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From: nather@utastro.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: Flame against people who hate people who can"t spell
Message-ID: <470@utastro.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 14-Jul-83 11:55:13 EDT
Article-I.D.: utastro.470
Posted: Thu Jul 14 11:55:13 1983
Date-Received: Fri, 15-Jul-83 16:08:28 EDT
References: stolaf.1077
Lines: 25

This is probably the wrong group, but the discussion is here, so...

For over 10 years the central computer at McDonald Observatory has been
able to accept and correct misspelled words, so long as no ambiguity is
involved.  At 3:00am astronomers don't think so good and their typing
skills (I hate that phrase) deterioriate.  The algorithm is one I
worked out when the system was installed in 1970 in an IBM 1800 (!)
computer.  There are undoubtedly better ones around now, since it was
not very fancy, but it has worked well for a long time, and can
(tactfully) re-spell "Venis" as "Venus" when it prints out the current
coordinates of the planet.  (Yes, it thinks *that* word is Venus, too).

One amusing sidelight:  astronomers who are not programmers accept this
output without comment or special notice.  Fortran types look puzzled,
but don't pursue it.  Experienced programmers are intrigued, and promptly
start handing the program all sorts of things to test the limits of the
algorithm and try to see how it works.

I guess I'm surprised these things aren't in more common use.  To work it
out I just skinned through back issues of CACM, added a couple of frills
of my own, and started coding.  Anybody got one they're proud of?  How
about posting it to the net?

                                     Ed Nather
                               ...ihnp4!kpno!nather