+++ /dev/null
- Yet Another Word List [YAWL]
-
- i
- The List
-
-Why indeed is there even a need for Yet Another Word List? The notorious
-"linux.words" list, the public domain "Websters 2", the ispell and
-cracklib dictionaries, not to mention various and sundry purported
-Scrabble lists are already available in electronic form. None of these,
-though, are optimized for word game use and as comprehensive as the
-YAWL. At 263,533 words, this list subsumes the SOWPODS list beloved of
-international Scrabble players. There is no arbitrary word length cutoff,
-and even words longer than 20 letters find a place in the list.
-
-Care has been taken to ensure that the YAWL word list (word.list) will
-for all time remain copyright free. It is based on the updated Public
-Domain ENABLE (Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon), researched
-and compiled by the author and his colleague, Alan Beale. The ENABLE
-list has become a sort of de facto on-line standard for word gaming,
-having been adopted by Scrabble servers and used as the basis for at
-least one commercial word game. Additional content in the list came from
-Alan Beale's painstakingly researched "2DICTS" and "OSPDADD" lists, an
-"OSW" clone list generously contributed by the amateur lexicographer,
-C.M.L. Wristlock, David Duffy's list of Australian bird names, and a short
-list of computer jargon oriented "signature words" added by the author
-of this package. While there might be suspicions of arbitrariness in
-the choice of words these signature words, they add a pungent, slightly
-smoky idiosyncratic flavor to the brew.
-
-Those who, in spite of themselves, develop an asthetic
-appreciation of the YAWL package are urged to download the
-lists it is based on, in the ENABLE2K and SUPP2K archives, from
-http://personal.riverusers.com/~thegrendel/software.html. These archives
-contain Alan Beale's erudite, but eminently readable research notes,
-a treat for the amateur lexicographer.
-
-The YAWL word list itself (word.list) is, of course, in standard
-UNIX ASCII format, one word per line, terminated by an LF. Those
-unfortunate Windows persons desiring a DOS ASCII word file, lines
-terminated by an LF-CR, can download the "tofrodos" package from
-http://chrisheng.hypermart.net/ or http://thor.prohosting.com/~cslheng/,
-which contains both 16 and 32-bit Windows executables for converting
-text files from UNIX to DOS format.
-
-The YAWL list, word.list, is herewith and forever placed in the
-Public Domain, which means there are no restrictions on its use and
-redistribution for "lawful" purposes. This means you may not use the list
-to rob banks or swindle investors, but short of that, pretty much anything
-goes. If you decide to incorporate the list into a game, application,
-or product, the author requests, as a courtesy, notification of same,
-so that he can gain a moment's satisfaction in return for all the effort
-he has put into this project.
-
-
-
- ii
- The Utilities
-
-This new version of the YAWL package now includes two simple anagramming
-utilities. They are interesting and useful in their own right, but
-their true purpose is to inspire all the Linux word gamers and coders
-out there to invent and create... word games, using the YAWL list,
-of course. It would truly be nice to see a successor to Scrabble -
-a new generation word game with strategic depth, a word game with some
-of the sheer crystalline beauty of chess and the sheer profundity of Go,
-a word game rewarding artistic play rather than dry list memorization,
-a word game for those who truly love the richness of the English language
-and revel in its peculiar permutations, a word game that will take the
-gaming community by storm, a word game that will invade living rooms
-all across the civilized world, in short, a word game fated to run on
-millions of Linux machines.
-
-
-Using 'anagram' involves nothing more than typing, from the command line
-(console or xterm), 'anagram letter-set [dictionary]'. Omitting the
-[dictionary] defaults to the YAWL list, installed by this package as
-"word.list" in /usr/dict. Omitting the letter set causes the program
-to prompt the user for input. The letter set may include "wild cards"
-(blank tiles), which are represented as underscores (_). The output goes
-to stdout, and may, of course be redirected to a file.
-
-Examples:
- anagram lkwa
- ------------
- al
- aw
- awl
- ka
- la
- law
- walk
-
- anagram whea_l
- --------------
- aa
- aah
- aal
- ab
- able
- ace
- ache
- ... and 459 other words.
-
- anagram abcd /usr/dict/linux.words
- ----------------------------------
- anagrams the letterset "abcd" using /usr/dict/linux.words.
-
-
-
-The multiple word anagram utility, "multi" works similarly. The syntax, from
-the command line, is:
- multi [letter set] [number of words] [word file]
-
-Example:
- multi abcdefghij 3
- ------------------
- bach fed jig
- bach jig fed
- bad chef jig
- ...
- bid chef jag
- ...
- jab chef dig
- ...and 49 other combinations.
-
-Using "multi" can provide some cheap thrills when a party gets dull.
-
-Both "anagram" and "multi" have their own man pages, installed by a
-"make install".
-
-It would take only a few small tweaks to transform the anagram code into an
-unscramble tool for "scramblegrams" or even a "find the missing letters"
-utility for crossword puzzle fans. This is left as an "exercise for the
-reader".
-
-Mendel Cooper
-thegrendel@theriver.com
-
---
-Scrabble is a registered trademark of Milton Bradley, a subsidiary of Hasbro,
-Inc.
-
-ENABLE, YAWL, and 2DICTS are not trademarks.
projects / deb_pkgs / scowl.git / blobdiff