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Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system

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Re: Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system

#191

Post by gofreddygo »

btilly wrote: post #40

I think that the real power of spaced repetition is not in flashcard applications like this. It is in behavior modification. Let's take a real example to show how this works. August 19, 2025. My wife called me in to help her decide what to do about a dentist that she thought was ripping her off. A couple of quick suggestions later, and she went to being mad at me about not having heard the problem through before tryi…

Very interesting example. For me spaced repetition today looks very different than it used to till a few years ago.

My "system" is now some google docs, some google sheets and some html hosted on my domain. I have no black box algorithm to offload to.

I'm now curious if i could try applying it to everyday things i learn and want reinforcement on along with the technical stuff i want handy. Thanks for sharing.

Re: Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system

#192

Post by david_allison »

pityJuke wrote: post #140
tvshtr wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that many devs missed the fact that Anki went through major rewrite and all of its business logic/its brain/api are now contained in few rust crates. They're a pleasure to work with and it's very easy to write alternative frontends (just finished one). You don't have to import anything because you can just use the same db, and cards as Anki.

This feels as if it deserves a write up, did not know that they migrated from Python to a primarily Rust backend. Would love to know the why/what from the team. (Anecdotally, Anki has seen a huge quality increase in the past couple of years.)

The Rust backend code is shared between all platforms (Desktop, Android, iOS and Web). This wasn't feasible with the Python code.

From an Android (AnkiDroid) perspective, it's allowed us to remove most of our code which was manually ported from the Python backend, with guaranteed 1:1 compatibility with upstream.

We've moved from being years behind upstream to being able to release in tandem with the Desktop app.

We also migrated to common screens written in Svelte, to reduce the maintenance burden of UI changes for screens with high churn (Deck Options being the primary example).

Re: Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system

#193

Post by wisty »

IAmBroom wrote: post #177
wisty wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A couple of quick suggestions later, and she went to being mad at me about not having heard the problem through before trying to fix it badly Sounds like you're not the only one at fault lol. Do you get mad at your wife if she offers suggestions before emotionally connecting? And would it still be too late even if she realises how "stupid she was"?

So what? She isn't replying, and he* isn't talking about her faults. The story is about his introspection and self-correction. *Assuming poster's gender.

OK but if a woman (assumed) was saying she was using flash cards to learn how to stop her disregulated husband from taking out his anger on her over his own dumb mistakes (my interpretation maybe but no is actually disagreeing) .... you wouldn't be questioning me calling it out.

Re: Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system

#194

Post by dkarl »

allarm wrote: post #189
shakna wrote: post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eight years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15302279 I mean... Its even in the FAQ. It's a question people care to ask.

> Eight years ago Kind of proves my point. Someone asked a question 8 years ago, that doesn't look like something that has any effect on adoption really.

When you put it in the FAQ, it's an admission that it's frequently asked, and it kinda preempts any subsequent record of curiosity.

Re: Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system

#196

Post by pityJuke »

david_allison wrote: post #192
pityJuke wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This feels as if it deserves a write up, did not know that they migrated from Python to a primarily Rust backend. Would love to know the why/what from the team. (Anecdotally, Anki has seen a huge quality increase in the past couple of years.)

The Rust backend code is shared between all platforms (Desktop, Android, iOS and Web). This wasn't feasible with the Python code. From an Android (AnkiDroid) perspective, it's allowed us to remove most of our code which was manually ported from the Python backend, with guaranteed 1:1 compatibility with upstream. We've moved from being years behind upstream to being able to release in tandem with the Desktop app. We a…

Thanks for the insight, and a general thanks for AnkiDroid as well!

Re: Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system

#197

Post by mxgrn »

I also wanted a frictionless card creation experience, and I didn't want another (mobile) app for that. I'm only using SR for new vocabulary in a foreign language, so I created a multilingual AI-powered Telegram bot [1] that does just that.

Creating a flash card is as simple as sending a word (or expression) you want to learn. The bot takes care of the rest: generates the translation, pronunciation, and examples.

The bot also uses FSRS for SR.

[1] https://lexicorn.ai

Re: Hashcards: A plain-text spaced repetition system

#198

Post by treetalker »

kuil009 wrote: post #105

Rather than treating SRS as a learning tool for facts, I find it far more valuable as a system for recording and periodically revisiting past judgments, especially to reflect on whether a decision made in context was actually a good one.

I too would appreciate learning more about your implementation. This seems akin to Andy Matuschak's concept of "spaced everything".

I presume you use FSRS. What do your card prompts look like? And how do you go about performing, evaluating, and scoring your review of each card?

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