>>> This is a LINUX program <<<
Here is my first useful program that uses VDK. Between 1998 and 2001 I have been in Japan. At the beginning I have try to learn the Japanese language and so Langdrill was borne to help me test my vocabulary. Searching the net for similar things, I have discovered JavaDrill which is a nice program but lacks something I want:
- You can't use words from several lessons.
- You have to reload the Java Applet if you modify the input files and whant JavaDrill to use them.
- No way to specify/modify the number of possible choices yo are given to choose from.
It has some support for Japanese text displaying, but it can be used for testing vocabulary with other languages. Nevertheless, in this case, those languages should use 7bit coding system. The langdrill check only for Japanese. Bellow are some screen shots made during running it.
How is the program working ?
- Starting the program with no arguments will make langdrill to look for a configuration file called default.drill in the current directory or an alternate directory. The alternate directory is hard coded in the program. In the distro archive, this is set to /usr/local/etc/share/vdk/landrill. If the file is not found at these locations, then the program will terminate. Giving an argument, langdrill consider it a filename, and tries to use it as the configuration file.
- Currently there are 2 configuration files in the distribution: default.drill and romaji.drill. The romaji.drill has Japanese words written in Romaji (aka using Roman letters). It was created mainly for Mario Motta (the father of VDK), as his computer doesn't have Japanese fonts. It is not updated regularly. The default.drill has words from my Japanese classes. I will try to keep this updated.
- After program is started, it reads the available lessons. These lessons are displayed in the Lessons list. If you don't select any lesson, the langdrill uses the first lesson by default.
- The first page of the notebook Words displays all the words cotained in the lessons selected in the Lessons list.
- The most important page is the Multiple Quiz. On top you have a frame with a label. You have to press one of the buttons from bellow that contains the correct translation. The status bar will show the result of your choice.
- On the Simple Quiz page you can use an input method to directly introduce the answers. I like the skkinput but be aware: you will get an sigsegvs if you close langdrill while skkinput is opened (note: I have been told that skkinput works nicely now. You should chek).
- Pressing Start you start the quizzes. The words used in quizzes are only from the selected lessons. Using the Lessons list, you can make any combination you feel suites better your needs.
- The number of quiz answers can be changes during run-time changing the Possible Answers field. You can't have more than 99 answer buttons. To apply the change you have to press the button Apply. This will also reset all the counters and start the drill from the beginning.
- Timer Setup notebook page contains some useful switches to control the behaviour of langdrill. If Use Timer is enabled, the application can be no more closed. Trying to close it will minimize it or hide it, depending on Hide Window. Enabling the Use Answer Step will make the langdrill to hide/minimize automatically when the number of good answers equal with that from the Answer Step is reached. The langdrill will reaper by itself after Time Step minutes.
- The Reload button lets you reload the active configuration file. This is handy if you have made changes to this file and want to see their effect without restarting the program.
- The Load... button lets you choose and load a completly different configuration file.
For compiling the program you need the VDK libs. Please take them from the VDK home page. After you have the VDK libs installed, just give a make to compile the program.
