[oats-sig] RE: Word/Sentence Prediction Tool for Code-A-Thon

On 13/11/2007, Simon.Judge at nhs.net <Simon.Judge at nhs.net> wrote:

Maybe you'll be able to look at the results of the 'thon' and polish them
Stephen?! (-; 

Cheers.

Simon

-----Original Message-----
From: oats-sig-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:oats-sig-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of stephen emslie
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 8:05 AM
To: OATs Project Special Interest Group
Subject: Re: [oats-sig] RE: Word/Sentence Prediction Tool for Code-A-Thon

Sounds like a fun project.

I think Steve's got it right, an API is a more suitable abstraction for
something like this. If the algorithm requires just maintaining an index of
words then a relational database interface like SQL might be overkill.
sqlite is a nice light, portable database suitable for storing those word
lists though.

Actually I really like the idea! It sounds like something very doable.
Any more details on an algorithm?

Stephen

On Nov 13, 2007 1:12 PM, Steve Lee <steve at fullmeasure.co.uk> wrote:
> On 13/11/2007, Simon.Judge at nhs.net <Simon.Judge at nhs.net> wrote:
> > Hi, this conversation has been happening off line about the 
> > code-a-thon - read down to find out what has been going on (bit 
> > messy, sorry) and feel free to comment.
>
> Thanks SImon, It's a little hard to follow all the details but I guess 
> the idea is for a FOSS prediction component?
>
> I have a couple of techy thoughts:
>
> A SQL interface gives good decoupling and good flexibility (e.g ad hoc
> queries) however some developers may prefer a code API and/or library, 
> especially if they are not familiar with SQL (and strong SQL skills 
> can be rare even in good developers). However libraries or wrappers 
> can be created to encapsulate the SQL in an API.
>
> If it is chosen to present an API then SQLite may be a better choice.
> Though the DB becomes effectively embedded it is still possible to 
> running queries and view the data with suitable tools.
>
> Steve
>
>

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