mode I have in "my life" is literate programming. I've not used any other tool, that can do this as well as org-mode.

(1) I can export to many formats.

(2) I can choose what to code export (source blocks).

(3) I can choose what code to run on export.

(4) I can give names to source blocks and then link to them in other source blocks, basically building a code dependency tree with them, allowing me to focus on one aspect at a time.

(5) I can link to other source blocks out of order.

(6) I can specify how the output should be put back into my document.

(7) I get syntax highlighting for any language, that is usually highlighted in my Emacs.

(8) I can use multiple (programming) languages. For example I could output a data table and then have another source block using GNU Plot to make a nice diagram.

(9) I can write explanations next to the source blocks in a lot of detail.

There is probably more, that does not come to mind just right now. Then there are some git hosts (notabug), which can render org-mode files like the usual hosts render markdown files (readme.md). So when you upload into git, you get instant readability in a rendered version, plus possibly syntax highlighting on the website.

That is only one aspect where org-mode really shines. I find it also indispensable for to-do lists. Using shortcuts to check or uncheck items and recalculating done/to-do count or percentages in a higher level of the to-do list. One can prioritize headings and use tagging, to enable later filtering of headings and narrowing down visible content.

One can also render Latex formulas inline for preview. If you need only standard document classes, you can go ahead and output to latex. Or you can create your own document class in your init.el file and customize everything as you would in writing Latex yourself, only that you get the benefit of writing org-mode instead. Much more focus on the content.

And then of course everything is plain text, which makes this even better and easy to manage in version control.

I just love org-mode! For me, easily one of the huge selling points for Emacs. The only other easy to use plain text format, that could get close was reStructuredText for me. Unfortunately there are few good reStructuredText parsers in many programming languages.

Re: Org Mode – Organize Your Life in Plain Text

#213

Post by alessivs »

alessivs wrote: post #207
jasode wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>, org-mode eliminates the risk of hitting any sort of barrier Ultimately, it depends on the type of user but the "barrier" may be that it's plain text . So Org Mode's data format as a desirable selling point is also its ceiling of functionality. Yes, I store 90% of my notes in plain text. But I also store some programming notes in MS Excel because I need a datagrid as UI with dynamic calculations. I store some proje…

> by linking to .xlsx and .docx files but I reorganize my folder structures too often to make such file links stable. Linking implies too many manual operations to keep things tidy when moving headings around. Try Org attachments[1]. - Basically, a heading has an attachment directory, whose name is by default generated by Org, and optionally inherited from some level in the outline hierarchy. - Any attachment is repr…

Further explanation: When moving headings around, one can choose to also move the attachments along, for example, by relying on OLD-HEADING and NEW-HEADING's respective attachment directories. Changes to these directories can include external modifications (e.g. addition of files produced by a spreadsheet app). `org-attach-sync' makes sure these changes are propagated to the Org file (and/or its memory representation).

When referencing one of the attached files within the heading, one can use the `attachment' link type, which points to files resolving to the attachment directory[1]. The format is [[attachment:FILE-IN-ATTACHMENT-DIR][DESCRIPTION]] and can be easily inserted with completion by `org-insert-link'.

For more complicated attachment linking scenarios it might be better to configure the attachment directory to be absolute (`org-attach-id-dir').

Conclusion: The use of Org attachments and the attachment: link type stabilizes links to files.

[1]: https://orgmode.org/manual/Attachment-links.html

Re: Org Mode – Organize Your Life in Plain Text

#214

Post by christiansakai »

quazar wrote: post #182
christiansakai wrote: post #162

I use vim, so what is my alternative? Not gonna learn emacs for the sake of org mode.

You should try. I also was a loyal vim user, but OrgMode was so wonderful I switched to two-editor solution. Emacs for OrgMode and vim for everything else. Remember, that you don't actually have to learn Emacs, like you had to learn vim to use it. It's just an ordinary text-editor, no huge upfront time investment is needed, especially if all you are after is OrgMode.

Okay, I'll consider giving it a try!

Re: Org Mode – Organize Your Life in Plain Text

#215

Post by darau1 »

erikcw wrote: post #142
darau1 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can I use org-mode without emacs?

Organice[0] is one option. Works well on mobile also. [0] https://github.com/200ok-ch/organice

Found that, but I don't like not being able to use git for my file. I ended up figuring out how to get started with org-mode in emacs rather quickly anyway.

Re: Org Mode – Organize Your Life in Plain Text

#216

Post by allarm »

CJefferson wrote: post #96
madballster wrote: post #49

I see a lot of comments arguing that it's not "worth it" to spend dozens of hours to "get into org-mode" when there are "intuitive tools" such as Evernote or Trello or Todoist etc. What some are missing is the fact that low barriers to entry sometimes turn into barriers to growth at a later stage. After (!) one has sunk thousands of hours into them. I used to keep my academic notes in Evernote and it turned into hell…

Here were my "sunk costs" of org-mode. 1) org-mode makes a bad spreadsheet 2) No good Android interface, Orgzly is OK, but doesn't do advanced features and often crashed for me. 3) Despite lots of trying, I couldn't get "into" using the Emacs shortcut keys, which are different to every other application on Windows. 4) I like variable width fonts, and variable width fonts don't seem to work with various bits of org mo…

1) org-mode makes a good spreadsheet 2) Not being Android user myself, I have only heard good things about Orgzly from Emacs people around. What features exactly are you missing? 3) you can use any keys you want with Emacs. I have my own setup that I am using along with the Vim key bindings/text objects. 4) pretty much everything else works well with fonts and colors; tables yeah, tend to keep simple formatting.

Emacs is not ideal. But it is the most flexible and configurable piece of software in the world - and org-mode is the best outliner ever created.

Re: Org Mode – Organize Your Life in Plain Text

#217

Post by jimktrains2 »

jimktrains2 wrote: post #32
spekcular wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree. Why use Org Mode when, for example, Workflowy exists? The latter is robust to your hard drive failing and downloadable in plaintext, too. And it looks better. And you don't have to learn a billion key shortcuts with silly names like "yank" to use it.

Org mode has so many more functions than workflowy. You also don't need any of the keyboard shortcuts -- they simply Ardmore efficient ways to edit text, but they are just editing text. Orgmode is also plane text and extremely easy to replicate, even with Dropbox &c. Workflowy has the opposite problem of orgmode. Workflowy owns your data and unless you frequently sync it with your hard drive then you risk losing all…

I'm sorry I didn't proof-read this post before submitting. It's embarrassing.

Re: Org Mode – Organize Your Life in Plain Text

#218

Post by TeMPOraL »

taeric wrote: post #211
TeMPOraL wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm thinking of the middle-sized use cases. A table with couple hundred to couple thousand rows. Small enough that you can load it into Emacs without a performance penalty, but too large to pivot by hand. Personal and freelance business budgeting come to mind. However, at this point I'm OK with shelling out to external tool for data wrangling.

That is still easy with pandas/babel. Just set the table as an input for the snippet, and then you can output a pivoted table. (That make sense?)

Yes, it does, and is probably the best option for most people.

Re: Org Mode – Organize Your Life in Plain Text

#219

Post by jeromenerf »

gjvc wrote: post #197
jeromenerf wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Org is not a note taking system. It’s an emacs app that can do a lot and that you can use and tweak as you want. Note taking, todo list, calendar, scientific notebook, literate programming, bibliography, ... It allows to mix static (what you insert) and dynamic (code execution, graph generation, tables, images, spreadsheets). The author logged how he customized his setup to do whatever he needed and shared it. I foun…

> I fail to understand the negativity in the comments for such hacker friendly system and submission. One would have thought that a programmable editor (using LISP, no less) would be held in high regard by the majority of people on here. Just goes to show that you can't please all of the people all of the time.

> Just goes to show that you can't please all of the people all of the time.

Maybe these people are hackers who hack as-in "hacksaw", to punch a hole quickly. There is no sense of urgency in the french synonyms etymology.

Re: Org Mode – Organize Your Life in Plain Text

#220

Post by groby_b »

kleiba wrote: post #198
groby_b wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if needed, we'll migrate to it. Meanwhile, any SaaS-du-jour that actually has data export does the job right now. I'm more interested in moving forward than in noodling on a system that, once it will be completed, will maybe help me make progress on my actual goals. They also don't give me RSI, which is a welcome change from emacs.

There's nothing wrong with using alternative solutions, but your critique of Emacs is mostly FUD and a repetition of cliches. Your two points are: 1. Org-mode (or Emacs?) is not completed, by which you imply it is in some kind of premature state that it's not ready to use. like some kind of "version 0.2 beta, use at your own risk". Nothing is further from the truth. Org-mode is currently on stable release 9.3.6. It h…

I mostly refer to the fact that org-mode isn't a complete system - it lacks many integrations. It is, in every article I read, an excuse to faff about with configuring things.

In fact that's pretty much the start of every org mode article - "here's how to change your config file"

(There's nothing wrong with that - I totally enjoy it for some things. I just need a workflow now, not when I've put all the pieces together)

And the "remapping central keys"/"completely different ways of inputting commands" is exactly the faffing about I refer to as well. I know I can customize it to my heart's content. I've done that. I've written way too much elisp. I don't want to any more. I want something that works for me, as out-of-the-box as possible. Many SaaS offerings do.

It's not to say you shouldn't use org mode if it works for you. But I'm not "going to give it a try" if I have a solution that works right now. Nope. Thanks. I have things I'd rather do.

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