http://qs1969.pair.com?node_id=680960


in reply to Work practices: log books, notes files...

Since you use Emacs, you should definitely check out org-mode.

Don't start with all the features at once, just getting going with the outliner and table mode makes a great deal of difference to how you manage your notes.

/J

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
emacs org-mode (was Re^2: Work practices: log books, notes files...)
by doom (Deacon) on Apr 17, 2008 at 05:13 UTC
    Hm, and it looks like org-mode is part of the Gnu emacs distribution these days. I'll have to look into it... I'm not really interested in changing my system exactly (completely free-form text files plus find/greps are pretty killer, if you ask me), but it could be I could use a better way of managing TODO lists.

    And having a spreadsheet available using lisp formulas could be cool.

Re^2: Work practices: log books, notes files...
by why_bird (Pilgrim) on Apr 18, 2008 at 12:30 UTC
    Ooh---I didn't know about that. I'm just getting started with Emacs, but I'm liking it a lot at the moment. As for organisation/documentation: I tend to document what I'm doing as I go along in files called 'notes', though my system is rather patchy to say the least at the moment. I also have a normal 'lab book' which I keep as a kind of scribbling pad for ideas, writing down questions (and their answers) and generally getting more of an overview of things. Also I use it for preliminary calculations worked out by hand, and diagrams etc. There's something very satisfying I find about filling up a book with scribbles of your work, and very handy when you forget what you've been doing.
    ........
    Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others.
    -- Groucho Marx
    .......