Re: [External] : Re: Convert README.org to plain text README while installing package

[Tim Cross]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

>> > I find it jarring when people throw in the very verbose org format
>> > for source blocks.
>> 
>> How would you delimit a source block?
>
> Dunno what OP had in mind, but if, as for
> the context of my comment, there's no need
> to delimit it, then, well ... no need to
> delimit it.
>
> Maybe it's a habit.  Dunno.

I suspect there are likely a number of contributing factors, including 

- Increase in number of people using org's literate programming
  facilities to manage their config files. When showing configs as part
  of a question or providing an answer, it is very easy to select and
  cut the src block for pasting 

- A number of Emacs MUAs can do some nice things with source blocks
  delimited with #+begin_src/#+end_src. For example, mu4e will apply
  syntax highlighting/font-locking for the specified language. As it
  uses Gnus under the hood, I expect Gnus does this as well. You don't
  get such highlighting if you only 'indent'. I get this behaviour, but
  did not enable any special feature - came 'out of the box'. 

- Some org users will use the org-mime package. This package makes it
  trivial to convert a buffer which uses org mode syntax to a multi-part
  mail message with plain text and html where the html is rendered with
  formatted source blocks and the org markup, embedded images, different
  headings etc. Of course, if you setup your MUA to prefer plain text
  over html, you will see the org markup text (though I think org-mime
  can be configured to export to plain text for the text/plain part). I
  rarely use this as I prefer plain text email. However, I have had some
  clients who depend on HTML email messages and using org mode and
  org-mime makes it very easy to work with them and still remain in my
  Emacs environment. Not sure this would be possible without org mode.
  Really nice thing is that I can decide to use org mode for composing a
  message on a message by message basis. I can even start composing the
  message and when I realise it will probably look better formatted as
  HTML, switch to composing using org markup and then send it as a
  multi-part message. 
  
I still think the worst thing that ever happened to email was moving
away from plain text and allowing HTML. Unfortunately, HTML has now
become so ubiquitous in email, people now see plain text as 'old' or
'primitive'. There is also the issue that most people tend to use
proportional fonts these days, so the old days of being able to create OK
formatted tabular data in plain text are gone - you need HTML now. 

As to the verbosity or jarring nature of #+begin_src/#+end_src as
delimiters - I really just don't notice them. I guess that after years
of reading config files and using programming languages with too much
boiler plate code, I've developed the skill to easily ignore such
trivial constructs. 

Of course, if your using emacs, it is reasonably trivial to make them
less intrusive with various font locking techniques. If your not using
Emacs for your email, well I guess that is what happens when you use an
inferior solutions ;-) If you are using emacs and haven't bothered doing
anything to reduce the jarring nature, I guess it isn't that bad an itch
after all.