Following my post on plain text I stumbled across this interview with Pragmatic Programmers Andy Hunt and Dave Thomas about plain text and XML. Here is Dave Thomas on plain text:
The problem is, once we store data in a non-transparent, inaccessible format, then we need code to read it, and that code disappears. […]
Dr. Drang recently posted about adding SmartyPants to Instiki. I like both these tools, but I ran into a few snags, so I thought I would post some updated instructions.
For those who don’t know, Instiki is a wiki clone based on Ruby on Rails. Very easy to install and use. One virtue of Instiki is […]
The Power of Plain Text
A plain text file is a computer file. Like all computer files it consists of a sequence of arbitrary bits. Two features distinguish a plain text file from a binary file:
In plain text, the bits are used to represent unformatted textual characters. These include alphanumeric characters (numerals and letters) as well […]
There is a new screencast demonstrating text transformations in HTML in TextMate. Check it out and get a sense of why TextMate is such a great text editor.
Why give up Word?
There are many reasons, but today I want to discuss the reason that actually moved me.
A Word document is a proprietary binary. Moreover, the proprietary format is subject to change over time thus allowing Word to add new features. It is possible to convert older forms of Word documents to newer forms, […]
Markdown is a lightweight markup language. Or is it?
I use Markdown everyday. All my notes are in Markdown, I write the first drafts of my papers in Markdown (then converting them to LaTeX), and, thanks to Michael Fortrin’s plugin, I am blogging in Markdown. Part of its utility is its transparency. It gets out of […]
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