From lojbab@xxxxxx.xxxx Sat Sep 18 08:46:33 1999 X-Digest-Num: 237 Message-ID: <44114.237.1294.959273825@eGroups.com> Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 11:46:33 -0400 From: "Bob LeChevalier (lojbab)" From: Piermaria Maraziti > >At 11.36 18/09/1999 +0200, you wrote: > > >I don't see the point in having an extra word processor just for one > >language. Also, I think there are far more important items on the > >programming agenda: a good, portable glosser / automatic translator > >of syntax-parsed lojban text. > >The idea is to do a WP with an integrated "good, portable glosser / >automatic translator >of syntax-parsed lojban text" - perhaps at least as for vwrsion "1.0", >without the "automatic translator" part, excluding the interlinearizing >capabilities that will help so much in translating (and learning)! Well, even that is probably version 2.0. Robin Turner, who originally mentioned it on conlang, suggested that being able to click on a word and call up its place structure (which implies calling up its tanru breakdown if it is not in the dictionary) is the thing most needed for Lojban writing. Having a dictionary lookup for English words would seem an obvious thing to include at the same level. Such lookups are presumably trivial utility routines by now, so if you started from that open software base that several have mentioned, we have something that is small enough for someone to tackle in their spare time in a few days. The fancy version written from scratch that uses Java, and has the functionality of the parser/glosser and the lujvo maker and typesetting including Tolkienian stuff is a much bigger project - probably worth doing, but not likely to have someone writing it very soon. You either have to write it from scratch or translate the existing code. Just making existing Turbo Pascal code portable has never been accomplished for any of our core software (at least a dozen people started to translate LogFlash into C, including using an auto-translator to help, and no one in 10 years ever got a working program, though Eric Raymond got close. I suspect that the glosser is bigger than LogFlash, though I haven't looked. Both are very time consuming to debug and test). ---- lojbab ***NOTE NEW ADDRESS*** lojbab@lojban.org Bob LeChevalier, President, The Logical Language Group, Inc. 2904 Beau Lane, Fairfax VA 22031-1303 USA 703-385-0273 Artificial language Loglan/Lojban: see Lojban WWW Server: href=" http://xiron.pc.helsinki.fi/lojban/ " Order _The Complete Lojban Language_ - see our Web pages or ask me.