Fredal's Dictionary

FD is a very different and special kind of Desktop Dictionary. 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. The effort began as a computer design problem. The object being to develop an algorithm to search a database of words based on pronunciation rather than spelling The problem first arose in the 1980s while working on a project to develop computer software to automate the look-up portion of work done by directory-assistance telephone operators. I learned then that often callers would seek help finding someone's phone number but were not able to spell the person's last name. I recalled that the Census Bureau encountered the same problem in the 1930s and developed what was called the "Soundex System". The problem intrigued me and after the phone company project was completed, I began to work on a computerized version of a similar solution. Once I had completed a working model, 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 effort to develop a phonetic dictionary was born. The final result is that unlike most computerized dictionary which were designed for the printing press, 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, "fear" as a keyword would list all phobias, as it is used in their definitions.