makolb@athena.mit.edu (Mark A Kolb) (02/06/89)
Well, the results, meager though they are, are in. Since I got a number
of "Send me your results" requests, here's a summary of the Spelling
Checker/Thesaurus reviews I received. Unfortunately, this report isn't
too conclusive, since I didn't get too many actual reviews. Apparently,
not too many USENet Mac'ers use spelling checkers. (Don't misconstrue
this as a spelling flame, but in retrospect I'm not surprised ... :^)
Fortunately, however, two days ago I noticed that the Spring 1989 issue
of MacGuide has includes a fairly comprehensive review of Mac spelling
checkers, so I would direct anyone who's considering getting one to take
a look at that article. In brief, MacGuide loved the WordFinder
Thesaurus, liked Thunder!, and thought Deneba's Spelling Coach Pro would
be good for those who like a feeling of power, could tolerate the
corresponding performance penalty, and have a few megs to spare on their
hard disk. They also said Spelling Coach would be helpful for those
needing their own "jargon-filled" user dictionaries, so I'm sort of
leaning towards Coach since I need a checker for TeXtures ... It would
be real nice to hear from someone who's actually *used* it, though ...
Finally, for those who asked me about TeXtures, yes, I like it very
much, but, yes, it is a memory hog. If you've got 2 or more megs of RAM
and some room on your hard disk for the fonts, then you're all set,
otherwise ... The program's a gem to use, LaTeX and a PD BibTeX are available,
and the handful of times I've called up Blue Sky Research for assistance,
they've been very friendly and helpful.
Now, on to the reviews ...
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Date: Fri, 30 Dec 88 18:50:56 PST
From: korfhage@ats.UCLA.EDU (Willard Korfhage)
I am in the same position. I heard good recommendations for Spelling Coach
(from Deneba), so its on order right now. This can check both interactively
and batch.
Willard Korfhage
ARPA : korfhage@cs.ucla.edu
UUCP : {ucbvax,randvax,trwrb!trwspp,ism780}!ucla-cs!korfhage
[Compiler's Remark: Has it come in yet? Are you satisfied with Spelling Coach?]
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Date: 3 Jan 89 10:52:13 EST (Tue)
From: lafcol!buyskes@rutgers.edu
I use Thunder myself. It's interactive, will build a user dictionary
(though not a document dictionary), and doesn't consider non-letters as part of
words. It's also pretty fast, although it might be dated by now. I'd strongly
recommend something that can be used interactively, so that you can just ignore
it's little beep when you type h_{ij}. Several spellcheckers count everything
as parts of words, so that \count1 and \count2 would both have to be taught
to the stupid thing. I think the ideal would be a checker that lets you
determine what is part of a word: \ would be, but ^ would not be.
Hope this helps.
Steve Buyske
buyskes@lafayett.bitnet
[Compiler's Remark: With respect to the "dated" comment, according to
MacGuide, Version 2.0 of Thunder! is due out soon ...]
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Date: Tue, 24 Jan 89 13:23:35 CST
From: c3ar%zaphod@gargoyle.uchicago.edu
I have two approaches to spelling checking that I use with
TeX.
(1) Since the SUNs at school are so much faster and thats
where our laserwriters are, I usually transfer large
finished chuncks of work from my mac to the suns and use the
emacs spelling checker "ispell". This seems to know about
TeX formatting.
(2) Recently at home on the mac, I've been using "Thunder".
Thunder allows you to build a personal "supplementary"
dictionary. After running Thunder on several long TeX
documents, and adding "words" like "endalign", "endroster",
"endgather", "psi", "tau", etc....Thunder seems to work
fairly well for me. Thunder seems to treat backslash as a
space, which is too bad, since it now thinks that endalign
is a real word, but, so what, it still warns me if I type
endalin.
It is easy to add words to the supplementary dictionary
while checking a document (when it finds the "misspelling"
you can just check off a box saying "add to dictionary").
Consequently, after checking two chapters of the thesis, I
have almost all of the math and TeX "words" that I use
regularly.
The main irritating point is that it does not do too well
with the actual mathematics. I haven't decided whether to
tell Thunder that things like "n-1" and "g" (an element of a
group) are correctly spelled.
Good luck in your search. Why don't you post a summary when
you're done?
--Walter
Walter C3arlip c3ar@zaphod.uchicago.edu
(the "3" is silent) c3ar%zaphod@UCHIMVS1.bitnet
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Date: Tue, 24 Jan 89 18:05:22 EST
From: cliff%cfa204@harvard.harvard.edu (Cliff Stoll)
Hi there!
Saw your note asking for experiences with spelling checkers &
thesauruses (thesaursi?) on comp.sys.mac... Here's my 2 bits:
You're interested in textures or tex compatable stuff.
I can't help you, since I do my tex work on a unix box.
But I've just finished writing a book on a macintosh, using
microsoft word 3.0n ... it's been super. I have not needed
any formatting (that's the publisher's problem), so I'm
easy to please.
But I've needed a good thesaurus on the mac. Word 3.0 now
comes bundled with a desk accessory, Word Finder. This is
a nice way to run the thesaurus -- it's available for any
program by clicking on a word and calling up WordFinder.
But wordfinder has an anemic vocabulary. I've ended up using
Roget's international thesaurus (the black & red book), simply
because WordFinder has such impovershed synonyms.
If you're satisfied with a collegiate dictionary, perhaps
you'll find wordfinder adequate. I've pretty much given up on it.
Spellers? I use microsoft word 3.0n -- it's not bad.
cheers,
cliff stoll cliff@lbl.gov
cliff@cfa200.harvard.edu
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Date: Tue, 24 Jan 89 19:04:08 CST
From: knapp@cs.utexas.edu (Edgar Knapp)
Believe it or not, but I am using Word's spelling checker together
with TeXtures to correct typos and such. I found it a quite convenient,
and since I had Word anyway, pretty cheap solution, too. LaTeX
commands go into a special dictionary file, and math etc. is no
problem at all.
However, if you don't have Word, or you don't like it or have other
reasons not to use it, Spelling Coach Professional is by far the best
tool for spell-checking around. It comes with a thesaurus and can work
interactively or in batch mode. Give Deneba Software in Florida a
call, in case you are interested. Last time I called they had a
toll-free number, which you can get by calling toll-free information
at (800) 555-1212.
Regards
Edgar
[Compiler's Remark: Deneba's toll-free number is (800) 6-CANVAS.]
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Enjoy! Any further comments or questions are welcome.
- Mark Kolb
Internet: MAK%Hippocrene@Athena.MIT.Edu
USENet: ...!mit-eddie!hippocrene.mit.edu!mak
Note: Assume standard disclaimer
Slogan: If it's ACME -- it's a gasser!ts@cup.portal.com (Tim W Smith) (02/08/89)
I have been using Thunder! and Big Thesaurus. Thunder! has some problems under MultiFinder, but as long as you are careful to close Thunder! before quiting the application you load it in, and do not access the Thunder! menu from other applications, it seems to work OK. At first, I thought that it would be annoying to have interactive spelling checking turned on, but I have found that turning it on improves one's spelling. For example, I can never get "separate" correct. In batch mode, I will spell this wrong every time. In interactive mode, I spell it wrong the first two or three times, then start to get it right. I would not buy a spelling checker that does not support interactive checking now. I used to do most of my work that needed spell checking in Acta, which Thunder! knows about. This means that if one checks something in non-interactive mode, Thunder! preserves formatting information when it pastes the corrected spelling back. However, I now use Acta Advantage, which Thunder! does not know about. This prompted me to send in the registration card. Perhaps there will be an upgrade available to support newer applications such as Acta Advantage. ( note: this only is a problem in batch mode. Interactive checking still works fine ). Big Thesarus is a lot of fun. It works fine with MultiFinder. However, unless you have a lot of memory, you can't keep the thesaurus in RAM. Keeping it in RAM is the default. I installed it and found that nothing would run. A quick "about the Finder..." revealed that my System was 1.5 meg. Telling BT to not keep the thing in RAM got the System back down to where it belongs. It is reasonbly quick, taking a second oS7 r two to look up a word. It does have some problems. For example, I was quite surprised to find out that, according to BT, I am a lesbian... :-) Tim Smith