OS/2 Shareware BBS: Educate/Educate.zip/study1.zip/COMPILER.INF

OS/2 Help File | 1993-08-29 | 33KB | 179 lines

ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 1. The Compiler ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The OS/2 Study Bible Compiler was designed so that users of the OS/2 Study
Bible could transfer Bible translations from DOS and Windows Bible programs
that they have to the OS/2 Study Bible. The user first exports the Bible text
using their DOS or Windows program into a standard ASCII file. Then the
compiler will take the ASCII files and create the concordance and the data
files that are compatible with the OS/2 Study Bible format. This means that you
will not lose your prior investment in your bible texts when you upgrade to
OS/2.

The compiler will eventually handle any ASCII file so that user may be able to
create a concordance and data file for any type of text that they have. The
compiler is currently customized to work with religious texts.

The compile process consists of several stages. The first stage consists of
creating a word list by sorting the text. Once the sort has completed the user
will select which words they want to leave out of the concordance. This will
help reduce the amount of disk space that the translation will take. To
facilitate selecting these words a list called the "Top 100" list is prepared
after the sort has finished. This will be comprised of the 100 most common
words found in the text.

The second stage allows the user to select which words will be excluded from
the concordance from the Top 100 list. Once the selection is done, the compiler
will complete the creation of the concordance.

The third stage allows the user to edit the names of the books contained in the
ASCII text file. If the compiler finds 39, 27 or 66 books, the compiler will
assume that the Old Testament, New Testament or the entire protestant Bible is
being compiled and will automatically set the correct book names.

Please be aware that the compiler is customized for the protestant Bible. As
the product is updated it will be increasingly be generalized so that it can
properly handle a multitude of text formats. As changes are made the compiler
and the study bible will be updated and inevitably changes will have to be made
in both products in order to accomodate the new requirements.

Starting the Compiler.

The opening screen of the compiler allows you to enter information that is
necessary in creating the concordance and data files.

The ASCII Text Filename is the name of the file which you created during the
export process from your existing DOS or Windows program.

The Bible Prefix will be used in the naming of the output files. Each set of
files which contain the data for a single translation and will all begin with
the prefix provided in this entry field.

The Working Directory will be where the compiler will place the temporary sort
files and where to place the output concordance and data files.

To indicate which format that your ASCII text file is in you must select a
format type from the upper listbox. When you select the appropriate method, the
lower listbox will contain a sample of the type of text that the compiler
expects to find in your ASCII text file.

The sort process originally took six hours to perform. It now takes around six
minutes (on a fast 486). The main reason it was reduced from six hours to six
minutes is that the sort now occurs in memory rather than on disk.

When the text file is performed it places each word it finds into files. It
divides the word list into 26 separate files based on the first letter of each
word. Sort file 00 contains all of the letter 'A' words, and sort file 25
contains all of the 'Z' words.

Each file will have a different size depending on the frequency of words which
begin with its corresponding letter. Usually file 19 which contains letter
'T'words is the largest file. If the letter's file size exceeds the Usable Core
size then the sort for that letter's file will not take place in memory but
will be performed on disk. If the letter's file is less than the usable core
size then that file's sort will take place in memory.

You might have to experiment with this number based upon how much memory your
system has. The default of 4 megabytes should allow the sort to take place
completely in memory in most cases. If a value of zero is entered, then the
complete sort process will take place on disk and will take around 4 hours.

The output filenames are determined by the compiler and are displayed only for
your information. The names are derived from the prefix field.

Once you have entered all of the appropriate information, press the Compile
button to initiate the compile process. The compiler is multithreaded so you
will be able to run other applications during compilation. Although the
compiler is resource intensive.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 2. Selecting Common Words ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

The concordance consists of the concordance data and its index. The index
contains a list of each distinct word found in the text, the offset to where
the word's data occurs in the concordance file and the number of occurences of
the word. The concordance data file consists of the verses numbers where each
word is located.

The concordance is used to search for passages within the bible text. If the
word occurs too often, then it is not useful to maintain a list of all of its
occurences. A search for the word 'THE' would yield too many matches to be
useful.

The "Select Common Words" dialog window allows the user to select which words
they anticipate will not be useful in a search. The user will select each word
that they wish to move to the Common Words list. All of the words that are
contained in the Common Words list will not be available during a search in the
OS/2 Study Bible.

A program limitation has been set that if a word occurs more than 4000 times it
automatically will be moved to the Common Words list.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 3. Configuration File ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

While the bible text is being compressed it counts the number of books that it
finds. The Bible Compiler will make an educated guess as to what you are
compiling. If it finds 39, 27 or 66 books, the compiler will assume that the
Old Testament, New Testament or the entire protestant Bible is being compiled
and will automatically set the correct books' names.

The Configuration File dialog window will allow you to edit the book names, the
icon filename, and the abbreviation.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 4. Edit Book Window ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

This window displays one of the book names that will be contained in the
translation's configuration file. By altering the book name, the book short
name and its location, the user can change the way that the book is presented
in the OS/2 Study Bible.


ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ 5. How To Contact ΓòÉΓòÉΓòÉ

How To Contact and Send Your Text Sample

By Mail.

As stated earlier, in order to guarantee that the compiler will work with your
exported text file it is required that you send me a sample extraction from
your DOS or Windows Bible program. Send a sample from each program that you
plan to transfer from. That sample will be tested with the compiler to assure
that it is compatible. Please state on the diskette which program that the file
was exported from, or where you obtained the file. That information will help
me in naming its style in the upper listbox of the first dialog window.

Once I have verified and made any changes that are necessary so that your
file's format can be understood by the compiler, I will mail you a diskette
containing the new version of the compiler. A handling fee of $5.00 will be
required for all mailings. Please include a check with your sample diskette
payable to Richard Fortier.

International orders can be handle in one of two ways. You may send a check to
me in your currency or you can obtain a money order payable in U.S. funds.
Select which method of payment is the least expensive for you. If the payment
will be made in other than U.S. dollars then please send the equivalent for
your currency plus $3.00 extra for overseas postage. If you have any
suggestions in this area then please send me a message.

By Modem.

You may also send your sample via modem. This can be done by calling my BBS in
Kansas City, Missouri. Please leave a note in message area 1 which is a private
area. And then upload your sample file. Please name the upload using your last
name (i.e. SMITH.ZIP). You may also ask contact me through Compuserve but DO
NOT upload your sample to my mailbox.

Once I have verified that your sample will work with the compiler I will post
the new version on the BBS and place a note in your mailbox indicating its
completion.

Mail: Richard Fortier, 8532 N Executive Hills Blvd, Suite 137, Kansas City, MO,
64154.

BBS: OS/2 Study Bible BBS, [phone], 2400-14400, 8-N-1, 24 hrs a day.

Compuserve 72020,613

Prodigy HJXK78A