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My free and open-source KeenWrite text editor is comparable to GhostWriter: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite#features https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keen

My free and open-source KeenWrite text editor is comparable to GhostWriter: https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite#features https://github.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite#features What sets KeenWrite apart is the ability to use (externally-defined) variables within the prose, shown in this older demo video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_dFd6UhdV8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_dFd6UhdV8 Also, variables work in diagrams, R expressions, and TeX equations. For example, take a look at the following screenshot: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite/master/docs/images/screenshots/05.png https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DaveJarvis/keenwrite/maste... The palette is defined in one spot, allowing colours to be used by both diagrams and typesetting the final PDF. Further, character names can be assigned and referenced within both the prose and diagrams. Also, the variables are interpolated, which allows variables to be defined in terms of other variables. Are there any other text editors that have interpolated variable references? (I looked, but didn't find any, so started developing my own text editor.)

swirepe 6y ago
This is beautiful. Well done. >Are there any other text editors that have interpolated variable references? The closest I can think of are Frescobaldi's snippets[1], vim's `!read`, or spreadsheets. Maybe light table [2]? I haven't seen anything exactly like what you've made [1] https://www.frescobaldi.org/uguide#help_snippet_edit_help https://www.frescobaldi.org/uguide#help_snippet_edit_help [2] http://lighttable.com/ http://lighttable.com/
e12e 6y ago
> Are there any other text editors that have interpolated variable references? Maybe Leo? I'm not sure if it qualifies as a (plain) text editor, but then maybe neither does keenwrite. http://leoeditor.com/ http://leoeditor.com/ Or you could pair markdown with m4 - but I wouldn't really recommend it.
breuleux 6y ago
> Are there any other text editors that have interpolated variable references? I made my own markup language a while back that sort of has that feature (http://breuleux.github.io/quaint/syntax.html#variables http://breuleux.github.io/quaint/syntax.html#variables). The variables can be defined inline or imported from a JSON file or whatever. It does reparse the whole thing on every change, so I'm not sure it scales very well. The language should be amenable to incremental parsing, though, I just haven't had time to tackle that issue. It's far more extensible and far better than Markdown IMO, but I suppose I'm biased.
qbasic_forever 6y ago
Most people get this kind of logic from their CMS or publishing platform. Jekyll, hugo, wordpress, 11ty, etc. all have various external state stores (yaml files, JSON, CSV, calling a graphql API, etc.) that you can query and interpolate or insert data into your document using a bevy of different template languages. Check out Gatsby or even Next.js for something that's really pushing the boundaries of static + data-driven content.
tomc1985 6y ago
Been seeing this a lot lately: someone posts a project or a company to HN, then immediately below it, the top comment negs OP and then goes on to explain how their project is better. Is this not the epitome of douchebaggery?
- nxpnsv 6y ago
  It’s relevant context
  - tomc1985 6y ago
    Sure, but is it something that members of a supposedly good, supportive community should be doing to each other?
    - nxpnsv 6y ago
      You are right in that tone and intent matters. I think there is nothing wrong in principle in mentioning related work though. It can be done in a non-douchy way.
    - foerbert 6y ago
      You mean leaving comments about highly related products/software/whatever with a different feature-set and approach? That sounds... perfect. It can spark all sorts of discussions and ideas about the decisions and tradeoffs made in both projects. All aspects of this - from the ideas themselves to the community response to them - can be very valuable to the original creators of both. It can also give the original creator more information about what's been done and how. Searching for similar stuff when you lack a very well-defined term can be annoyingly difficult. And it has what I think should be obvious value to the readers and commenters who are interested in originally posted product. Other similar projects may well serve any interested readers better than what was originally posted. Again, searching for this stuff can be difficult. Do you really want to remove this chance to discover a better-fitting product/project/whatever from all the readers? I see no problem with people posting similar projects. With the usual caveats of civility that apply to literally every other comment as well, these stand to be highly productive comments. I'm sure you're thinking of the more emotional aspects of this, and even here I disagree. The only situation I can think of where a poster is better off no even hearing about alternatives is if their main motivation is receiving praise on HN. And in that case, hopefully the situation will make it easier for them to realize that is what they are doing, and give them the opportunity to decide if that's something they want to continue doing.
bobbylarrybobby 6y ago
Not an editor, but asciidoc(tor) has variables. You can also define variables in one file and import them into multiple other files in order to DRY.

swirepe 6y ago

This is beautiful. Well done. >Are there any other text editors that have interpolated variable references? The closest I can think of are Frescobaldi's snippets[1], vim's `!read`, or spreadsheets. Maybe light table [2]? I haven't seen anything exactly like what you've made [1] https://www.frescobaldi.org/uguide#help_snippet_edit_help https://www.frescobaldi.org/uguide#help_snippet_edit_help [2] http://lighttable.com/ http://lighttable.com/

e12e 6y ago

> Are there any other text editors that have interpolated variable references? Maybe Leo? I'm not sure if it qualifies as a (plain) text editor, but then maybe neither does keenwrite. http://leoeditor.com/ http://leoeditor.com/ Or you could pair markdown with m4 - but I wouldn't really recommend it.

breuleux 6y ago

> Are there any other text editors that have interpolated variable references? I made my own markup language a while back that sort of has that feature (http://breuleux.github.io/quaint/syntax.html#variables http://breuleux.github.io/quaint/syntax.html#variables). The variables can be defined inline or imported from a JSON file or whatever. It does reparse the whole thing on every change, so I'm not sure it scales very well. The language should be amenable to incremental parsing, though, I just haven't had time to tackle that issue. It's far more extensible and far better than Markdown IMO, but I suppose I'm biased.

qbasic_forever 6y ago

Most people get this kind of logic from their CMS or publishing platform. Jekyll, hugo, wordpress, 11ty, etc. all have various external state stores (yaml files, JSON, CSV, calling a graphql API, etc.) that you can query and interpolate or insert data into your document using a bevy of different template languages. Check out Gatsby or even Next.js for something that's really pushing the boundaries of static + data-driven content.

tomc1985 6y ago

Been seeing this a lot lately: someone posts a project or a company to HN, then immediately below it, the top comment negs OP and then goes on to explain how their project is better. Is this not the epitome of douchebaggery?

nxpnsv 6y ago
It’s relevant context
- tomc1985 6y ago
  Sure, but is it something that members of a supposedly good, supportive community should be doing to each other?
  - nxpnsv 6y ago
    You are right in that tone and intent matters. I think there is nothing wrong in principle in mentioning related work though. It can be done in a non-douchy way.
  - foerbert 6y ago
    You mean leaving comments about highly related products/software/whatever with a different feature-set and approach? That sounds... perfect. It can spark all sorts of discussions and ideas about the decisions and tradeoffs made in both projects. All aspects of this - from the ideas themselves to the community response to them - can be very valuable to the original creators of both. It can also give the original creator more information about what's been done and how. Searching for similar stuff when you lack a very well-defined term can be annoyingly difficult. And it has what I think should be obvious value to the readers and commenters who are interested in originally posted product. Other similar projects may well serve any interested readers better than what was originally posted. Again, searching for this stuff can be difficult. Do you really want to remove this chance to discover a better-fitting product/project/whatever from all the readers? I see no problem with people posting similar projects. With the usual caveats of civility that apply to literally every other comment as well, these stand to be highly productive comments. I'm sure you're thinking of the more emotional aspects of this, and even here I disagree. The only situation I can think of where a poster is better off no even hearing about alternatives is if their main motivation is receiving praise on HN. And in that case, hopefully the situation will make it easier for them to realize that is what they are doing, and give them the opportunity to decide if that's something they want to continue doing.

bobbylarrybobby 6y ago

Not an editor, but asciidoc(tor) has variables. You can also define variables in one file and import them into multiple other files in order to DRY.