Re: [Orgmode] org-mode without stars

[brian powell]

The original "outline-mode" in EMACS which predates "org-mode" used stars.

Using stars "*" is the best way to do it; the reasons are many--OrgMode files are flat text files and this is great too--but keep this in mind here--think about searches, etc.

PYTHON uses indentation (and thats great); LISP silly/wonderful parens, etc.--for EMACS use stars!  They look great!  They are the best thing to use here:

Stars "*" are also used as the symbol for "regular-expressions"--based on neurology/neurons/dendrites/trees/outline-trees/etc. and the "Kleene Closure" (i.e. the mathematician Kleene)--the study of neurology and regular-expressions and the stars "*" are intertwined--the history dates at least back to the 1930s--and LISP/lambda calculus/Alonso Church/Kleene--the 1950s.  

A star "*" @is@ a "Kleene Closure"--math.

A star "*" is easily recognized as a symbol for a note: From http://Wiktionary.com: "  "*"== "Used at the beginning of a footnote , especially if it is the only one on the page, and after a word, phrase, or sentence that this ..."

"So, why should I care"!? (you might have been thinking)

Well, howsabout this: Say you are searching for a string and/or regular _expression_ in a flat text file--you wouldn't search for "*"--you would usually be search for a string (maybe an indentation level of stars "*") using EMACS--which is by the way the fastest way to find such things --if you are typing in real-time--emacs will highlight a search as you type it--this function is very fast--Suggest you try these 2 examples: Cs blah-search-string "***"--and maybe Mx search-for-regexp "***"---they have different uses/meanings--when searching in EMACS) since emacs is the fastest regular _expression_ engine (for 1st-character(s)-recoginition (the engine is optimized for this) so for this case/this type of search there is @nothing faster@ (BTW check out QEMACS if you're working with a huge/gigabyte size files--its fun to edit huge files with QEMACS--written by the same guy that calculated PI with a desktop computer--to the longest # he also wrote QEMU (Fabrice Bellard: http://bellard.org) for this type of regular-_expression_ search (many other engines are faster and use different algorithms--for the purposes they were built for--and so they should be used then--each regexp engine seems to have a niche.)

Use EMACS OrgMode and use stars "*", they really are the best for this case; my brain is overheating thinking of the many good reasons.  But, "How do they look when you print them out!?", etc.; well, I suggest you tailor that with PERL, thats what I use--I quickly change doc formats to TeX--TeX is the only thing that @really@ looks pretty!

Please "leave well enough alone"! That said, I hope you do whatever you want and don't listen to me or anyone else on such matters--EMACS is infinitely extensible, have fun!

;-)

On Wed, Jan 26, 2011 at 11:57 AM, Samuel Wales <address@hidden> wrote:

Hi Bayle,

On 2011-01-22, Bayle Shanks <address@hidden> wrote:
> get new laptop
>
> organize interstellar dust meeting
>  book the meeting room
>  organize LOC
>  Invited speakers
>   - Draine
>   - Tielens
>   - Hollenbach
>  1st announcement
>
> fix the bell in the hall

I indent by spaces by 2 a lot to save typing.  c-c - and c-c * will
convert.  They do not handle indentation, but that might be a very
useful feature (I would use it too).

This does handle indentation.  I wrote it a very long time ago for a
different, 8-space indentation.

(defun alpha-orgify ()
 "quick hack.  create org format from my indented outline
format, which consists of 8-space indentation.  operate on the
region.  assume a certain number of stars and odd levels."
 (interactive)
 (let ((b (region-beginning))
       (e (region-end))
       ;;manually mod for now.  headline vs. bullet.
       (bulletp nil))
   (loop
      while
        (progn
          (save-excursion
            ;;use (re-)search-forward and replace-match when no query?  i'd
            ;;prefer without the pattern (i.e. just ^) but you might be
            ;;re-orgifying an already-orgified region.  btw match-string is
            ;;how you get the string.
            (perform-replace "^\\([^*]\\)"
                             (if bulletp
                                 "  \\1"
                               "*** \\1")
                             t         ;interactive
                             t nil nil nil
                             b
                             e))
          (save-excursion
            (perform-replace "        "
                             (if bulletp
                                 "  "
                               "**")
                             t         ;interactive
                             t nil nil nil
                             b
                             e))
          (when bulletp
            (progn
              ;;how to make it greedy?
              (perform-replace "^\\( +\\)\\([^ ]\\)" "\\1- \\2"
                               t         ;interactive
                               t nil nil nil)))))))

Samuel

--
The Kafka Pandemic:
http://thekafkapandemic.blogspot.com/2010/12/welcome-to-kafka-pandemic-two-forces_9182.html
I support the Whittemore-Peterson Institute (WPI)
===
I want to see the original (pre-hold) Lo et al. 2010 NIH/FDA/Harvard MLV paper.

_______________________________________________
Emacs-orgmode mailing list
Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
address@hidden
http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode