Show HN: Learn Your Favorite Editor With Spaced Repetition

https://www.shortcutfoo.com/blog/introducing-interval-training-for-shortcuts/

by watterssn • 13 years ago

49 15 13 years ago

If you make a typo in a command and try to backspace it marks it as wrong, gives you the next, and potentially marks several as wrong until you notice that you can't backspace.

Is that intentional?

Otherwise, had a very quick play and it's nicely produced, but I can't assess its efficacy just now. Have bookmarked - looks interesting.

UberMouse• 13 years ago

I'm getting boxes for alt and control instead of a character. Windows 8 x64, Chrome version 29.0.1521.3 dev-m

inetsee• 13 years ago

I would think one would be better off learning how to use one of the Spaced Repetition applications like Anki, Supermemo, etc. Then you could learn editor shortcuts, programming language syntax and semantics, tool and application commands, and anything else you want to that fits into the flashcard model of instruction.

jdhendrickson• 13 years ago

I've had an account for a while and it definitely has helped my Vim-foo, one of the few little cutesy services I've actually paid money for. It's somewhat relaxing and the fact that it's not some kind of monthly payment pulled me in. The database of shortcuts grows all the time as well. If you are considering trying it out I recommend it.

finnw• 13 years ago

I was just thinking the exact opposite. I am really not convinced that the site can be maintained indefinitely for a $15 one-off payment per user. And when it inevitably closes down I will feel cheated out of the "lifetime" of service I paid my $15 for, whereas I would have been happy to pay $60 a year for it. ($5/month would also ring alarm bells for me, even though the total price would be the same.)

miloshadzic• 13 years ago

Well done. Reminds me a lot of when I was learning to touch type(I think it was called Typing Tutor). I'm going to pay at least for the smallest plan.

treerock• 13 years ago

I'm having a problem with not overriding the browser shortcuts. One of the shortcuts I'm supposed to be learning is shift-ctrl-T, but when I type that in a plugin window opens instead (in this case LastPass). And ctrl-U (soft undo in sublime text) sometimes opens view source.

doktrin• 13 years ago

It definitely does not play well with Vimperator (firefox), which is unsurprising.

Looking forward to trying this out though.

sherr• 13 years ago

I'm using Anki (http://ankisrs.net/) which is a similar system (spaced-repetition/flashcards). I'm using the "fat" client, although it syncs to all my desktops. I only have one "deck" at the moment (vim) and am building it up. I think it is helping me a lot.

davesims2• 13 years ago

An unsolicited endorsement: I switched from TextMate to vim/tmux in February, and shortcutfoo.com cut my vim curve down by many weeks. Later I also started using it for git, even though I've been on git for years, and already have several new git tricks I didn't know before. I've been recommending it ever since -- great service guys!

It's like a tools kata for my fingers. I run a few reps most mornings just to get warmed up.

stdbrouw• 13 years ago

So, I love anything spaced repetition and am addicted to Anki, but when it comes to productivity in your favorite editor, I feel the bigger problem is learning how to use various bits of functionality in a realistic setting and learning to see when you have a time saver at your disposal. Learning to automatically recognize "when in situation X, use Y with shortcut Z" rather than simply "Z is a shortcut for Y".

davesims2• 13 years ago

I agree, and the way I've been using shortcutfoo is, when I get a new command in my fingers that I think I'll really use, I immediately stop drilling on the website, hop over to vim and actually use it a few times. That's been a good combination for me.

zodiac• 13 years ago

I've been hoping that there was a text editor that integrated a learning aid like this at the beginning, which consciously tried to eliminate the need for "10 great keyboard shortcuts of xxx editor you didn't know about" posts on the internet

thebadplus• 13 years ago

Not bad, but doesn't really solve this problem. I'm fluent in emacs, but I'm slow with the drilling. The reason is that when I type the shortcut when I think about what I want to do. This test makes you associate the text you see with the shortcut that you type, which is different from associating an action that you want to do with the correct shortcut.

The other issue was that several of the shortcut key controls created unintended consequences in the browser.

zhenjl• 13 years ago

Interesting site. Good timing too as I am just starting to move from VIM to WebStorm. Not exactly sure how well this works though. I find that the best way to learn a new editor is just to immerse oneself in the editor and go through a week or two of editing, either with your own project or just follow a book/video.

Show HN: Learn Your Favorite Editor With Spaced Repetition

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