Re: [O] [feature request] More flexible repeats
Michael Steeves stee...@raingods.net writes: If I have something that I want to track in terms of consistency, and want to do it during the weekdays, is there a way I could express that other then having a series of 5 habits, one for each day of the week, each one of which would repeat every week? The best answer I have for that is to schedule the habit with a daily repeat, and then just check it off for the weekend days when it doesn't apply. Then you're being consistent, it's just that done doesn't necessarily mean that you physically did something. John
Re: [O] [feature request] More flexible repeats
Dave Abrahams d...@boostpro.com writes: I have habits that I need to perform, e.g., every weekday, or four times a week. I don't see a way to express that. If I could schedule a task for +1.4d or +1.75d (respectively), I'd be happy. Habits aren't really for scheduling, they're for monitoring a simple kind of consistency. So, if you *actually* need to do something four times a week, habits aren't the best way to express that need. If I had something that I wanted to do around four times a week, I'd use this: .+1d/2d Which means, I could do it 7 times a week, or I should do it 3 times a week, but I'm likely going to fall somewhere in between. Habits were never meant as a precise way to keep you on a schedule. The closest way I can think of to do that within Org's current framework is to schedule four different instances of your task, each with its own 1 week repeating interval. That way, you'd see the item appearing in your agenda four times. However, if you start slipping, things get very messy, very fast. Lastly, even if you did have a 1.4d repeating interval for a habit, Habits would only show you if you'd been consistent at doing the task every 1.4 days. It would never be able to tell you if you'd been consistent at doing it 4 times within any given week. John
Re: [O] [feature request] More flexible repeats
on Sat Sep 24 2011, John Wiegley jwiegley-AT-gmail.com wrote: Dave Abrahams d...@boostpro.com writes: I have habits that I need to perform, e.g., every weekday, or four times a week. I don't see a way to express that. If I could schedule a task for +1.4d or +1.75d (respectively), I'd be happy. Habits aren't really for scheduling, they're for monitoring a simple kind of consistency. Understood. So, if you *actually* need to do something four times a week, habits aren't the best way to express that need. Exactly. They don't have the expressiveness I want, as currently designed. If I had something that I wanted to do around four times a week, I'd use this: .+1d/2d Which means, I could do it 7 times a week, or I should do it 3 times a week, but I'm likely going to fall somewhere in between. I think I see. That means, literally, at most every day, but at least every two days? So, a couple of questions: - what would it change if I just wrote .+2d? - how would I express something that I want to do 5 times a week? Habits were never meant as a precise way to keep you on a schedule. I'm not thinking of them that way. I admit that every weekday is pretty precise, but that's merely at the extreme end of a spectrum of consistency. It's still a goal with respect to which I'd reasonably like to be able to monitor my success rate. The closest way I can think of to do that within Org's current framework is to schedule four different instances of your task, each with its own 1 week repeating interval. That way, you'd see the item appearing in your agenda four times. However, if you start slipping, things get very messy, very fast. Yes. Regular repeating events and habits both have this problem of no easy way to express interesting repetitions. Even my phone lets me schedule something that happens on weekdays or on two particular days each week. I think the basic parts of such a language might be: - predicates, e.g. Mon,Wed,Fri; the first week of each month; the first tuesday of the month - periods, e.g. 1 month - repetitions, e.g. 5 times General predicates are all you need to express repeating events. I think you need periods and repetitions for habits. Lastly, even if you did have a 1.4d repeating interval for a habit, Habits would only show you if you'd been consistent at doing the task every 1.4 days. It would never be able to tell you if you'd been consistent at doing it 4 times within any given week. Then 1.4d is clearly *not* the expressive tool I need :-) -- Dave Abrahams BoostPro Computing http://www.boostpro.com
Re: [O] [feature request] More flexible repeats
On Sat, Sep 24 2011, Dave Abrahams wrote: [...] I think the basic parts of such a language might be: - predicates, e.g. Mon,Wed,Fri; the first week of each month; the first tuesday of the month - periods, e.g. 1 month - repetitions, e.g. 5 times Looks like you're coming up on the crontab syntax :) -- GNU Emacs 23.2.1 (i686-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 2.24.4) of 2011-04-04 on rothera, modified by Debian Org-mode version 7.7 (release_7.7.324.ge5d88)
Re: [O] [feature request] More flexible repeats
on Sat Sep 24 2011, Eric Abrahamsen eric-AT-ericabrahamsen.net wrote: On Sat, Sep 24 2011, Dave Abrahams wrote: [...] I think the basic parts of such a language might be: - predicates, e.g. Mon,Wed,Fri; the first week of each month; the first tuesday of the month - periods, e.g. 1 month - repetitions, e.g. 5 times Looks like you're coming up on the crontab syntax :) Good point. I don't need a fancy syntax if I can express it with elisp, of course. Maybe enabling that would be a good first step. -- Dave Abrahams BoostPro Computing http://www.boostpro.com
Re: [O] [feature request] More flexible repeats
On 9/24/11 7:16 AM, John Wiegley wrote: Dave Abrahamsd...@boostpro.com writes: I have habits that I need to perform, e.g., every weekday, or four times a week. I don't see a way to express that. If I could schedule a task for +1.4d or +1.75d (respectively), I'd be happy. Habits aren't really for scheduling, they're for monitoring a simple kind of consistency. So, if you *actually* need to do something four times a week, habits aren't the best way to express that need. It's funny that this topic came up on the mailing list just now -- I've been working on integrating org-mode more into my daily workflow, and am starting to put some habits in and was trying to figure out how to make the habits repeat in the way I want them to. If I have something that I want to track in terms of consistency, and want to do it during the weekdays, is there a way I could express that other then having a series of 5 habits, one for each day of the week, each one of which would repeat every week? -Mike -- Michael Steeves (stee...@raingods.net)
