Advanced information

The word lists are in a very specific format, and FlashWorks is very unforgiving if they are even one letter off.  This enabled us to make FlashWorks run as fast as possible.  If you want to make your own word lists, or modify an existing list, here are the guidelines.

If you ever load words into the program, and then "Get" the ones that match your search criteria and you end up with "0" words, you probably have made an error in your word list (or set a search that wouldn't find any words).

Guidelines

1. We set an arbitrary limit for the maximum number of words at 5,000.

2. We set aside 300,000 bytes for the words that can be loaded.

3. No one word, with all the adjacent values, can be longer than 255 characters.

4. We set the minimum size of the program to 600 K.  This is fine for about 2,000 words, depending on the length of meanings, how many principal parts are included, etc.  If you are loading the words in but for some reason are unable to see them (e.g., you "Get" the words and it says that it got "0"), then quit the program and increase the memory allocated for the program from the finder.

To see how close you are to filling up memory, "Load" in the words, "Get" the words, and then go to the finder and select "About this Macintosh" from under the apple menu.  This will show you the total amount of memory set aside for the program and how much is actually being used.  If there is no gray inside the box, then you need to increase the minimum memory allocation.

5. If you are using a foreign language font but need to say "or" in the word field, we suggest using the exclamation mark.

6. If the word field is not large enough, you may be able to put part of the word's entry in the final field originally designed for principal parts.

Format

You can use a word processor or a spreadsheet program to write your list.  Save the file in a text file, tab delimited.  We will describe what is in each column.  In the diagram below, [T] stands for the single character produced by the [TAB] key.  [CR] means "carriage return," which is what the computer enters when you press [RETURN.]

If you are using a word processor, you must enter the [TAB] and [CR] manually.  If you are using a spreadsheet, then save the file as "text only," which is tab delimited.  ("Tab delimited" means that there is a [TAB] between the values in each cell.)  This inserts the [TAB] and [CR] automatically.

5  [T]  A  [T]  10  [T]  00555  [T]  2  [T]  4  [T]  agw  [T]  I lead  [T]  axsw [CR]

We would recommend opening one of the existing word lists and seeing how these rules are implemented.

5

The first column is the difficulty rating.  All our word lists are shipped with a "5"  in this location.  You must have a 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5.

The number is followed with a tab.

A

The third column contains the type of word.  It must be a single letter, capitalized, and must be one of the following.

N     Noun
A     Adjective 
V      Verb
P      Preposition
O      Other (such a adverbs, conjunctions, etc)
G      Grammar (any parts of grammar you wish)
S       Verbal stems (such as principal parts)

The letter is followed with a tab.

10

This is the chapter in which the word occurs.  It must be two digits long.  If the chapter is 1 through 9, put a zero in front.  Chapter 3 is "03".  If you are not aligning the words with a text book, then put the same number for all the words, like "99" and be sure the range of chapter parameter includes the number.  Spreadsheets can fill in the same number down a column.

Beware, some spreadsheets like to strip leading zeros from numbers, but they normally have a way to work around this problem.

The number is followed with a tab.

00055  

This is the frequency of the word, and it must be five digits long.  If the frequency is less than five digits long, be sure to put zeros in front.

Even if you are not developing a word list for a closed set of words, such as biblical Greek or Hebrew, you could use this field to key words as to how frequent they are in general.  For example, if it is a common word, set it to 00099.  If it is a little less common, key it to 00001.  And so forth.

The number is followed with a tab.

2

A "2" here means that you want the difficulty set automatically for this word.  If you do not want the check box checked, then you should enter a 1 here.  But you must enter either a 1 or a 2.

The number is followed with a tab.

4

This must be a single digit number between 1 and 7.  It controls the automatic setting of a word's difficulty.  4 is the beginning number, which means you have not been right or wrong with this word since you last set its difficulty rating.  If you are making a new list, set this value for all words to 4.

As you get the word wrong, the number is lowered from 4 to 3 to 2 to 1.  When it reaches 1, the number is reset to 4 and the difficulty is raised one number.

As you get the word right, the number is raised from 4 to 5 to 6 to 7.  When it reaches 7, the number is reset to 4 and the difficulty is lowered one number.

The number is followed with a tab.

agw

This is the actual word.  It can be of any length.

The word is followed with a tab.

I lead

This is the meaning of the word.  It can be of any length.

If you are going to include a principal part (below), then you should follow this field with a [TAB].  If you are not going to, then end the line with a carriage return (pressing [RETURN] if you are using a word processor.  A spreadsheet automatically includes the carriage return.

axsw

This is an optional field.  The contents will appear under the word in the "FlashWorks" screen in the same font as the foreign word, but in 12 point type.  It is designed to hold a verb's principal parts.

Be sure to press [RETURN] after entering this information if you are using a word processor.  A spreadsheet automatically includes the carriage return.