--- Jacob Rus jrus@hcs.harvard.edu wrote:
You'll have to explain this; I can't understand what you mean. Smart folders currently have nothing to do with TM, as far as I know. What metadata are you talking about, what html schemes links, and what tmproj pane mechanisms? None of these ring any bells.
You're argument for breaking the pedagogic rules is not lost. That said, list or non-algol programming does not necessarily fit any pre-defined patterns. You're not solving a problem, but setting up the parameters for a solution to emerge. Time will tell if TM's pattern matching system is conducive to this way of thinking. It actually does not matter on another level since the system is a productivity boon no matter which way you cut it.
Regarding the smart folder paragraph:
Yes, TM has something to do with smart folders, or smart folders have something to do with TM, depending on your point of reference. Both points of reference are good.
Illustrating mechanically:
Let's assume this you want to research a body of knowledge.
How do you go about collecting the info? The net, articles, books etc. You store this information on your HD, preferably as --small txt files-- or refined clippings. This is actually critical given Spotlight's current limitations.
You then need metadata the to understand the overriding concepts. Try dynamic raw spotlight queries of the kMDItemTextContent variety, for instance. Then whatever raw queries you've set up as smart folders will produce text files fitting the query parameter (you can make this quite complex). What's interesting here is that the same text file can be in N smart folders. You now have a basis for forming sets of metadata that semantically mean something.
For instance, simplistically, if I wanted to create a set called OptionsTrading (the tmproj filename), I'd look at smart folders with Options, Volatility and Risk labels for complex queries.
Now take each smart folder content and drop it into a tmproj pane. Group the text files with your keyboard shortcut (Options, Volatility, Risk) >> you get an outline with the same files sometimes in different groups courtesy of unix aliases.
Better yet, you have the basis of a knowledge system that can be elegantly reviewed and navigated. It works and is a 3 minute exercise assuming you're smart folders are set up. TM becomes a Reader.
You can therefore use TM to outline in a non-linear fashion. You can further refine inside tmproj with search criteria and all text tools at your disposal.
TM is great as a linear coding tool. Outlining concepts need not be linear and, while it needs outline polish, TM seems to handle it at the basic level so far if you lever the Finder's techs. This is not far removed from TM's structured text credo.
Of course, all this depends on your working preferences.
The question is how do you link the text in-between the files in tmproj? I'll leave that for another day.
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