This week’s reading and activity had me thinking about plain text files. They seem to be the most effective way to express data because they are plain (hence the name) and show data in a basic, easy to understand format. I began to wonder if there are other reasons why plain text is advantageous. I found an article on MacWorld that talks about the benefits of using plain texts I also found he article useful because it is framing the discussion around Mac computers and software, which are my favorite kinds of computers.
The first reason it lists for plain text being the best data format is that it is timeless. If you make a plain text file today, someone way in the future will still be able to access it. I think this is so important considering future generations can learn a lot from what is happening in the world today. Plain text is also multi-format. This allows one to open the file on a Mac, IPad, IPhone, or even a PC.
With how easy plain text files make expressing and sharing data, it makes me wonder why other forms of data expression are necessary. I have been doing some research, and I have had a hard time finding an answer to this question. I have ventured my own possible reasons: Maybe other data types are better for certain software that one may use. Perhaps other types can produce more complex and impressive results. These are just some ideas that I have thought about.
From the reading, I learned that GitHub is not great for writing and does not offer many features. Being someone that is not super familiar with text editors, this was news to me. I have been working with GitHub for about four weeks now, and I still feel like there is so much more to learn. This made me think about other text editing software. Which ones are better? Luckily, I continued reading, and my question was answered. Microsoft Visual Studio Code was described as “industrial- strength” in the reading. At first, I was a little intimidated by this, but I am excited to work with this software. It looks like it is simple like GitHub but with more features. As someone who plans to work in the digital writing space after I graduate, I am excited to learn about these programs and how they will be beneficial for the future.