5.0773 Rs: Stylometric Software; Toolkit (2/61)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Wed, 18 Mar 1992 19:37:34 EST

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 5, No. 0773. Wednesday, 18 Mar 1992.


(1) Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 09:24:39 -0500 (28 lines)
From: jdg@oz.plymouth.edu (Dr. Joel Goldfield)
Subject: Stylometric software for the Mac

(2) Date: Mon, 16 Mar 92 17:51:51 -0600 (33 lines)
From: ksalzber@hamline.edu (Kenneth Salzberg)
Subject: Humanist Toolkit

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 92 09:24:39 -0500
From: jdg@oz.plymouth.edu (Dr. Joel Goldfield)
Subject: Stylometric software for the Mac

I also have a copy of Hyperbase (version 1.1, r'eduite, by Etienne Brunet,
U. of Nice), and it looks quite useful though this is apparently either a
beta or an evaluation copy (because "reduced"). The package I have provides
directions exclusively in French. I do not know if there is an English
version of the documentation (hardcopy & system-wide). Prof. Brunet's e-mail
address is provided on each diskette label: BRUNET@FRMOP11.BITNET . Postal
address:
Institut National de la langue fran,caise
URL 9 (CNRS)
98 bd Herriot
03007 NICE
FRANCE

Tel. 93 37 54 44


Regards,
Joel D. Goldfield
Dept. of Foreign Languages
Plymouth State College/Univ. System of NH;
Inst. for Academic Technology/UNC-Chapel Hill;
Assistant Editor, _Computers and the Humanities_

Joel.Goldfield@plymouth.edu
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------43----
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 92 17:51:51 -0600
From: ksalzber@hamline.edu (Kenneth Salzberg)
Subject: Humanist Toolkit

Larry Innes, the mac evangelist, says: For power,
For power, flexibility and ease of use, go macintosh!
To which I would like to humbly disagree. I've used Mac, set them up,
run wordprocessing programs (3 different ones), database programs (2),
etc. on macs, and used Dos based programs (5 major wordprocessors, various
databases and spreadsheets, etc.) for years. If all you are looking for is
ease of use (you infrequently use any given program, arn't too picky, etc.)
macs are ok - but then so are some DOS based programs.
What I'm looking for is power, speed, and transparency - that is
I want a program that lets me know what it is doing, and enough of the how
to allow me to use the tools flexably, and to change the things the program is
doing in ways I want to personalize my work. (Here I'm not talking about
fonts, for heavens sake - one can (should be able to) change the fonts in
one's work any time - and I don't do desktop publishing, or anything much
like it) I didn't find any of that in any of the Mac programs I've used,
and few of the DOS ones either. Most are inflexible - you have to do it their
way, or try to write a macro to go around it - with rather limited options in
the macro languages.
This issue of flexibility has come up before, and I don't want to
go over it all again. I've finally landed on one wordprocessor that I can
use as I want, and it's got enough built in features that I don't need to
change too much, and when I do, it's easy: Nota Bene. If any of you out
there want a longer, or more specific essay on NB, send me a personal note -
I'
ll respond. I don't want to get back into the "my program is better than
yours" - only to point out that mac's arn't for everyone, particularly not
for every academic.
--Ken Salzberg
ksalzber@hamline.edu