QuickStudy is a memory application for Windows Mobile that allows people to study a language (or anything else that can be presented in a Question / Answer format) while on the go. For the moment, the program is still a work in progress, which is why it’s currently being offered as a “Beta Release”. It will work on Windows Mobile 5 and 6 devices, and might even work on Windows Mobile 2002 and 2003 PDAs if given enough time.

The idea to write this program came after discovering that learning vocabulary through printed lists did little to teach language, but instead reinforced a well-established habit of remembering patterns and sequences. For these (and several other) reasons, I decided that the best way to resolve the matter would be to use my trusty HP iPaq and get a powerful, yet simple, application to drill me on language. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything that worked well enough for me. There were a few out there, but they required just way too much fiddling around to make work.

Luckily, writing software is much easier than learning a (spoken) language!

You can download the Current Version here!

Would you like to contribute to the project? A donation of any amount will go towards keeping QuickStudy free for everyone, and will afford me the time to expand the application to a multitude of platforms. Current plans include making QuickStudy available on SymbianOS, Google’s Android, Linux, the iPhone, and maybe even Windows … although there are already several excellent applications for people to use on that system.

Currently, the system requirements are as follows:

  • Device running Windows Mobile 5 or 6
  • Microsoft Compact Framework 3.5 (this will be eliminated in the future)
  • 2 MB of on-device storage space (24 MB if you need the Universal Font)
  • 315 MHz (or faster) Processor

Version 0.1.0.1 is the most current release, and it comes with the following features:

  • Importing of Quiz Question/Answer data from XML files
  • Creation, Editing and Deletion of Quizzes
  • Random Question Presentation
  • Swapping of Questions and Answers
  • Random Swapping of Questions and Answers
  • One-Handed Operation (for those standing on Subways)
  • Allows over 65,000 Quizzes to be installed and over 2.1-billion questions
  • Quiz Tests of 50 or 100 Questions
  • Timed Quizzes
  • Zoom (75% - 200%)
  • Recorded progress to ensure memorized questions are shown less often (on an ever widening scale)
  • Application is localizable to any location via a user-customizable XML file
  • Change Font to Preferred Type (Good for UTF-8 Font Selection)

Upcoming Features:

  • Multiple-choice questions
  • Multi-language dictionary (with option to directly download languages and updates as they become available)
  • Direct download of updates and language files
  • On-Device Help and Documentation
  • Whatever you’d like to see

The list is growing daily, but these are the main features at the moment. If you have any suggestions for features or functions that you’d like to see in QuickStudy, please send an email through my contact form, and I’ll be sure to get back to you about it.

Installing the Application

Installing QuickStudy is really quite simple. Simply copy the installation file to your PDA via ActiveSync or through the memory card and run it. QuickStudy will checks for a database the first time it runs and, if the PDA doesn’t have one already, you can create it by clicking yes when prompted.

Creating the database will take about 15 seconds (depending on your PDA) and then you’ll be met with a blank selection screen. QuickStudy (for now) comes with the first four levels of Japanese vocabulary for each of the four Proficiency Test levels. Open the Import utility as seen in the pictures, and you can then select one of the XML files to import. There are over 8,000 words in total, and I’m sure that this will have words challenging to everyone from beginner to near-native.

Once the import is complete, you can hit “Done” and load the quiz to begin your study!

Viewing Japanese (or any other Non-Roman-based) Characters

In order to view non-Roman characters, your PDA will need to be able to do this already. If it can’t, then don’t worry, there is a solution!

You can copy a usable font from your Windows-based computer (C:\Windows\Fonts directory) to the /Windows/Fonts directory on your PDA. If you don’t have a good font to use, then you can download Microsoft’s Unicode Arial font here (Arial MS Unicode - 22 MB). It is quite large, but it will display any UTF-8 character, regardless of the language.

Once you’ve added the font to your system, be sure to restart QuickStudy, and it will find the newly installed fonts. Simply select the one you want from the Tools menu on the main screen, and you’re done!

Documentation

Ah, documentation … always the last thing created by a developer. I’ll get some documentation on here (in the form of a PDF, as well as a page) in the next few weeks but, because QuickStudy is still an Alpha, this is not something I would like to invest a great deal of time in. The main goal of this project is for me to get a solid application written to help people all over the world study languages, and then begin the fun of getting the application ready for installation on cell phones.

That said, if you have any specific questions about the application, you can contact me at the email address above (it’s also in the about screen of QuickStudy).

Where to Download

You can download the latest version of QuickStudy here.

Change Log

2008.09.06

  • updated font functions to load menu of all installed fonts and allow user to pick font of choice
  • added UseFontStyle SysVar to record FontStyle preference
  • Arial Unicode TTF font depreciated (rather quickly) with option to be downloaded from j2fi.net

2008.09.05

  • updated customer Question/Answer string to permit any combination of Quiz Data
  • corrected small glitch with Question Swapping
  • added Arial Unicode TTF for users without Japanese (or other language) PDAs

2008.09.04

  • modified Questions table to reduce load on processor duruing Progress Check queries
  • About screen now shows Detailed Application Information
  • Updated Progress Recording code
  • eliminated depreciated function calls
  • corrected “Next Display Date” mathematics
  • optimized Question Retrieval
  • added Custom3 and Custom4 fields [nvarchar(250)]
  • started implementation of custom Question/Answer string formatting

2008.09.03

  • added code to check for questions to be reviewed counts

2008.08.31

  • added Quiz Delete function
  • fixed bug when exiting Study screen while in a quiz
  • improved application load time (by 0.31 seconds…)

2008.08.28

  • added Countdown Timer to Study Screen when doing timed Quiz
  • corrected Total Time display on Quiz Results

2008.08.24

  • Completed Quiz Testing code on Study screen (both numbered, and countdown)
  • Corrected small problems with the Study screen
  • Added “Delete” function to Quiz Edit screens

2008.08.22

  • corrected issues with very large quizzes (10,000+ questions)
  • faster loading of application
  • added multi-language support to application

2008.08.20

  • new Zoom-Level function added to Quiz screen to make reading easier
  • new Database Updating software installed for seamless upgrades of all future QuickStudy releases
  • faster load time of Quiz information on front page
  • faster Quiz Imports
  • faster Question/Answer loading in Study screens
  • elimination of pesky glitch when pressing “Review” button in Study screen before showing answer
  • elimination of (most) character-based errors when importing Quizzes
  • better random question engine
  • Study screen remembers personal settings

2008.08.18

  • Initial release