Subject: Re: formats

From: Jim Davis <jrd>
Date: Sun, 18 Jan 87 13:03:27 EST

From mike Sat Jan 17 15:43:43 1987
	Received: by MEDIA-LAB.MIT.EDU (5.51/4.8)  id AA26642; Sat, 17 Jan 87 15:43:40 EST
	Date: Sat, 17 Jan 87 15:43:40 EST
	From: Michael Hawley <mike>
	Message-Id: <[email-masked]>
	To: info-dictionary
	Subject: formats
	
	There should probably be some raw mode format -- like, a way to have
	the server return the machine-format text (unformatted) and let the
	client worry about decoding.

This is planned.

	A pronunciation index would be wonderful - a rhyming dictionary is
	something I've always wanted.  (I have a friend who is trying to
	write code that will digest the AP news wire and read it in rap on a
	dectalk.)

Yes, this would be fun.  It is not planned, however.  What I proposed was
the ability to extract a single word given its pron.  For rhyming, you want
*all* words that rhyme.  This requires wild cards in the phonetic string,
which is not something we'd planned.  What's more, initial position wild
cards seem to be slow.  I would not want this to be high on the priority
list.

By the way, your improved Client formatting looks like a win.  I've
been wondering myself whether it makes sense to have the server do the
formating that it does - it minimizes screen usage, but contains embedded
assumptions about the screen width of the client, and makes parsing more
difficult, although RAW mode is supposed to make that a moot point.