The Datafile PD-CD 5/DATAFILE_PDCD5.iso/education/a/linguist/!Linguist/!Help

Text File | 1992-12-20 | 12KB | 294 lines

Program: Linguist
Version: 1.00
Author: Mike Smith & Bits 'n' Bytes
Date: 12th of December 1992


Declaration
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"This product has been compiled with Silicon Vision's
RiscBASIC Compiler and contains a fully licensed binary image
of the RiscBASIC runtime Libraries.  The RiscBASIC runtime
libraries are the copyright property of Silicon Vision Limited."

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NB. While I am legally required to give the above declaration
please note that during development timed speed tests were
carried out in C and RiscBASIC.  RiscBASIC was often as fast
if not faster than C.  While BASIC is often frowned upon as a
development language, I felt it offered quick development time
and easier access to strings.

Upgrades*******************************************
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~~~~~~~~

Address: Bits 'n' Bytes
         26 Grenville Road
         Saint Judes
         Plymouth
         Devon
         PL4 9PY
         0752 667599

Status: Commercial (C)opyrighted MD Smith '78-'92.

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      ***   THIS PROGRAM IS NOT PUBLIC DOMAIN   ***

Both the DICTIONARIES and software are protected by the
copyright  laws of the UK and the USA, and have been since
1978 and therefore have protection under international treaties
and laws.

The dictionaries bare a certain 'footprint' and are traceable.  A
language can not be copyrighted, but anyone understanding a
foreign language will realise that many of the words in these
dictionaries have 'flowery' translations (ie. 'hound' instead of
'dog').  I will take legal action.

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About Linguist:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the full working version.

This program is a computerised foreign language dictionary.  It
is not only capable of storing a language but ALL languages
known to man, but only has as many as you see here at the
moment.  I have a vision  that one day Linguist will hold all
known languages and many  dead languages (ie Hawaiian and
some North American indian  languages.)

There are machines presently on the market which are hand held
which perform a similar function but they are tied, to only a
specified number of languages and words, about 6 languages
and 6000 words.  They are staid and can not grow and are in the
region of £50.

One problem with learning a language is that a score of grammar
books will only have a very small dictionary and will only go in
one direction (ie. French to English but not English to French).
One of the great things about  Linguist in that not only do you
have a dictionary which  will list words you can ask for all
ending in -ness like  likeness, gentleness and so on.

I image the use of Linguist in the realms of education.  For  this
reason I have included the flash card system.  It is  admittedly
staid and boring, but the program is too memory  intensive and
sluggish to warrant much else at this stage. As machines
increase in size I hope to add more features, but have designed
!Linguist for a one megabyte machine attempting to squeeze
everything in one 640K slot.

I will as far as possible give free upgrades with a self addressed
stamped envelope.  At this writing which is the night before
release, I can say the the dictionaries are comprehensive, but by
no means complete.  I have a scheme to employ £8.00 (2 hours)
of data processing for each copy of Linguist sold... while I don't
know how many copies will be stolen and how many individuals
will find no use and time for the program from the 150,000
Archimedes owners I will release a IBM, Mac, and Atari version
in the next 4 months.  Therefore, in the year you should return
your disc once a month as the data will come fast and  furious.
There are at this writing 16 native data entry clerks who  will
add to the dictionary on a casual basis.

Linguist will includes chinese, starting with mandarin and will
include the picto-graphs or chinese writing and a system is being
conceived to teach english speakers how to find the characters.
Believe it or not you can alphabetise them without speaking a
word of chinese if you know the system.

How Does it work?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Linguist works with !Help if you are  having trouble you are
encouraged to use it.  If you are still  having trouble give me a
ring on the phone, I will happily speak  to you and get you and
!Linguist working as a team, EVEN IF you are NOT registered.
I don't encourage individuals to rob me, but I would rather you
saw the full power of !Linguist and considered registering with
me than thinking it is trash and not considering registering with
me.

!Chars
~~~~~~
One of the first things you will notice is that there is no
provision for foreign characters.  As a programmer I espouse the
idea the Archimedes is a great machine because it multi-tasks.
Therefore, you can plug in bits or modules to make the perfect
computer/programs.  Archimedes programmers write  specialist
tasks which does one task very well and communicates  very
well with all of the other programs, and is not heavily bug
ridden because it is small.  One such program is !Chars.  It was
written by Jan Röling(?) who I think is a german author.  !Chars
is  included in RISC-OS 3 ROMS, but not with RISC-OS 2.
This  program will produce any foreign character to any Arc
icon (ie  the search icon in Linguist).  Sadly, I didn't write it so it
isn't  included on the disc for those of you still with RISC-OS 2,
and  there would be some copyright problems if I did but I think
it is  shareware.  It is widely available and your friends should
be able  to point you in the right direction.  If not give me a bell
I will  happily help.  Again I could have written my own routine,
but I  would have just re-invented the wheel and forced up the
price of  Linguist.

Linguist is separated into three parts and I will tackle each one
separately. The first to discuss is the Dictionary.  The second is
the Quiz. The third the auto-translation.

The Dictionary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Load the application is the normal fashion.  There is a default
language set.  The program will boot to this.  If you wish a
specific language return the disc specifying which language you
desire and I will recompile the program for you.

The first thing you next need to concern yourself with is what
language are you going to be working in and will it be TO or
FROM english.  To answer these questions look in the
'LANGUAGE SELECTOR' box on the 'Word Search Window'.

There is an arrow if you click on it will point one way and if you
click on it again it will switch the other way.  This will decide
whether you are working FROM english or TO english.

The next bit is the actual foreign language.  This is chosen by
simply clicking the menu button over the 'Word Search
Window'.  Pick the one you wish and away you go.  If the list of
languages grows too much another system may be devised but
for the time being this is it.  The icon displaying the word with a
foreign language name is just for your information, because of
the size of the dictionaries and the time needed to load them
there is no 'clicking through' option.

Click the mouse in the white, writable 'Word to Translate' and
type a word.  You may, when you are finished type [RETURN]
or click on the 'Find' button.

If no match was found then the box will now display "No Match
found...".  Delete the phrase and try another word.  Control and
U simultaneously, if you didn't know will clear the box instantly,
and works with all RISC-OS writable icons.

If a match was found the computer will shoot up a 'mini-
dictionary'. This will remain on the screen until you actively
close it or quit the program.  It will display the sub-set of the
information you requested along with some other information.
Each page has 12 lines and you can turn the pages by clicking on
the left and right arrows on the upper right of the window.

You ma