From cbmvax!uunet!CUVMA.BITNET!LOJBAN Sat Mar 21 07:26:24 1992 Return-Path: Received: by snark.thyrsus.com (/\==/\ Smail3.1.21.1 #21.19) id ; Sat, 21 Mar 92 07:26 EST Received: by cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com (5.57/UUCP-Project/Commodore 2/8/91) id AA24891; Sat, 21 Mar 92 01:56:41 EST Received: from pucc.Princeton.EDU by relay1.UU.NET with SMTP (5.61/UUNET-internet-primary) id AA21089; Sat, 21 Mar 92 01:41:50 -0500 Message-Id: <9203210641.AA21089@relay1.UU.NET> Received: from PUCC.PRINCETON.EDU by pucc.Princeton.EDU (IBM VM SMTP V2R2) with BSMTP id 9325; Sat, 21 Mar 92 01:41:22 EST Received: by PUCC (Mailer R2.08 ptf012) id 3880; Sat, 21 Mar 92 01:40:58 EST Date: Sat, 21 Mar 1992 00:21:42 -0500 Reply-To: Logical Language Group Sender: Lojban list From: Logical Language Group Subject: Re: What is Shoebox? X-To: dmb@BIGD.CRAY.COM X-Cc: lojban@cuvmb.cc.columbia.edu To: John Cowan , Eric Raymond , Eric Tiedemann Status: RO I was hoping that Mark would do so, since he did the work, and many Lojban List readers could benefit. Shoebox is a Shareware toolbox for field linguists built around a data base that allows optional fields on records and variable length records, making it useful for recording field examples and notes without worrying too much about data consistency. It has a built in interlinear translator, that on my suggestion, Mark got up and running for Lojban text. It is difficult to use in texts with lots of lujvo and compounds, and the text I posted was about the first text that seemed appropriate to shoe the tool off. But it hasn't been written about on Lojban List before now, so you didn't miss anything. I was trying to give Mark an excuse to brag about it a little and tell people how they can do the same, and if it is WORTH doing on an individual basis. Behind the scences, Nora is working on a longer term project of a interlinear glosser program that will interact with the Lojban parser, thus allowing both grammar AND gloss to be presented when desired, and eventually perhaps even allow some context-sensitivity in the glossing, after the fashion of her 1981-2 Loglan translation program that produced stilted but understand able English for much of the Loglan language of the time. Obviously, longer term, this could evolve into a machine translator, but that isn't even be being considered in the current design. In short Dave, you haven't missed anything. Mark: care to talk about your efforts a bit more, and give us the pros and cons. Specifically, is this something novice Lojbanists could use in dealing with Wallops and fairy tales, or does it take too much language knowledge to take apart lujvo, etc., and/or is too manually intensive to really be a boon to those who hate to look up words in their word-lists? lojbab