🚀 go-pugleaf

James Rose <ceo@fat24.com> dixit:
>I would also like to sing Jim Breen's praises.  I first discovered EDICT
>sometime around 1992 or 93, when it was a "new" project (began in 1991, it
>was already huge as I recall).  A little bit later I figured out what
>KANJIDIC was, and the power of combining the two files struck me at once.

A wry smile creeps onto my battered face. After all, KANJIDIC came into
existence purely for the purpose of combining a kanji database with
EDICT. KANJIDIC was first released as part of JDIC V2.0 (my original DOS
client). 

>At that time, the best implimentation I could find for my needs was the
>Japanese WordMaster (now WordMage), which was clearly using the two files,
>but pretended not to be - at least would not acknowledge using them.  

I exchanged a few terse emails with Michael over that.

>And so I built my first web site, Joyo96.org, which back then was
>aol.com/Joyo96.  There my old stroke order diagrams found a new home.  Back
>then I also used MacJDic, which was also an EDICT and KANJIDIC client.  And
>Jeffry Friedyl's dictionary, which back then was better than WWWJDIC (but
>sure isn't now).  

Are you sure that was in 96? I didn't start WWWJDIC until 1997.

>I think many people would have wanted to create an EDICT or a KANJIDIC back
>in the early 90s.  I know I would have.  But it took somebody in the right
>position, and with real tenacity to stick with the project for all these
>years and keep it moving forward.  

Aw shucks.

For me the question is: What now? What should and can be done?

I have some plans/proposals for the future path of JMdict/EDICT. What I'd
like to see is:

(a) it becoming a more "open" project, preferably with a panel of 
editors;

(b) the addition/edit process being online;

(c) automatic update & generation of new versions, with a shorter 
duty cycle than now, at least for online servers such as WWWJDIC
and Jeffrey's server.

I hope to be moving on this later in the year.

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