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List:       kde-edu
Subject:    [kde-edu]: new project / ktimes?
From:       Michael Hofer <michaelhofer () gmx ! net>
Date:       2002-08-04 12:35:32
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Hello!

I had an idea for a project yesterday and wrote a short description and a list 
of possible features:

My idea is based on a old DOS-program I liked very much when I was about 12 
years old. We played it in the mathematic-lessons in school.
It was kind of a mathematic-trainer. First you had to choose the type of 
calculation you wanted to practise (additions, substractions, 
multiplications, divisions,....) and then the difficulty (how many 
digits,...).
The reason why this was fun to play was that you had very limited time to type 
in the results - it was a race against the clock. After you typed in the 
result, there was a short message saying "right" or "wrong" and immediately 
after that, the next equation appeared.
If you typed no answer within the time limit, the program continued to throw 
the next equation on you. The time you had for each equation, got 
continuously shorter while playing.

Looking around on the kde-edu-website, I found "ktimes", which seems to be 
similar to my idea. Beside the fact that ktimes operates only on 
multiplications while I think of integrating all kinds of basic arithmetical 
operations, there seem to be a few conceptual differences:

I haven't tried KTimes yet, but it appears to be for younger children (6 to 
10), which learn multiplication for the first time (correct me if i'm wrong). 
The program I had in mind would be for "children" from 10 to 99 (at least I 
still like playing something like this :-)
I see it more as a "mental arithmetic trainer" than as an "educational aid".
I want to emphasize the competition-aspect - it should feel more like a game 
in which you try to beat the "highscore".

Possible features I have in mind include:
- different difficulty levels
- different combinations of arithmetic operations
- point-system (dependent on speed, accuracy, difficulty,...)
- highscore-lists
- 2player-mode (on one pc / network?)

What do you think about all those ideas?
I don't know if it would be better to integrate all this in ktimes or to start 
a seperate project.
If integrated in ktimes, there could be two different modes (as mentioned in 
the plans for the kcontrol-module):
- a "child mode" for learning (with all the fancy graphics, images,...)
- and an "adult mode" for competition (maybe with a more "conventional" 
interface?)

I have some experience with software design and development under dos/windows, 
but haven't done a unix/kde/qt-project so far. So any help is highly 
appreciated....

Btw: Where in CVS is KTimes? I couldn't find it in the POST_KDE_3_0_BRANCH (as 
stated on the homepage), nor in kdenonbeta.

thank you and servus,
Michael
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