COMPUTERS The Michigan Daily Tuesday, March 19, 1985 Page 5 Programs minunimze spelling errors v By ROB FRANK Feeling chained to your dictionary? Is your thesaurus your best friend when ever a term paper is assigned? Well, three new software products available for the Macintosh can now free you from the grasp of Roget and Webster. Newest in the line of word processing assistance are spelling checkers which can scan most full papers for misspellings and typos faster than you can look up your first word. Best of all, all three can be purchased for under $100 apiece putting them well within the budget of most students. THE THREE checkers currently available for the Mac are the Hayden Speller by Hayden Software, Mac Spell Right by Assimilation Process, and MacSpell + by Creighton Development. Though the three are similar in format and offerings they each have their own strengths and weaknesses. All three of the spell checkers are lit- tle more than word lists of commonly used words. Each has 30,000 to 40,000 words and each utilizes currently available word processing programs, either MacWrite or Microsoft Word. All three unfortunately suffer from dictionaries which are far too incom- plete for most papers and which fail to recognize such things as place names, personal names, and the like. This inability can make scanning a paper rather time consuming if the paper con- tains a large number of words the com- puter sees as foreign. The software also lacks the ability to recognize forms of the same word. In other words, though the word "develop" may be recognized as correct, the word "development" may not. This too can be frustrating. Probably the greatest use for all three is finding typographical errors. Because the programs select out any word which is not in the dictionary, forgotten vowels and other misspellings are plucked out for correction. HAYDEN SPELLER by Hayden Sof- tware was the first spell checker on the market for the Macintosh. Hayden claims their product can recognize 97% of the words in the English language. If this is so, the author of this review managed to write a five page paper using just the other three percent. The biggest advantage to the Hayden product is the degree is can be expan- ded. In addition to the initial word set, the user can add up to 50,000 words held in a separate dictionary called "MYWORDS". Besides this personal dictionary, separate dictionaries can be created for individual documents. This might be of use for a paper containing a large num- ber of technical or foreign words. There are however, a large number of problems with the Hayden Speller. For one, text documents must be loaded onto the dictionary disc. For those with only one disc drive, this involves the ususal inconvenience of transfering files between discs. After they are checked, the files must be removed because of limited space on the Wayden Speller disc. IN ADDITION, the Hayden Speller cannot be used with Microsoft Worp, the only other wordprocessing program besides MacWrite available for the Macinthosh. MacSpell + by Creighton Develop- ment adds a new dimension to the Hayden Speller by incorporating a Thesaurus along with a Dictionary. This speller unlike the Hayden Speller, is contained on one disc which makes access much easier. This ease, however is not without cost; MacSpell + can only accomiodate 2,500 of the users own words. Since MacSpell + is relatively new to the spell checker market, it is not carried by many of the local retailers. Carl Gambrell of Sof- tware City, one of the few places Mac- Spell + is available, however, says he still recommends the Hayden Speller. Braille processing ^"*'-aress A computerized representation of Braille characters appears on the screen as Sally Hering enters data into a new com- puter system last month at the Hadley School for the Blind in Winnetka, Illinois. The new system produces 400 Braille characters a second and can produce 100 pages in the time it takes a Braille typist to produce one page. C pany gives money for 'U' compute By JENNIFER MATUJA The need for computer literate University graduates has risen so much in the last few years that one company iswilling to pay for student's training. Though they don't really pay for student's tuition, the accounting firm of Coopers and Lybrand has donated fun- ds to the University's business school to set up two classes integrating com- puters with traditional business school curricula. ACCORDING to business Prof. James Wheeler, Coopers and Lybrand, like many other companes, is utilizing computers much more than in the past, amplifying the need for better training at the university level. "Companies are interested in greater computer .expertise," Wheeler said. They want college graduates to have more exposure to computers." The program, which started last fall on a $20,000 grant from Coopers and Lybrand, funds two classes, Accounting 313 for undergraduates and Accounting 574 for graduate students. UNIVERSITY students benefit, said accounting professor Paul Danos, -because "it exposes the students to real quality software packages that are the actual packages used in the real world." A student who has never taken a computer course will not be at a disad- vantage, Wheeler said, because the students will inevitably "be forced to take a computer class at some time in t:heir career." "(the work) is fairly simple; there is no writing of programs," he said. The University was one of the nine I schools which Coopers and Lybrand donated money to for the classes. ac- cording to Bob Anthony, the companies' partner in charge of the program in Michigan. Anthony said the schools were chosen "based on the good reputation of the school within the geographical areas. The univerities must have the reputation of being forward thinking - as far as business school standards are concerned." Coopers and Lybrand is alone in of- fering this program to University's business school. There are other CPA firms that have in-house software, but they do not make the equipment available to schools like Coopers and Lybrand," Wheeler said. The firm benefits in a number of ways. The company can develop sub- stantial accounting problems that the students can solve for them, Wheeler said. In addition, students that Coopers and Lybrand hire will probably need Typesetting & sWord Processing classes " Happenings Tuesday . Chalk Talk: File Manipulation with *COMBINE, 12:10 - 1 p.m., 1011 NUBS. Lecture: Introduction to Sigfiles and Initfiles, 3:30 -5 p.m., 171 Bus. Adm. Wednesday Lecture: Introduction to Microcomputers, 1:30 - 3 p.m., 3113 School of Ed. Lecture: Introduction to MTS Command Extensions and Macros, Part II, 3:30 -5 p.m., 165Bus. Adm. Thursday Chalk Talk: Using *SORT for Sorting and Merging, 12:10 - 1 p.m., 1011 NUBS. Workshop: Command Extensions and Macros, 3:30 - 5 p.m., 171 Bus. Adm. S-mm- - -.m.......-r...- -m--- ----..... ... SAnn Arbor' s 1 1 l o rsAuthorized Iealer 1 1 Apple Computer Dealer is! I i offering you specialsavings on 1 1 all Macintosh software in stock. 10% off when you buy 2 or more! I (with this ad)yI featuring: MICROSOFT® Basic Muliplan and Chart1 1 Sargon I1(computer chess) 1 Transylvania (adventure) r IrIl Trivia 1 Dollars & Sense. Learn in CenterLtd.Macintostro I computer and software specialists AppleComputerjnc. 1 381 N. Maple Rd., Maple Village Shopping Center * 996-1616 1 only a minimum amount of computer training if they've already used the firm's software. Other companies will benefit from the program, Anthony said, because they "will get better qualified people, so they will spend less money on training." Most students agree that the program will help them. Sharon Holman, a business school junior, said the classes were a good idea, "because they make us more marketable." %/% Sibwdn& to Tkie W4iekigas DaI4 764-0558 COMPUTER SERVICE Commodore, Osborne, Apple, Atari, IBM. Monitors, Printers, Disk Drives ANN ARBOR MUSIC MART 336 S. State 769-4980 1 _ I : \ F( /I Data Processing Consulting COMPUTING IS---. YOUR Career! OUR Business! SEI is a leading, national EDP consulting firm, headquartered in Chicago. SEI works n the development of large-scale, sophistiCated main- frame systems and microprocessor products. At SEI, data processing is our business, not just a department. SEI's own Internal Software area is now seeking two top-notch entry level people. Internal Software: " Runs our IBM 4341-1datacenter " Maintains and troubleshoots operating system software (VM/CrV$, OS/VICIOCS/V8,VSAM, Script, PROFSJ Tc " Develops, enhances, and runs our internal applications: * Supports st:pf members and clients who use ourdatacent.. . We're looking for br:ght:, hardworking, get-the-jobdone pro- grammers with (or soon to hav:) a 8$/CS. who are eager to learn, serio,#s abot ;ting their rear tarted right, and interested in the chatlenga and variety of a career in consulting. For pro pt confidential COnsideration, send resume to: .$~I nfomtIonTnhoy ... Mrny Lri A IHFrN a i TRUCKLOAD SALE* Wednesday & Thursday Only SYSTEM PRICES data AS LOW AS $1338. ON Systems Z-150 PERSONAL COMPUTERS The IBM compatible Zenith Z-150 PC's that let you do more of what you want a computer for.. .just as it comes out of the box. -TRUCK STOPPING SPECIALS " NEW LOWER PRICES on Zenith Z-150 Computers " NEW LOWER PRICES on package consisting of Microsoft Basic & Word and a Zenith 12" Monochrome monitor with purchase of computer * NEW LOWER PRICES on package consisting of AAw,rn nf Dn_;^ , _ , _re ri-,n 7^n ..,,