On May 12, 2009, at 3:26 PM, idm wrote:
In doc/pyledger*, there is a pastebin-
style conversation between jwiegley and blais, and the @check comment-
command is discussed there. This is an assertion that the balance at
a certain point will match a certain value, and I will use this to
reconcile my books.
This seems like a really useful function to me, but can someone
clarify what is going on here? Is this sort of functionality going to
be merged with ledger? How, exactly, does ledger relate to ledger
ports?
Ledger 3.0 has this same concept -- of confirming balances at a
particular
point -- but it implements it differently. You put "= TOTAL" after the
amount of the transaction, and then confirms the total balance to be
that TOTAL after that posting has taken place.
Example:
2008/12/31 Interest
Assets:Brokerage $200.00 = $1,000.00
Income:Somewhere
What makes "ledger" ledger? Is it the code, or is it the syntax?
Should I write my ledger file using the "official" ledger syntax, or
is it safe to use a sub-syntax like beancount's?
Ledger is a C++ program that I started in late 2003. Some have liked
the
syntax, but wanted it written in other languages (for various reasons).
I continue to develop and maintain the C++ program, and as well some
people
develop and port their own ideas of what they think Ledger should have
been.
The actual Ledger program (in C++) is more featureful than any of its
ports, but it does not have the same focus as some of those ports.
Beancount adds features that allow you to declare more details about
accounts and commodities, and HLedger has features like a Web interface
for making queries.
My own focus for Ledger has always been to create a complete accounting
engine, such that any accounting concept could be expressed somehow.
I shy away from interface decisions -- which is exactly the area that
most of the Ledger ports tend to focus on more. I like implied logic,
contextual decision making, and inferred results. Beancount, by
contrast,
prefers being explicit in nearly every way.
Choose whichever one you like, but I personally feel the strongest
"core"
lies with the original Ledger program. But if interface and syntax is
more your thing, or if you just don't like C++ as some people do, then
maybe not.
John
