6 ms·

Collection of "Today I Learned" notes

170 points by kklisura 3y ago

quintussss 3y ago
Wow, didn't expect there to be so many notes.
ianmcgowan 3y ago
I do something similar, but I have one file technotes.md open all the time and just append snippets/commands/URL's/TIL's to the bottom with a date stamp and a hopefully findable comment. Some notes are referenced constantly, and some I've probably never looked at again. The interesting thing is it's hard to predict when adding which one it will be...
- ehecatl42 3y ago
  Translate to fortune format and surprise yourself daily!
  - Dutchie987 3y ago
    That is a brilliant idea for a low-noise spaced repetition solution. Thanks, I'll make good use of this!
- hypercube33 3y ago
  I'm curious if yours is public as well like the posting as I'd love to check it out
- bloopernova 3y ago
  I've done the same, initially in a dokuwiki page, now in an org document. Do you find yourself using the date of entries much? It never occurred to me that I should be timestamping my snippets, and I'm curious if I'm missing out. I do tag them with an entry from a very simple taxonomy (shell, aws, macos, git, docker, etc etc) As I'm using org-mode, I should really just customize org-journal-new-entry to include a timestamp. Or maybe something similar with org-roam. Argh! The temptation of yak-shaving is too great sometimes.
smartis2812 3y ago
What a great idea!
Semaphor 3y ago
Originally posted as Show HN a whooping 7.5 years ago with 150 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11068902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11068902
- nstart 3y ago
  Fun fact: I discovered the original thread had a comment from the folks at hashrocket that they made an app for themselves. They are not only still running the app, it’s still being actively added to (I think by just 1 person though?). Pretty neat.
- archerx 3y ago
  In all that time no one has learned anything about PHP. I’m not complaining, one of my favorite things about PHP is that it’s unpopular so it’s not used for resume driven development which usually pollutes a language’s eco system.
  - Semaphor 3y ago
    I think this is all the OP, in the original thread they said they wrote their own TILs down for the day or for the week. And I guess they simply don’t use PHP, just like they don’t use C# ;)
lemper 3y ago
this is something nice. thanks for sharing.
ChrisArchitect 3y ago
From the author's own share just a few years ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25781851 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25781851), some of the motivation and thinking behind this repo: https://dev.to/jbranchaud/how-i-built-a-learning-machine-45k9 https://dev.to/jbranchaud/how-i-built-a-learning-machine-45k...
Brajeshwar 3y ago
This is awesome. I want to do something in a much smaller scale -- “Life Lessons Learned” (Taking Notes Now). Linked from the article in the post to his inspiration, let me to learnt today that I can batch-rename files in macOS natively - https://www.techjunkie.com/batch-rename-files-os-x-yosemite/ https://www.techjunkie.com/batch-rename-files-os-x-yosemite/
gniv 3y ago
Neat. From that list I learned that CTRL-Down on a Mac shows all windows of the current app. And I tried CTRL-F3 and that works too, and it's easier for me to remember.
- haffi112 3y ago
  If you're using a Mac, I really recommend alt-tab https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/. I love cmd+tab on a mac to switch between applications, but I was missing a feature to switch between windows of the same application. Alt+tab solves that in the same manner Windows does.
  - zaphirplane 3y ago
    Interesting, the Mac behavior of having different key combinations to switch between applications and windows of the same application is superior to me
  - gniv 3y ago
    I've been using CMD-` and CMD-SHIFT-` to switch between Chrome windows.
  - chasd00 3y ago
    command backtick is alt-tab for the same app.
thisismyswamp 3y ago
Just a few days ago added a "notes" page to my personal website on the same vein https://marcospereira.me/notes/ https://marcospereira.me/notes/
samsquire 3y ago
I like how this is hosted on GitHub and is largely free to host and decentralised via Git. I recommend just using README.md for your notes as a low tech solution. I also host my "Learning in Public" on GitHub, my blog, my notes my journal as README.md files, my code is all on GitHub . I've been doing it since 2013. I like it being on GitHub because when I'm on a desktop computer, I can clone the git repository and edit locally, when I'm on a nondevelopment machine or Android phone I can edit on the GitHub website through the web editor.
- __MatrixMan__ 3y ago
  I always sort of liked markdown, but I recently installed marksman, an markdown language server (I'm using it in helix but other editors are supported), and now I love markdown. The ability to navigate between notes via the same "go to references" and "go to definition" hotkeys that I use while coding... It's pretty nice.
- simonw 3y ago
  Hosting these on GitHub is such a good idea: - GitHub have world class backups - commit something there and it gets replicated to data centers on three continents (I believe) - and a free public repo there won't vanish if you forget to update an expired credit card - Related: GitHub is free. I care about this not because of not wanting to pay now, but because I don't want my content to be at risk if I forget to pay in the future (or can't pay for whatever reason) - GitHub has several great web UIs for editing content, in addition to being able to edit in any other tool that supports the git protocol - GitHub Actions makes it possible to add all sorts of automations on top of your notes, again for free. I use that to deploy my custom https://til.simonwillison.net https://til.simonwillison.net site (mainly to give myself search) - GitHub's own search is pretty good though! - You can also use GitHub Pages if you just want a custom static site version of your notes. - If someone spots a typo in your notes they can submit a PR to fix it!
askiiart 3y ago
This inspired simonw's (among other things, the creator of the `llm` CLI tool) TIL, so I'd wager we'll be seeing him in this thread soon. Until then, here the link: https://til.simonwillison.net/ https://til.simonwillison.net/
growingkittens 3y ago
I want to use Github to collect information like this, except about kitten issues, causes, and solutions. My focus is creating the tools to improve the state of kitten care and rescue, systematically and systemically. GitHub has many powerful features for an interactive project like mine. However, I've never used GitHub before. Help?
- dormento 3y ago
  Hi, (I don't know how familiar you are with the following topics). As long as your documentation is just plain text files, it can be versioned easily. In fact, many people have used github to create whole books about many different subjects. It ties nicely into the "issue tracker" functionality, cause you can use it as a starting point for discussions that later turn into new functionality or fixes. You can also use the builtin wiki functionality, just got to "Wiki" on a new repo and click "new page". This has the added benefit that you don't really need to understand the git tool itself and you can start creating content right away. Either way, I recomend looking up "markdown syntax", as it is very convenient when you're writing a book and its also used for the wiki functionality. Hope it helps!
  - growingkittens 3y ago
    Thank you! My current idea is to upload the project as an obsidian vault to GitHub. That would contain markdown files that can be used as-is, and vault configuration files. Obsidian has a variety of plugins for manipulating files and their data. I am a non-technical technical person in that I understand a lot of random technical concepts, but not necessarily how they work in practice. I'm not too worried about creating content right away. I am more concerned with designing the system correctly and then working on converting my project to that system.
    - dormento 3y ago
      Then i think it comes down to who is the end user and how you plan to integrate into their current workflows. For example, are you after the good-samaritans or the smaller vet clinics? Are there any differences between how the two would use this information? What is more important? Ease of use or maintenance of knowledge? Etc
digitalsushi 3y ago
For a little while back 10 or 20 years ago, there was a tiny effort to start using the phrase "commonplace book" again for digital notes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book This reminds me of one, but with an obvious IT overtone. I dont want to criticize someone else's personal notes, but I wouldn't call it "SSH into a docker container" other than as a metaphor; but it's too close to the process for the metaphor to stand. SSH has nothing to do with it.
avgcorrection 3y ago
When I make notes they are very self-centered (bespoke). So it’s amazing that this is generally useful enough to have this many GH stars.
jbranchaud 3y ago
Hey, I'm Josh, the creator of this TIL repo. I've started it back in 2015 and still contribute to it a couple times a week. I reference TILs all the time to remember how to do something. It has been a great practice and I'd recommend to anyone to maintain their own TIL repo. AMA!
vinhnx 3y ago
I got inspired by Josh and Khoa Pham (@onmyway133) and create a similar TIL notes vault a while ago. [1] I love the idea of using GitHub Issues to create and share notes that I found each every morning, I hope that people find it useful. [1] https://github.com/vinhnx/notes https://github.com/vinhnx/notes

170 points by kklisura 3y ago

Wow, didn't expect there to be so many notes.

I do something similar, but I have one file technotes.md open all the time and just append snippets/commands/URL's/TIL's to the bottom with a date stamp and a hopefully findable comment. Some notes are referenced constantly, and some I've probably never looked at again. The interesting thing is it's hard to predict when adding which one it will be...

ehecatl42 3y ago
Translate to fortune format and surprise yourself daily!
- Dutchie987 3y ago
  That is a brilliant idea for a low-noise spaced repetition solution. Thanks, I'll make good use of this!
hypercube33 3y ago
I'm curious if yours is public as well like the posting as I'd love to check it out
bloopernova 3y ago
I've done the same, initially in a dokuwiki page, now in an org document. Do you find yourself using the date of entries much? It never occurred to me that I should be timestamping my snippets, and I'm curious if I'm missing out. I do tag them with an entry from a very simple taxonomy (shell, aws, macos, git, docker, etc etc) As I'm using org-mode, I should really just customize org-journal-new-entry to include a timestamp. Or maybe something similar with org-roam. Argh! The temptation of yak-shaving is too great sometimes.

smartis2812 3y ago

What a great idea!

Semaphor 3y ago

Originally posted as Show HN a whooping 7.5 years ago with 150 comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11068902 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11068902

nstart 3y ago
Fun fact: I discovered the original thread had a comment from the folks at hashrocket that they made an app for themselves. They are not only still running the app, it’s still being actively added to (I think by just 1 person though?). Pretty neat.
archerx 3y ago
In all that time no one has learned anything about PHP. I’m not complaining, one of my favorite things about PHP is that it’s unpopular so it’s not used for resume driven development which usually pollutes a language’s eco system.
- Semaphor 3y ago
  I think this is all the OP, in the original thread they said they wrote their own TILs down for the day or for the week. And I guess they simply don’t use PHP, just like they don’t use C# ;)

lemper 3y ago

this is something nice. thanks for sharing.

ChrisArchitect 3y ago

From the author's own share just a few years ago (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25781851 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25781851), some of the motivation and thinking behind this repo: https://dev.to/jbranchaud/how-i-built-a-learning-machine-45k9 https://dev.to/jbranchaud/how-i-built-a-learning-machine-45k...

Brajeshwar 3y ago

This is awesome. I want to do something in a much smaller scale -- “Life Lessons Learned” (Taking Notes Now). Linked from the article in the post to his inspiration, let me to learnt today that I can batch-rename files in macOS natively - https://www.techjunkie.com/batch-rename-files-os-x-yosemite/ https://www.techjunkie.com/batch-rename-files-os-x-yosemite/

gniv 3y ago

Neat. From that list I learned that CTRL-Down on a Mac shows all windows of the current app. And I tried CTRL-F3 and that works too, and it's easier for me to remember.

haffi112 3y ago
If you're using a Mac, I really recommend alt-tab https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/ https://alt-tab-macos.netlify.app/. I love cmd+tab on a mac to switch between applications, but I was missing a feature to switch between windows of the same application. Alt+tab solves that in the same manner Windows does.
- zaphirplane 3y ago
  Interesting, the Mac behavior of having different key combinations to switch between applications and windows of the same application is superior to me
- gniv 3y ago
  I've been using CMD-` and CMD-SHIFT-` to switch between Chrome windows.
- chasd00 3y ago
  command backtick is alt-tab for the same app.

thisismyswamp 3y ago

Just a few days ago added a "notes" page to my personal website on the same vein https://marcospereira.me/notes/ https://marcospereira.me/notes/

samsquire 3y ago

I like how this is hosted on GitHub and is largely free to host and decentralised via Git. I recommend just using README.md for your notes as a low tech solution. I also host my "Learning in Public" on GitHub, my blog, my notes my journal as README.md files, my code is all on GitHub . I've been doing it since 2013. I like it being on GitHub because when I'm on a desktop computer, I can clone the git repository and edit locally, when I'm on a nondevelopment machine or Android phone I can edit on the GitHub website through the web editor.

__MatrixMan__ 3y ago
I always sort of liked markdown, but I recently installed marksman, an markdown language server (I'm using it in helix but other editors are supported), and now I love markdown. The ability to navigate between notes via the same "go to references" and "go to definition" hotkeys that I use while coding... It's pretty nice.
simonw 3y ago
Hosting these on GitHub is such a good idea: - GitHub have world class backups - commit something there and it gets replicated to data centers on three continents (I believe) - and a free public repo there won't vanish if you forget to update an expired credit card - Related: GitHub is free. I care about this not because of not wanting to pay now, but because I don't want my content to be at risk if I forget to pay in the future (or can't pay for whatever reason) - GitHub has several great web UIs for editing content, in addition to being able to edit in any other tool that supports the git protocol - GitHub Actions makes it possible to add all sorts of automations on top of your notes, again for free. I use that to deploy my custom https://til.simonwillison.net https://til.simonwillison.net site (mainly to give myself search) - GitHub's own search is pretty good though! - You can also use GitHub Pages if you just want a custom static site version of your notes. - If someone spots a typo in your notes they can submit a PR to fix it!

askiiart 3y ago

This inspired simonw's (among other things, the creator of the `llm` CLI tool) TIL, so I'd wager we'll be seeing him in this thread soon. Until then, here the link: https://til.simonwillison.net/ https://til.simonwillison.net/

growingkittens 3y ago

I want to use Github to collect information like this, except about kitten issues, causes, and solutions. My focus is creating the tools to improve the state of kitten care and rescue, systematically and systemically. GitHub has many powerful features for an interactive project like mine. However, I've never used GitHub before. Help?

dormento 3y ago
Hi, (I don't know how familiar you are with the following topics). As long as your documentation is just plain text files, it can be versioned easily. In fact, many people have used github to create whole books about many different subjects. It ties nicely into the "issue tracker" functionality, cause you can use it as a starting point for discussions that later turn into new functionality or fixes. You can also use the builtin wiki functionality, just got to "Wiki" on a new repo and click "new page". This has the added benefit that you don't really need to understand the git tool itself and you can start creating content right away. Either way, I recomend looking up "markdown syntax", as it is very convenient when you're writing a book and its also used for the wiki functionality. Hope it helps!
- growingkittens 3y ago
  Thank you! My current idea is to upload the project as an obsidian vault to GitHub. That would contain markdown files that can be used as-is, and vault configuration files. Obsidian has a variety of plugins for manipulating files and their data. I am a non-technical technical person in that I understand a lot of random technical concepts, but not necessarily how they work in practice. I'm not too worried about creating content right away. I am more concerned with designing the system correctly and then working on converting my project to that system.
  - dormento 3y ago
    Then i think it comes down to who is the end user and how you plan to integrate into their current workflows. For example, are you after the good-samaritans or the smaller vet clinics? Are there any differences between how the two would use this information? What is more important? Ease of use or maintenance of knowledge? Etc

digitalsushi 3y ago

For a little while back 10 or 20 years ago, there was a tiny effort to start using the phrase "commonplace book" again for digital notes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book This reminds me of one, but with an obvious IT overtone. I dont want to criticize someone else's personal notes, but I wouldn't call it "SSH into a docker container" other than as a metaphor; but it's too close to the process for the metaphor to stand. SSH has nothing to do with it.

avgcorrection 3y ago

When I make notes they are very self-centered (bespoke). So it’s amazing that this is generally useful enough to have this many GH stars.

jbranchaud 3y ago

Hey, I'm Josh, the creator of this TIL repo. I've started it back in 2015 and still contribute to it a couple times a week. I reference TILs all the time to remember how to do something. It has been a great practice and I'd recommend to anyone to maintain their own TIL repo. AMA!

vinhnx 3y ago

I got inspired by Josh and Khoa Pham (@onmyway133) and create a similar TIL notes vault a while ago. [1] I love the idea of using GitHub Issues to create and share notes that I found each every morning, I hope that people find it useful. [1] https://github.com/vinhnx/notes https://github.com/vinhnx/notes