gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu (09/05/90)
--------- My client -- who has just left on vacation -- sent me a note with the following instructions: "Contact Claris regarding the availability their new wordprocessor format library. This is a software library which has all the tools necessary to deal with the internal formats of the major word processing systems. I have seen this software in use by On Location and it seems to work very well." I called up Claris and they had no idea what he was talking about. Does any of you? Perhaps he's referring to XTND? On a related note: he may want me to write a word comparing app similar to CompareRite or DocuComp (he likes those, but sez they mess with the file format, such as styles, or something like that. I don't know exactly what he means, since he's gone). He claims "The process of comparing two files to produce a difference file is very simple to program and is often an exercise in introductory programming texts." Is this an accurate assessment of the difficulty involved in reproducing something like either of the two commercial programs above? Somehow I'm skeptical. Thanks for any info! Robert ============================================================================ = gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu * generic disclaimer: * "It's more fun to = = * all my opinions are * compute" = = * mine * -Kraftwerk = ============================================================================
lim@iris.ucdavis.edu (Lloyd Lim) (09/06/90)
In article <1990Sep5.175728.1895@midway.uchicago.edu> gft_robert@gsbacd.uchicago.edu writes: >On a related note: he may want me to write a word comparing app similar to >CompareRite or DocuComp (he likes those, but sez they mess with the file >format, such as styles, or something like that. I don't know exactly what he >means, since he's gone). He claims "The process of comparing two files to >produce a difference file is very simple to program and is often an exercise in >introductory programming texts." Is this an accurate assessment of the >difficulty involved in reproducing something like either of the two commercial >programs above? Somehow I'm skeptical. This is not quite true. It is easy to produce a difference file. It is hard to produce an "optimal" difference file. The difficulty lies in the fact that when you have more than a few differences between two documents, there are many ways to specify the changes. There seems to be a fair amount of research in this area and I know one professor who is currently working in this area. I forget what the various complexity measures are for various aspects of this problem. I think I remember hearing that DocuComp is actually quite sophisticated internally. +++ Lloyd Lim Internet: lim@iris.ucdavis.edu (128.120.57.20) Compuserve: 72647,660 US Mail: 146 Lysle Leach Hall, U.C. Davis, Davis, CA 95616