devlogs VS diaryman

Built one of these as a ruby gem in case it's useful for others. I use as a dev log and mini issue tracker for projects where a project mgmt tool feels like overkill. It can sync to your local knowledge base (for me obsidian) if you want too. https://github.com/aquaflamingo/devlogs

Shameless plug of basically the same idea except as a pip package:

https://github.com/Aperocky/diarycli

`pip install diarycli`

Alternatively there is a shell version if you are averse to python/pip package manager as well:

https://github.com/Aperocky/diaryman/blob/master/diaryman.sh

I've been using this for years, it doesn't have any fancy features - it only reliably opens up/create today's diary in vim whenever I type `diary` in command line. with some minor utilities.

Shameless plug on the same subject if you are vim user fond of terminal:

https://github.com/Aperocky/diarycli

`pip install diarycli`

Alternatively there is a shell version if you are averse to python/pip package manager as well:

https://github.com/Aperocky/diaryman/blob/master/diaryman.sh

The only way I can get myself to write things down is to have it one commands away in the terminal.

Diary script.

`$ diary` create/open a file for today's diary in vim: https://github.com/Aperocky/diaryman/blob/master/diaryman.sh

Or try `pip install diarycli`: https://github.com/Aperocky/diarycli, for a pip packaged python version that does the exact same thing.

I've actually kept diary and work logs, things I did not know I was capable of.

Having had good usage and some positive feedback on https://github.com/Aperocky/diaryman/blob/master/diaryman.sh, I decided to pack it into a pip package.

Essentially, all this does is to make creating diary super simple in the CLI, and resulting diary organized in a nice /diary/year/month/date.md hierarchy.

Having used this for a few years, I find this tool indispensable - I was never able to write diary consistently but once it was available via `diary` it became nature to utilize this to manage daily tasks at work and write personal reflections at home.

> For example, my oldest files were made in Microsoft Word on an iMac G3 running Mac OS 9. I can open them in a modern word processor, and they look similar – but it’s not the same. Some of the fonts and graphics are missing, and I don’t know where I’d find replacements.

> It’s even harder for an undocumented side project I abandoned years ago. Having the code isn’t the same as a working application.

The author's solution to this is apparently screenshots, I have to respectfully disagree.

For software, side project or not, it should probably come with dependency configurations (granted, in early 2000s this isn't as mature as it is today) and some tests. My side projects basically all have tests, these tests are vital for picking up years later and for validation while developing.

For personal notes, I use this script which upon `$ diary` would create/open an entry for the current day in the appropriate folder with vim: https://github.com/Aperocky/diaryman/blob/master/diaryman.sh. Text files will last forever, it has some basic flavoring with markdown, but that's it. The folder where this is indexed is without a doubt the most valuable data on my computer, and it stretches back years.

I do occasionally take screenshots but never for reasons that author find screenshot to be useful for.

For the unix fundamentalist out here:

https://github.com/Aperocky/diaryman/blob/master/diaryman.sh

I had this little script aliased from shell, whenever I type `diary` it creates/open the current days' note file in vim.

Here's my note taking system: https://github.com/Aperocky/diaryman/blob/master/diaryman.sh

Whenever I type `diary` in the terminal, it opens vim on a text file that corresponds to today. All of the diary files are nicely ordered in directory structure that goes $DIARY_ROOT/$year/$month/$day.md

It worked very well for me over years.