Another major release of Quiver ("the programmer's notebook") appeared in the Mac App Store today -- version 3. Quiver's combines various "cells" into a single note: text, code (with syntax highighting), markdown, LaTeX, and diagram.

The diagram cell is new in version 3, and interprets structured text to render either a "sequence diagram" or a flowchart. Here's an example of the code.

Title: Here is a title
A->B: Normal line
B-->C: Dashed line
C->>D: Open arrow
D-->>A: Dashed open arrow

and here is the diagram that Quiver renders from that code.

It is interesting that all of these cells can be work together to create some very nicely formatted rich output from the original plain text note. In many respects I think Quiver accomplishes more than Manuscripts and is really not just for programmers but is also for academics and anyone who needs to produce complex documentation.

Other key features include side-by-side preview (plain text in one panel and the output preview beside it); import Evernote notes that were exported as .enex files from Evernote; shared notebooks (via a cloud service). The list is extensive. (http://happenapps.tumblr.com Still $9.99 from the App Store and a trial is available from happenapps.com

I last used Quiver around 9 months ago and found it excellent for taking all kinds of notes, especially software dev items. It could practically replace my engineering notebook practices, if I didn't enjoy pen-on-paper so much. I only stopped using it because my work leaned away from my Mac.

This update is incredible though! I think most developers would've called this "Quiver 3" and charged again, what with so many improvements.

For me the Achilles heel is (as with all the best apps it seems) the Mac-only platform. If only someone would make a Quiver that sits on top of Evernote/OneNote...

I'm delighted by the new release. Suddenly Quiver is looking really mature, and the new note-taking options are amazing.

I'm just hoping the developer is still working on the iOS version - he was very busy with it earlier this year!

That would turn it into an absolutely indispensable tool, in my view. As you say, perfect for academics and researchers as well as coders and developers.

I noticed the screenshot of my sequence diagram example was not posted. Let's try this link:

http://d.pr/i/1f0le

Dang, that's quite cool! I haven't played with this particular form of markup before. Time to have a go!

The really cool possibility, I think, is "composing" graphical notes -- add some TextExpander snippets and away we go. This is a lot easier than using Tinderbox maps, and about 15x cheaper.

If Quiver 4 comes along with a faster way to do internal links between notes, then it's on its way to being quick and dirty wiki.

MadaboutDana wrote:

Dang, that's quite cool! I haven't played with this particular form of
markup before. Time to have a go!

Agreed. In fact, you can create truly elegant wikis. Personally, I like the note-linking approach used in Quiver – what would be *really* cool is a cell-linking option. Plus hierarchical tags. But even so, it's a remarkably flexible app. The search function has improved, too.

Quiver's GitHub page says that there will be an iOS version of Quiver available for beta testing "in early January". There's a signup link on that page:

https://github.com/HappenApps/Quiver/wiki