Re: "Why is emacs so square?"

[Joost Kremers <joostkremers@fastmail.fm>]

On Thu, Apr 23 2020, Richard Stallman wrote:
> It appears that what people call "Org mode" is a collection of 
> diverse
> features, and what they have in common is use of a certain 
> format of
> the text.  Is that right?

That sounds just about right, yes.

> I have to question the practice of treating these diverse 
> features
> conceptually as a single mode.  Although I still don't know what 
> those
> features are, if one of them is a word processor and the others 
> are not,
> they are too different to make sense conceptually that way.

The practice has probably arisen historically, but IMHO it still 
makes sense to do so now, because probably Org's biggest strength 
is that the various features are tightly integrated. That doesn't 
mean you couldn't use Org for just one of its features, you 
definitely could, but the beauty of the system is that the 
different features aren't strictly separated.

For example, Org can be used as an agenda, to keep track of your 
appointments, daily schedule, etc., much like Google Calendar and 
other such offerings. At the same time, you can use Org to write 
your papers.

Now, you would normally keep your appointments in one file, say 
=agenda.org=, and the paper you're working on in another file, say 
=paper.org=. So far, so uninteresting. But with Org you can put 
TODO notes in =paper.org=, add deadlines, date and time stamps, 
etc., anything Org supports. Then, when you display your agenda 
(i.e., run a function that takes the contents of, in this example, 
=agenda.org=, and creates a nice overview of it in an agenda-like 
fashion), you can have the TODO items, deadlines etc. from 
=paper.org= included in this overview automatically. Try that with 
Google Calendar.

This is just one example, but it illustrates the whole point of 
Org: the system has many different features, and they all work 
together.

> It would make more sense to call them various different modes. 
> That
> they all use a certain way of formatting the text may not be 
> important
> to mention.

Actually, it's crucial to mention that. You might say it's Org's 
raison d'être. It's what makes integrating all of Org's functions 
so tightly possible.

> In other words, if we don't let the concept of "Org mode" shape 
> our thinking,
> we might thing of these features differently.

I think it would certainly help newbies getting started with Org 
to document its features separately. Eli's suggestions for 
restructuring the Org manual sound very good. I had a difficult 
time getting started with Org myself, and I can relate very well 
to the impressions that you and Eli describe.

But at the same time it should be made clear from the outset that 
Org's strength lies in its integration. I mean, I could use 
Markdown with Pandoc to write my papers, *cough* Google Calendar 
*cough* to keep track of my appointments, Jupyter for keeping 
programming notebooks and *cough* Evernote *cough* to keep notes, 
but there would be no way to link all of that. With Org, there is.

-- 
Joost Kremers
Life has its moments