[lojban-beginners] Re: Test post, and request for help ...

[Chris Capel <pdf23ds@gmail.com>]

On 9/21/05, Sunnan <sunnan@handgranat.org> wrote:
> Chris Capel wrote:
> >I'm not too familiar with Python's FFI ability. Would it be possible
> >to take a Windows dll (i.e. the actual implementation of the Supermemo
> >algorithm) and use it for the repetition spacing in your script? I'm
> >fairly confident it would be trivial in Windows, but what I'm not sure
> >about is whether one can use wine to make a Linux version of the dll
> >that can be consumed by Python. If so, I think this method would be
> >much preferable to reimplementing the algorithm.
> >
> >The Supermemo dll is at http://supermemo.com/english/sm8opt.htm if you
> >or anyone else should want to try your hand at this.
> >
> >Chris Capel
>
> If we're still depending on SuperMemo code I don't see the point. I'm
> interested in helping out with this endeavor because I'm interested in
> free software.

I'm pretty sure the license of the DLL in question allows for gratis
and relatively unrestricted codistrubiton with Colin's code, whatever
free license he might release it under. The point of using it is that
it's probably very close to the ideal algorithm, and you get it with
no effort. I imagine a naive Leiter cardfile system would be 30% less
efficient.

On the other hand, a less sophisticated algorithm would be pretty
straightforward to code, and the interface to the repetition algorithm
is only a single, simple function, so for those of your that are
strict about the ideological purity of the software you use, and don't
mind it taking 10-30% more effort to learn Lojban, it would probably
be easy to make the algorithm pluggable, and you could opt for the
completely free one.

Chris Capel
--
"What is it like to be a bat? What is it like to bat a bee? What is it
like to be a bee being batted? What is it like to be a batted bee?"
-- The Mind's I (Hofstadter, Dennet)