OpenCards

OpenCards

Developer(s)	Holger Brandl
Stable release	2.5.1 / January 5, 2017 (2017-01-05)
Development status	Active
Written in	Java
Operating system	Windows, Linux, Mac OS X
Platform	Cross-Platform (requires JRE)
Available in	English and over 7 other languages
Type	Flashcard spaced repetition
License	BSD
Website	http://opencards.info/

OpenCards is a free spaced repetition flashcard program. The software is similar to SuperMemo, Anki or Mnemosyne.

The flashcards are saved as PowerPoint presentation files and may include text, images, sounds and LaTeX equations. The learning states are saved in hidden meta-data files in the same directory as the flashcards files. OpenCards implements learning schemes for short-term and long-term memorization.

OpenCards uses PowerPoint ppt-files as flashcard sets. Thereby, slide-titles are considered as questions and the slide contents as their answers. OpenCards also supports a reversed mode in which slide contents are treated as questions and the slide title as their answers, which allows to create image, formula or sound questions.

By allowing users to create flashcard files in ppt-format with PowerPoint or LibreOffice, it overcomes the major limitation of other flashcard software, which usually rely on custom formats and flashcard editors. Internally, OpenCards relies on Apache POI to render slides from ppt-files.

OpenCards implements two different learning models. A box-based short-term learning procedure, called last-minute learning, and a more sophisticated long-term memorization model based on the principles of active recall and the forgetting model. The latter is implemented as an improved version of the SuperMemo2 algorithm. The SM2 algorithm had been created for SuperMemo in the late 1980s, but still forms the basis of many spaced repetition software applications. OpenCards's implementation of the algorithm has been modified to allow priorities on cards, and to show cards in order of their urgency.