nanomemo

nanomemo

Nanomemo is a command-line implementation of the SuperMemo SM2 algorithm for Spaced Repetition Study. It presents you with a bunch of flash cards based on a CSV input, tracks your performance over time for each card, and tries to show you the right cards at each moment to maximize your effort in forming long-term memory of the subject matter.

If you've used Anki, it's basically a shitty version of Anki.

How to queue up facts to learn

You create a CSV file of "," lines, then you call nanomemo like:

nanomemo -input=my.csv

Additionally, if your questions are URLs or files, you can instruct nanomemo to open them with /usr/bin/open when presenting questions like this:

nanomemo -input=my.csv -openqs

This is useful for associating names to gravatars :)

How to use it

Once you've started nanomemo, you'll be presented with your question. Try to think of the answer, then press any key to reveal the answer. nanomemo now expects you to press a key from 0-5, with the following meanings:

• 0: I had no idea.
• 1: Once I saw the answer, I sort of remembered.
• 2: When I saw the answer, I had an "oh yeah..." moment.
• 3: Remembered the answer, but it was difficult.
• 4: Remembered the answer after brief hesitation.
• 5: Immediate recall.

Once you press a key in 0-5, it will move on to the next question. Which number you push will determine how long it is until you are presented with the question again.

Running nanomemo on the same dataset every day is highly recommended: Old questions you previously recalled immediately will be presented to you again as the memories start to fade.