Live data from Hacker News

Life is 90% of my use cases for org-mode

stormrider.io

31–40 of 264 posts

Re: Life is 90% of my use cases for org-mode

#31
post #7
post #2

I don't use emacs. I use text files to organise myself but I use notepad++ to edit them. I have tried to learn emacs a couple of times but I am really unmotivated - don't see any case where it would help me. I am afraid I'm missing something.

I say this as an avid emacs user: Emacs has a real problem in that it's very powerful but the, let's say, spiritual leader of the project (Stallman) is so wildly divorced from the real world because of his personal choices that he really has no idea what makes a compelling UX vs what makes a complete mess of arcane incantations. On top of that, the documentation is only suitable as a reference for someone who already…

I'm genuinely puzzled about why posters like this want to make Emacs into some kind of household name if only it would do some random thing that they want.

I'm a die-hard Emacs fan, but it's a tool. It works well -- really well for a lot of us. For the rest, honestly, I don't care very much about evangelizing Emacs because I have a lot left to explore about using it first. There is 20- and 30- year old elisp out there that still runs perfectly well on a modern Emacs and probably solves some of your problems. Rendering a crop of the latest fly-by-night emoji is honestly the least of my concerns (with reference to the MacOS thing), although I personally disagree strongly with Stallman's stance in that matter.

I agree about the docs being dense and somewhat unapproachable, a lot could be done towards making elisp easier to approach. I think a big problem here is the unapproachability of any Lisp (not just Emacs Lisp) as a scripting and configuration language. In fact, I wonder if (Clojure being the first), elisp is the second most popular scripted Lisp in existence.

Re: Life is 90% of my use cases for org-mode

#32
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Emacs is great, but use whatever you want. Of course you’ll be missing on something but that’s true for a lot of things.

Worth underscoring that you are always missing something. You don't dodge that bullet by using emacs, just pick what you want to miss.

For example, if you do choose to use emacs, then you are missing out on time you could have spent learning vim.

Re: Life is 90% of my use cases for org-mode

#34
post #27
post #2

I don't use emacs. I use text files to organise myself but I use notepad++ to edit them. I have tried to learn emacs a couple of times but I am really unmotivated - don't see any case where it would help me. I am afraid I'm missing something.

I only really use emacs for Org mode and Org mode extensions. It wasn't too hard to learn just enough emacs for that. The motivation comes from how fast and convenient org mode is as a journal and a static site generator, compared to other tools, and having all my documents in plain text for future proofing.

yes, exactly. i don't even pretend to know a shard of what's available in emacs. i think of it like being able to afford a full-size, professional mechanic's toolbox: you won't have a clue what half of those tools do, but if you run into some weird problem, you can figure out the tool and solve the problem without buying something else.

Re: Life is 90% of my use cases for org-mode

#35
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone that knows what vi is almost certainly knows what emacs is.

I'd say there is a fair few beginner Linux users who have followed a tutorial on OMGUbuntu or stackexchange who know of VI but will never hear of emacs.

> I'd say there is a fair few beginner Linux users who have followed a tutorial on OMGUbuntu or stackexchange who know of VI but will never hear of emacs.

Ok.

But of those people who stick with vi for more than 6 months, how many of them have yet to hear of emacs at that point? Maybe 5%?

Re: Life is 90% of my use cases for org-mode

#36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> so emacs is doomed to being a mediocre niche text editor with unrealized potential to become a household name Emacs is absolutely a household name, at least in the world of text editors…

I'd venture that it's not among rank-and-file software developers, though.

my entire MAAS development team at Canonical are emacs users. we also have those who use vi or even visual studio. it's all about what works for you, i guess.

Re: Life is 90% of my use cases for org-mode

#38
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Worth underscoring that you are always missing something. You don't dodge that bullet by using emacs, just pick what you want to miss.

For example, if you do choose to use emacs, then you are missing out on time you could have spent learning vim.

Nothing like a bit of vim vs emacs. Though I do get sick of vim winning every time ;)

Re: Life is 90% of my use cases for org-mode

#39
post #2

I don't use emacs. I use text files to organise myself but I use notepad++ to edit them. I have tried to learn emacs a couple of times but I am really unmotivated - don't see any case where it would help me. I am afraid I'm missing something.

Emacs is great, but use whatever you want. Of course you’ll be missing on something but that’s true for a lot of things.

But be careful with vim, because one does not simply quit vim...

Re: Life is 90% of my use cases for org-mode

#40
post #3

I use Notes mostly, because it's synced to my phone and I can paste images (usually screenshots) in it easily.

I use bear after using notes for quite awhile. Bear support Some sort of md. need to use IA writer when doing my thesis as searching is a problem.
Post reply on HN