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Computer science terminological dictionaries SlovoSvit (WordWorld)

Technical Committee for Scientific and Technical Terminology Standardization (TC STTS) of State Committee of Ukraine for Standardization and Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine is the only state structure of Ukraine dealing with research in Ukrainian scientific and technical terminology, organizing and coordinating compilation, expertise, approval and publication of Ukrainian terminological standards, promoting international cooperation and experience exchange in the field of scientific and technical terminology standardization, participating in corresponding ISO and IEC committees. With over 10-year activity (the committee was set up in August, 1992) TC STTS staff has gained considerable experience in providing conceptual basis and practical recommendations for Ukrainian scientific and technical terminology normalization. It was a work which enabled launching a wide-scale lexicographical project known as terminological series SlovoSvit (WordWorld) in 2000. During those years twelve works have been published, namely ten terminological dictionaries of different fields of knowledge: biological engineering, installation and engineering technologies, heat engineering and cock chemistry, architecture and building, informatics and programming, medicine etc.

A great number of terminological materials (dictionaries, monographs, manuals, scientific articles, terminological standards etc.) have been reviewed in the process of dictionaries compiling, editing and publishing. Having learned form the experience gained, it can be concluded that printed versions do not allow to fully perform necessary data search since the more detailed is a dictionary, the larger is its volume; printed versions are published with time delay and cannot be properly updated; publishing expenses for printed versions are quite substantial and polygraph prices are constantly rising. Printed versions fail to include all the necessary information (audio and video data, images etc). These very downsides are absent in software dictionaries. Therefore a new project on working out a system for software dictionaries compilation and production along with printed versions was launched in 2004. The PolyDic 1.0. system for software bilingual terminological dictionaries compilation has been developed recently. Three software dictionaries have been already compiled and published along with their printed versions with the help of this system. These are: «Russian-Ukrainian dictionary on building and architecture» (Terminological series SlovoSvit Issue #8), «Russian-Ukrainian dictionary on engineering)) (Issue #9) and «Russian-Ukrainian coke-chemical dictionary)) (Issue #12). The PolyDic 1.0 system has been coded in CA Visual Object and is Windows compatible. Its installation requires the minimum of hardware (16MB RAM, a processor no lower than Pentium-133 MHZ, True Color video mode, no less than 20MB hard disk free space), Windows 98 SE RUS/ME/XP compatible. The system consists of two program modules PolyDic Editor - for dictionaries data input and editing and PolyDic Viewer - for displaying a dictionary on CDs. PolyDic_SansSerif.TTF font which allows entering words with an accent is installed with the system. The module PolyDic Editor can be found on TC STTS internet page http://tc.terminology.lp.edu.ua for free download and usage. Other positive features of the system, apart from small requirements towards hardware and software, include: easy usage; convenient search (by initial letters or by a set mask); possibility of simultaneous entering of several separate bases with further merging into a single one which substantially accelerates work on dictionary compiling; dictionary entries editor; possibility of dictionaries data bases conversion into RTF for their correction and editing; possibility of creating popup windows for interpreting dictionary labels, namely referring the term to a certain field; compact size of the program and dictionary bases; no need in additional hardware. Among the program downsides one can point out the number of languages in bilingual dictionaries which is limited to 2; the set font does not support Unicode which makes it impossible to enter letters with diacritical labels; the system does not support multimedia objects.

In 2007 terminological series SlovoSvit published a penta-lingual dictionary of installation terms. An illustrative dictionary on building and architecture is planned to be compiled and published. All these events caused development of a new PolyDic ML 3.0. system for compiling multilingual multimedia software dictionaries. The system is being coded in C-Sharp under Windows XP/Vista. It took all positive features from the previous version. The dictionaries data structure closely follows the requirements of ISO 12620 "Computer applications in terminology - Data categories". The system PolyDic ML 3.0, just as its predecessor, consists of two modules: one for dictionaries data input and editing and the other one for displaying a dictionary on CDs. Main functions and means of a new system are the following: independent dictionaries data bases entering with further merging into a single one; support of the Unicode code table of all international alphabets; data conversion into RTF; input language option of a multilingual dictionary; UI language option; possibility to recognize synonyms, antonyms, abbreviations, contractions, transcriptions and transliterations, accents, morphological information, labels (grammatical, stylistic, special); recognizing images, formulae and graphs, sound files, screenshots (for illustrating a dictionary entry); sorting by set input language or by set chapters; an expanded and convenient data search system (by initial letters or combination of symbols in all text fields of an electronic dictionary); unlimited number of languages supported by Windows can be added (in terms of software the number of languages is not limited, there is no need to install additional fonts); several dictionaries can be added into the system and displayed either separately or together. The initial text version of the PolyDic ML 3.0 system has been developed.

Since there are no practice in Ukraine of publishing dictionaries or other literature along with their electronic versions on CDs, SlovoSvit software dictionaries will considerable to fill in this gap in informational space. Software dictionaries compiled by means of PolyDic 1.0 are easy and convenient in use and do not require strong hardware. The new version of the PoiyDic ML 3.0 system provides users with a wide range of possibilities in multimedia dictionaries compiling and it is oriented towards state-of-the-art hardware and software as well as needs of potential software users.

09.2007