Re: Can I build a dictionary in my Emacs?

[Tim X <timx@nospam.dev.null>]

"Colin S. Miller" <no-spam-thank-you@csmiller.demon.co.uk> writes:

> Tim X wrote:
>>
>> Rather than build/write your own, look into emacs support for spell
>> checking and see if you can add your word definitions to that existing
>> mechanism. Less work and easier to maintain in the long-term.
>
> I think the OP wanted a dictionary that provides the definition of a word,
> not just a word-correctly-spelled-p test.
>

Thats a good point. In that case, I'd look at adding a dictionary to one
of the dict servers (don't know if the OP is on windows or Linux, but
fairly straight-forward for Linux) and then using one of the emacs
interfaces to dictionary servers. This would mean all that needs to be
done is generate the definitions file. All the interfaces are then done,
including interfaces from other things in addition to emacs. 

If that is still too far off the mark for what the OP wants, I'd
consider looking at edb or even just a simple sexp bassed structure that
can easily be read/written to a file and maybe creating an emacs forms
front-end to make querying and adding new words easy. A simple sexp
based structure will be reasonably efficient for quite a large number of
words and definitions. 

Tim


-- 
tcross (at) rapttech dot com dot au