What is Crammer?

It is a universal vocabulary tutor. If you wish to cram two or three or five thousand words in a new language for you - it is simple! All you need is patience. Just enter the words you want to cram, and start your studies.

Install the Program

Create your Database

Set your Options

Start to Cram

Enjoy!

The program is Shareware. If you like it, contact me by e-mail address below and send me $20. Registered users have comprehensive support, the latest upgrades and other Things to Come, as well as access to huge dictionary databases in several languages. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions about Crammer, send me them by e-mail: shuikin@rinet.ru.


Install the Program

1.	First place all files from CRAMMER.ZIP in a directory on your hard disk.

2.	Then install the Crammer Font. Look at the font in Character Map and note the location of transcription, cyrillic and other characters.

3.	You can move DLL files to your Windows\System directory, replacing existing ones only if the files you are moving are newer.

Your Database files can reside anywhere on your disk, where they are not write-protected.

There are two versions of Crammer:

•	CRAMMER.EXE is 32-bit version;

•	CRAMMR16.EXE is 16-bit version.


Create your Database

Before you can start to cram, you must have your database properly organised. The file DUMMY.DBF is an example and a template for you to create your own databases. To do it, you must have a program able to edit DBF files.

There are the following fields in the database:

Name	Purpose	Comment
Word	Unknown Word	The unknown word in an unknown language resides there. Its name can be anything you wish.
PART	Part of Speech	You can distinguish equally spelling words with it. You can delete this field.
TRANSCRIPT	Transcription	Use transcription characters in the Crammer Font. You can delete this field.
THIRDLANG	Additional Information	While cramming English words I use it for their Spanish analogues. You can delete this field.
First, Second, …	Translations	Their names are at your discretion, and their number is any - except for zero, of course.
LASTCHANGE	Date of the last test	You neednt change this field.
COUNT	Count of successive right answers	You neednt change this field.

The database structure must satisfy to the following conditions:

1.	the fields order must remain invariable; you can delete fields PART, TRANSCRIPT and THIRDLANG, though;

2.	the fields PART, TRANSCRIPT and THIRDLANG, if present, and LASTCHANGE and COUNT, must have exactly these names;

3.	size of the fields LASTCHANGE and COUNT must remain invariable;

4.	sizes of translation fields must be identical to each other.

The number of records per database is unlimited.


Set your Options

In the Crammers system menu there is Options menu item which opens Crammer Options dialog box. It also appears when you first start Crammer. You can also open it by holding the Shift key when starting the program.

In the dialog there are the following Options:

•	File: you must specify the path to your Database file.

•	Check boxes Transcription, Part of Speech and Third Language will be set automatically.

•	In the Maximum Count you must specify the number of successive right answers after which the word is considered crammed.

•	Optionally you can specify Age Restrictions for words selection.

•	The Funcs button opens Crammer Functions dialog box.

When you press OK, the program reads and validates the database you specified and opens the main Crammer window.

There is also Lock/Unlock feature in the system menu which enables you to protect your database from changing while you leave your computer with open Crammer for a while.


Start to Cram

To run the program, you must have Crammer Font installed, Database properly organised, and Options set for the best results.

When you get started, the program randomly selects a word from your Database using Age Restrictions, shows you the word as well as its part of speech and some additional information you may supply, and asks you to translate it.

You can answer all translations at once and click Ready button (or press Ctrl-Enter or Alt+Enter), or you can enter one answer at a time and click [?] button next to it (or press Ctrl+? or Alt+?).

You must enter the right answer to be praised, but there are different ways to do so:

•	you can just type your answer in; if you make mistakes in some letters, the program will select the answer and wait for you to change it; this is called Interlace Feature;

•	you can type in a part of your answer and use Function Keys to find the whole one.

When the answer is completed, the [?] button next to it becomes dimmed, and the caret goes to the next field. If the answer is correct, its text remains in the light font style, and Right and Total values increase. If it is not, the correct one replaces it in the bold font style, only Total value increases, and Answer icon becomes sad.

If you successfully answer all of the translations for a word, the Count value for the word increases, and the Answer icon becomes glad. The Order icon becomes glad only if all of your answers are right and have the same order as in the database.

Then you click the Continue button (or press Enter key), and the process goes over again.

See also: Shortcuts.


Crammer Functions

The Crammer Functions are several function keys you can use while searching for your answer.

When Crammer starts, it gathers all translations from your Database to one array. Then you can use it to find your answer. Just type some part of the answer and then use the following function keys to find correspondent whole answers:

Key	Function	Retrieves all answers that
F2	Starting Words	start with the word(s) you typed
F3	Contiguous Words	contain the word(s) you typed
F4	Open/Close List	when the list is filled, it works as usual in a list box: opens and closes it. If the list is not filled, it works just as F5 key, if it is allowed; else it works just as F2 key, if it is allowed.
F5	Starting Chars	start with the characters you typed
F6	Contiguous Chars	contain the characters you typed
F7	Interlacing Chars	loosely interlace with what you typed, i. e., contain three of every four characters you typed
F8	Interlacing Words	tightly interlace with what you typed, i. e., that fit to the Interlace Feature
F9	Wildcard Matching	match what you typed, considering '*' and '?' wildcard characters
Down Arrow	when the list is filled, it works as usual in a list box. If the list is not filled, it works just as F4 key, but doesnt open the list.

In the Crammer Functions dialog box you can specify whether a function will or will not be available for a word, depending on the words Count value. You can also specify if answers order and Interlace should be tested, depending on the words Count value. For each Count value there is a set of check boxes, one for each function, one for order test, and one for interlace test.


Age Restrictions

Age Restrictions are periods of delay for words depending on their Count value.

For example, if you want to delay a word for two weeks after its Count reaches five, you type 5:14 in the Age edit control and click [+] button. If you add 0:3 to this list, words will never appear more often than one time in three days.

If for a value of Count there is no entry in the list, the nearest lesser value of Count is used. If there is no such value, no delay is applied.


Count

For each word in your Database there is the Count value showing the number of successive right answers on this word. When the value reaches some preset limit, the word is considered crammed and does not appear again.

It is also used when choosing Age Restrictions for words selection and specifying which Crammer Functions will or will not be available for a particular word.


Crammer Font

The Crammer Font contains as many useful characters as I managed to squeeze into it.

The encoding is as follows:

If you need some symbols that arent there, e-mail me your suggestions: shuikin@rinet.ru.


Interlace Feature

Two strings interlace when they coincide not less than in three characters of every four.

That is, when the longer of the strings has the length N, the strings must have 3N/4 characters in common, taking into account their order.

When you check your answer, Crammer tests it not only for exact matching with the right translation, but also for interlace. If it occurs, the answer is selected, and the program waits for you to correct it. If it doesnt occur, the answer is considered failed.

Among Crammer Functions, there is F8 key which gives you all translations from your Database that interlace with what you typed. There is also F7 key, which does a different thing. It gives you all translations that contain three of every four characters you typed, taking into account their order.


Shortcuts

Alt + A	Displays About message box
Alt + C	Presses Continue button
Alt + E	Presses Refuse button
Alt + L	Locks/Unlocks Crammer
Alt + O	Opens Options dialog box
Alt + R	Presses Ready button
Alt + ? and Ctrl + ?	Press [?] button
Enter	Presses Continue button
Ctrl + Enter	Presses Ready button


Things to Come

These are some things I plan to add to Crammer:

Reverse Mode - possibility to learn translations from your language to another.

Time Control - option to limit amount of time for an answer.

Database Editing - if you don't have an existing database editing program, it will help you.

Interlace Feature Improvement - to allow words transposing.

Count Modes - option not to zero Count on fail, but decreasing it in another way.

Lots of statistics and correspondent options and gadgets in the Status Bar.