361 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
361 lines
12 KiB
Plaintext
hledger project notes
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"...simplicity of design was the most essential, guiding principle.
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Clarity of concepts, economy of features, efficiency and reliability of
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implementations were its consequences." --Niklaus Wirth
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"The competent programmer is fully aware of the limited size of his own
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skull. He therefore approaches his task with full humility, and avoids
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clever tricks like the plague." --Edsger Dijkstra
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* to do
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** errors
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** features
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*** more ledger features
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**** rename entry -> transaction, transaction -> posting
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**** -U --uncleared
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**** actual/effective entry & txn dates, for more accurate modelling & easier reconciliation
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**** ~/.hledgerrc for setting defaults
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**** support complete period syntax ?
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every N days # N is any integer
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every N weeks
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every N months
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every N quarters
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every N years
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biweekly
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bimonthly
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**** allow - before currency symbol ?
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*** new features
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**** a simpler timelog balance report format for clients
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**** more date syntax: last nov, next friday, optional this, week of
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**** allow comment lines immediately after or within an entry
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**** accept multiple -f files
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**** more reliable tidy layout from print
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**** -Q quarterly interval option, for consistency/convenience ?
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**** web gui
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**** charts
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**** easier data entry
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**** parse more file formats - gnucash, qif, ofx, csv..
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**** easier timelog format
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**** i18n
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*** speed
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**** more optimisation
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**** speed regression tests
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** tests
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*** test all esoteric ledger file features
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*** test reading from stdin
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*** easy ledger compatibility testing
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**** --compare to compare (xml?) output with ledger with same args
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** docs
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*** hledgerisms in file format - that hledger can read but ledger can't
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*** complete docs for smart dates, period expressions
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*** funding
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**** funding document 2009/01
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=======
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funding
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=======
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vision
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======
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How to grow the hledger project ?
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I'm looking for ways to fund active and sustainable hledger
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development by me and others.
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A secondary goal is to develop new sustainable models and processes
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for funding free software developers and other community projects.
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This is sometimes the point in a free sw project's development where
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the project leader seemingly loses the plot, alienates contributors
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and destroys the community's good-will dynamic. I've seen it many
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times, but a few have succeeded and I want to be one of them - so
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that I can eat, have a modicum of stability and do my best work in
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service to the community. At worst, I'll look bad but the project
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will still be out there. At best I'll live more easily and joyfully
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while serving the cause of Financial Solvency!
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So I'm beginning by posting these notes and inviting your thoughts -
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as much or as little as folks want to give. How could we do this
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so that all benefit ?
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funding models
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==============
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Brainstorming some possible funding models & processes.
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* grants
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How to find possible grant sources ?
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* con
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* getting grant funding is a whole new field to study
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* slow and time intensive, I imagine
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* donations
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Solicit donations.
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* pro
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* simple
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* con
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* often difficult
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* donators do not feel a direct benefit
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* shareware
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Release the project under a non-free license, requiring commercial
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users to pay the fee on an honour basis (eg).
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* pro
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* flexible, low administration, encourages trust
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* con
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* effectively closed-source ? would inhibit collaboration
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* benefit is still indirect, only a proportion will pay
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* enforcement/guilt may come into play
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* limited-time premium branch
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The funded version of hledger gets some desirable premium features
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before the free version and is closed-source. Funders/customers pay
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a fixed price for immediate access to the funded version. Yearly, a
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new funded version is released and the old funded version is merged
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into the free version. (To gain experience it could be done on a
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smaller scale, eg monthly/quarterly.)
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* pro
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* all features reach community, predictably
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* customers are also community funders
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* customers receive direct benefit from paying
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* con
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* free sw developers compete/outshine the premium branch
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* bounties
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Some (or all) feature, bugfix, project management or other tasks are
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published with a bounty attached. When the bounty is paid by one or
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more funders, the task is performed and delivered. Or, bounty is paid
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on completion of task (honour system).
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* pro
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* funders receive direct benefit
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* bounties using fundable.org (eg)
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A more organised form of the above, perhaps facilitating trust,
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co-funding and larger bounties.
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* pro
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* proven process developed by others
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* con
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* fundable takes a cut
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* hosted service
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Offer hosted and managed ledgers, perhaps with premium features, for
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a monthly fee
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* pro
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* proven model
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* clear benefit to customers, especially non-technies
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* con
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* success of free/self-installed version competes with hosting service
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* some will avoid web-hosting their financial data
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* customisation
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Offer per-user customisations, possibly to be merged in the trunk,
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for a fee
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* support
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Offer user/developer support for a fee
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* training
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Offer application and/or financial training for a fee
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* profit sharing/tithing
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Each period (quarter, half-year, year), donate 10% (eg) to project
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contributors and/or supporting projects
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* transparent funding
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Funding and usage of funds is published on the web as a ledger
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* opaque funding
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All funding and spending need not be made public
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strengths
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=========
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hledger has some aptitudes in this area:
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* hledger deals with money => hledger users will tend to have some money
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* hledger's purpose is to increase financial success => users will feel its value to their bottom line
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* hledger is a tool that can support project funding, eg by publishing community funding data
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weaknesses
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==========
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* hledger doesn't have a nice ui yet
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* hledger has a limited featureset
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* hledger requires work, eg data entry and chart of accounts maintenance
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* hledger is geeky
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* there is competition
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* hledger has no compelling market niche (aside from payment-averse free software users)
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competitors/fellow niche inhabitants
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====================================
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* web apps
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* netsuite
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* sql-ledger, ledgersmb
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* wesabe
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* ...
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* desktop apps
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* quickbooks
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* quicken
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* ms money
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* grisbi
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* gnucash
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* excel
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* ledger!
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* ...
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***** responses
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***** albino
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have you considered talking to business who hate their financial sw and going from there
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***** gwern
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most haskellers have never heard of hledger, sounds arrogant or hubristic to talk of charging for it
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*** --version
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*** --help
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*** readme
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**** keep in sync (automate)
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***** README file
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****** options list in Features should match Options.hs, generate from hledger --help ?
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***** hledger.hs module description
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***** hledger.cabal description field (exclude home page link)
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***** home page description (http://joyful.com/Hledger/editform)
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***** mail list description (http://groups.google.com/groups/hledger -> edit welcome msg)
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***** gmane description
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***** darcsweb description
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*** announcements
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**** generate from README and NEWS
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*** release notes
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**** NEWS
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*** implementation docs
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*** api docs
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*** developer intro
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**** style tips
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***** we aim to make reliable software:
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****** fixes come before features
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****** "bugs" get called "errors", as in "the programmer messed up"
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****** we test continuously and thoroughly (code, doc & speed tests on each checkin)
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****** less is more
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*** user manual
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*** other differences not noted in README
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**** ledger shows description comments as part of description
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**** ledger seems to get amounts' x-position wrong more than hledger
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**** ledger can't parse full smart dates in display expressions
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**** hledger print puts a blank line after the entry, not before it
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**** ledger can get timelog entry balance wrong, see mail list
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**** ledger reports timelog sessions as virtual transactions
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** packaging, web presence, etc.
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*** make installation easier
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**** on all platforms
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***** via cabal install
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***** via downloading packages from hackage
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**** on linux
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***** on debian
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***** on ubuntu
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***** on redhat
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***** on arch
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***** via binaries
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**** on mac
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***** via ports
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***** via binaries
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**** on windows
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***** via binaries
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*** reduce dependencies
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**** split packages ?
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*** set up binary publishing
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*** clarify bugtracking process
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* misc
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** things I want to know
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*** time
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where have I been spending my time in recent weeks ?
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where have I spent my time today ?
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what is my status wrt spending plan for this week/month/year ?
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what is my current status wrt time spending goals ?
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*** money
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where have I been spending my money ?
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what is my status wrt spending plan for this week/month/year ?
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what is my current status wrt spending/savings goals ?
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what are all my current balances ?
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what does my balance history look like ?
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what does my balance future look like ?
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are there any cashflow, tax, budgetary problems looming ?
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*** charts
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[1:27pm] <sm> I have decided I am not getting enough visible day-to-day value out of my ledger, I need more of that to stay motivated
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[1:27pm] <Nafai> What do you think will help in that?
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[1:27pm] <sm> I think some simple self-updating charts, or even good reports in a visible place
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[1:28pm] <sm> something I don't have to spend an hour fiddling with to get answers
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[1:38pm] <sm> Nafai: identifying/designing some useful reports/charts seems to be blocking me
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[1:39pm] <sm> there are probably some standard ones I should use
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[1:40pm] <sm> a graph of daily net worth is probably one of the simplest
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[1:58pm] <sm> what else.. a chart of weekly expenses in key categories
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[1:58pm] <sm> ditto, monthly
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[1:58pm] <sm> a chart of monthly income
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[1:59pm] <sm> those three should help me be more clear about cashflow status
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[2:00pm] <sm> also I'd like something that shows me how much I am on top of financial tracking - how current my numbers are, when last reconciled etc - at a glance
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[2:01pm] <sm> another simple one: current balances in all accounts
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[2:01pm] <sm> those would be a great start
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[2:04pm] <sm> daily net worth, weekly expense, monthly expense, monthly income, confidence/currentness report, and balance report
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[2:05pm] <sm> let's see, which of those 6 would give most payoff right now
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[2:05pm] <sm> probably 5
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[2:06pm] <sm> how could I measure that ?
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[2:06pm] <sm> number of days since last ledger entry..
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[2:06pm] <sm> number of ledger entries in last 30 days (compared to average)
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[2:07pm] <sm> number of days since last cleared checking entry (indicating an online reconcile)
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[2:08pm] <sm> those would be a good start. How do I make those visual
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[2:09pm] <sm> well I guess the first step is a script to print them
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** data representation
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*** http://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0327/
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*** http://www.n-heptane.com/nhlab/repos/Decimal/
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*** http://www.n-heptane.com/nhlab/repos/Decimal/Money.hs
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*** http://www2.hursley.ibm.com/decimal/
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** snippets
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-- trace a MixedAmount
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matrace :: MixedAmount -> MixedAmount
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matrace a@(Mixed as) = trace (show as) a
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-- normalise and trace a MixedAmount
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nmatrace :: MixedAmount -> MixedAmount
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nmatrace a = trace (show as) a where (Mixed as) = normaliseMixedAmount a
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** http://lwn.net/Articles/314577/
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** financial software
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*** http://weberp.org
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**** http://www.weberp.org/weberp/doc/Manual/ManualContents.php
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