[squeak-dev] A browser for the WordNet lexical db in Smalltalk, anybody?

Hi list,

has anyone started with/plans for a browser for a WordNet lexical db in
Smalltalk? I checked their Prolog formatted files,

- http://wordnet.princeton.edu/obtain

actually read them into a Squeak .image; they need only a handful of
memory MB (7.5, strings as yet not symbolized) plus less than 10MB of disk
space if gloss texts would be stored in the .changes file.

Also, if anyone already has (or had) ideas for a GUI for a WordNet browser
in Squeak please let me know (!) I cannot say I like their basic Web
interface (it has nothing that a Smalltalk browser offers)

-
http://wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?o0=1&o1=1&r=1&s=small+talk&i=1&h=100#c

and think that can be done better for local use, for example in class
rooms (and of course when authoring documentation for Squeak ;) but,
unlikely for the OLPC because of the footprint.

Thanks in advance for your feedback.

/Klaus

--
"If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it".
Albert Einstein

Hi Klaus,

This is a great idea!  I'll be glad to test anything you create.
Unfortunately I don't have any time for development.

Steve

On Wed, Dec 10, 2008 at 1:30 PM, Klaus D. Witzel <[hidden email]> wrote:


--
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment
before starting to improve the world.       -- Anne Frank
Paradise is exactly where you are
right now...only much, much better.    -- Laurie Anderson

Hi Steve,

on Thu, 11 Dec 2008 11:44:57 +0100, you wrote:

> Hi Klaus,
>
> This is a great idea!  I'll be glad to test anything you create.

:)

> Unfortunately I don't have any time for development.

Do you happen to know Norberto, he emailed that he made an object model in  
Squeak some time ago. Perhaps he can find it and send it to me over the  
weekend.

/Klaus

P.S. suggestions for a WordNet browser GUI in Squeak, anybody ?



--
"If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it".  
Albert Einstein

On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 10:03 AM, Klaus D. Witzel
<[hidden email]> wrote:
Don't know Norberto.  I hope he sends you an object model.  Maybe
you're different but the blank sheet of paper is the hardest part of
creating anything for me.

> P.S. suggestions for a WordNet browser GUI in Squeak, anybody ?

Typeahead for search, mouseover for everything in the WN archive, and
an easy-to-extend model.  I'm interested in poetry so one thing I've
thought about is adding some of poetry's technical details to a word's
information---syllables, stresses, rhymes, etc.  With the right kind
of interface, I could enter a poem I like and enter (some or all of)
the information along the way, or just after.  Half an hour at a time.

Hi Steve,

on Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:07:34 +0100, you wrote:

Na, that's the easier part ;) took objects without pointers (words ->  
Strings, synset id's -> SmallIntegers, synsets -> subclass of LookupKey)  
and Dictionary, easy and extendible.

Only performance of Dictionary is poor (unrelated to object model).

>> P.S. suggestions for a WordNet browser GUI in Squeak, anybody ?
>
> Typeahead for search,

Oh. Have you seen some (re-)usable code for that? This seems not to be soo  
straight-forward with morphic Squeak (example: Preferences browser).

> mouseover for everything in the WN archive,

Nah, too many WN entries have more than a screen-full of info (all the  
relations, all the synsets they point to, etc). I thought about a  
*browser* like the Smalltalk browsers, with panes for categories/relations  
and scrollable info-area.

> and
> an easy-to-extend model.  I'm interested in poetry so one thing I've
> thought about is adding some of poetry's technical details to a word's
> information---syllables, stresses, rhymes, etc.

This I do not understand. WordNet is about semantical relations of  
synsets, not about isolated *words* (despite "word" in its name). There is  
nothing one could store for one word, only for a synset/sense (multiple  
words).

Of course a relation like "rhymes_with" could be added easily but, there's  
nothing in WordNet for morphology, affixes, syllables and such.

>  With the right kind
> of interface, I could enter a poem I like and enter (some or all of)
> the information along the way, or just after.  Half an hour at a time.

So you think about a poetry text editor? well, I thought about a browser  
for information retrival.



--
"If at first, the idea is not absurd, then there is no hope for it".  
Albert Einstein

On Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 4:54 AM, Klaus D. Witzel <[hidden email]> wrote:
Saw the btree thread.

>>> P.S. suggestions for a WordNet browser GUI in Squeak, anybody ?
>>
>> Typeahead for search,
>
> Oh. Have you seen some (re-)usable code for that? This seems not to be soo
> straight-forward with morphic Squeak (example: Preferences browser).

Don't know how reusable the code is but I'm reasonably sure I've seen
some of the code tools supporting typeahead.

Thanks for spurring me to learn what a synset is.  In case you haven't
seen it yet, the Interfaces section of the Wikipedia page (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordNet ) has some links you may find
interesting.

> Of course a relation like "rhymes_with" could be added easily but, there's
> nothing in WordNet for morphology, affixes, syllables and such.
>
>>  With the right kind
>> of interface, I could enter a poem I like and enter (some or all of)
>> the information along the way, or just after.  Half an hour at a time.
>
> So you think about a poetry text editor? well, I thought about a browser for
> information retrival.

I'd like that, too.



--
How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment
before starting to improve the world.       -- Anne Frank
Paradise is exactly where you are
right now...only much, much better.    -- Laurie Anderson