ZDT 0.7.0 beta 2 available

[bogleg]

Sorry for the lack of updates the past few months, but the good news is that the beta version of the next ZDT release is now out. If you’re willing to put up with some general bugginess, please check it out and help me test it. Also, thanks to rockytriton for his help on some of the features.

What’s new since 0.6.1.

Major Features

* Interval flashcard testing. The better you know a flashcard, the less often it gets shown to you. Shamelessly copied from the excellent flashcard program IFlash.

* Custom import. (still a work in progress) You can now import word lists that come in a variety of formats.

* Resume last flashcard session. If you close the program or stop a flashcard session in the middle, you will now have the option to resume from where you left off.

* Multiple sound plugin support. If you have multiple sound plugins installed, they will both be available to you to play. NOTE: The old sound plugin will no longer work starting with this version of ZDT. Please download the net.sourceforge.zdt.sound.adso or net.sourceforge.zdt.sound.roddy sound plugins instead.

* Roddy sound plugin available. The sound files were graciously given to me by Roddy. Male voice, no neutral tones.

* Keyboard hotkeys can be changed via preferences.

* Migrated to the Eclipse 3.3 codebase.

Minor changes

* Categories can now be reordered. (Rocky)

* Manually adding or editing an entry will now accept pinyin with tone marks.

* Definition Test no longer selects an answer by default. No longer have to randomly pick an answer if you don’t know it.

* Number of cards in category is displayed in category view and in editor tabs. (Rocky)

* Flashcard character size can be independently adjusted. (Rocky)

* Many other bugfixes!

I'm interested in everyone's comments and feedback. Thanks.

Chris

[drahnier]

Ah! Ive been waiting for this ..

Since I totally depend on zdt for my studies: Before I give it a try, I'd like to ask some questions:

- The download includes a java runtime. I don't want this runtime to be installed, as I already have a current Java version on my system. Can this be done?

- Am I supposed to uninstall the current version (i. e. 0.6.1)?

- Can I finally add items in the form of 因为。。。所以 to my vocab lists?

- Are there any enhancments towards full Vista compatibility (such as UAC awareness, proper use of directories for user specific data) in this build?

Thanks.

[roddy]

I feel I should point out the 'Roddy sound plugin' is not actually my voice. That would be a premium feature

I got those sound files made up for a project of my own which is, characteristically, stalled and I've barely even listened to them myself. Glad they're being of some use.

[bogleg]

Drahnier -

1) The JRE-less version should be up on Sourceforge now.

2) If you would just like to try the beta, you don't have to uninstall the old version. Just install to a different directory. In case you were worried, uninstalling, won't remove your user data. Also keep in mind you can't run two copies of the ZDT sharing the same user data at the same time.

3) Adding special characters like 。。。is still not supported. It's a really popular request but I'm not finished yet with the implementation. Hopefully you'll see it in the next version.

4) My copy of Vista disabled itself. =) Although, I never seemed to have the problems that you did. So no progress on that end.

Roddy -

Hey, that's a great idea. Maybe I can start selling celebrity sound packs.

Chris

[ruidianren2]

This program is made to train/learn Chinese, right? Why is Chinese such a hard language to learn? Because of the characters. Anyone who has studied Chinese for some time knows that the key to understand the Chinese language lies within the characters and their structure. So, whats the best way to learn and understand characters? I think that we all can agree on that the best way to learn characters is to use a pencil and write them over and over.

This leads to my question. Why is there not a 听写 mode, or something simular in this program. It's a extremely usefull feature, that also should be very easy to add. It would only have to be another flashcard mode. It could be a part of the self review, showing the pinyin and translation of the character (both at the same time), or since probably almost everyone that studies Chinese has installed IME or whatever its called, it could be like the write pinyin test, only that this time you could see that pinyin and the translation and would have to write the character.

This feature has been requested for a very long time, and I believe that it should be very easy to add this function. Also, for the purpose of learning Chinese, it probably also would be a allot more usefull function than some of the more advanced functions that was added in the new patch.

I am sorry for sounding a bit harsh, but I believe that this is a very basic feature that should have been added a long time ago. You can train the pinyin, you can train the translation, but there is no way to train the most usefull part: writing the character. Whats the logic in that ?

I hope that you will strongly consider adding this feature asap.

Thank you

[drahnier]

ruidianren2,

I think you're absoluteley corect in pointing out that the best way lof earning those characters is by writing them over and over agin. It took me almost a year to realize this.

I have just purchased a Tablet PC and being able to write Chinese characters with a pen was the main reason why (Windows Vista Tablet IME is pretty good in recognizing Chinese script). Now, if this functionality could somehow be integrated into zdt, that would be awsome. But, I guess, I'm asking too for much.

[bogleg]

Hi ruidianren2,

An overhaul of the Self Review Test is on of the main things I'd like to get to in the next release. The ZDT has a feature to create writing sheets out of your lists which you can print out. This is how they made us learn writing when I was taking Chinese class.

Chris

[ruidianren2]

bogleg

Thanks for your fast reply. Please try to make that next release sooner rather than later. I know that this is a freeware and I am very gratefull to you and all you your hardwork, and I know that I'm in no position to tell you what to do. But, to be honest with you. Getting that update would make a big difference to my, and probably allot other peoples studies. I use ZDT every day. Every morning I go through a hundred or so characters and write them down. Right now I am using the "write pinyin" flashcard test, first writing down the character on a paper then writing the pin yin in the program, but thats not very good since you can see the character already. I know from my own experience that you get allot better results from a test where you cant see the character from the beginning, only the translation and the pinyin.

This way changes how you think. This way you have to know both the meaning of the character and the pinyin, otherwise you wont remember what character it is and how to write it. It forces you to learn. This kind of test is allot harder and gives allot better results for studying.

I used to use another program called "chinese homework trainer" from euroasia software. This program has allot of great ideas for learning Chinese and if your goal is just to learn Chinese, its allot better than ZDT. The problem with this program is that it's old, doesnt work very good with XP and it's hard to organize lists and stuff. If we could have a program that works as good and is as easy to organize as ZDT, and with all the exercises of "Homework trainier", then the world would be an allot better place to learn Chinese in.

If you are serious with ZDT I believe that you should take a look at HomeWork trainer and see what kind of exercises there are and if there is any way to make them work with ZDT.

Here is the adress:http://www.euroasiasoftware.com/ht/index.html It's a freeware now (didn't use to be).

I also believe that the creator of this program, "mandarinboy" is a member of this forum as well.

Thanks

[bogleg]

Hi ruidianren2,

I appreciate your enthusiasm. If you are willing to work and help with testing and providing feedback, then I will make it a priority to work on it.

I am familiar with mandarinboy's program although I have not used it extensively. I've leveraged his work (and other's) for the stroke animations that are included in the ZDT.

Chris

[ruidianren2]

bogleg

I will help you the best I can. I dont really know anything about programming and stuff like that, but I know about studying Chinese. I don't know whats with this forum, but for some reason I can't send messages, view other peoples profiles or anything like that. Is this just me or is it like this for everyone? Also, when I post it takes like 10 hours before the post appears on the forums because "the moderator has to review it first". I dont know any other forum that is like this. It didn't use to be this way. I dont understand why it is now, or maybe there is some restrictions that only affects me? It's not like we are discussing national millitary secrets, whats up with the ridiculus amount of security?

My point is, because of this forums (not so good) administration and strange behaviour, I cant contact you through private messages, see your email adress or anything like that, and I will not post my email on a public board, so how to contact you ?

[bogleg]

My impression was that this should only happen for a user's first post... Perhaps Roddy will read this and help you out. Anyway, my email is fongcn at gmail dot com.

Chris

[bogleg]

I've posted a couple of screenshots on the ZDT blog that show the progress I've made in updating the Self Review Test. Please let me know what you think.

Chris