1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
|
Fresh Memory is an education application for studying languages with [Spaced Repetition][spacedrep] method. Its primary purpose is to learn and repeat foreign words. But other areas can be studied as well, for example, country's capitals, flags, mathematical formulas, and even friends' birthdays. The study material is stored as collections of _flash cards_.
Fresh Memory has two studying modes: _Word drill_ and _Spaced repetition_. The Word drill is the classic random browsing of flash cards. It can be used for getting familiar with the cards. The Spaced repetition is the main tool for repeating the cards. It automatically schedules repetition intervals of each card according to its difficulty. This method allows to quickly study any structured material and keep it in memory for a long time.
In **Spaced repetition**, the user first sees a card question. He thinks of the answer, and opens the correct answer. The user checks if his answer was correct and evaluates himself with grades from 0 to 5. The grades depend on how difficult it was to recall the card. The application then schedules the next repetition of the card depending on the grade. With each repetition, the next interval automatically increases, as the user knows the card better. The repetition intervals may range from several minutes to over a year, without a limit. The easier the card is for the user, the longer its interval becomes. If a card is difficult to remember, it is shown more often so that the user would have more chance to study it.
The flash cards are stored in _dictionaries_. The user himself can create the dictionaries and add cards to them. The application allows to open several dictionaries in tabs at the same time. The user can see basic study statistics of each dictionary: number of studied and new cards, scheduled cards for today. Studying is performed with one selected dictionary.
**Multi-sided cards**. Paper flash cards have two sides: question and answer. Computer cards can have multiple fields. These fields are needed to store auxiliary information: word pronunciation, example, etc. The card fields can be configured which to show for the question, and for the answer. These field configurations are called _card packs_, because they emulate a collection of ready cards compiled from the dictionary.
The main window has cards editor, which allows adding and editing cards easily. The user can freely choose where to store the dictionary files in his computer. The card fields can be formatted with different font types, sizes and colors. It is possible to set the background color for cards. Cards can have images.
It is possible to study words in two directions: from foreign to native language and in the reversed order. This is achieved by configuring needed card packs. The study directions can be more than two. Consider a dictionary, which has Country, Flag and Capital fields. The user can study cards in the following configurations: Country - Flag, Flag - Country, Country - Capital and Capital - Country.
During repetition, the user can edit or remove the current card right in the Study view. It is not required to switch to the Dictionary view and search the needed card for editing.
There can be cards, which have the same question, but different answers (_homonyms_). When repeating such cards, the user would have nothing to do but merely guess which answer was meant for the question. Fresh Memory automatically merges cards with the same question into one. The resulting card has the common question and the answers from all original cards. And in the contrary, there can be a card with a complex question containing several words, which all correspond to the same answer (_synonyms_). Fresh Memory automatically breaks down cards with complex questions into several cards.
The dictionary files use custom XML format (with extension .fmd). Fresh Memory allows to export and import the flash cards to/from [CSV][csv] files (in plain text). Exporting to CSV allows to edit the cards in other programs. Importing from CSV format allows to use ready-made cards, which were created in another program or just a text editor.
The repeated cards and their repetition information are stored in _study files_. A study file is stored beside its dictionary file in the same directory - it has the same name, but different extension (.fms). The dictionary file always stays clean from any user-specific data, thus it is ready to be shared with other users at any time. As the dictionaries and study files are in the same directory, it is easy to copy them together.
**Portability**. It is possible to continue working with your cards and dictionaries on different computers and even operating systems. For that purpose, the dictionary and study files must be carried over to another computer with a USB disk or another method. It is even possible to keep your cards in a USB disk or a network shared drive, and use them directly without copying between computers.
[spacedrep]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaced_repetition
[csv]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comma-separated_values
|
