daved@physiol.su.oz.au (Dave Davey) (04/03/91)
Some while back I remember some discussion about the revised Oxford Dictionary and the possibility that it might become available in a machine readable form - CDs I would imagine. As I recall the plan was to market this only when the paper version had been for sale for some time. Does anyone know if it is available (or know the current status)?
wrf@mab.ecse.rpi.edu (Wm Randolph Franklin) (04/04/91)
In article <1578@physiol.su.oz.au> on 3 Apr 91 02:14:06 GMT
daved@physiol.su.oz.au (Dave Davey) asks about the OED on CD.
Last I heard, the OED was using a Sun at Waterloo to maintain their
database as a digital search tree (trie). I saw a demo once; I've never
seen a file with a 9 digit length (600MB) before. It allows quick
retrievals on word combos as well as individual words. Their standard
example is to find an entry that refers to both frogs and cows, or some
such. (It's a word from Homer.) The OED took 100 man-years to type in
when they computerized it.
That is what they should make available, but they probably never will
since then anyone could copy it. Oh well.
--
Wm. Randolph Franklin
Internet: wrf@ecse.rpi.edu (or @cs.rpi.edu) Bitnet: Wrfrankl@Rpitsmts
Telephone: (518) 276-6077; Telex: 6716050 RPI TROU; Fax: (518) 276-6261
Paper: ECSE Dept., 6026 JEC, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst, Troy NY, 12180tbray@watsol.waterloo.edu (Tim Bray) (04/04/91)
<2s_gdkb@rpi.edu> wrf@mab.ecse.rpi.edu (Wm Randolph Franklin) writes: >Last I heard, the OED was using a Sun at Waterloo to maintain their >database The OED is maintained at Oxford, not Waterloo, by editors, not computer scientists, as it should be. But yes, it's on Unix systems at both places. >It allows quick >retrievals on word combos as well as... etc. >That is what they should make available, but they probably never will >since then anyone could copy it. Oh well. The electronic OED is now available on tape from Oxford in just the form we have it here at Waterloo. It ain't cheap though. If anyone's interested, I can provide information. Cheers, Tim Bray (tbray@watsol.waterloo.edu)