Mind Performance Hacks

Hack #8. Dominate Your Memory

Use a Perl script to formulate items that match the 10,000 room numbers of the Hotel Dominic. Then, print the list as an aid for memorization and review.

"Visit the Hotel Dominic" [Hack #7] mentions a Perl script that will make memorizing large chunks of information with the Hotel Dominic method much easier and will also help you refresh your memory periodically. This hack contains that script.

With this new script, dominate, you will be able to print out as large a swath of the Hotel Dominic as you wish—hundreds or thousands of rooms—and mark it up with a pen or pencil, assigning each item you want to remember to a room. Then you will be able to review your marked-up version of the hotel at leisure and commit the items to memory.

The Code

Place the following Perl script in a text file called dominate:

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

$in_file = $ARGV[0];
$domstart = $ARGV[1];
$domend = $ARGV[2];

if ($domstart > $domend)
{
    die "Start number not less than or equal to end number\\n";
}

open (IN_FILE, "< ./$in_file")
    or die "Couldn't open input file: $!\\n";

$index = 0;
while (defined ($line = <IN_FILE>)) 
{
    $line =~ /([^;]*)\\:([^;\\n]*)/g;
    $domarray[$index][0] = $1;
    $domarray[$index][1] = $2;
    $index++;
}

close IN_FILE;

for ($domnum = $domstart; $domnum < = $domend; $domnum++)
{
    $domstring = sprintf "%0004.0d", $domnum;
  print "$domstring: ";
    $domstring =~ /(\\d\\d)(\\d\\d)/g;
    print "$domarray[$1][0]\\,$domarray[$2][1]\\n\\n";
}

You will need to create your own datafile that ...