This file should only give a short overview. More information is available at
our `wiki page`_ (even with a `German version`_).

.. _wiki page: http://openfacts.berlios.de/index-en.phtml?title=Quizdrill
.. _German version: http://openfacts.berlios.de/index.phtml?title=Quizdrill

About
=====
Quizdrill is a program to test mostly memorizing tasks to excess. It was 
inspired by langdrill_, a language drill program, which itself was inspired 
by JavaDrill_. No code came from either, however the quizzes eng-fra.drill, 
eng-jpn.drill, eng-jpn_romaji.drill and eng-svd.drill are taken directly from 
langdrill (french.drill, japanese.drill, romaji.drill and swedish.drill). 
Quizdrill offers multiple choice test as well as simple test (where you type 
the answer). As opposed to langdrill quizdrill should ask the questions 
depending on previous answers to make learning as efficient as possible. Note 
however, that a lot of work still needs to be done.

.. _langdrill: http://storm.prohosting.com/borco/programming/langdrill.html
.. _JavaDrill: http://www.righto.com/java/fonts/learn.html

Other testing programs that might be of interest to you include granule_,
AKFQuiz_, Pauker_, or mnemosyne_.

.. _granule: http://granule.sourceforge.net
.. _AKFQuiz: http://akfquiz.akfoerster.de/
.. _Pauker: http://sourceforge.net/projects/pauker/
.. _mnemosyne: http://mnemosyne-proj.sourceforge.net/

Licence
-------
All files (exepet the licence file GPL-2 itself) are released under the GPL: 
You can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General 
Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 
of the License, or (at your option) any later version. See GPL-2 for the 
details.

Dependencies
------------
* python_ (tested with 2.4)
* pygtk_  (tested with 2.8.6)

.. _python: http://www.python.org/
.. _pygtk: http://www.pygtk.org/

Install
-------
There is no need to install quizdrill. If you have the dependencies installed, 
just start it directly at src/quizdrill.py (e.g. with "python
src/quizdrill.py"). 

It can however be installed if you prefer that. The easiest way is the standard
distutils way "python setup.py install". To install it in your home directory
use the option "--home" or for a different folder the "--prefix" option. For 
more details see the `Installing Python Manual`_.

.. _Installing Python Manual: http://www.python.org/doc/current/inst/inst.html

To use the standard packaging (or installer) for your system build it with:

   python setup.py bdist_win           for a Windows Installer
   python setup.py bdist_rpm           for a Linux RPM-Package
   fakeroot dpkg-buildpackage -b       for a Linux Debian-Package

and then install the package (or installer) the way you are used to for your
OS.

Usage
-----
Quizdrill is designed to really drill you while you are working on the 
computer. After you answered some questions, it will minimize (iconify) and 
wait until your break is over (15min). You can however minimize it at any time 
and continue later. It will however unminimize to remind you (after 5min).

The different quizzes can be found in the quizzes folder. Just load one of
theme and test it.

Help needed
===========
Quizdrill is a new Project and could use a lot of help. The easiest way and 
very appreciated is to send in your quizzes or extend the ones included. 
Feature requests, bug reports and patches are very welcomed at the 
`project page at berlios`_. Questions and feedback can be sent to the 
`mailing list`_.

.. _project page at berlios: http://developer.berlios.de/projects/quizdrill
.. _mailing list: quizdrill-main@lists.berlios.de

Adding new Quizzes
==================
The syntax of quizzes is very simple. A short look at one of them in the 
quizzes folder and you should know everything you need.

Lines starting with a "!" are meta-data giving information of the quiz itself. 
Lines containing only white-spaces or start with a "#" are ignored. Lines 
starting with a "[" start a new section and should end with a "]" (excluding 
white-spaces). It is strongly recommended that section-title is given in both 
languages, each separated by a "=". The actual vocabulary/quiz are a simple 
pair per line, separated by a "=".

Converting quiz files from langdrill
------------------------------------
langdrill drill files are by design very similar to quizdrill's. The only 
difference are the header lines. To convert a langdrill drill file, replace the 
[Application]-section with

   !type: vocabulary
   !language: <value of "directSenseName">=<value of "reverseSenseName">

and that is it. Note however, that quizdrill has a style-guideline for the 
quizfiles, which you might want to follow. However this can be done quickly and 
is not mandatory to be included to the quizdrill quizzes. So just send then to 
us rather than waiting into you are in the mood to fix it yourself ;-).

Project Goal
============
To offer an easy and efficient way for "learning-by-testing", this includes  
creating programs to do the testing (tracking the results and selecting the 
next question), the different tests from many different topics (vocabulary, 
spelling, geography, math, ...) and documentation.
