I would also checkout https://dendron.so - its a local-first roam like open source markdown note taking app built on top of vscode (disclaimer: author here). we just launched our preview a week ago and are making updates on a daily basis
Okay I have no tips for studying, but Personal Knowledge management (PKM) / Note Taking is something I'm looking into.
I started to write my Notes on my Pc in markdown files. And through the use of dendron I managed to get them organized.
But I don't let myself be limited by it. Means If I want to write something down I just open a new scratch Note get it out of my brain and think later where it fits.
This approach makes it easier for me to actually want to write down these notes and use them as a Form of a second Brain. And I learned that it is more effective for me to know where something is written down then trying to have all that knowledge in my mind.
So these Notes are slowly turning into a cache of Knowledge for me where I know what is where and how I can quickly find it.
My choice
- Standalone : QOwnNotes ( Light Weight , written in C++ and QT , Full featured that checks all your boxes and Full Nexcloud support)
- As vscode Extensions : dendron.so , it have all the above plus many more powerful features.
Dendron.so is hand down replacement , checks all the boxes.
Its fully opensource , VSCode extensions.
Fro developers , being an extension gives us a lot of benefit , and doesn't need to run extra software for it.
I dunno, I see it as more of a user-friendly Vim or Emacs. I don't know about Notepad++, but VS Code can totally be used as an IDE, and for a lot more languages than "full" VS. Plus there's the extensions, which can do anything from add random syntax highlighting to adding a second brain that makes my AHDH not so bad. Git integration, N user live collaboration, built-in terminal containing a nice dropdown of every terminal version you have installed on your system. VS isn't that nice, at least not the community version.
Disclaimer: I'm a beginner programmer, but I've been script-kiddying the hell out of everything for over 2 decades. Heed my computer advice but ignore my programming advice.
Visual Studio is an IDE, mostly for C# and C++. Has tons of built-in stuff you'd expect from an IDE.
VS Code is more like Vim or Emacs, a really nice text editor with support for plugins, a built-in terminal, a command bar, etc. You can do a LOT with VS Code that you can't do with VS.
For example, I use VS Code as a second brain (a knowledge graph) using an extension called Dendron, which uses Markdown files as notes, and introduces a new concept for note taking (hierarchies). It's integrated with GitHub for version control and also integrated with GitHub Pages to allow you to publish your notes in a wiki-like website.
I also use VS Code as an IDE for anything that isn't C++ or C#. So far I've used it for C, Haskell, Rust, Racket, Python, Bash, Lua, YAML, TOML, Markdown, and Typescript (keep in mind I have ADHD and try new languages more than I eat). Most languages have a special VS Code extension that makes it work just perfect, except for a few (does anyone know if SBCL work in VS Code yet?).
Personally I use Dendron, a VS Code extension that turns markdown notes in to a second brain / knowledgebase / note-taking app.
Please see literally the last comment I made for an in-depth breakdown of how I organize my notes.
Going to have to recommend https://dendron.so for note-taking, especially for this sort of thing where you're trying to get the most out of the knowledge. I have notes for concepts, and notes for pieces of literature. When I open a note for a concept, I can see every note that mentions that concept. But that's just how I organize it, it's extremely versatile.
I'm just a lurker here, but I feel like I need to drop a shoutout to https://dendron.so. I have a single vault I organize all my notes for literally everything in. I've got several vague game ideas in it. It's basically a wiki, but geared more toward note-taking.
Dendron is cool, forgot to list it.
>But also, OP didn’t say what they wanted in a note keeping app. So it’s not like we can help cater for their needs.
True, I just found that dropping a link to a very different note taking tool and calling it Better without specifying why was a bit of a stretch.
>Reply
since you mentioned vscode, I would check out https://dendron.so (disclaimer, I'm the author). it's a markdown editor built as a vscode plugin and especially shines for managing large amounts of markdown files
if you're keeping your wiki in plaintext markdown, I would recommend using https://dendron.so. it's a note taking tool to help you organize markdown files using hierarchies and git (disclaimer: i'm the creator). it's built on top of vscode and is open source
I would check out https://dendron.so (disclaimer, I'm the author). its an open source, markdown-based note taking app with backlink support (connect any number of notes together). its built on top of vscoded which means you also have access to vscode extensions (eg. vim key bindings, integrated terminal, etc)
Dendron is a local-first, markdown based, hierarchical note-taking application built on top of VSCode. It is the only note taking tool I've used that is able to sanely handle my knowledge base of over 20k markdown files (full disclosure: I'm also the author of Dendron so a bit biased).
Dendron supports backlinks like Roam and is extensible like Foam. What sets it apart is its ability to quickly lookup notes within a hierarchically. It also introduces schemas - an optional type system you can use to describe your hierarchies.