Hi everybody, I think this is a little off topic.
I just wanted to ask if somebody is using spaced repetition to study things other than Chinese.
I would like to use it to study computer science subjects like programming languages, network protocols etc.
Do you have any suggestion or considerations?

As for the software, I think I will use Anki since it's opensource and run on linux. I've tried it and it seems quite good.

I use Anki. It's pretty good. It's actually too good. It's constantly updating and it has more features than you know what to do with. I find it a little uncomfortable how many controls I have.

I use spaced repetition to study several other languages, for which I think it's the best thing since sliced bread. I have looked at Anki and was favorably impressed, although, excluding Skritter, I don't use any of those systems (I use paper flashcards).

I'm a professional computer programmer and a mathematics professor, and I have also tried to apply spaced repetition to those areas, with generally terrible results. I find that memorizing by rote, which is extremely useful for learning human languages, is not generally useful in computer science. If you're working at a computer, the things which require memorization can always be looked up.

For CS, I find that learning by doing is much, much more effective. If you want to learn a programming language, just start using it for a project. If you want to learn a network protocol, implement both ends of it. When you get done you will know it inside and out.

James

I agree with James. I actually started out a little over a year ago with little to no HTML, CSS, Javascript, Django, or really any kind of web development experience. I'd tinkered with it but never gotten around to learning much. Over the last year, making this site, I've gotten much much more comfortable with all these tools and then some.

Of course if it's something you want to learn but not part of your work/school, you can always make up a fun project to do. When I was starting to learn python I tried making a program that could find the degree of separation between two wikipedia articles. I didn't finish the program, but I learned plenty about python, networking, and multi-threading, and it was fun to do.

And for your original question, I actually haven't used spaced repetition at all! But when the Japanese Skritter is up and running...

Scott -it seems like you've made a lot of progress in one year. Much respect.

Gattosilvestro - I remembered that psychologists distinguish between explicit or declarative memory on the one hand and procedural memory on the other. AFAIK explicit memory is knowledge of facts which are normally only expressed verbally: your name, the date, who's the President of the United States, etc. Procedural memory often not verbalized and is how you remember how to open a door, how to dance salsa, how to play the guitar, how to ride a bike, etc.

Learning the definitions and concepts of CS requires explicit memory, and so would be amenable to spaced repetition. For example, I find that I memorize mathematical definitions and formulae quite well using spaced repetition. Learning how to APPLY those concepts, however, learning how to use the definitions and formulae you've memorized, or learning how to program, requires developing procedural memory. I don't think spaced repetition systems like Anki are really set up very well to help you develop procedural memory, although maybe they could be adapted.

James

I currently use Supermemo for vocabulary. It's worked great so far but I'm getting frustrated with the program's tendency to wig out in certain situations. I'm considering switching.

So with Anki, you can store your data online and also study online? That sounds pretty cool. Any chance it will import data from Supermemo?

Actually, I just answered my own question. It says that you can import from supermemo. I might try this out. If there was no import feature it would be insane, considering I have over 5000 items in supermemo. Now, if you added "vocabulary" review on skritter, that would be pretty killer.

Vocabulary review meaning like pinyin and definition practice? I'm working on the front end for that starting this week, since I'm almost done with my end of the Japanese alpha.

Anki is indeed sweet, and we will be itching to make it easy to move items between Anki and Skritter. We hope to do SuperMemo and others as well, but I haven't looked at their format.

Raise high the chalice of spaced repetition!