Re: [feature request] A new cookie type [!] showing the last note taken

[Ihor Radchenko]

> Make it easier perhaps -- once the tool has been changed to the new
> syntax. But you might break current usage. And not everyone using such
> tools has coding skills to make those tools work again.

> Prof. Kitchin kindly gifted me with some code for a flash card learning
> system. That code uses org-add-log-setup directly. Notes added like that
> might not follow your newly added syntax.

Note that the syntax I proposed is not new. It is already used by
org-add-note (which is, by the way, calling org-add-log-setup ->
org-add-log-note -> org-store-log-note. org-log-note-headings is only
directly used in the last function).

I do not propose to change the old behaviour. I just propose to take the
de-facto used syntax and say "that's what org-mode calls a note". None of
the existing org-mode functions need to be changed to conform with this
formalised note syntax.

However, we can implement a new set of functionality (like what I asked
in this feature request) that will work assuming notes are created with
the newly introduced syntax. Any old notes created using alternative
syntax (which can be anything, since note syntax was never formalised)
will simply not be recognised (as they are not recognised now because of
lack of "note" definition).

If external tools defined an alternative syntax for a note, notes
created following that syntax will not be broken. Those external tools
can keep using their own syntax. The only difference is that **new**
org-mode functions supporting the new syntax will not be able to work
with third-party notes. However, these new org-mode functions will not
be possible if we keep the note syntax undefined.

Best,
Ihor


Julius Müller <Julius.S.Mueller@eureca.de> writes:

> Am 31.08.20 um 04:26 schrieb Ihor Radchenko:
>> I would not call defining syntax for notes "a syntax change". Rather
>> addition to syntax. Since there was no formal definition of notes in the
>> past, introducing formal syntax for notes should not break any existing
>> tool. If anything, it should make it easier for those tools to deal with
>> notes.
>
> Make it easier perhaps -- once the tool has been changed to the new
> syntax. But you might break current usage. And not everyone using such
> tools has coding skills to make those tools work again.
>
> Prof. Kitchin kindly gifted me with some code for a flash card learning
> system. That code uses org-add-log-setup directly. Notes added like that
> might not follow your newly added syntax.
>
> Julius