On 16 Jan 2008 16:48:35 -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Shmuel Metz , Seymour J.) wrote:
>I make spelling errors, and I run a spell checker in an attempt to catch >them, but if I blindly accepted every proposed "correction" my prose would >be far worse than it is. Spell checkers in the real world are only useful >to authors, and then only when used selectively. There are many ways for spell checking to be improved - if there was a paying market for people to work on them. Or if there were sufficient hobbyists to solve them. One issue is that a system needs layers of spell checking. A novelist would want a name recognized in one novel, a work group would want to share jargon for that work group, etc. And entering new words, there should be the option to enter rules, indicating whether it is a proper name, what plural(s) are accepted, and even how to handle words like "iPod" or "dBase" at the beginning of a sentence. Another thing that would be useful would be something that showed whether you are talking Jack Nicklaus (golf), Jack Nichols (director), or Jack Nicholson (Actor). - or H. G. Wells vs Orson Welles. Other multiple word spellings (besides names) can include "hors d'oeuvre", or that my "plural(s)" above is correct. I don't know how Germans do spell checking with their compound words. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
