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Word Magic™
by SoftSpot Software 1999 |
SoftSpot Software
Copyright © 1999 by Andrew John Jameson
All rights reserved
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e-mail: | |
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web site: |
Word Magic is a component set for Delphi 3.0 - 5.0 that provides all the tools necessary to manage lexical lists. Word Magic is totally unique and is based on the core engine of our games products Letter Rack and What's Up. The concept behind the development of Word Magic was to remove all of the complexity of word list searches, anagram, missing letter analysis and word list management, giving the end user the freedom to create, with relative ease, a whole range of word related products.
Word Magic is blisteringly fast - it has to be to perform many of the operations within our games - and now your products too ! This software has been refined and optimised over several years and we are confident that no other package can meet our performance.
The emphasis for the design and functional specification of Word Magic has been driven by the requirements of word games but Word Magic encapsulates all of the basic tools required by more serious applications such as spell checking. The modular and flexible design of Word Magic means that new functionality can be included through either subclassing existing components or the creation of entirely new Word Magic components.
The suite of palette components that comprise Word Magic are :
TLexicon
TLexiconTools
TLexiconFileTools
TLexiconAnagram
TLexiconGameLine
Word Magic is an evolving product and additional components will become available in the future.
Word Magic is fast - really fast - but what benchmark tests are valid measures ? The final performance criteria has been judged on three tests and these tests can be examined in the Word Magic demonstration program :
Average time to validate a word
The verification that a word exists in a word list is the most basic functional requirement of all lexical tools but its validity as a performance indicator is debatable. The choice of the word, its length and position in the lexicon are all factors that introduce result variance. The demonstration program illustrates this test, the time is averaged over 1,000 loops.
Average time to self-validate all lexicon words
An improved performance test is the extraction and self-validation of every word in a lexicon.
Average time to validate randomly generated words
This test involves the generation of random letter sequences and their validation in the lexicon. The demonstration example is interesting and it is surprising to see how few valid words are produced from a million random sequences - it blows the myth on monkeys writing the works of Shakespeare - maybe Delphi help files though !
Typical Results
The following results were based on a Celeron 366MHz system running under Windows 95 with 128Mbytes RAM. There is a noticeable performance increase under Windows NT, by as much as threefold in some tests.
The tables below illustrate expected performance figures :
Average time to validate a word
The chosen word was 'abracadabra' :
|
Lexicon Words |
Word Not Present |
Word Present |
|
27,883 |
25µS |
25µS |
|
50,253 |
25µS |
25µS |
|
196,505 |
26µS |
26µS |
|
337,779 |
26µS |
26µS |
Average time to self-validate all lexicon words
|
Lexicon Words |
Time |
Words/Second |
|
27,883 |
198mS |
140,823 |
|
50,253 |
377mS |
133,297 |
|
196,505 |
1962mS |
100,155 |
|
337,779 |
3636mS |
92,898 |
Average time to validate 1,000,000 randomly generated words (6 - 9 letters)
|
Lexicon Words |
Time |
Words/Second |
|
27,883 |
3181mS |
314,366 |
|
50,253 |
3229mS |
309,693 |
|
196,505 |
3743mS |
267,165 |
|
337,779 |
3782mS |
264,410 |
Note :
No offset allowance has been taken into account for the time
taken to generate random words.
Commercial usage of Word Magic requires registration. Registration entitles you to all future versions of Word Magic 1.xx (including full source code).
Registered users will also receive four lexicon words lists :
|
Title |
Language |
No. Of Words |
|
English(UK) |
UK |
27,883 |
|
English(US) |
US |
50,253 |
|
Official(UK/US) |
UK/US |
196,505 |
|
MegaLex(UK/US) |
UK/US |
337,779 |
The cost of a single user license is US$100. This license permits development using Word Magic by a single user only. A site license costs US$150, which permits development using Word Magic by any number of persons at your place of work. But both licenses allow distribution of Word Magic (in compiled form) in any type of application - be it commercial, shareware, or freeware.
Normally, we prefer to e-mail the software to you directly as a Zip file - it's much more immediate - but if your prefer, we can send it to you by post - it's your choice !
The quickest and most convenient way to register Word Magic is online via credit card at:
If you don't have a credit card, or prefer to register offline then Word Magic can be ordered by sending a check, money order or cash (not recommended) to :
SoftSpot Software
214, Chorley New Road
Bolton
Lancashire BL1 5AA
United Kingdom
We can accept any foreign currency - simply convert the US$ price to your local currency using current exchange rates.
IMPORTANT: When unzipping Word Magic, make sure your unzipper is configured to recreate the directory structure (in WinZip, check Use Folder Names).
Delphi 3.0 installation :
Select Tools | Environment Options... on the menu bar. Go to Library tab and add the full path of your
WordMagic Source directory to the Library Path field if you have not already done so. The Library Path field should then look similar to this:
C:\Delphi3\Lib;C:\Delphi3\Bin;C:\Delphi3\Imports;c:\WordMagic\LexD3
Click OK.
Select File | Open... on the menu bar. Set Files of type to Delphi package source, locate and select the LexiconD3 package source file in your WordMagic Source directory, and click Open.
A package editor window will appear. Click Compile, then click Install.
Delphi 4.0 installation :
Select Tools | Environment Options... on the menu bar. Go to Library tab and add the full path of your
WordMagic Source directory to the Library Path if you have not already done so. The Library Path field should then look similar to this:
$(DELPHI)\Lib;$(DELPHI)\Bin;$(DELPHI)\Imports;c:\WordMagic\LexD4
Click OK.
Select File | Open... on the menu bar. Set Files of type to Delphi package source, locate and select the LexiconD4 package source file in your WordMagic Source directory, and click Open.
A package editor window will appear. Click Compile, then click Install.
The Word Magic package includes five components: TLexicon, TLexiconTools, TLexiconFileTools, TLexiconAnagram and TLexiconGameLine. Please refer to the Lexicon help file for details of these components.
Copyright
SoftSpot Software 1999
Word Magic™ - All Right Reserved