aspell: Introduction
1
1 1 Introduction
1 **************
1
1 GNU Aspell is a spell checker designed to eventually replace Ispell. It
1 can either be used as a library or as an independent spell checker. Its
1 main feature is that it does a much better job of suggesting possible
1 replacements for a misspelled word than just about any other spell
1 checker out there for the English language. Unlike Ispell, Aspell can
1 also easily check documents in UTF-8 without having to use a special
1 dictionary. Aspell will also do its best to respect the current locale
1 setting. Other advantages over Ispell include support for using
1 multiple dictionaries at once and intelligently handling personal
1 dictionaries when more than one Aspell process is open at once.
1
1 The latest version of Aspell can always be found at
1 `http://aspell.net'
1
1 1.1 Comparison to other spell checker engines
1 =============================================
1
1 Aspell Ispell Netscape Microsoft
1 4.0 Word 97
1 Open Source x x
1 Suggestion 88-98 54 55-70? 71
1 Intelligence
1 Personal part x x x
1 of Suggestions
1 Alternate Dictionaries x x ? ?
1 International Support x x ? ?
1
1 The Suggestion Intelligence is based on a small test kernel of
1 misspelled/correct word pairs. Go to `http://aspell.net/test' for more
1 info and how you can help contribute to the test kernel. The current
1 scores for Aspell are 88 in _fast_ mode, 93 in _normal_ mode, and 98 in
1 _bad spellers_ mode: for more information about the various suggestion
1 modes ⇒Notes on the Different Suggestion Modes.
1
1 If you have any other information you would like to add to this chart
1 please contact me at <kevina@gnu.org>.
1
1 1.1.1 Comparison to Ispell
1 --------------------------
1
1 1.1.1.1 Features that only Aspell has
1 .....................................
1
1 * Is an actual library that other programs can link to instead of
1 having to use it through a pipe.
1
1 * Does a much better job of suggesting possible replacements for a
1 misspelled word than Ispell does or for that matter many other
1 spell checkers I have seen. If you know a spell checker that does
1 a better job please let me know.
1
1 * Can learn from user's misspellings.
1
1 * Can easily check documents in UTF-8 without having to use a special
1 dictionary.
1
1 * Has support for using multiple dictionaries at once.
1
1 * Is multiprocess intelligent. When a personal dictionary (or
1 replacement list) is saved, it will now first update the list
1 against the dictionary on disk in case another process modified it.
1
1 * Can share the memory used in the main word list between processes.
1
1 * A better, more complete word list for the English language. Word
1 lists are provided for American, British, and Canadian spelling.
1 Special care has been taken to only include one spelling for each
1 word in any particular word list. The word list included in
1 Ispell by contrast only included support for American and British
1 and also tends to included multiple spellings for a word which can
1 mask some spelling errors.
1
1 1.1.1.2 Things that, currently, only Ispell has
1 ...............................................
1
1 * Lower memory footprint
1
1 * Ability to deal with arbitrary multi-character letters such as old
1 ASCII encodings of accented letters.
1
1 * Perhaps better support for spell checking (La)TeX files.
1
1
11 For a detailed description of how Aspell differs from Ispell, ⇒
Differences From Ispell.
1