I enjoy this program! I especially like the ability to pick a sub-repetoir and then study the positions randomly. It would be nice if I could limit the depth when doing random studies though -- say to 12 ply. Maybe I'm mistaken, but it seems like the ply depth control doesnt work when studying the positions randomly.
Anyway the main thing I wanted to talk about is this:
Flashcards for learning a language often employ "spaced repitions" as a way to account for gradual forgetting. Thus positions periodically get retested. See the following picture of how a program named StackZ works. Looking at that picture, imagine "Lesson1" to be named "Black Rep -- Nimzo" and Lesson 2 to be renamed "Black Rep - Queens Indian" for example. In each of the 5 stacks in a row from left to right are all the positions in that sub-repetoir. As you get them correct they move to a higher stack to the right. Wrong, then they move to the left. The darker color in each stack corresponds to age -- how long since those positions have been tested. If you see a stack that is black then it has not been reviewed for a long time and so you click on that stack to study it. The stacks to the right are the ones you know the best and so they age slower.
The StackZ system demotes a mistake one stack to the left. A "Leitner" style of flash card would demote a mistake all the way to the far left stack.
Another program called "supermemo" is rather cumbersom and poorly written but basically tells you each day which flash cards need to be studied, and they are presented to you. It has an algorithem that basically takes the interval between testing periods and multiplies it by a number bewteen 1.3 and 2 everytime you get a correct answer. Thus correct answers today will still come back in two days and then maybe 3 days, then 5 days and then perhaps 10 days etc. I don't like Supermemo because it is in control whereas with StackZ, you are left in control. Yet another flash card system is call vTrain.
So all three of these programs are for learning mostly written materials, but I think perhaps they might give you some ideas about "spaced repetitions" for your marvelous CPT program .
I am not suggesting you stop doing things the way you do, but only add some sort of spaced repition feature. In MS Access I made a "supermemo" style set of flashcards, and all I needed to do was add a field for current interval between repitions, and date for when the flash card would be due. I had a choice of buttons to push on if I new the position really well, OK, or not at all, and that was the algorithm to determine my next interval. THus if card was due today, and current interval was 7 days, and I selected that I knew the card VERYWELL, then the interval is mult times 1.7, and so the card comes back in about 12 days from now to be tested again.
