Torii - SRS learning application for vocabulary

Looks like a nice app, but Java is a non-starter for me. I’d rather be eaten alive by wild dogs than install a Java (or Flash) runtime in 2018.

@sirvine
Java and Flash are two completely different things :stuck_out_tongue:

(Adobe) Flash is a software platform mainly used for production of animations, internet applications and embedded web browser video players. It’s quite insecure, deprecated and will finally be put to rest in 2020.

Java is the most popular programming language in the world, used by 90% of the Fortune 500 companies and run on billions of devices. It’s also the official language of Android development (which is by far the most popular smartphone operating system). Java isn’t going away anytime soon :wink:

Oops—sorry. I assumed you’d make the connection between the JVM and the Flash interpreter, both of which are notorious vectors for security exploits. Popularity is a double-edged sword, after all.

I wasn’t insulting your choice of language. (Trust me, I’d never engage in language flame wars.) My point was that installing JVM on a Mac is a non-starter for me, and probably lots of other people who value Mac OS’s relative “invulnerability” to exploits.

Well there are major differences between Java desktop applications and Java web applications (Applets). The problem is the Java web browser plug-in, which can execute Java Applets automatically and thus run untrusted code without having explicitly installed it. Java has gotten bad reputation for all the security holes in that plug-in. It’s definitely recommended to disable the plug-in in your browser, many browsers (eg Chrome, Firefox) dropped support for it completely.
That being said, having the Java runtime installed on your computer to run Java desktop applications is just fine. Of course it’s not invulnerable to security exploits, hardly any software is, but again the major security problem is the web browser plug-in. Many applications are bundled with a copy of the Java runtime in their installer, without the user knowing it.

I use Torii on an Android phone and second this on the absence of swipe support. Also, it would be very nice if we could input the answers in hiragana directly. Does the app use a specific keyboard? Google Gboard support these functions already.

On smartphones, it’s much more productive to use the swipe feature or use the hiragana input to input answers than tapping each button one at a time.

By the way, very nice and useful app! Thank you @Rakantor for releasing it to the community.

Regards.

That being said, having the Java runtime installed on your computer to run Java desktop applications is just fine.

I guess we’ll have to “agree to disagree”. Oracle has admitted to vulnerabilities in the installer/updater in the past, and Apple dropped default Java install, and won’t allow redistributable JRE in the App Store for a reason. I understand why people still choose to build on Java (e.g., Android device support), so my only point was that there are users like me who are vigilant about not putting JRE back into specifically Mac OS.

I guess it raises the question: why isn’t Torii a web app anyway?

I guess because of costs and wanting to keep it free? I know nothing about this though :laughing:

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Building a web-app is quite a different endeavour compared to building a desktop program. It’s not so easy to just switch to another branch/aspect of programming to be honest.

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In case my tone doesn’t come through properly: I’m just curious why this would be a desktop app when it’s inspired by a relatively simple web app.

Context: I’m an old developer who has made apps for web (Ruby, Python, Javascript), iOS, Android, Java, Mac OS, etc., etc.

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I believe Rakantor has said previously that that’s simply not their area of expertise (and this is a personal project) :thinking: hosting it online would incur server costs to save users’ data, so I imagine that doing that would be prohibitively expensive anyway.

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Makes sense. I missed that above.

I guess you could distribute a Javascript app that runs in-browser via the Chrome Store or something like Electron, with local storage, but that’s opening a different can of worms.

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Just a quick heads up here. I don’t know of anyone has posted this yet, but I encountered a bug on the Mac Osx version of Torii SRS v1.1.

Whenever I study new words and my answer on the final word is incorrect, the app crashes. No respone at all.

How to reproduce: Study new words and answer the last question incorrectly.

Cheers!

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Thank you for the report! This issue can be found on the public bugs trello board, yet there hasn’t been a software update to fix it. Sorry for the inconvenience!

This looks great!

I tried it, but keep getting the below error immediately upon opening (MacBook).
Any idea what is going on? (went through the troubleshooting and it does not seem related to that).

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Hi there again, I have been using your app and I just love it, as I’m getting ready for N2 this December, it’s helping me a lot with the vocab.

I have a request though, I tend to add synonyms in Spanish, since that’s my native language, and I have noted that the app does not support the character ñ
Would it be possible to add it? It just throws me off that the app keeps deleting that letter, so I keep getting things wrong.

Thanks!

I’m happy to hear that!
Yeah sure that’s not a big deal to add. It’s already done actually ^^

I can’t say for sure when the next update will be released, there’s still a lot to do. I guess it will be ready in early to mid October.

Thank you so much! i will be waiting for it :smiley:

Is there a way to view the example sentences during the reviews?

@durtle You can view them in a study session or by viewing a vocab item from the Browse interface, but unfortunately not during the reviews.

FYI, I’m going to put Torii in maintenance mode right now to prepare a couple things for the new update.
I’ll let you know once everything is done.

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Torii is back online, thanks for waiting!

If you happen to encounter any bugs or errors with the new version, please let me know. Either post a reply in here or send an email to hello@torii-srs.com.


New features

  • It’s now possible to add, edit and delete your own vocabulary

  • Added a practice mode that allows vocabulary to be reviewed anytime without restrictions. Practicing doesn’t change a words mastery level or its next due review time

  • It’s now possible to browse, search and view vocabulary

  • Vocabulary can now also be edited and archived outside of study/review sessions

  • Archived vocabulary can now be restored

  • It’s now possible to add alternative readings to vocab items (=like synonyms but for Japanese readings)

  • Added part of speech to most words

  • Synonyms are now displayed in review sessions

  • Various usage hints have been added

  • The review session input field now shows different default texts depending on whether the English meaning or Japanese reading has to be entered

  • Latin characters w/ common diacritics are now supported in synonyms (and pretty much everywhere else)

  • Android: Pasting from and copying to the clipboard is now supported

  • Added in-app donations. Donating grants ‘Prime’ status as a thank you. While the core features and most of the additional features are free to use forever, some of the features added in this patch require Prime status to be fully functional

  • Added some more minor features not worth mentioning in detail

Bugfixes

  • Getting the last review item of a study session wrong shouldn’t crash the app anymore

  • Losing internet connection shouldn’t crash the app anymore

  • When there’s no internet connection on startup, it’s no longer required to quit and restart the app

  • Double-clicking the ‘Study Now’ or ‘Review Now’ button shouldn’t crash the app anymore

  • Android: Notifications should now work on Android 8+

  • Android: Re-opening the app right after closing it shouldn’t crash the app anymore

  • Android: Increased the size of the ‘add synonym’ textfield

  • Fixed the layout of popup windows

  • Some more minor fixes not worth mentioning in detail

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