github-orgmode-tests VS GNU Emacs

Each code block could be evaluated in place, with results appearing inline. Want to test JSON parsing? Write a block, execute it, see the output. Need to try different data structures? Compare approaches side-by-side with immediate feedback. This resembles the classic Lisp REPL workflow but with all the organizational benefits of org-mode. The development document became a living laboratory.

I'm a fan of Org Mode with Emacs [0] and using the app BeOrg [1] on my iPhone.

I have 3 main task files:

- todo.org for things I need to do

- backlog.org for things that I don't have to do now but should do in the future

- inbox.org for any random ideas or notes

The concept of an Inbox was taken straight from Getting Things Done [2].

I have different searches set up in BeOrg so that it is easy to view tasks from each different file.

This is definitely more complicated than a single file, but I like it mainly because it keeps my main task file (todo.org) organized. I also don't go through organizing my files that much either.

inbox.org is just a great place to dump anything, so I usually do a quick scan and either delete everything or refine it to the backlog.org.

For backlog.org, I'll usually just let things sit there and build up. After a while I'll realize that if something has been there for a long time, it probably isn't worth doing - or I already did it, so I delete it.

[0]: https://orgmode.org/

[1]: https://www.beorgapp.com/

[2]: https://hamberg.no/gtd

TIP: When asking for advice in relation to knowledge management, note-taking, etc., be sure to ask for precise details regarding commenters' solutions. There are many people who participate in these discussions who don't seem to take a lot of notes (e.g., one file or paper notepad for all of their notes!).

I have a personal knowledge base that currently includes almost 7,000 files in which I store my notes. I take notes on everything. Every technology. Every product. Every meeting. EVERYTHING.

My notes are stored in Org files that I edit with Emacs and Org mode[1]. Org files are written using a feature-rich lightweight markup language[2] that is much more powerful than Markdown (which is used by alternative note-taking tools like Obsidian). For example, Org supports plain text spreadsheets[3], a feature I love.

Too many people will disqualify Org and say, "I don't use Emacs," while assuming that Emacs users choose Org because we already use Emacs. But I started using Emacs specifically to use Org, not for programming.

But regardless of which tool you end up using, consider organizing your note files using hierarchical tagging. I started using hierarchical tagging for my notes right after Wikipedia was first launched and I saw how effectively hierarchical tagging was being used there. Each Wikipedia article can belong to multiple categories, and each category can belong to multiple categories. This is hierarchical tagging, and it's worked great for my notes. At the bottom of every one of my Org files, there is a list of "parent topics", and each parent topic has a list of parent topics (excluding the "main topics", which have no parents).

[1] https://orgmode.org/

[2] https://orgmode.org/features.html

[3] https://orgmode.org/manual/The-Spreadsheet.html

My favorite static site generator is Org mode[1] for Emacs. Org files are written using a feature-rich lightweight markup language[2] that is much more powerful than Markdown (e.g., plain text spreadsheets). Org files can be exported to HTML[3].

The reason I prefer Org for static site generation is not because I already use Emacs. I actually started using Emacs about 20 years ago specifically to use Org mode.

[1] https://orgmode.org/

[2] https://orgmode.org/features.html

[3] https://orgmode.org/manual/HTML-Export.html

"until recently, Jupyter notebooks were the only programming environment that let you see your data while you worked on it."

This is false. Org-mode has had this functionality for over two decades.

https://orgmode.org/

Work - I use org-mode heavily for my personal project management and note keeping.

While embracing analog tools, I've also refined my digital organization using ORG mode in Emacs. The system has evolved to become more structured and efficient.

Org mode. Org mode is just great for taking notes and organizing tasks. I might write a post on it one day. If you're interested, check out Org Mode in the mean time.

orgmode seems to be a big change after using Notion. However, I fell in love with Emacs, so I wanted to use all the best things. It was easy to set up org-agenda, org-roam, etc. Unfortunately, after a while, I noticed that using a non-standard system(not Markdown) could impact my note-sharing capabilities, as well my ~work~ docs were mostly built with Markdown. So, a note system that uses Markdown. Also, I switched to VIM :)

I've been in love with Emacs and Org Mode for over a decade mostly as a user, only writing basic Elisp in my .emacs initialization file. Writing this book made me even more enamored with Emacs as I learned to write a few packages, and spent much time browsing the Org source code, especially around the export engine [1]. It was useful going through one.el source code as well [2]

[1] https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs/blob/master/lisp/org/o...

show-paren-mode is a well-known minor mode. Enabling it highlights matching opening and closing parentheses. Here’s an example:

While embracing analog tools, I've also refined my digital organization using ORG mode in Emacs. The system has evolved to become more structured and efficient.

Meanwhile, Richard Stallman at MIT took a different path with Emacs in 1985. Where Vi focused on speed and efficiency, Emacs pursued extensibility and customization. These contrasting philosophies - minimal versus expansive - would shape development tools for decades.

GNU Emacs

Unexpected evaluation is never a feature, Emacs should at least warn and prompt before executing code in a file that somebody opens.

What's of greater importance here is not this specific security issue, but the default behavior of MIME handling in Emacs which can turn any unexpected evaluation bug (which we are likely to see more of) into remote code execution. We've had a previous Org security issue in exactly the same vein [1] and the Emacs MIME defaults are still unsafe. Of course, one can change them (non-trivial and related documentation is extremely confusing, see [2] for a possible solution) but really Emacs should not come with these defaults.

[1] https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs/commit/befa9fcaae29a6c...