August updates: weird behaviour

[Mykhaylo Syzonenko]

Hi Mike,

 

Is it me or did all August updates to WordSmith Tools come with some strange feature changes?

1. Collocates list now sorted alphabetically by default vs. by Total before.
2. Patterns tab doesn’t find any patterns anymore -- same corpora, same settings.
3. Enabling lemma search in Concordance causes the program to freeze as it loads up the lemma list (presumably -- I've never had the patience to let it run its course), while this used to be instantaneous.

 

Were these intentional, or is my installation corrupt?

 

Cheers,

Mike (Mykhaylo)

Whyalla, South Australia

[Mike Scott]

Hi Mike

Many thanks for this feedback!

Not just you, I think. I have made changes recently. I will check each one. In the meantime please check out  https://lexically.net/wordsmith/version8/previous_versions.htm so you can get to a version you prefer. (You could test the previous build by renaming your current \Program Files (x86)\wsmith8_XX, installing afresh re-using your existing registration, then delete or rename one folder afterwards.)  
Sorry for the hassle!

Cheers -- Mike

[Mykhaylo Syzonenko]

Hi Mike,

Thank you for the advice. But it looks like there's something wrong with my computer that reinstalling can't fix. I tried all the recent versions, tried deleting the \wsmith8 folder from Users\Documents as well, but ended up where I started. Is there anything else I can do? It's OK if there isn't – my whole operating system is squeaking and creaking and needs reinstalling anyway. And again, thank you for attending to my issue!

Mike

[Mike Scott]

Hi Mike

Sorry you haven't had luck with this.

Simply reinstalling on top of a previous installation in exactly the same place should work.

But if the OS is tired, resetting it all to zero and then reinstalling all your software should help, though it is a pain doing all that and relies on you knowing the registrations.....

Good luck!

Mike

[Taylor]

Hi Mike(s)!  

I wanted to add my voice here to let you know that it's not just Mykhaylo having the issues. I, too, cannot find patterns anymore. And also my collocate results load alphabetically by default like Mykhaylo. But I don't know how to run lemma searches, so that's not something I can check on.

Maybe this helps in some way?

Kindly,

Taylor

[Mike Scott]

You're quite right, Taylor. However I have now fixed these issues. I am running final checks, hope to upload today.

Apologies to all for these glitches!

Mike

[Mike Scott]

I have uploaded. Cheers!

[Taylor]

Thank you so much, Mike!

[Taylor]

Hi Mike,

I was just in WordSmith8 and I am unable to do something that I was able to do yesterday. Let me see if I can explain this properly:

In the Collocates tab, under any column (e.g. L1), I double-click a number so that it brings up a window asking if I want to show the collocate in the concordance or compute a new concordance. When I click 'show', the results window does indeed show me the concordance screen of the node word, but not with L1 to the left of the node word. 

I hope that that makes sense.

I also tried to do the same procedure in the Patterns tab and got the same result.

Kind regards,

Taylor

[Mike Scott]

Taylor, hi

Makes sense. This was fine yesterday, I was using it quite a lot. 

But I agree it's not fine now. However I have an idea as to what I need to do to restore that sort issue, and will get to it tomorrow morning. Sometimes it's like a butterfly wing beating in a distant forest having an unexpected distant effect.....

Cheers! 

[Taylor]

Hi Mike, 

I'm glad that made sense. I've been using that feature a great deal too this week. 

I'll look forward to hearing from you tomorrow.

Kindly,

Taylor

[Mike Scott]

Uploaded the new build with this issue fixed.

Cheers -- Mike 

[Mykhaylo Syzonenko]

Hi Mike, Taylor,

Happy to report the Collocates and Patterns issues are no more:) 

I do still get the never-ending Lemma Search (attached), but that's probably my computer's quirk.

Best,

Mike (Mykhaylo)

[Mike Scott]

Hi Mike

I'm wondering why you're getting trouble. For this function to work you have to have a) chosen a lemma list (for Concord, not or KeyWords, WordList) b) loaded it, i the WordSmith Controller.

I've just tested here, selecting the play Julius Caesar and typing in speak as my search word. I had loaded a sample lemma list defining speak as having spoke as a lemma variant. The concordance I got shows both speak and spoke entries.   

If you're doing those things right, is something else giving grief? Too many lemmas being sought perhaps? Could you please test using that play or some other source text you know is OK and a suitable small lemma list? 

Cheers -- MIke

[Mykhaylo Syzonenko]

Hi Mike

Finally got around to testing out what you suggested. 

In short, lemma search worked on the Shakespeare corpus, 

but I had to cut the BNC5 lemma list down to the first ~7,300 lines, 

and even then it took around 10-15 minutes to load. Which is a bit disappointing, because it used to load instantly. 

But no big deal, I'm happy to blame this on my decrepit OS and do without until I reinstall it.

Best regards,

Mike (Mykhaylo)  

[Mike Scott]

Mike, hi

I have written privately to you so as not to clog up the group discussions.

Cheers -- Mike

[Mike Scott]

I have uploaded a new build today which I think fixes the issues  Mykhaylo  mentioned.

Cheers -- MIke

[Mykhaylo Syzonenko]

Hi Mike,

Terrific job – thank you! I've never seen a lemma list upload so fast!

One tiny bottleneck that I've stumbled across is that in the Collocates tab, after I say Compute -> Lemmas -> Lemma matches, the list gets re-sorted alphabetically. Which is great for seeing lemmas, but to me Total is the end goal, so there is one extra step to take. But it's not critical by any means – what you did is magic! Assembler or С magic, probably. I couldn't thank you enough.

Cheers,

Mykhaylo