[Vimoutliner] [OT] ThoughtManager

[Steve Litt]

On Saturday 19 January 2008 20:49, Scott Scriven wrote:
> * Noel Henson <noel at noels-lab.com> wrote:
> > > > I have a few more features in mind
> > > > than what VO is capable of...
> > >
> > > Like what, besides cloning?
> >
> > And columns. I've often thought of writing a full-on
> > application.
>
> I figured on making the data an arbitrary tree of nodes and
> attributes, with the ability to assign a different schema to each
> node.
>
> Basically, each node would have (or inherit) a title, a set of
> arbitrary name/type/value fields, and a display style.  The
> fields are things like text, integer, checkbox, date, and
> percent.  Display styles might be like printf format strings.
>
> The storage back end I had in mind is a directory tree, though I
> also considered xml and s-expressions.  This makes each branch a
> tree of its own, where you could zoom into a subtree simply by
> changing directory.  It allows for linking between branches by
> using symlinks, and attaching files is trivial to implement.
>
> Example use cases will be useful for making sure the system
> provides the necessary features and makes the most common tasks
> the easiest.  For example:
>
>   Movies (seen 67%, own 1/3)
>     Seen Own Rating Title
>     ---- --- ------ -----
>      [X] [_]   9    Kung Pow         (note)
>      [X] [X]   6    Bee Movie
>      [_] [_]        Atonement
>
> The storage for this might look something like...
>
>   0/ (root node)
>     .title (string):  "Movies"
>     .fmt (format): "${title} (seen ${seen}, own ${own}/${total})"
>     .childfmt (format): "${seen} ${own} ${rating} ${title}%{fill}${note}"
>     .seen (percent): autocalculated
>     .own (sum): autocalculated
>     .total (childcount): autocalculated
>     0/ (first child)
>       .title (string): "Kung Pow"
>       .seen (checkbox): 1
>       .own (checkbox): 0
>       .rating (int): 9
>       .note (file): text/plain file attachment
>     1/ (second child)
>       ...
>
> The biggest drawback to this idea is that ... well, it's not Vim.

I'd phrase it a little differently: "The biggest drawback to this idea is it 
doesn't use Vim keystrokes or anything as efficient."

As a user I don't care about the engine, just the user interface, speed and 
stability. As a "developer" years ago I started VO based on Vim for the 
simplest of all possible reasons: Because I could :-)

SteveT

Steve Litt
Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware
http://www.troubleshooters.com/