Dyglot v2 — Introduction & Conceptual Overview¶
Dyglot is a language-learning project centered around a simple idea:
present the right card, at the right time.
What Dyglot Is — and What It Is Not¶
Dyglot is not a language-learning application.
Dyglot is a learning engine designed to support a wide variety of learning domains:
- languages,
- writing systems,
- solfège, symbols,
- structured vocabularies,
- traffic laws,
- or any domain that can be expressed as cards, examples, and progressive practice.
Dyglot is a generic learning engine designed to support structured learning using: multiple pedagogical approaches, and multiple actors.
Core concepts are :
- cards,
- views,
- teacher-defined filters,
- and student sessions (progression over time).
Language learning is only one possible use case.
Dyglot Korean v1 was one concrete product built on top of earlier Dyglot ideas. It was a bundled product for Korean learners. Dyglot v2 generalizes this approach. Dyglot v2 separates:
- the engine,
- the content,
- and the learning experience.
The Three Actors¶
Dyglot v2 is explicitly built around three distinct actors. Dyglot is designed around three distinct actors, each with clearly separated roles, responsibilities, and tools.
They are not roles hidden in the implementation — they are first-class concepts, visible in the design, the tools, and the documentation.
1. Student¶
The student uses Dyglot Student to learn.
The student experience is intentionally simple and constrained.
A successful student home screen contains only:
- a view selector (radio buttons)
- a filter selector (predefined by the teacher)
- a large Practice or Browse button
The student:
- does not define filters
- does not modify views
- does not design sessions
- does not configure pedagogy,
- does not decide which fields exist,
Those choices belong to the teacher.
The student:
- selects from what the teacher has defined,
- practices,
- browses,
- progresses.
A successful student UI is extremely simple.
2. Teacher¶
The teacher is the creator of learning content and learning experiences.
Dyglot Teacher is designed for teachers who do not know — and do not want to know — HTML, SQL, or programming concepts.
This is not a limitation. It is a design requirement.
Responsibilities:
- defining card data
- defining views (what the student sees)
- defining filters
- defining courses / classrooms
- deciding what the student can and cannot configure
The teacher works using Dyglot Teacher, a desktop studio, not a mobile app.
The teacher thinks in terms of:
- cards
- fields
- examples
- views
- practice flows
- concepts,
- progressions,
- filters,
- pedagogy.
Not in terms of:
- tables
- schemas
- joins
- markup languages
The teacher:
- creates learning content,
- structures curricula,
- defines how knowledge is presented,
- defines what the learner sees,
- defines what is hidden and what is revealed.
The teacher:
- does not write SQL
- does not write HTML
- does not think in terms of tables, joins, or schemas
Dyglot Teacher is therefore a studio, not a runtime app. It runs on desktop, not on a phone.
3. System Developer¶
The system developer designs and maintains the Dyglot engine.
- designs the Dyglot engine,
- defines the data model capabilities,
- defines what is possible and impossible,
- but does not define pedagogy.
- core data model
- storage formats
- APIs
- performance and scalability
- cross-platform delivery (desktop, mobile, web)
The system developer does not design pedagogical content, and does not design learning UIs.
In Dyglot v2, the system developer explicitly avoids imposing domain assumptions (language-specific fields, fixed card structures, or pedagogical rules).
The system developer does not decide how people learn. He builds the engine that allows teachers to decide.
The system developer: - designs the Dyglot engine, - defines the data model capabilities, - defines what is possible and impossible, - but does not define pedagogy.
The system developer does not decide how people learn. He builds the engine that allows teachers to decide.
Core Concepts¶
Card¶
A card is a unit of knowledge.
In Dyglot v2, a card is:
- a collection of fields (1–1 relationships)
- a collection of lists (1–N relationships)
- optionally linked media (audio, images, etc.)
- attributes (1-to-1),
- relations (1-to-many),
- optional attributes,
- domain-specific fields.
- structured data,
- neutral,
- reusable across multiple views.
Important design decision: A card does not embed its presentation.
The engine does not impose semantics like:
- “this field is the front”
- “this field is the back”
- “this is a language”
Those semantics belong to Views, not to Cards.
A card does not contain presentation logic.
This is a deliberate departure from systems where each card embeds its own HTML layout like Anki.
CardSet¶
A CardSet is a shared data source:
- a collection of cards
- possibly multilingual
- possibly reused by multiple courses
Example:
- one CardSet containing Korean / English / Japanese data
- reused by multiple courses with different pedagogical goals
CardSets are maintained by the teacher and may evolve over time.
Course (formerly “Classroom”)¶
A Course (previously called Classroom) is a learning structure built on top of one or more CardSets.
A course defines:
- which cards are used
- which views exist
- which filters exist
- which learning flows are available
A course is closed and coherent. It is not an unbounded database.
Dyglot v2 explicitly avoids the idea of a single “giant classroom”.
The central concept in Dyglot is the course.
A course: - is not a database (even if implemented as one), - is not a file format, - is not a lesson.
A course is:
a coherent body of structured knowledge, designed by a teacher, meant to be explored and practiced by students.
The term "course" is deliberately chosen because:
- it is understood by teachers,
- it is understood by developers,
- it is not tied to relational-database vocabulary.
Even though a course may be backed by SQL internally, teachers never see it as such.
Filter (Teacher-Defined)¶
A Filter is a predefined selection rule for cards. Filters define which cards are eligible for a session.
Filters are:
- defined by the teacher
- attached to a course and a view
- selectable by the student
Examples:
- beginner cards
- verbs only
- recently failed cards
- lesson 1
The student does not create filters.
Key rule in Dyglot v2: Filters are defined by the teacher, not by the student. This is a major correction compared to Dyglot v1.
The student:
- selects a filter from a list,
- does not create or edit filters.
This ensures:
- a clean, simple entry screen,
- pedagogical coherence,
- no accidental complexity for the learner.
Session¶
A Session is a temporary learning context created when the student presses:
- Practice
- Browse
A session represents:
- a progression through a filtered set of cards
- independent of other sessions
- resumable
Sessions are student-specific and ephemeral.
A Session represents:
a learner’s progression inside a classroom, for a given view and filter.
A session:
- is created when the student starts practicing or browsing,
- persists progress,
- does not redefine pedagogy.
Sessions are student-side concepts, but: - they operate only inside teacher-defined boundaries.
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Local, Downloadable, and Remote Courses¶
Courses may be:
- bundled locally with the application
- downloadable
- remotely hosted
Dyglot v2 supports discovery:
A student may see:
- local courses shipped with the app
- official courses published by Canardoux
- courses published by trusted registrars
- manually added courses (advanced users)
Teachers do not publish directly into a global public space.
Registrars curate and validate courses to avoid abuse and chaos.
Why This Architecture Exists¶
Dyglot v2 exists to resolve long-standing tensions:
- between card-centric and relational thinking
- between freedom and maintainability
- between teacher control and student simplicity
- between reuse and coherence
Dyglot v2 makes these tensions explicit, rather than hiding them in code.
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Why Dyglot v2 Breaks with Dyglot v1¶
Dyglot v1:
- mixed views into a single conditional screen,
- allowed students to alter display logic,
- coupled UI logic tightly to code,
- was difficult to maintain and evolve.
Dyglot v2:
- separates views cleanly,
- moves pedagogical control to the teacher,
- simplifies the student experience,
- prepares the engine for domains beyond languages.
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Final Guiding Principle¶
In Dyglot v2, what the learner sees is part of the curriculum.
Therefore:
- the teacher defines views,
- the system enforces structure,
- the student focuses on learning.
Design requirement: Teachers must not need HTML, SQL, or programming.
Licensing at a glance¶
Dyglot Engine and Dyglot Student are released under the GNU GPL license.
Classrooms, CardSets, courses, and pedagogical content created with Dyglot are not considered derivative works of the engine and remain fully owned and licensed by their authors.
Dyglot is designed to protect both: - the freedom of the engine, - and the freedom of pedagogical creators.
- Dyglot Student is released under GPL.
- Classrooms are data, not code.
- Classrooms are not subject to GPL copyleft.
- Teachers retain full control over the license of their classrooms.
- Documentation templates are provided as helpers and do not impose licensing constraints.
The documentation¶
Dyglot v2 documentation is split conceptually into four parts:
Introduction¶
This is the current part
Student¶
- how students navigate learning
- what sessions are
- what views and filters mean from their perspective
Teacher¶
- how teachers design classrooms
- how views and filters are defined
- how pedagogy is expressed without code
Engine¶
- technical specifications
- data model capabilities
- constraints and guarantees
Documentation License¶
The dyglot documentation is published under the Creative Common CC-BY-NC-SA. If the teacher use the Diglot Template Documention for his/her own classoom, he/she must publish hi/her own documentation under the same license CC-BY-NC-SA.
Commercial Use and Classrooms¶
Dyglot is an open and free learning engine, but it is not intended to be a free backend for proprietary commercial applications.
Selling a classroom¶
Teachers may: - distribute classrooms freely, - share them publicly or privately, - request financial support, subscriptions, or access fees outside of an app store.
This includes: - private access to a classroom, - paid educational content, - courses or teaching services using Dyglot as a client.
Commercial applications¶
Embedding Dyglot Engine and classroom data inside a paid mobile application (iOS, Android, etc.) is not permitted without explicit authorization from the Dyglot project.
This restriction exists to: - protect the integrity of the Dyglot ecosystem, - prevent free-riding on a community-driven engine, - and ensure fair contribution to the project.
The Dyglot Korean exception¶
Applications published by the Dyglot authors (such as Dyglot Korean) are considered official distributions and are not subject to this restriction.
Commercial Use and Classrooms¶
Dyglot is a free and open learning engine. However, it is not intended to be used as a free backend for proprietary commercial applications.
Selling a classroom¶
Teachers may: - distribute classrooms freely, - share them publicly or privately, - request financial support, subscriptions, or access fees outside of app stores.
This includes: - private or paid access to a classroom, - educational content, - teaching services using Dyglot as a client.
Classroom data itself is not restricted to free distribution, but its use must respect the Dyglot ecosystem and licenses.
Commercial applications¶
Embedding Dyglot Engine together with classroom data inside a paid mobile application (iOS, Android, etc.) is not permitted without explicit authorization.
This restriction exists to: - protect the integrity of the Dyglot project, - prevent free-riding on a community-driven engine, - ensure that commercial benefits do not bypass community contribution.
Dyglot is designed as a shared educational tool, not as a commercial SDK.¶
Summary¶
Dyglot v2 is:
- a learning engine
- teacher-driven
- student-friendly
- domain-agnostic
- explicit about responsibilities
Dyglot v2 is not:
- a language app
- a card HTML editor
- a free-for-all database
- a system where the student designs pedagogy
This clarity is intentional.
Some possible icons for Dyglot¶
Dyglot Teacher — conceptual icon
