Flashcards

Kim Thomas says: Well...I was thinking you could make a program that does flashcards Louis K. Thomas says: What type? Kim Thomas says: Something I could enter flashcards into Kim Thomas says: and then it would give them back to me Kim Thomas says: ask for input Louis K. Thomas says: Short answer or multiple choice? Kim Thomas says: short answer Louis K. Thomas says: Just text, or pictures? Kim Thomas says: If it had an option to do pictures, that would be awesome Kim Thomas says: not completely necessary though Kim Thomas says: then you could make it so you could set an option to do the flashcards both directions Kim Thomas says: randomly or in order... Kim Thomas says: remove the ones I got right from the stack... Kim Thomas says: :) Louis K. Thomas says: Text you could do in both directions, pictures is a whole 'nother ball game. :) Kim Thomas says: oh, no, pictures wouldn't have to go in both directions Kim Thomas says: maybe you could have an option where I could just press spacebar and that would show the answer and then I could press one button to remove it from the stack if I got it right, and another to keep in the stack if I got it wrong Louis K. Thomas says: Hmm. Interesting. Louis K. Thomas says: The other problem with pictures is that it's a pain to come up with a lot of pictures. Louis K. Thomas says: Nto that it wouldn't be nice. :) Kim Thomas says: what do you mean? Louis K. Thomas says: How many flash cards are you thinking in a set? Kim Thomas says: I don't know Kim Thomas says: it depends Kim Thomas says: lots! Kim Thomas says: :) Louis K. Thomas says: Well, you had 200 drugs, right? Kim Thomas says: yup Kim Thomas says: that's lots Louis K. Thomas says: Do you know how long it would take to make 200 pictures? :) Kim Thomas says: You mean for me to make 200 pictures and put them in? Louis K. Thomas says: yeah. Kim Thomas says: Yeah, it would take a while Kim Thomas says: but I don't think I would do it if I had to do 200 pictures Kim Thomas says: I don't always have that many Louis K. Thomas says: But it would be good for smaller numbers of pictures. Kim Thomas says: so what do you think? Louis K. Thomas says: No problem, Louis K. Thomas says: :) Kim Thomas says: hee hee! Awesome! Kim Thomas says: I had it all planned out in my head Kim Thomas says: 'course I can't do anything about it... Kim Thomas says: except talk to my brobear :) Louis K. Thomas says: :) :) :) Louis K. Thomas says: If you have any more details or ideas, lay em on me Kim Thomas says: well...I like to be able to categorize the flashcards Kim Thomas says: so I can just call up one set Louis K. Thomas says: K. Kim Thomas says: and then maybe even subsets... Kim Thomas says: and a way to put the cards back in the stack after they got taken out 'cause I knew them Kim Thomas says: and a way to toggle on and off the taking out option Louis K. Thomas says: How about if the "cards" were stored in a text file? Then you could make different files with different sets? Kim Thomas says: be able to choose which direction to do the flashcards and whether or not to do both sides Kim Thomas says: Yeah, I guess that could work Kim Thomas says: But say I was studying my 200 drugs Kim Thomas says: those would all be in one file, right? Kim Thomas says: What if I only wanted to study the analgesics or something Louis K. Thomas says: Sure. Louis K. Thomas says: The trick with subsets is that you have to know how you will describe the subsets. Kim Thomas says: what do you mean? Louis K. Thomas says: Well, how bout this. Louis K. Thomas says: What subsets where you thining of? Louis K. Thomas says: (thinking) Kim Thomas says: I don't know exactly Kim Thomas says: you just want a for example? Louis K. Thomas says: I want small list of diverse examples. :) Kim Thomas says: Um...OK. studying drugs... Kim Thomas says: divide them up into analgesics, narcotics, contraceptives, steroids, immunosuppresants... Kim Thomas says: enough? Kim Thomas says: is that what you meant? Louis K. Thomas says: Can a drug be in more than one subset? Kim Thomas says: Hmm...hadn't thought about that Kim Thomas says: perhaps Kim Thomas says: Could I change the subset later? Kim Thomas says: Like "good" or "shaky" ? Louis K. Thomas says: huh? Louis K. Thomas says: That's another idea - stats per card... Kim Thomas says: If I decided to quit and then come back but I only want to do the ones that I'm bad at... Kim Thomas says: yeah, that's sounds cool Louis K. Thomas says: As subsets, you could devide them by (what)? Louis K. Thomas says: What they do Louis K. Thomas says: Whether they are in the top X Kim Thomas says: yeah, what family Louis K. Thomas says: Maybe chemical composition Kim Thomas says: side effects Kim Thomas says: indications Louis K. Thomas says: Right. That's what I mean my subsets. Kim Thomas says: OK Louis K. Thomas says: This is where you can get buried in complexity. Louis K. Thomas says: One question is how you enter all this data Kim Thomas says: ok Louis K. Thomas says: The other question is how you tell the program when you are using it which subset you are interested in. Kim Thomas says: yeah Louis K. Thomas says: Pretty soon, you've invented another database query language. :) Kim Thomas says: I see... Louis K. Thomas says: But not to worry. We'll keep it simple to start with and work our way up. :) Kim Thomas says: Sounds good to me :) Louis K. Thomas says: So back to interacting with our chosen set of cards. :) Kim Thomas says: ok Louis K. Thomas says: Actually, I can't think of any more questions. You want a flash card program with everything on it, right? Kim Thomas says: Yeah...I think that pretty much covers it! :) Louis K. Thomas says: OK. I'll see what I can do. Kim Thomas says: Thanks! This obviously isn't a rush project...class doesn't start until Jan 3... :) Louis K. Thomas says: It wount help studying for finals? Kim Thomas says: Um...no, nothing left that really needs flashcards. Louis K. Thomas says: OK then. Louis K. Thomas says: OK, for the quick interface, would the mouse work as well as the keyboard? Kim Thomas says: What do you mean for the quick interface? Kim Thomas says: When I don't want to type in the whole anser, you mean? Louis K. Thomas says: yes Kim Thomas says: yeah Kim Thomas says: that's fine

Louis K. Thomas says: hi Kim Thomas says: Hey! Kim Thomas says: What's up? Louis K. Thomas says: Not much. :) Louis K. Thomas says: It's cold up here! Kim Thomas says: Any snow? Louis K. Thomas says: no - we had a big wind storm on Sunday that blew all teh clouds away. Louis K. Thomas says: Everything was all white and frosty this morning. Louis K. Thomas says: You can sure see the mountains well. Louis K. Thomas says: That's one of the advantages of working on the sixth floor. :) Kim Thomas says: Must be pretty! Kim Thomas says: It's all overcast and rainy here. Kim Thomas says: No mountains in Stockton :) Louis K. Thomas says: Heh. Well, that's what life's usually like here. Louis K. Thomas says: Take your pick - frigid and clear, or cold, grey and rainy. Louis K. Thomas says: But hey, it's winter. Louis K. Thomas says: messed with the flashcards any? Kim Thomas says: Yeah, I'm using it right now actually :) Louis K. Thomas says: Good. :) Working well for you? any problems? Kim Thomas says: No problems Kim Thomas says: I have a few suggestions... Louis K. Thomas says: sure. Louis K. Thomas says: Let me have 'em Kim Thomas says: Right now you can either have it all front to back or back to front... Kim Thomas says: but you can't have 'em mixed up Kim Thomas says: Let's say I want to study brand names and generic names, but I don't care which way it's asked... Kim Thomas says: is it possible to have it ask either? Louis K. Thomas says: Well, I can sure make it that way. :) Kim Thomas says: Cool... something else... Kim Thomas says: You have it set to do a subset and you can choose which cards to include. Would it be too hard to make it so you could choose which ones to exclude as an option? Louis K. Thomas says: Well, I could of course, but you can make it do that already, can't you? Kim Thomas says: Can you? Louis K. Thomas says: Or do you want a second condition ("include these except these")? Kim Thomas says: No you can't. Kim Thomas says: Yeah Louis K. Thomas says: Er, "include where a=b except where c=d" ? Kim Thomas says: no, not necessarily Louis K. Thomas says: you can do "include where a=(b,c,d, or g)" right now. Kim Thomas says: right Kim Thomas says: how about "exclude where a=(b,c,d, or g)" Kim Thomas says: Right now if I want all but a few, I have to click on all but a few. Kim Thomas says: The other way I could just click on the few. Louis K. Thomas says: OK. I can put that in. Louis K. Thomas says: Anything else? Kim Thomas says: Then one other minor detail... Louis K. Thomas says: sure! Kim Thomas says: there's a missing 'd' Kim Thomas says: "You will be shown an you will give as the answer." Kim Thomas says: Just switch an to and Kim Thomas says: :) Louis K. Thomas says: OK. I just fixed that. :) Kim Thomas says: cool! Louis K. Thomas says: Heck, if that's the only typo, I'm doing pretty good. :) Though, of course there isn't much text that the user sees. Kim Thomas says: That's all so far Louis K. Thomas says: OK, One question for you Louis K. Thomas says: You said you want to do both fronts and back Kim Thomas says: yeah? Louis K. Thomas says: Do you want/care if the front and back are treated as separate cards or as the same card? Louis K. Thomas says: does that make any sense? Kim Thomas says: separate would be better Louis K. Thomas says: OK. That makes things easier. Kim Thomas says: Cool :) Louis K. Thomas says: So, how many cards do you have in your largest set? Louis K. Thomas says: (approx) Kim Thomas says: At the moment about 50 Kim Thomas says: but it's growing Louis K. Thomas says: Any noticable speed problems? Kim Thomas says: No Kim Thomas says: It's going to get up to 250 Kim Thomas says: is that all right? Louis K. Thomas says: I don't know. :) Louis K. Thomas says: I hope so. Louis K. Thomas says: I wrote it in a relatively slow language, but I don't know how big things will have to get before it gets too slow. Kim Thomas says: OK Kim Thomas says: well, so far so good, anyway :) Louis K. Thomas says: I expect that the first thing you'll notice being slow is when you change which field you are using for your condition (there's a noticable pause on the 33 card set) and may next when you actually start the quiz. Kim Thomas says: I see Louis K. Thomas says: But so long as the quiz is fast and those don't get too annoying, I think it's fine. Kim Thomas says: I agree Kim Thomas says: I did notice the pause before Kim Thomas says: I thought it was normal so I didn't pay any attention :) Louis K. Thomas says: It's funny that the hardest thing is switching which field the condition is on. :) Kim Thomas says: Can I switch the subject really fast? Kim Thomas says: Do you ever use C++ to program anymore? Louis K. Thomas says: Yes, I do. Louis K. Thomas says: I use it at work all the time. Louis K. Thomas says: Why? Kim Thomas says: Really? Kim Thomas says: OK, for some reason I thought that was old stuff or something Kim Thomas says: I have a friend of a friend who is co-opping (interning) and has to use C++ but doesn't really know how Kim Thomas says: Never mind Louis K. Thomas says: Yeah. I mean everything at work is written in C++ -ish C. Kim Thomas says: I'm going to change the subject back ... :) Louis K. Thomas says: OK Louis K. Thomas says: :) Kim Thomas says: How hard would it be to put in one of those little "browse" boxes when I'm choosing where I want the file to come from for the cards? Louis K. Thomas says: :) I'll look into that. Louis K. Thomas says: I know, that's a major pain, but I wanted to give it to you as soon as I could. Kim Thomas says: No, that's cool. Kim Thomas says: I'm just not used to it Kim Thomas says: every time I have to do something like that there's a browse button so I don't have to learn to do it the other way Kim Thomas says: I'm sure after I do it this way a few times, I get it Louis K. Thomas says: There's a browse button for good reason. :) Kim Thomas says: for lazy people like me? :) Louis K. Thomas says: What, you think I'm any less lazy? I just never used anything but the default. :) Kim Thomas says: Oh, I see :) Louis K. Thomas says: That's why you see things like URL competion in the address bar. We're all lazy. :) Kim Thomas says: Hee hee Louis K. Thomas says: You haven't seen tab-completion and cut-and-past using just single mouse button clicks. Kim Thomas says: no, I haven't Kim Thomas says: you do that? Louis K. Thomas says: Yeah! Not only that, but they put tab-completion in MSDev, which is the prgramming editor from Microsoft. You can just start typing a name, which can get really long, and then hit ctrl-space (not tab in this case) and it finishes for you if it can. :) Kim Thomas says: wow Kim Thomas says: sounds cool to me Louis K. Thomas says: Of course, you have to be in an environment where the computer can guess what you are trying to type, which means that such things are less common in Word, but it actually has them. Kim Thomas says: That's true, like the months and stuff Louis K. Thomas says: Every try typing in the date, and it realizes it and gives you a little yellow tag with the full date? once it does that, you just hit return, and it will finish for you. Kim Thomas says: Yup, that's cool Kim Thomas says: I type too fast though Kim Thomas says: I usually only see a flash of yellow on my screen and wonder, "What was that?" Louis K. Thomas says: Yup. See, Word has a hard time guessing those kinds of things so it doesn't do very many, though I think you can teach it ones. Louis K. Thomas says: Like if you are a secretary and write boiler plate memos, you can just tap a few keys and it will finish it for you Kim Thomas says: Hey, I had another thought on the flashcard program... Louis K. Thomas says: sure Kim Thomas says: I was talking about the front to back thing before Kim Thomas says: What if I had three categories... Kim Thomas says: and I want to have to get the third category from either the first or the second? Louis K. Thomas says: That's true. The computer could do that easily enough. Louis K. Thomas says: Hmm. How do you tell it what you want it to ask? Louis K. Thomas says: Do you just want it to show you a or b and you guess c, or do you want a *and* b to guess c? Kim Thomas says: You could "add an or" to the "you will be shown" section. Kim Thomas says: A or B Louis K. Thomas says: And what about the back-to-front version of that? Kim Thomas says: probably don't need it Louis K. Thomas says: (you now have ... triangular flashcards?) Kim Thomas says: although I've thought triangular flashcards would be good for other classes I've taken Louis K. Thomas says: I can certainly do that, and with as many sides as you want, if you want it. Kim Thomas says: That might be useful, actually Kim Thomas says: there's a problem with that though Louis K. Thomas says: What's that? Kim Thomas says: let's say I have all the drugs and five of them are antibiotics Kim Thomas says: Then the program gives me "antibiotic" and I have no clue which one it's expecting me to give. Louis K. Thomas says: How about this.... Louis K. Thomas says: You can specify as many types of "one directional" cards as you want. Louis K. Thomas says: Then you can do "a->b" + "b->a" to get front and back as if they were real cards Kim Thomas says: I don't exactly understand Louis K. Thomas says: And you could do "a->c" + "b->c" Louis K. Thomas says: And you could do "a->b" "b->a" "a->c" "b->c". Louis K. Thomas says: a = brand name, b = common name, c = purpose Kim Thomas says: yeah Kim Thomas says: but how would I tell it? Kim Thomas says: could I specify for each card? Louis K. Thomas says: Well, right now you get to specify one ... direction I guess? Louis K. Thomas says: You know, You will be shown [a] and will answer [b]. Louis K. Thomas says: Then I'll just put a little button that adds another line just like it Kim Thomas says: ok Louis K. Thomas says: I just have to make sure you don't do something like "a->b" and "a->c" at the same time. Kim Thomas says: Yeah...unless you could somehow get it to say what it's looking for. Kim Thomas says: Hey, I have to go. Kim Thomas says: Thanks for working on this for me! Louis K. Thomas says: I could do that too... Kim Thomas says: It's really awesome! Louis K. Thomas says: OK! Bye! Kim Thomas says: Bye!

1-22-04 @ 1:15 pm
Judy
I need flashcards for developmentally disabled people that are drug dependent and alcohol dependent. Where can I find them? I just want information and I thought someone here would be able to help me.

2004-01-26 : I'm not sure what you are looking for. I don't know what information you want to help people memorize, so I can't help you there. If you had a list of terms to memorize, then you could use this program.
-- Louis