4.0258 Indexing (4/124)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Tue, 10 Jul 90 16:37:43 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0258. Tuesday, 10 Jul 1990.


(1) Date: Mon, 9 Jul 90 14:34:19 MDT (32 lines)
From: koontz@alpha.bldr.nist.gov (John E. Koontz)
Subject: Re: 4.0252 Indexing (4/145) - Fence Characters

(2) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 90 09:11:35 EDT (25 lines)
From: "R. Burr Litchfield" <HI700000@BROWNVM>
Subject: Re: 4.0252 Indexing

(3) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 90 11:30:30 -0700 (50 lines)
From: tgmcfadden@ucdavis.BITNET
Subject: Indexing Software

(4) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 90 11:48:44 -0700 (17 lines)
From: tgmcfadden@ucdavis.BITNET
Subject: Indexing Software

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 90 14:34:19 MDT
From: koontz@alpha.bldr.nist.gov (John E. Koontz)
Subject: Re: 4.0252 Indexing (4/145) - Fence Characters

In regard to O'Donnell's comment on inserting fence characters - I
suppose he means something that can be replaced by a final bracket
around the item to be indexed. If not, the following is founded on a
misconception.

Instead of using such a bracketing marker, a system that can do pattern
matching on regular expressions could be used. For example, in this case
the pattern would be something like:

((Aen.)|(Aug. conf.)) [0-9.-]+

That is, match Aen. or Aug. conf., followed by space, followed by a
maximal string of digits, periods and dashes. (Notation for "regular
expressions" is not quite standardized, but this is typical.)

There are a number of text editors on the market that have regular
expression matching, as well as several implementations of the AWK text
processor, which also has regular expression pattern matching.

The thing to be cautious about, however, is that text editors often have
limits on line length. E.g., the Brief text editor does regular
expression replaces, but has a user-set line length limit. AWKs also
have line length limits (c. 1000 chars.). This is significant because
Nota Bene paragraphs are represented as "lines," as far as ASCII text
editors are concerned. An editor that might do the job would be
Lugaru's Epsilon. I believe that I have heard that it does not have
limits on line lengths, though I cannot confirm this at the moment.

(2) --------------------------------------------------------------30----
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 90 09:11:35 EDT
From: "R. Burr Litchfield" <HI700000@BROWNVM>
Subject: Re: 4.0252 Indexing

With regard to indexing, I have a good program called INDEXX (IBM-PC)
that I got from the inventor, Norman Swartz, Dept. of Philosophy, Simon
Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 186, in 1986 for about $50.
It makes an index from page proofs, or other printed sources. The
program was also distributed by the Philosophy Documentation Center,
Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. It was recommended
by Princeton University Press. I have used it with success ever since.
It is a compiled Basic program. Instead of making slips from the page
proofs, you type the entries and page numbers into the program prompts.
It does some standardization (it will ask whether the D. Hume you just
typed in was the David Hume you were using earlier--and it will up-date
the earlier entries). At the end, it alphabetizes the entries, sorts
the page citations, and sends the final index to a printer or a disk
file for further work with your own word processor. You can have up to
750 entries, but for longer indices you can combine up-to-750-entry
segments. Some use of one's own word processor is needed at the end to
change 11, 12, 13, 14 into 11-14, add diacritical marks (which the
program doesn't recognize), and put in final refinements. I am now on
my third index using this program, and for the money I have found it to
be very satisfactory. Maybe there is now an updated version (I have
2.05).
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------58----
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 90 11:30:30 -0700
From: tgmcfadden@ucdavis.BITNET
Subject: Indexing Software

What follows is a comment on the recent HUMANIST conversation on indexing
software.

There are essentially two kinds of indexing software: that which works
from within a particular word processing program, and that which does
not. The former is intended to extract marked text from a word
processing file and format and paginate an index. The latter is
intended to be used with publisher's printed page proofs, and generally
requires that all index entries be entered manually. What this software
does, frequently using a 3x5 card metaphor, is sort, organize, format,
and output the completed index, either to paper or to a disk file.

There are about 10+ software programs currently available of the second
kind. These programs are most often used by professional indexers who
require not only power and flexibility, but also a variety of output
formats (of which the University of Chicago style is one of most
common). Hence the most sophisticated of these programs are relatively
expensive: in the $400-$500 range. There are other such programs which,
while less sophisticated, would nonetheless be quite suitable for use by
an author wishing to prepare his or her own index to a work.
Professional indexers find that subject analysis in particular can best
be done using indexing software of the second kind, which permits human
intervention in the process of designing and structuring an appropriate
indexing vocabulary for the work in hand. Indexing software of the
first kind, which is a kind of low-level automatic indexing, can
generally not provide this kind of flexibility.

The American Society of Indexers publishes several titles which might be
of interest to readers of this note:

Choosing a Computer for Indexing ($15)
Generic Markup of Electronic Index Manuscripts ($15)
A Guide to Indexing Software ($15)
Register of Indexers ($15)

The Register of Indexers is a classified list of professional indexers
whose indexing services (or editing services) are available over a wide
range of disciplines and formats. All of these titles can be obtained,
prepaid, from:

ASI Publications Sales Office
POB 386
Port Aransas, TX 78373

I would of course be happy to answer any other questions about indexing
software programs (if I can) or about the American Society of Indexers.
(4) --------------------------------------------------------------27----
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 90 11:48:44 -0700
From: tgmcfadden@ucdavis.BITNET
Subject: Indexing Software

A postscript:

There are two indexing programs with very similar names: NLCindex and
CINDEX. These programs appear to be rather different. The CINDEX
program is published by:

Indexing Research
POB 18609
Rochester, New York 14618
(716) 461-5530

I happen to use this program in my own work, and find it very
satisfactory. I cannot comment on the other program.