Re: Conlang Software Ideas and Survey
| From: | Caleb <bachmusic1@...> |
|---|
| Date: | Thursday, May 25, 2006, 22:41 |
|---|
Well, I originally posted this a week ago, and so far, I've only
recieved 4 responses, all within a day or two of the original post.
That's not quite what I was expecting. Based on this response, it
seems that there isn't an overwhelming desire for such a tool. So I'm
beginning to think that maybe I shouldn't worry about trying to
develop it.
I'll wait another week and see if anyone else responds...
~Caleb
--- In conlang@yahoogroups.com, Caleb Hines <Bachmusic1@...> wrote:
>
> As a software engineer, an idea that I've had now for some years is
a conlang "Development Environment". So far I haven't really done any
work in this direction, but I keep coming back to the concept. I'd
like to know if anyone else is interested in such an idea, either as a
user, or as a developer.
>
> Currently, there are a number of ways to use software to aid in
language creation. There's LangMaker, but it's windows-only and
obsolete. Then there's linguist's tools (such as Shoebox, which I
should mention I've never used) which AIUI are geared towards
professionals, not hobbyists. Then there are a number of utilities
like werd (one of my favorites) and IPAZounds, which are geared
towards specific tasks, but aren't really integrated. OTOH, there's
always the full-blown spreadsheet or word-processor approach, which
provides a lot of functionality, but, as with the linguist's tools,
these aren't tailored towards our hobby (also, the most popular one is
a commercial product, and not cross-platform). And don't forget the
minimalist approach of just storing everything in a txt file. But if
you want to share it on the web, you need a way to put it into html,
although you could store everything in xml. As you can see, the waters
are rather murky. There are also numerous instance!
> s of people reinventing the wheel in slightly different forms (I
cite the recent thread on sound change tools such as schcompile and
IPAzounds).
>
> What I'd like to do is provide a consolidated (and open-source)
approach to this. Something that takes advantage of existing
approaches, either by porting or wrapping existing programs (with
permission, of course). I also think that it should be estensible,
which is to say, it should be relatively easy to write "plug-ins" that
provide additional functionality.
>
> I can envision implementing this in several ways, with pros and cons
to each. Some examples of what this might look like:
> - A set of macros for M$ Office, which could maintain and transform
a lexicon.
> - A set of Python scripts with a Tkinter or wxPython GUI to bind
them all together.
> - A full-blown 3-tier application in C#.
>
> While I'm offering to get this off the ground and help lead it (at
least for now), I don't want this to be _my_ project, because I don't
do enough conlanging to justify it for myself (but if I had it, I
might do more). Rather, I'd like it to be a group project. I know we
have a large community on the list, including a fair number of
programmers. what prompted me to post this here was twofold. Firstly,
the LCC resparked my interest in conlanging, which brought me back to
this concept, and secondly, I recently purchased a book on Extreme
Programming (XP), and am eager to give it a try on a real life
program. Unfortunately, it's hard to apply to my current project at
work, at least whole cloth, since we already have a large team, a
large existing code-base, and existing development processes.
>
> One of the big things in XP is close communication between
"customers" and "developers". The customers determine what needs to be
done and the developers figure out how. In this context, anyone on
this list is a potential customer, and with the right experience, a
potential developer. This means that the developers will be an
"extended subset" of the customers. But non-developer users should
have at least as much say in the project as developers.
>
> A tentative working name for the project:
> ConLang Integrated Development Environment, or "CLIDE" for short.
>
> Step 1 for CLIDE will be to determine the needs of the customers,
and find a willing and able development team. To this end, I wrote an
initial survey which I'm posting here. Please give as detailed answers
(within reason) as you can, but make them _your_ answers. Try not to
overgeneralize to what other people _might_ want... if other people
want it, let them tell me. This is in keeping with the XP philosophy
of You-Arent-Gonna-Need-It. I'd like to hear from as many people as
possible for at least the first three questions. If you answer no to
both 2. and 3., you needn't bother continuing. It would probably be
best if you sent your survey responses directly to me (bachmusic1 AT
netscape DOT net) rather than cluttering up the listserve. For
reference, I'll post my answers to 14-18 below the survey. I'll wait
about a week or two then compile the results and post them. Thanks for
your participation!
>
> ~Caleb
>
> ===============================================
> CLIDE Initial Interest Survey
>
> 1. Do you currently use, or have you used, a software package to
assist with language construction and/or maintanance?
> - If yes:
> - What software program(s) have you used, and for what purpose(s)?
> (e.g Word, Excel, Open Office, LangMaker, IPAZounds, werd,
InspirationPad...)
> - What feature(s) do you find are the most useful?
> - What feature(s) do you find are missing?
> - If no:
> - Why not?
> - What (if anything) would make you reconsider?
>
> 2. Would you consider using an integrated software program to assist
with language construction and/or maintanance?
>
> 3. Would you consider helping develop said program?
>
>
> Questions 4-13 apply only if you answered yes to 2 (or 3) (Potential
User).
>
> 4. What operating system(s) do you use?
>
> 5. How important is it for it to be easy to install?
> For example, would you use it if there were a few external
dependencies that you had to download first?
>
> 6. How important would a programmatic interface (API) be to you?
>
> 7. How important would a command-line interface be to you?
>
> 8. How important would a graphical interface be to you?
>
> 9. How important would a web-based interface be to you?
>
> 10. How important would a script-based interface be to you?
>
> 11. How important would database access be to you?
>
> 12. How important would extensibility be?
>
> 13. Which of the following features might you use? (This is only to
get a broad feel for what might be included -- more detailed
determinations of features can be conducted later)
> - Word generation
> - Sound change management
> - Lexicon management
> - Etymology managemet
> - Statistical analysis of texts
> - Interlinear creation (manual or automatic)
> - Creating a reference grammar
> - Grammatical parsing
> - Vocalization (computer-pronunciation of a conlang)
> - Phrase-structure tree parsing and/or visualizing
> - Other (please specify -- be creative!)
>
>
> Questions 14-18 apply only if you answered yes to 3 (Potential
Developer).
>
> 14. Which of the following systems have you (or could you) developed on?
> - Windows
> - Macintosh
> - *nix
> - Other (please specify)
>
> 15. Which of the following languages do you know?
> - C/C++
> - Visual Basic
> - Java
> - C#
> - JavaScript
> - Perl
> - Python
> - Ruby
> - HTML
> - XML
> - SQL
> - Other (please specify)
>
> 16. Which of the following areas do you have experience in?
> - Database Programming
> - Network Programming
> - GUI Design
> - Natural Language Processing
> - Architecture and Design
> - Software Testing and Test-Driven Development
> - Technical Documentation
> - Development Processes
> - Extreme Programming
> - Other (please specify)
>
> 17. How active do you think you could you be in this project?
> (answer does not imply commitment)
>
> 18. (Optional) Is developing software a deeply spiritual pursuit for
you?
> Just kidding! :-)
>
> ===============================================
> My answers to the Developer questions:
>
> 14. Cmd-line stuff in C on Unix, Multiple languages on Windows, no
knowledge of Macs.
>
> 15. Fluent in C/C++ and Python. Learning C# (and like it).
Occasional VB, very little Java, JavaScript, and PERL, no knowledge of
Ruby. I know HTML and XML, and am familiar with basic SQL statements.
>
> 16. Done a little DB and GUI stuff, less web stuff, and no natlang
processing (whatever that means). Design, documentation, testing, and
processes are all familliar from work. I'd like to do more TDD, but
haven't used it extensively yet. I've known about XP for less than 2
years, and only recently purchased a book on it. I think I could
follow the procedures, but I'm no expert.
>
> 17. Good question! I don't have alot of free time to dedicate, and
I'll have less once I start my Master's in the fall. When I'm
interested I'll likely spend more time on it, and I'm likely to be
more intereseted if other people are helping. Based on my experience
with past projects, my interest is likely to wax and wane in
unpredictable cycles.
>
> 18. Not really, but it is a (sometimes) enjoyable hobby, and it
often gives me a different insight into reality, in some warpped way.
Yes... I know I need help.
>
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