From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Nick Dokos Subject: Re: Why don't datetrees use timestamps? Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2015 20:47:57 -0400 Message-ID: <87oansfo02.fsf@alphaville.usersys.redhat.com> References: <0947dbf0de284ed3b162708f1105b8c5@fcmailsvr2.familycareinc.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:43950) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1YXfgM-0001fZ-QP for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 16 Mar 2015 20:48:32 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1YXfgH-0002Le-Q7 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 16 Mar 2015 20:48:30 -0400 Received: from plane.gmane.org ([80.91.229.3]:43165) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1YXfgH-0002LY-JC for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 16 Mar 2015 20:48:25 -0400 Received: from list by plane.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1YXfgC-0003ba-2X for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Tue, 17 Mar 2015 01:48:20 +0100 Received: from pool-173-76-32-186.bstnma.fios.verizon.net ([173.76.32.186]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Tue, 17 Mar 2015 01:48:20 +0100 Received: from ndokos by pool-173-76-32-186.bstnma.fios.verizon.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Tue, 17 Mar 2015 01:48:20 +0100 List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org Reuben Thomas writes: > On 16 March 2015 at 16:52, Subhan Michael Tindall wrote: > > You can use a custom capture template and have timestamps of various sorts inserted. > > For example, I have one datetree I use that inserts a date/time stamp using %T (%t gives only date, not time) > > See the documentation for capture (hit C-c C C  to get into the customize interface then scroll down) > > ​ My question was about the datetree entry headings of the form "2015-03-16 Monday". These aren't controlled by the template. I was interested to know why these > headings look very much like timestamps (and effectively are timestamps, though at the top level they mention just a year and at the second level just a year and a > month), but aren't actual timestamps. > > Eric Fraga said "I don't think it would make sense for the headlines in the date-tree to have time stamps"; but my question is not why they don't have time stamps, > but why they ARE not time stamps (purely in the formal sense: the information they contain is already effectively a time stamp, as far as I can see). > This is third-hand knowledge and guesswork on my part, but I think that datetrees are used for things like journals: "that's what I did that day". Datetrees just give you a hierarchical structure of nodes for easy navigation: you can look at your journal and open and close nodes at will, so you can navigate to the date of interest. The fact that the third-level headings look like timestamps is purely coincidental. Timestamps are given to things that are going to appear in an agenda: "that's what I have to do today, tomorrow or next week". They are completely orthogonal to datetrees in that respect. The stuff that ends up in your journal is stuff that (mostly) did not appear in the agenda: all the little things that you did that day, probably unplanned (otherwise they would be in the agenda!) Not that the headings in a datetree couldn't be made into timestamps; but that's not what people use datetrees for[fn:1]. The one thing that would be facilitated if they *were* timestamps, would be clicking on one and getting the day agenda for that long-gone day, so you could reminisce about the other things that you did that day, that did not end up in your journal. Maybe that's enough reason to make them timestamps, but there are other (perhaps less convenient) ways to do that. Of course, I may be suffering from a failure of imagination: you might be using datetrees in a completely different way, one where having the heading be a timestamp is a very good idea, but I can't think of any: if you *have* something in mind, do tell. > I was hoping to discover the rationale for the design from a developer :) You'll have to ask Carsten about it: he invented datetrees I believe (as well as most of org), but he does not frequent org circles much these days. Footnotes: [fn:1] Remember however my caveat about third-hand knowledge and guesswork: I don't use datetrees. Nick