
The best todo list app for any developer - PostingWithPSP
https://coderwall.com/p/kpd7ra
======
jph
Even better for developers: Todo.txt
[http://todotxt.com/](http://todotxt.com/)

Free, open, plain text, with lots of optional tools for the command line and
also mobile.

And for more power, emacs org mode is amazing.

~~~
brink
| Free

Not completely. The associated Android app I just bought is $2. Though it's
still not much.

~~~
ing33k
we can compile it from the source [https://github.com/ginatrapani/todo.txt-
android](https://github.com/ginatrapani/todo.txt-android) ( but I also bought
it )

------
andreypopp
What if your todolist is too large? Store it somewhere else (in you homedir,
no need for a sudo) and add

    
    
      head -n 10 ~/todo.md
    

to your .bashrc/.zshrc to show 10 most prioritised tasks on each session
startup.

~~~
Touche
Nice, store todo.md in a cloud drive and you'll have it show up on all of your
computers.

~~~
jmnicolas
So you're storing a file on a public server that is beyond your control and
you make your shell read it every time you launch it ?

What could possibly go wrong ?! ;-)

~~~
Touche
head just prints the contents of the file, it doesn't execute anything.

~~~
intortus
and neither does my terminal emulator...

~~~
dkersten
Pipe it through something that strips control characters before printing
perhaps?

------
skrebbel
Because "any developer" of course uses a system with a motd. Or wants to be
reminded of all todos whenever opening a terminal.

What's with this HN hype of turning "Hey, look, I do X" into "if you're a Y,
like I am, you _should_ do X"?

~~~
napoleond
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_bait](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_bait)

~~~
actionscripted
I'm not clicking that

------
hardwaresofton
Emacs org mode.

I store it in my repo (TODO.org), and keep track of whatever I'm working on,
immensely helpful for keeping track.

the obvious downside to the motd method is length of todo list... It might be
good for motivational messages but not for actual todo lists.

------
laureny
A todo list that only lives on one machine is a terrible todo list. This is
2014.

------
moron4hire
Paper. just a single piece of 8.5x11 paper. Anything more complex means I'm
trying to do more work than I can handle.

~~~
jvagner
An old colleague of mine.. and CFO of our company.. used to manage his tasks
on a piece of paper. It was always in his folder, and for each task he'd write
a note on the paper and then draw a box around it. As he completed each task,
he'd scratch out the box.

It was crude and messy and reminded me of high school.

A couple of years ago, I found myself migrating towards something like it. I
use large index cards, but.. more or less, do the same thing.

I still have remnants of every to do app on my iPhone. In each app there's
abandoned lists of tasks that got recorded and forgotten, or recorded and "re-
prioritized", forever.

The nice thing about the card is, if it's mostly scratched out and there are
things left on it, you can copy the items to a new, fresh card and then keep
going. If the items aren't that important, it's as simple as throwing whole
card away. It's satisfying and simple and there's no process-guilt involved.

"Throw card out" is a feature.

~~~
joemaller1
Re-copying the list to a new sheet of paper is a feature. It forces you to
regularly re-prioritize items or choose to drop them altogether.

I kept a digital list for a few years, but eventually it just became a crap
heap of undone tasks and abandoned ideas that would get batch re-scheduled
forward forever. Paper lists work really well for me.

------
vinceguidry
When work life starts to get complicated, I find a pad of lined paper and list
things out one per line. As I get stuff done I cross them off the list.

The main advantage of this approach is that having to keep a pad of paper
around tells me that my life is getting too complicated and I do whatever I
have to to cut it back down to basics, ditching the tools. I would loathe it
if I had to institutionalize this complexity in the form of an app.

~~~
mojuba
Same here, and not because or when it gets complicated. Pen and paper almost
always works better than any one of the gazillions of TODO applications out
there. And I've been always wondering why. (Apart from programming TODO items
that live in the source code itself, of course).

When you want to say something to a colleague at work, you have a choice of
emailing/IMing or just saying it out loud (if you can speak of course) as in,
you know, normal human conversation. You don't use a text editor and a speech
synthesizer to say something out loud, do you? Because the effort isn't worth
it, obviously. Just like you choose an email app that helps you get things
done with the least effort, you can as well chose between app vs. non-app.

The thing with the TODO list is that there seems to be this stereotype that
you need to keep it in digital form. This has obvious advantages of being
copyable, searchable and potentially accessible from anywhere if it's cloud-
based. But in return, you compromise simplicity of use. Find the app - click -
find the "add" button - click - think of the deadline - launch the calendar -
click - click - click ... - type the text - click "OK" \- close the app. Now
compare that to: turn your head (or your chair) some 30-45 degrees - grab the
pen - find the bottom of your list - think of the deadline - write. Fast,
simple and sweet, isn't it?

So sweet in fact, that I can sacrifice searchability (easier to skim through
the list on paper if it's not too long) and universal accessibility (rarely
need outside of the office).

Or maybe I'm just being old-school?

~~~
vinceguidry
If you need searchability on your to-do list, it's too damn long.

------
jlgaddis
FTA:

    
    
      alias etodos="sudo vim /etc/motd"
    

Better:

    
    
      alias etodos="sudoedit /etc/motd"

~~~
nas
How about not using system administrator privilege to edit a TODO list? Good
grief. If you want a simple text file, add "cat $HOME/TODO.txt" to your login
profile script and then "etodos () { $EDITOR $HOME/TODO.txt; }"

------
vezzy-fnord
Slackware pipes fortune to your /etc/motd by default. Always amusing,
especially when it told me to run `nohup rm -fr /&`. I like to think someone
out there followed that advice.

Alternatively, you can make a list and paste a `cat /path/to/list` in your
shell rc.

------
vidarh
My problem with _every_ todo solution I've found is that the workflow is so
personal, and often fluid - sometimes my workflow can change from one week to
the next. I keep going back to plain text as well for those reasons, though
not from /etc/motd...

My "solution" at the moment is a series of text files in a Dropbox folder
coupled with a small webapp that lets me edit it with Ace (for when I'm out
and about) and that applies a bunch of custom filters (to create highlighted
priority indicators etc.) + markdown. So all the workflow is in my head /
manual, but I get syncing to my main locations plus some visual cues to
improve over just plain text.

~~~
robzyb
> sometimes my workflow can change from one week to the next.

It's refreshing to hear that someone else also works this way! :P

------
habosa
Self promo here but I made what I think is a pretty nice plain-text-backed CLI
todo list:

[https://github.com/hatboysam/shpm](https://github.com/hatboysam/shpm)

I use it and I hope someone else will get something from it. Based on todo.txt
but simpler imo.

------
jimboyoungblood
And to make it even better (if you use OSX):

Install GeekTool and use the shell "Geeklet" to affix the todo list
permanently on your desktop background. You can adjust the
font/size/transparency to make it as obnoxious as needed.

~~~
vidarh
I never, ever see my desktop background... It's always covered by maximized
applications. Seeing the desktop background to me means I'm wasting screen
real-estate.

------
rjzzleep
i'm puzzled no taskwarrior mention at all?

[http://taskwarrior.org/projects/show/taskwarrior](http://taskwarrior.org/projects/show/taskwarrior)

alias due='task rc.calendar.details:full cal'

to get a nice representation of tasks. you might wanna combine taskwarrior
with remind.

[http://www.roaringpenguin.com/products/remind](http://www.roaringpenguin.com/products/remind)

it allows you to "program" your calendar dates. A little caveat if you're on
osx you may need to patch it otherwise it will have a 30 or 10 second startup
delay

------
jamestomasino
My personal solution is along the same lines, but much less global and
annoying. This is in my .bash_profile:

# todo function todo { case "$1" in "-a") echo "$2" >> $HOME/.todo ;; "-d")
sed -i "" -e "$2d" $HOME/.todo ;; esac if [ -f "$HOME/.todo" ] ; then cat
$HOME/.todo | awk '{ print NR, "-", $0 }' fi } todo

~~~
jamestomasino
Wow, HN horrible formatting. Here's the original:
[https://github.com/jamestomasino/bash-
scripts/blob/master/.a...](https://github.com/jamestomasino/bash-
scripts/blob/master/.alias#L49-L62)

------
yawz
Oh man! I've been looking for a great to-do list manager for so long. I've
tried many different ways and more recently many mobile apps. I'm afraid at
the end of the day it boils down to, in big part, discipline. I'm all ears if
you know a great to-do app. Maybe it'll become more natural using wearable
tech in the near future.

------
jimejim
I'm a fan of nvAlt (notational velocity fork) along with todo.txt and Dropbox
(or whatever sync system you use).

[http://brettterpstra.com/projects/nvalt/](http://brettterpstra.com/projects/nvalt/)

------
Maert
You mean "any developer that uses Unixoid"

It's funny how developers who work under Windows (not even necessarily
developing for Windows) are often not even considered real developers by the
"pure" devs :)

------
tlow
False.

------
SmileyKeith
I've been using t[0] for a while and it's pretty fantastic.

[0]:[https://github.com/sjl/t](https://github.com/sjl/t)

~~~
hk__2
Too bad it conflicts with t [0], the Twitter client.

[0]: [https://github.com/sferik/t](https://github.com/sferik/t)

------
300
I like the idea. I'll try it! For now, I'm big fan on "tree oriented" todo
lists, so I'm big fan of workflowy.com

~~~
rossf7
Also a workflowy fan and their dropbox sync is useful for offline editing.

------
return0
This is absolutely "an app", it is "the best" to-do list, for any developer,
in any place, any time.

------
timonv
No, that's not better than Orgmode.

------
inanov
I loved this one. I also found Carl Sednaoui's method for using github gists
as task lists
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7000953](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7000953))
very useful.

------
seivan
Ooooh, OK this was genius. Sold.

I hope this helps though.

~~~
rhizome
The comments are much more useful and valid.

~~~
PostingWithPSP
I understand the argument against editing a file in /etc for something only
one user is concerned about, but I've been the sole user of every computer
I've had, so this doesn't matter to me. I think that's the case for a lot of
people.

The other arguments seem to be preference. Some people work better with paper.
Some people only want system configuration in /etc. If you're a stickler for
the Single Responsibility Principle in the config files in your OS, then I
assume you already have your own solution to this problem and you don't need a
tutorial from me.

~~~
mosselman
I don't follow your reasoning. The comments provide great advice on how to
achieve the same and still not messy up your /etc.

You were introduced to the idea of todo's in your terminal, but then only
accept the worst solution.

It is as if one guy says "Hey guys, I have found a way to not have to shit in
the woods any more, we just have a bucket next to our bed and in the morning
we throw it out the windows."

The second guy says "ok, lets not shit in the woods, but what if we create
this thing called a sewage with a thing called 'toilet' on top so we don't
have shit in the streets."

You say "Ok I see what you mean, what with having the shit in the streets and
all, but some people work better with paper." Eh what?

~~~
PostingWithPSP
Bad analogy. Treating your /etc/motd as a scratch space is a perfectly
reasonable thing to do. It's not the difference between shitting in a toilet
and a hole in the ground.

~~~
mosselman
The analogy is not that of `/etc/motd`, but about you rather accepting a
crappy solution for a problem you didn't know about rather than a proposed
better solution just because the crappy one came first.

------
victorjwang
any screen users? not sure if this works if you constantly start new screen
sessions

------
tomcam
How did I not know this! Elegant. Thank you. Fantastic having it appear before
anything else the shell does.

