Run Magazine ReRun 1989 Special Issue/rerun-1989-special-issue.d64/show of hand.doc

Text File | 2022-09-20 | 4KB | 74 lines

A Show of Hands: a Sign Language Tutorial

By Jack R. Farrah

     Have you ever met a person from a foreign country whose language you
didn't speak? The inability to communicate can be very frustrating, lead to
misunderstanding and, at times, promote distrust. Speaking another's language,
on the other hand, can transform a stranger into a friend.
     Well, there's a group of people in your area, not foreign at all, with
whom you may have this communication problem. These people are deaf, and,
while some may be able to read your lips, others understand only sign language.
If you know how, you can break the language barrier with them by speaking with
signs.
     I wrote this program, A Show of Hands, in response to my daughter's
fascination with signing and her attempts to engage me in her learning
experience. Developing a tool to help us master this skill seemed an ideal
application of my programming expertise.
     Note that spelling out words with the letters A Show of Hands teaches is
only a minor aspect of signing, because there are literally hundreds of signs
for entire words and word modifiers. Spelling is used only when a sign doesn't
exist for a word. However, knowing the alphabet will enable you to express
yourself in a rudimentary way and show your desire to learn more in order to
communicate.
     When you run A Show of Hands, it automatically loads a program file called
Picture File, which contains hi-res pictures of the signs, and pokes the
machine language routines into memory. The Main menu then lists three options:
Signs Test, Text to Signs and Quit.

The Test Option

     Signs Test takes you to a submenu where the choices are Timed Test, No
Time Limit and Return to the Main menu. If you're unskilled at recognizing the
signs, select No Time Limit, then, as you become more proficient, use Timed
Test to impose more difficulty and stretch your skill. When you select Timed
Test, you must specify the speed at which you want the signs presented. The
fastest option, 1, gives you a little less than a second per sign; the slowest,
9, allows about six seconds.
     Hitting return after the speed input brings up a graphics screen that
shows a hand giving a sign. If you press the letter the sign represents within
the time limit, you'll be rewarded with a Correct! message and the option to
hit C to continue or M to return to the menu. If the letter you press is wrong,
the program will commiserate with you, display the correct letter and offer the
C-and-M option. The correct answer is also displayed if you fail to respond
within the time limit.
     Each time you hit C after a test, another sign will appear for you to
identify. The sequence of signs is somewhat random, and retesting occurs only
on signs you miss. When you complete the alphabet, the program offers praise
and then returns you to the Test submenu for another selection.

The Text-to-Signs Option

     Text to Signs provides an oppportunity to view the signs that go with the
various letters. This option also has a submenu with three choices: Show
Letters as Entered, Enter Text String and Return to the Main Menu. Show Letters
displays the signs for individual letters that you enter. Just type at a
comfortable pace, and the letters and signs will appear on the screen. If you
press any key other than a letter, you'll go back to the menu.
     When you choose the Enter Text String option, you must specify the speed
at which you want the letters and signs to be displayed. The speeds range from
1, less than a second per character, to 9, about 1 1/2 seconds per character.
After selecting a speed, enter a text string, which can include any character
on the keyboard, and press return. The program will then repeat the string,
character by character, with the proper signs displayed above the letters, all
at the speed you chose. Spaces are output as such, but other nonalphabet keys
are represented by a question mark. Should you inadvertently type beyond the
255-character string limit, a Max String Length! message will interrupt you and
output to the screen will begin automatically. After the string and signs have
been displayed, press C to enter another string or M to return to the menu.
     That's all there is to it. In closing, I'd like to credit drawings by
Ralph R. Miller, Sr., in the book Signed English: A Basic Guide, from Crown
Publishers, as the inspiration for the drawings I used in A Show of Hands.