Re: Online Dialect Generator

It really did look like a cool module, but I'm fairly new to PERL and
puzzling out the code to make the Sound Change Applier work via CGI was
an accomplishment for me.  So, a good user manual/help file with good
EXAMPLES helps a lot.  I find it especially helpful to have a complete
example of one kind or another.  That makes it easier to figure out how
much of the code is really necessary to the module or just variables.

In any case, I stand in awe of anyone who can code up PERL modules, at
this point.  I've only been messing with it for about a year, or so,
while also working a totally unrelated "day job".
I started looking at Lingua::Phonology with the idea of making an app
that would generate an entire family of languages, all at once.  Sort of
a one-stop language tree maker.  I had in mind to start with some
phonological constraints, then have one, or more sound change patterns
that would result in Old, Middle and New languages on the same family
tree, as it were.  But, ultimately, that proved a little too far beyond
my scope right now.  Maybe one day...  Maybe when you get your manual
and all done, I'll give it a go!  (Well, after a few months, anyway.  I
promised my wife I'd back off on the PERL work and give her some "face
time".)
Be sure to let us all know when you get it ready!
Thanks,
Jim

 > Date:    Mon, 21 Jul 2003 10:56:34 -0700 From:    JS Bangs
 > <jaspax@...> Subject: Re: Online Dialect Generator
 >
 > J. K. Hoffman sikyal:
 >
 >
 >> Um, actually, I did look at it.  The problem was it was so
 >> complicated to implement that I chose the easier route.  I'm sure
 >> it does so much more than my simple webification of the Sound
 >> Change Applier, but since I'm not a Linguistics student, or a
 >> programmer, I took the path of least resistance.
 >
 >
 > This is a problem, as the current Lingua::Phonology does have a
 > pretty steep learning curve. When I get to 1.0, I should write a
 > tutorial. (BTW, 1.0 is not that far away, since 0.3, the next
 > release, should contain the last feature additions. Once I'm
 > reasonably sure that there's no bugs, then, I'll skip to 1.0 with
 > much fanfare.)
 >
 >
 >> Of course, there's nothing keeping you from doing it!  I'd love to
 >> see the result!
 >
 >
 > It'd be awfully difficult to implement a *simple* sound changer like
 > yours in the current version of Lingua::Phonology. In 0.3 it should
 > be easier because there will be a text-parsing for rules.
 >
 >
 > Jesse S. Bangs jaspax@u.washington.edu
 > http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/
 > http://students.washington.edu/jaspax/blog
 >

--
"It's better to light one candle
   than to curse the darkness."
-Chinese Proverb and The Motto of the Christophers
                      http://www.christophers.org