Sorting dictionaries by the different rules of spoken languages

[Valerie Sutton]

SignWriting List
April 16, 2007

I know this problem. It was enough to drive us insane when  
programming SignWriter DOS, for sorting dictionaries by 10 spoken  
languages years ago. Each spoken language places their accented  
symbols in different places in their dictionaries (yes...that is true  
and hard to believe)...and it was an awful job. Rich Gleaves had to  
program each dictionary for each country separately to sort their  
dictionary correctly based on the rules of their language...and  
Spanish was the worst, because some countries like Mexico, sort their  
Spanish dictionaries differently than in Spain...and there were real  
arguments as to which rules to follow...some sorted the double Ls  
inside L and others sorted the double Ls as a separate area in the  
dictionary and so forth...

I do not know what is involved with the programming in SignPuddle  
1.5, but if it is a lot of work, then I think right now we need to  
focus on other more urgent areas of the software

but thanks for telling us...I am glad you can at least use the  
"search by word option" right now!

A lot going on behind the scenes here, with this wonderful new  
software, which is so beautiful...in time it will all settle down and  
I know I will be happy as a little clam making beautiful dictionaries  
and literature!

And just wait until you see the beautiful dictionaries we can print  
out, using a combination of SignPuddle 1.5 and SignBank 8.5...I am  
working on that right now and I am so happy with the combination of  
the two programs!

Val ;-)




On Apr 16, 2007, at 3:05 PM, Anne-Claude Prélaz Girod wrote:

> Steve
>
> I would like to know if there's a way to change the ordering of the  
> word in SignPuddle....
>
> in french... letters like "é" or /è/ or /ê/ are usually under E  
> (following the alphabetic order.... but in PUDDLE... they appear at  
> the end of the list
>
> same problems with all letters that do have an accent
>
> for example /bébé/ comes at the end of the list of "B" words....
> If people search for word , enter *... and get the whole list,  
> people don't expect top look at the end of the list to find it
>
> if it's too complicated tom change this... don't worry..... people  
> can also use "search by word option"
>
> Anny
>
>
> Anne-Claude Prélaz Girod
> ruelle des chambres chaudes 1
> 1271 Givrins
> Tel ++41/22.362.52.37
> Fax ++41/22.362.52.66
> mail: acpg at vtxnet.ch
>
>
>
>