| ★ APPLICATIONS ★ BUREAUTIQUE ★ ARNOR - PROSPELL ★ |
PROSPELL (Amstrad Computer User) | Prospell on the Amstrad CP/M continues to amaze (PopularComputingWeekly) | Prospell (Amstrad Action) | Prospell (Amstrad Computer User) |
Amor's Protext is one of the more popular Amstrad word processors; this companion spelling checker deserves to enjoy similar success. In fact, more success, since you can you use it with just about every other word processor around - this article has been written with Wordstar and checked quite easily using Prospell. Prospell's two most apparent virtues are the size of its dictionary and the speed with which it searches: it contains 32,000 words ( before you've added any) and runs through text at a rate of about 2,000 words per minute. Not bad for a dumb machine, especially when you consider that yer average university graduate would only have a vocab of around 20,000 words and certainly couldn't spot spelling errors at Prospell's rate. Another advantage of Prospell is that it is available on ROM, thereby giving virtually instant access to its services. However, for the purposes of this review we used the disk version, so all that follows has been gleaned using that version only. Prospell is loaded very simply, whatever the word processor you are using. With Protext, you first load the wp and then the spelling checker. With other programs you first load the Prospell program disk followed by the dictionary (on the other side). Then you load up your text file. Entering |SM will produce the menu, from which you will first want to choose D if you are not using Protext. You can then run a straightforward check a file by pressing S and typing in the file name. And off it goes, at its 2000 wpm. When it finds what it suspects of being a deviant - a word that is not in its dictionary the word will appear accompanied by a question mark. You now have five options. S will allow you to store the word in Prospers dictionary, always presuming that it's one you think is worth storing. If you don't want to take any action on the word, I instructs the program to ignore it. If there's a mistake C allows you to change the spelling. Part of the text is displayed with the offending word highlighted. It can then be edited or rewritten.
I allows a word to be viewed in context, though it doesn't allow you to alter it. It's a particularly useful option for abbreviations and the like, whose meaning is only clear in the their context. L is the 'Look up spelling' option. If a word whose spelling you are unsure of comes up, this command will make Prospell search through its dictionary and come up with lookalikes that might fit the bill. So, when I ran through the first few paragraphs of this review Prospell came up with yer. I entered L and the program came up with such suggestions as yet, yen, yea etc. Could be very useful. The main menu offers several other choices. T is an alternative to S, and will give you a 'Two pass'check: instead of stopping at each unrecognised word, the whole file is checked giving you a list of words at the end that can then be dealt with one by one. You thus avoid having to watch the screen all the time. The two screen pass also gives you the option, after the first pass, of checking with another dictionary. You might, for example have built up several small dictionaries of technical vocabulary which you would not want in the main dictionary. Creating dictionaries is a simple matter. You can, of course, just add words to Prospell's existing list. This contains just over 32,000 words and occupies 77% of disk space, so there's plenty of room for expansion. A completely new dictionary can be created with the I command, which will turn a blank disk into a formatted dictionary disk with its own name. Should you find any mistakes in your dictionaries - you might, for instance, misspell a word when adding it to a list - you can correct them easily by using the command E for Edit. The Verdict Prospell doesn't come cheap at £24.95 on disc and £34.95 on ROM, but it reofly Is an excellent program, It does just about everything you could want of such software, and o little bit more. Extras, for instance, include a facility to -search for anagrams and to find word patterns with the use of 'wild card'characters -both of them a boon for at least the crossword puzzler. It's fast - very fast - flexible and very easy to use. Unlike many other CP/M checkers, it's pure English - so . you want be houled up before the judge for writing colour. Creating new dictionaries, or adding to existing ones, is a cinch. Since It works with ASCII files you can use it with Just about any of the popular word processors. As with most checkers, Prospell works best using two drives -you have the dictionary in b and the text in a. It will, of course work perfectly we» on a single drive system, but you'll have to do a fair amount of disk swapping.
AA #9 |
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