dictating punctuation for computer programming
Submitted by Voice_Commander on Sun, 06/14/2009 - 01:31.
I'm wondering about the best way to approach this.
I'd like to be able to say things like
"height equals height divided by two"
and get:
height = height / 2
Is there a way to force dragon to have "divided by" mean "/" and "equals" mean =
For me, I'd much rather err on the side of having dragon type the symbol rather than the words.
I tried adding a custom word / with spoken for "divided by" but it still kept writing the words "divided by"
I've also toyed a little with the idea of a "ShortTalk" type approach using words like "equal-eh" and "divo" etc.
I'd like to know what others are doing? What works for you?
Getting good recognition of
Getting good recognition of English phrases can be difficult. I tried for years to get Dragon to recognize "is assigned" as a vocabulary term with a written form of "=". Recently, I have given up and have started simply using "equal sign", which is one of the standard Dragon terms for =.
Pre-DNS 10.1, I have successfully been using a constructed mini-vocabulary where a single vocabulary word specifies both a symbol and its formatting properties. For example,
(:open-paren:p):close-paren:s
(:left-paren:.
(:begin-paren:.
):right-paren:.
):end-paren:.
(:lone-open-paren
(:open-paren-op
(:tight-open-paren:.
):lone-close-paren
):close-paren-op
):tight-close-paren:.
Here , p denotes a prefix (no following space), s a suffix (no preceding space), and . no preceding or following space.
Usage example:
"sum left-paren letter X-ray close-paren equals-sign open-paren int-type close-paren letter X-ray plus-op numerical 1"
produces:
sum(x) = (int) x + 1
Note the lack of a space before the first parentheses, but not the second.
With this approach I can usually dictate an entire statement without pausing. I find this far preferable to using a command-driven templating approach.
mdl wrote: Pre-DNS 10.1, I
Pre-DNS 10.1, I have successfully been using a constructed mini-vocabulary where a single vocabulary word specifies both a symbol and its formatting properties
Hi Mark, this looks smart. How did you import those words in your vocabulary? Is there a possibility to "automate" this in version 10?
Quintijn
I'm finding using made up or foreign words to be effective...
I like the sound of italian words, spanish words, greek words...
Sometimes I'm using words that mean the english thing I want, but sometimes I just take a word because it sounds nice.
i'm using:
1 - uno
2 - dio
3 - trio
...
ONE THING I'M FINDING VERY HELPFUL FOR PROGRAMMING IS TO USE COMBINATION WORDS FOR THINGS I WANT TO SAY QUICKLY.
" is voto
"" is voto-voto (this way i can say it very quickly and dragon doesn't get confused)
or from shorttalk:
( is "lack"
) is "rack"
() is "lack-rack"
Derek Morin
I have a special name for
I have a special name for "()", empty paren, which is a suffix.
If you don't use word formatting properties, you'll find yourself using "no-space" and "space-bar" a lot...
I had written a utility
I had written a utility using NatLink to import the words and their properties. This worked up until DNS 10.1, which broke the NatLink set word properties API call. I instead automatically generated a macro to set their properties. That worked fine, but then I ran into the DNS 10.1 formatting bug...
PS, If you don't mind tight
PS, If you don't mind tight spacing, just say slash for /.
mdl's comments reflect
mdl's comments reflect considerable experience with the problem, unlike my own. But a bit of experimentation shows that you can delete the word "equals" and then define the Written | Spoken form:
= | equals
Also you can create the Written | Spoken form:
/ | cut by
BTW, if you need the word "equals", you can always say "spell e q u a l s", or perhaps introduce a different Written | Spoken form.
A few minutes of practice suggests that these versions work okay, but whether they would be sustained over time is something I don't know. I'm not suggesting that these as superior or even equivalent practices, but rather as ideas for experimentation.
Bruce