Vocab Builder

I wrote this applet for building my vocabulary as part of my GRE preparation. Hope it helps you too.

Functionality

• Search mode: Acts as a dictionary, allowing words to be searched on the master word list (which at the moment is specified as an applet parameter).
  Within this mode, while the cursor is in the "meaning text area", the following keys allow these operations:

  Key	Functionality
  Left	Go to the previous word
  Right	Go to the next word
  Home	Go to the first word
  End	Go to the last word
  Up	Go to the first word of the current alphabet. If already on the first word then goes to the first word of the previous alphabet.
  Down	Go to the last word of the current alphabet. If already on the last word then to the last word of the next alphabet.

• Quiz Mode: Allows you to quiz yourself on a bunch of words. The following parts of the GUI allow various aspects of word selection for the quiz.
  • The number of words to appear on the quiz can be selected from the "Word Count" section.
  The following key strokes could be used to achieve certain functionality while the focus is on the "meaning" text area.
  
  

  Downloading

  I have recieved a few emails on how to download this. Simple. Download the following files:
  • Core GUI Classes,
  • Vocab Classes,
  • Word List File (or you can try a few from Sungwoo's Site below,
  • This File
  When the three files are downloaded do not forget to create the following directory structure (where items preceded by a '+' are directories):

          + <some_directory>
          -- vocab.html
          -- + <java>
          ----- Class Files and Archives
          ----- + <vocab>
          -------- WordListFile
      

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank the following people:
  
  
  • Sungwoo Park for providing the 4800 word list.
    
  • Alessandro Cantatore for his links on several wildcard matching algorithms.
  • All the GRE-ers who have tested this applet and provided me with feedback and ideas for modifications.

  To Do

  • Complete and test the Wildcard Filter.
  • Implement the "Pattern" feature to accept Regular expressions. If any of you already have filter classes that can do this or simpler versions of these, I can incorporate it for you. OR, you can incorporate it yourself by including a WordFilter and FilterEditor class into the applet tags of this file.
    
  • Enable loading of arbitrary wordlists, filters, editors and other resources by specifying URLs. For example, to test yourself on other wordlists (say ones found in the Sungwoo's site) can be specified at runtime.
  • Implement the "Antonymn" feature