Here is a script that I wrote as a short side project because I wanted my own n-back trainer. I'm aware that the practical memory improments of n-back training, even when using a proper audiovisual dual n-back trainer, is not as great as it's often said to be. I just wanted to try it and see whether I like the training.
Usage
Execute the script and pass it a number that resembles the difficulty level. For example bash backmatch 3 starts the script with a 3-back task. On
your keyboard press the key of the letter that was displayed n letters ago (in this example 3 letters ago). When you press a key the next letter is presented
immedietly. If you don't press a key for 3 seconds (the time value can be changed by changing the variable sec) the next letter is presented and you
don't get a point for this letter. When you exit the script by pressing ctrl+c your keypresses get compared to what was presented and you get your score.
#!/bin/bash
if [[ ${#} -ge 1 ]] && [[ ${1} =~ ^[0-9]*$ ]]
then
n=${1}
else
echo "'${@}' is not a number, is it?"
exit 1
fi
echo "Ctrl+C pressing is for quitters."
npo=$((n+1))
sec=3
end() {
echo -en " \n"
if [[ ${#str} -ge ${npo} ]] # If enough characters had been generated
then
for i in $(seq $n); do echo -n "-"; done # offset by $n dashes
echo ${str}
echo ${you}
got=0
for i in $(seq ${#str})
do
[[ ${str:$i:1} == ${you:$((i+n)):1} ]] && got=$((got+1))
done
echo -e "\n${got} out of $((${#str}-npo)) correct"
else
echo "Not enough data to judge you."
fi
}
trap end EXIT
while true
do
str+=$(cat /dev/urandom | tr -dc 'A-Z' | head -c 1) # Get a random new letter.
echo -en "\r \r${str: -1}" # Print the last character in the string (the new letter).
read -n 1 -t ${sec} key # Get a single character input, timeout $sec seconds.
[[ -n ${key} ]] && you+=${key^^} || you+="-"
[[ ${key^^} == ${str: -$npo:1} ]] \
&& echo -en "\r good" \
|| echo -en "\r bad" # Check if uppercase input char is the same as the nth char from the back.
done
end
exit 1