FishCard is a flash card review program.  It works like regular
flash cards by showing you the question, and when the user "says"
he or she is ready, it shows the answer.  It also gives the user
the option of putting a copy of the card in a separate file to
review later.

The original version of FishCard was written in early 1996 with
HyperCard on the Macintosh.  I had an old program called Flash
Card which allowed multiple choice review, but nothing like
regular flash cards, which just shows the question, then the
answer.  The intention of the import and export features was to
allow simple conversion between the return-delimited Flash Card
format and the FishCard format.

I decided that a MS-DOS version would be nice, as well, and would
make a good first serious entry into the PC shareware market.  And
here it is.  The DOS version has a different interface than the
Macintosh version, but the program does the same thing.  The file
format is cross-platform, so if you can get files between a Mac
and DOS machine (not very difficult anymore), the files will work
flawlessly.

There are a few minor differences between the Mac and DOS
versions.  In the DOS version, when you ask for the "answer", the
DOS version still displays the question while the Mac version does
not.  Also, the Mac version automatically selects a filename for
the Review file, while the DOS version asks for one.

As in the Mac version, although FishCard asks for a "Question" and
an "Answer", there is no need to stick to this.  For example, I
have a FishCard file where the "Question" is really a word or
phrase in English, and the "Answer" is the equivalent in Spanish.

To create new FishCards, select "Create New FishCards" from the
main FishCard menu.  You will then be asked if you want to create
a new file or add to an existing file.  Select the appropriate
option.  You will then be asked to enter a file name.  If you
chose to add to an existing file, the file name must be the name
of an existing FishCard file, which usually end with the extension
".FCD".  You will then see the green double box, which is where
you work with FishCards.  The upper portion is the "Question"
area, and the bottom portion is the "Answer" area.  When you are
entering FishCards, the words "QUESTION" and "ANSWER" appear above
each section as a reminder.  You type your question, press return
or enter, then your answer, then return or enter again.  You will
be asked if you would like to enter another FishCard.  Pressing
"Y" will repeat the process until you answer "N", at which point
your FishCards will be saved and you will return to the menu.

Once you have saved a FishCards file, you can review it at any
time by choosing "Review FishCards" from the FishCard main menu.
You will then be requested to enter the name of your FishCards
file.  Once you select the file, you will be shown the first
question.  When you choose "show Answer" by pressing "A" you will
be shown the answer.  At any time, you can choose "Stop" and the
computer will stop showing the FishCards.

While the answer is displayed there is a choice named "Review".
The intention of the Review choice is to allow you to select
certain FishCards to be reviewed later.  This is especially useful
if you have a 200 card list, and you only want to practice the 20
you are having trouble with.  The cards you select will be saved
in a file with the name you enter the first time you select
"Review" while going through cards.  The FishCard will be kept in
the original file as well.  The review file is completely
independent and does not need the original file.  You can also use
the "Review" choice on files that are themselves Review files.  If
you use the "Stop" button, any FishCards marked for review will
still be saved.

The "Import" option on the FishCard screen allows you to import a
return-delimited text file and save a copy as a FishCard file.  I
created this feature to import some files from an old (1985)
program called Flash Card.  The "Delete first pair?" prompt is
asking you if you want to delete the first pair.  Some programs,
like Flash Card, use the first entry in their file as prompts.
Since FishCard does not use prompts, it offers to delete them.  If
you choose not to and the file had prompts like this, they will
appear as the first FishCard (which could be useful in reminding
you what the "question" and "answer" really are).

The "Export" option has the exact opposite effect.  It converts a
FishCard file to a standard return-delimited text file, and offers
to allow you to add prompts.

Beyond the ability to add to an existing file, there is currently
no built-in way to edit a FishCard file, but there is a way.  A
FishCard file is really a plain text file readable by most word
processors (including Edit, Windows Write).  However, it can be
difficult to edit because there are embedded codes to separate the
question from the answer.  This is useful if all you want to do is
correct a spelling error, or something similar.  The easier way is
to Export it to a text file, make your changes with any program
that supports text files, then Import it back to FishCard.  In
addition, I plan on adding the ability to edit FishCards into my
Macintosh shareware program HyperWorks' Data Base module in
HyperWorks 4.0.  If you are a software author and would like to
know the codes so that you could implement FishCard translation,
contact me and I would be happy to assist you.  Also, if you are
writing your own flash card program and want to use the FishCard
format, please contact me.

FishCard is free.  However, I would still like it if people
registered FishCard so that I can notify users of updates.

To register, run the enclosed REGISTER.COM program.  It will ask
for some information, then print out the registration form.  There
is no need to write anything on the form unless you need to
correct an error.  Put the form in an envelope and mail it to me 
at the address below.

If you have any questions, comments, bug reports, suggestions, or
anything else, you can contact me via e-mail or postal mail.

My e-mail address is:  dsmueller@besler.org
My World Wide Web site is at:
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/1342/index.html

My postal mail address is:
David S. Mueller
6915 E Seaside Walk
Long Beach CA  90803-4559
USA

David S. Mueller

3/15/1997

