Chris Boorman’s Cookbooks¶
This site is actually an experiment. It’s merely a compilation of my own personal notes. I make notes whenever I begin a new project because that’s when I have to start wrapping my mind around a lot of stuff (new concepts, new tools, deployment details, etc.), and I find this process useful as a learning aid. I call these notes cookbooks because I use them to document the procedures I need to get my work done.
I always begin a project by jotting-down details that meet my immediate need (so I can perform the most rudimentary tasks). As I gain momentum, I add more details—always to clarify my understanding (I note insightful observations, unexpected revelations, work-arounds, etc.). I write my notes with EditPad Pro, creating text files in which I mark-up the text in reStructured Text as I go. I do this so I can compile my set of notes into one big HTML help collection (I do this using a tool called Docutils). EditPad Pro is a powerful information processing tool, and I use it in myriad ways. It lets me configure and apply custom syntax coloring and navigation schemes to any text file. This makes it a useful tool for helping me organize my thoughts. When I add new information, I do it in chuncks of content, which I then arrange hierarchically according to the level of detail. This allows me to view content at varying levels of detail (you know, like in a Table of Contents). I can collapse any level of content by clicking the little plus sign beside its heading.
Ideally, the process of adding information this way will become an iterative content refinement process. Who knows, with continual refinement, this might evolve into a practical tool for learning in general.
Documentation Map
