🚀 go-pugleaf

Tad Perry <tadperry@comcast.net> dixit:
>Dear Jim,

Wow. I sneak back after a week or so at my Internet-free holiday
house doing very little, and find two threads with my name on them.

>I've been a translator for a very long time. Perhaps you even remember me
>from participation on sci.lang.japan in years past. I haven't been on this
>newsgroup for a long time, and, as a matter of fact, I became burnt out on
>translating and "went on hiatus" for the last two years.

>Recently, I have returned to accepting translations from clients and I
>happened upon WWWJDIC. Things have certainly come a long way since the
>text-based MS-DOS and Unix versions, haven't they?

I like to think so (or else I've been wasting a lot of time  8-)}  )

Seriously though, if one is into mucking around with dictionaries
and related systems, trying it through a WWW server is essential.
Since I am fortunate to have free access to a well-connected 
server, I have no cost-barrier (yet, at least) to doing that. I've
more or less given up on stand-alone dictionary clients, for a number of 
reasons. One is the platform issue - I'm in no position to build and
support things for Windows or Macs, and the other is update/support/
distribution. That's a chore, and for free software a thankless one.
A WWW server is instant gratification, and everyone is always using the 
latest release.

>This open letter is to commend you on your selfless work and wonderful labor
>of love. Few people would put so much effort into the sharing of such
>information without attempting to make a profit. It's a great thing you've
>done, and continue doing, and I am very fortunate and pleased to have this
>tool to use.

Coo, ta. And my thanks to all the others who said nice words. (Not to 
mention the checks/cheques...   8-)} )

>You are a shining example of what the Internet was supposed to be.

Weeellll... Maybe. Perhaps more an example of what the Internet has
facilitated. I've been driven a bit by a largish hobby which just
happens to operate in public in an area that is of reasonably wide
interest. If it had taken a different course, e.g. if instead I'd
built an online database on Bach cantatas (don't laugh, it may happen)
the interest would probably have been narrower.

It's also been a case of how someone can tap the resources  of a lot of
volunteers. In the early days of the EDICT file there were squillions of
people who as students had painstakingly keyed in glossaries and wordlists
and it was very interesting how may were willing to hand these over to
a public repository. It was really a project waiting to happen. Being
an editor of all this was/is quite a task, and as ever one wishes one
could have looked ahead a decade or so before charging in.

>If only all information of such value were as freely available as WWWJDIC
>is.

Yes, the Internet and in particular the WWW (I don't conflate the two)
has the potential to facilitate a huge amount of online data
accumulation and presentation.

I am particularly impressed by things like Wikipedia and Wiktionary.
I think they are developments well worth tracking.

While I'm pressing keys, I want to comment on a remark by Paul Blay
about my "keeping at" this task/hobby/project. I guess persistence *is*
something in this, and one way or another I have been plugging on for
12-13 years now. I have, however, been giving a lot of thought to the
"where now" question, both for the various dictionary files and slabs
of software, as well as for me. Before I fall off the twig I'd like to
see something running that provides a degree of continuity, if indeed it
is worth it. I'll probably post something more about this another time.

-- 
Jim Breen        http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/
Computer Science & Software Engineering,
Monash University, VIC 3800, Australia 
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