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The Most Dangerous Writing App

maebert.github.io

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Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#131

Post by sethammons »

CogitoCogito wrote: post #122
farns wrote: post #82

The lack of spell-check was pretty great in helping to focus in on writing. I will try turning that off when I write in the future, returning to the old way of running spell-check after I have gotten the thoughts down on the page. Five minutes essay below... also, first post (hello!) to Hacker News. This is a test of the most dangerous writing app in the world. I am typing in whatever comes to mind in a stream of con…

> The lack of spell-check was pretty great in helping to focus in on writing. I will try turning that off when I write in the future, returning to the old way of running spell-check after I have gotten the thoughts down on the page. I write everything in vim and then copy it over/generate it/whatever afterwards. I can't stand all the different spelling corrections, auto-completes, and everything else getting in the w…

Spell check was a godsend for improving my spelling. I don't have as many errors now,but I would stop at every error,and retry the word over and over until I got it. Sometimes I wouldn't be able to figure it out and have to right click to see the suggestion, but it all worked to improve my spelling. Similar but less effective was grammar improvements.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#132

Post by fb03 »

my session:

so i've been trying to use this dangerous writing application for like 10 minutes now and it's been a valuable source of inspiration and a little bit of stress as well. i know that if i stop writing the whole text will be lost and because of that, i am constantly forced to keep writing whatever comes to my mind, and since nothing is coming to my mind right now, i am writing about this very same writing process that is unfolding as i go. i have just stalled a bit and the text started to blur which startled me a little bit and i found the red+blurry effect quite amusing. i believe they have used the red color because it usually means danger/blood stuff for us human beings. i can write very slowly and it doesn't blur, so it's not linked to typing speed. you just need to be consistent and don't stop for too much.

i believe this kind of tool is amusing but i am a little worried about what kind of usage would i get from this in a coding endeavour like developing a system or something. i surely have to stop for several minutes at a time to think about solutions or designs for my code and having it wipe out everything if i stall surely sounds counterproductive, altough i wouldn't know until i actually tried. maybe if the code was wiped out the design would still be in my head and i'd be able to write it down again in a more concise (and revised) manner, potentially improving my structure and forcing me to rethink about everytime it gets wiped out... so yeah, there is a big chance this might even surprise me as a tool to be used in a coding environment. still, the idea sounds really silly, specially when you consider huge files. maybe it could wipe out since your last git commit

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#133

Post by tripzilch »

lostjohnny wrote: post #53
jiggawatts wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have a habit of pressing CTRL-S intermittently...

I think everyone older than 30 does. I also have the habit of pressing it more than one time, every time I press it. I'm not even be sure that save will really save.

I do this for ctrl-C copying, because for a short while, years ago I had a keyboard where the C-key would occasionally fail. I have long since replaced this keyboard, but the habit of just hitting ctrl-C more than once is not entirely gone.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#134

Post by sflanagan »

omarhaneef wrote: post #128

There is a whole tradition of these apps. Perhaps you have heard of "Write or Die" or the countless variations? https://v2.writeordie.com https://writingstreak.io http://writtenkitten.co And, yes, the most dangerous writing app. The idea is that it is easier to edit once done, so it is important to get everything out quickly and then go back and edit. Edit: Someone should come up with an Atom plugin that does the sam…

I would love that Atom plugin, wow

How to get started making an Atom plugin? Would love to collaborate w/you or others

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#135

Post by esnard »

silvester23 wrote: post #16
iraldir wrote: post #10

3 minutes typing: This is me writing a comment for this app using hardcore mode which right now I realise is having the text co clompletely blurred and it is quite hard indeed I can barely come back a word if I write a type. Although it doesnt seem to be based onmy typing speed so I guess if you are good at typing it's not as bad as if you are bad at it. Well I don't what to say more than that the interface is nice a…

My 3 minutes in Hardcore mode: ok lets do ths. I have no idea what is happening or how long i can go without typing before all that i ahve typed before will be lost: I feel like im making way more mistakes than i usually do, which is weird because I usually dont have to look at what Im typing as much either. I dont know. I have basically nothing left to say. And i am scarted to lose this challenge. It seems only one…

You were probably thinking of Jeff Daniels.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#136

Post by [deleted] »

DeusExMachina wrote: post #76
jiggawatts wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have a habit of pressing CTRL-S intermittently...

In university, we did programming exams on machines with no hard disks, which booted from DOS floppy disks. The teacher recommended at the beginning of the exam to save often, especially before running our programs, because if they got stuck, we would have to reboot, losing everything. Of course, there was still a guy that typed for a whole hour without saving. Upon running his program, it obviously crashed and he lo…

[deleted]

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#137

Post by dlivingston »

larntz wrote: post #75
lostjohnny wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think everyone older than 30 does. I also have the habit of pressing it more than one time, every time I press it. I'm not even be sure that save will really save.

Is this an age thing? I do the exact same thing. Every time I stop typing I hit ctrl-s between 2-5 times. I don't eve think about it anymore. My kids are getting to the age where they are doing projects on a computer and I'm constantly telling them to "save early, save often." I guess it's some form of PTSD from computing in the 90's.

A few months ago, I saw a popular meme on Reddit (ProgrammingHumor, or something like that) where the core of the joke was: "that face when Visual Studio crashes after you've been writing code for 2 hours and forgot to save."

And my reaction was: how do you forget to save? That's muscle memory for me, man! Command-S gets hit five times in as many minutes.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#138

Post by superplussed »

I got existential:

I got existential:

Hi, here I am typing, what is the big deal. I can't even see what the progress is or what danger I might be in. What is the dsignifier of my danger? The typography is nice. But I don't know what my purpose is here. Is this a metaphor for life? What is my purpose, I won't know until the game is already over? How have I determined if I'm winning or losing? Who keeps score anyway? How many questions can I ask in one paragraph? Is this a self-interview or something? What I should have done is read more about this before I started. Maybe the goal is to get 500 words before the timer is over? At which point I have failed? And that's why so many people gave a count when they were posting on HN, it was just that in 5 minutes they were only able to manage 300 words? Could be. Could not be. That is a question meant to fill up space. And what is the point of filling up space if all that life is a kind of filling up of space. We dont' know if anything means anything, we might just be atoms floating around - or molecules floating around the universe. Star dust or whatever. But what is the point of this stardust sitting here typing for five minutes, only to find out if he's won or lost. I"m not on place to get 500 words, but is 500 words just a construct of my own mind? Did anyone even mention 500 words? What I had assumed was that as I typed there would be ever vanishing text that would sort of creep on my current progress, eventually overtaking it. And that would lead to a feeling of stress and turmoil. This doesn't feel stressful or full of turmoil at all, more of confusion. Ok, I just noticed that my cursor is red. Was it always red? Does it mean I'm running out of time? My guess is that it does mean something but that I'm overstating it's meaning. Well that's another metaphor. We run through life overstating meaning again and again, missing the things that are actually meaningful. Ok, my time is over. I think it's ove

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#139

Post by reubenswartz »

I guess I just have to keep typing? What would be the point? How long do I have before the screen goes fuzzy? Blank? I lose everything entirely? Seems like the best strategy would be just to type really slowly. Then, your thoughts would always have more room for more words, while you would never fall into the fuzzy screen.

But I don't think that's really the point.

What is the point?

Is the problem that we don't get all of over stream of consciousness out onto the page, constantly? That we never miss a word or a thought? Is everything worthy of being memorialized in solid memory?

Or perhaps the idea is just to get a rough draft down. Let it see where it goes, and then go back and edit.

Some people do have a problem getting started, and "staying" started. I don't know if I do. Seems I can ramble on and ramble along.

What would Hemmingway say?

Is this really the way to do this?

How do "real" writers actually write? Probably not with their words going fuzzy constantly. Probably not under the gun.

Sounds like a concept for a screenplay from a nightmare of a screenwriter.

"I was having the worst dream..."

Had to keep writing or I would lose everything. It was completely amazing, and I couldn't save. No CTRL+S. No CMD+S. No cloud save or autosave. Just have to keep typing.

"It's like the world's most boring remake of Speed. If you ever stop typing, your screenplay blows up."

Who the hell would want to watch that? Or read it?

But I was stuck in that nightmare, having to write it. Constantly. Couldn't stop to think, have a drink, or even go to the bathroom.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#140

Post by omarhaneef »

sflanagan wrote: post #134
omarhaneef wrote: post #128

There is a whole tradition of these apps. Perhaps you have heard of "Write or Die" or the countless variations? https://v2.writeordie.com https://writingstreak.io http://writtenkitten.co And, yes, the most dangerous writing app. The idea is that it is easier to edit once done, so it is important to get everything out quickly and then go back and edit. Edit: Someone should come up with an Atom plugin that does the sam…

I would love that Atom plugin, wow How to get started making an Atom plugin? Would love to collaborate w/you or others

I just downloaded Atom for the first time a week or so ago.

I think this is a great resource:

https://github.blog/2016-08-19-building-your-first-atom-plug...

And I also notice there are a bunch of plug ins for writers out there (organizational, word count, outline your .md document and so forth).

I don't think I can spearhead the effort. My impression is an experienced Atom developer could knock it out in 12 hours (2 to build and debug it, 2 hours to fix complaints, and 8 hours to make it right after a few weeks). <- this guess is based on absolutely nothing other than a wild guess.

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