Precision Software Applications Silver Collection 1

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Text File | 1993-02-12 | 13KB | 352 lines

V O C A B U L A R Y T U T O R -------------------------------- First Release, Version 0.2 Copyright 1993, Jack Lynch The Vocabulary Tutor is a simple freeware program for vocabulary drills. This program may be distributed freely. Running the program should be straightforward enough. It requires little memory and disk space, and should run on any fully IBM-compatible system with even minimal RAM. A hard drive is optional. The program now comes with four supplementary vocabulary files, each with the extension .VOC: FRENCH.VOC, FRENCH2.VOC, LATIN.VOC, and VERBS.VOC. (This last concerns conjugating Latin verbs: see the end of this document for details.) To install the program, copy the VOCAB.EXE file and the relevant .VOC files into the same subdirectory. To run the program, go to the DOS prompt, switch to the subdirectory containing VOCAB.EXE and the .VOC files, and type VOCAB followed by the name of the vocabulary .VOC file you want to use. The .VOC extension is optional. So, for instace, you can type either VOCAB LATIN or VOCAB LATIN.VOC to start the program with the LATIN.VOC vocabulary file. You can spell out a full path for the VOC file. THE MAIN MENU ------------- The menu gives you six options, each of which is discussed briefly below. 1. Limit Word List. Use this option to restrict the number of words you're working with in one session. There are three ways to limit the number of words: you can specify a number of words from 1 to 100, and the program will randomly select that many words; if the vocabulary .VOC file contains chapter information, you can restrict the words to the contents of certain chapters; or you can work with only words containing a certain pattern of letters (for instance, IRE can find all -ire verbs). The chapter function is now implemented only in the LATIN.VOC file, which is keyed to the chapters in Frederic Wheelock's _Latin_. Not all the words in LATIN.VOC appear in Wheelock, nor are all of Wheelock's words in LATIN.VOC; those that do, however, include the chapter information. The other .VOC files do not yet contain any chapter information. 2. Review Words. Use this option to page through the selected words and their definitions one by one before you begin a quiz. If you are working with the entire word list, the words appear in random order; if you are working with a limited word list (Option 1 above), you can go forward and backward through the list. 3. Quiz... This is the heart of the program, and has four possible formats, selected on the next menu: English to Foreign Language, Foreign Language to English, Random English and Foreign Language, and Review Mistakes. The first three are self-explanatory. The fourth option, Review Mistakes, will will quiz you on the words you got wrong earlier in a session. This is a good way to brush up on your weak spots. In the quiz, answer checking is very lenient -- if the translation in the .VOC file contains the characters you typed, your answer will be counted correct. So, for instance, the Latin term valeo, valere, valui, -iturus is defined in the .VOC file as be strong, have power, be well. If in the quiz you define "valeo" as "well," the program will accept the answer, even though it's wrong, because the phrase "be well" appears in it. (This makes it easy to cheat, by including as few letters as possible.) It is therefore very possible for you to enter an incorrect answer and have the program consider it correct. It is also possible to enter a correct answer and have the program consider it incorrect: if, for instance, you define "valeo" as "be healthy," the program will count it wrong, because that phrase does not appear in the definition. Another place for easy mistakes: diacritical marks such as accents and ligatures. See below for Option 10 and Special Characters for information on typing special characters. It's also worth noting that the .VOC files were typed by hand, and could well contain typos or inaccuracies. If you discover any, you can correct them yourself with a text editor (see below for the format of the .VOC file). Feel free to contact Jack Lynch with corrections; the address appears above the menu. For these reasons, take the percent-correct indicator only as a rough guide. To increase your chance of being graded correctly, enter only a one- or two-word definition: don't try to match a long definition exactly. For "valeo," for instance, "be well" is plenty; don't try to remember "be strong, have power, be well," because if you enter "be strong, be well," you'll be counted wrong. The program is exceedingly literal-minded. 4. List Mistakes... You will be asked whether you want to list your mistakes to the screen only, or also to the printer. These options show you the words you got wrong, both the English and the foreign language. This too is a good way to review your weaknesses. 5. Glossary. This is a quickie dictionary that searches the entire .VOC file, both the English and foreign words, for any word or pattern of letters you enter. You get brief definitions for all matches. 6. Accent Checking. The program assumes you want to be marked wrong if you forget an accent mark or ligature (such as æ): this is strict accent checking. If, for instance, the program is expecting "être" and you enter "etre," with strict accent checking you'll be marked wrong. (See below for special characters.) If you want the program to be more lenient, turn strict accent checking off. SPECIAL CHARACTERS ------------------ Since many foreign languages require special characters, the Vocabulary Tutor is designed to allow consistent and easy entry of characters with diacritical marks. The keystrokes required are as follows: VOWELS Pressing ` after a vowel produces that vowel with a grave accent: i.e., "e" followed by ` produces è. Pressing ' after a vowel produces that vowel with an acute accent: i.e., "e" followed by ' produces é. Pressing ^ (shift-6) after a vowel produces that vowel with a circumflex: i.e., "e" followed by ^ produces ê. Pressing : or ; after a vowel produces that vowel with a diaeresis or umlaut: i.e., "e" followed by : produces ë. Pressing Alt at the same time as any vowel also produces an acute accent: Alt-E produces é. Pressing Ctrl at the same time as any vowel also produces a circumflex: Ctrl-E produces ê. The @ produces the ae ligature, æ. CONSONANTS Alt-N produces ñ. Alt-C produces ç. Alt-S produces ß. THE .VOC FILE ------------- The vocabulary .VOC file contains all the information the program uses in the vocabulary drills. The format of the file -- plain ASCII -- is as follows: The first line contains the name of the language, e.g., Latin. The program uses this information in the menu. The remaining lines contain the vocabulary data, with each word taking up four lines of no more than 40 characters each. The first of these four lines is the foreign word; the second, the English translation; the third, a chapter number (or 0 if the word is not associated with a chapter); and the fourth, a category number. This last feature is not yet implemented. When it is, it will be possible to limit the quiz to certain classes of verbs, for instance, or to words about certain topics. A typical file might begin like this: Latin <-- First line, name of the language. a, ab + abl. <-- Foreign word number 1. from, by <-- English definition. 18 <-- Chapter. 0 <-- Category (always zero). abeo, abire, abii, abitum <-- Foreign word number 2. to go away, to leave, go from <-- English definition. 37 <-- Chapter. 0 <-- Category. Important: there can be no blank lines after the last line of the file. There can be up to 1,000 words -- 4,001 lines -- in the .VOC file. Try to make the definitions as tolerant of mistakes as possible. In an English definition, for instance, include as many synonums as the forty-character limit will allow. This way a user who knows an English definition for a word is more likely to get a correct match. Try to choose the most obvious definitions. PARTS OF SPEECH QUIZZES ----------------------- The program isn't limited to simple vocabulary quizzing; the enclosed file VERBS.VOC includes drilling on conjugated Latin verbs, for instance. In this case, an English to Latin quiz might ask duco, 3s future perfect ind active, to which the answer would be the Latin duxerit. The quiz can also go from Latin to English, requiring you to parse the verb. For parsing, it's important to follow the exact format of the definition: First is the first principle part of the verb, e.g., amo, duco. This is followed by a comma and a space. Next is the person, 1, 2, or 3, and the number, s or p. 1s is first-person singular; 2p is second-person plural. Followed by a space. Next is the tense, always spelled out: present, imperfect, future, perfect, pluperfect, or future perfect. Another space. Next is the mood, abbreviated to ind (indicative) or subj (subjunctive). Another space. Last is the voice, spelled out: active or passive. Some examples: duco, 2p future perfect ind active amo, 1s imperfect ind passive. This system is both relatively intuitive and allows you to enter only the information you want to be quizzed on: since the program checks only to see whether your entry is contained in the foreign phrase, it's possible to parse "duxerit" as simply "3s future perfect," or "future perfect ind active," or "3s," or even just "duco." It may take some getting used to, but I hope this system is clear, intuitive, and requires as little typing as possible. POSSIBLE ENHANCEMENTS --------------------- The following are possibilities for future releases: * Simple help screens to describe program functions. * Hints for difficult vocabulary words: perhaps the program could display English cognates. So, for instance, if a user can't remember that the definition of the Latin word "lego" is "read," the program could give hints such as "legible." * Extra help when the user gets a question wrong. Now the program displays the correct answer. Perhaps it could also check to see if the user was thinking of another word: so, for instance, if the user defines "lego" as "tie," the program could respond with something like, "No; lego means to read. Ligo is the word for tie." * Timed quizzes are a possibility. * Implementation of the word categories feature. This way it will be possible to select (for instance) all deponent verbs, or all colloquial idioms, or whatever. * Support for non-Roman alphabets, such as Greek and Russian. This would require an EGA or VGA monitor and some extra memory, and could significantly swell the size of the .VOC files. Best, probably, would be to overwrite the high-ASCII characters with the new alphabet. I'll have to think about this one. Suggestions for improvement can be sent to Jack Lynch; the address appears on the opening screen.