The Story of Fredal's Dictionary
FD is a very different and special kind of Desktop Dictionary (American-English.)FD is a reincarnation of my Jorj Shareware Dictionary (Jorj Software Co.), a TSR/DOS program and the original and only Phonetic Dictionary. It was first release in 1991 after several years of development. Originally, I had no thought of developing a dictionary of any sort. It all began by a casual remark that suggested a challenging computer problem. In the mid-1980s I was engaged in a project to install computer software for a Telephone Company. The goal was to replace the phone books, in use then by "Directory-Assistance" operators, with computer screens and keyboards.
During the course of the project, I learned that often, on difficult names, the caller could not correctly spell the last name of the person sought but could spell it phonetically. While that problem was not within the scope of the project, I found it intriguing and decided to use it as a design exercise at a later date. I was aware of a technique called the "Soundex" system developed by the Census Bureau in the 1930s to resolve a similar problem with name spelling. That system was a good effort but very clumsy by today's standards given the advent of computers When the phone company project was completed, I began work on a computer -based solution to the problem. Eventually I had designed algorithms that could compile and subsequently search a list of names based on pronunciation rather than spelling. I had completed a working model, but the telephone company project was long over and so I had a solution to a problem that didn't exist. It was obvious, however, that what worked for a list of names would work equally well for a list of everyday words and so the process to develop a phonetic dictionary was born.
The final result is that unlike most computerized dictionaries which were designed for the printed book, FD was designed as a computer system. Therefore, the user is able, most of the time, to locate words he is unable to spell (e.g. suenomi, farmasuitikul, lickwasashun). Being designed as a computerized tool allowed for another unique feature. FD includes a function called SCAN which permits the user to scan the definition database for any particular word or phrase. This is a powerful and unique function that creates a list of all related dictionary entries. For example, since the word "fear" is common to all phobias and is part of the definition, a list of phobias can be generated by using "fear" as the keyword in the SCAN function. Similarly, "Baseball" creates a list of players in the Hall of Fame and "dog" for a list of dog reeds.
Additional information about the program, including the Registration process ,may be found with a few mouse clicks after the program has been installed. From the main Dictionary dialog box, right-click the Title Bar. Then on the drop-down menu click "About FD". Another dialog box will then have buttons containing information about Registration and the use of the program..
Best Regards, George Fredal
If you would like a FREE copy of this dictionary, click- Download FD