INSTRUCTIONS

Program:      Word

Function:     Random word generator for a given language template.

Description:  The Word program takes standard MT-format word generation
              templates (such as those shown on pgs. 39 and 88 of the
              DGP Vilani and Vargr alien sourcebook), and produces a
              list of random words that fit the design specifications
              for that template.

              To compile the program, you only need a C compiler (usually
              called 'cc' and located in /bin on most UN*X workstations).
              There are three source files: fgetline.c word-random.c and
              word.c.  The first file (fgetline.c) is used to parse the
              language template.  The second file (word-random.c) contains
              the random number generator, used to determine what phoneme
              is selected next for the construction of a single word.  The
              third file (word.c) is the main code that binds everything
              together.

              A Makefile (for use with the UN*X utility 'make') is provided
              with this set of source code.  The first two lines of the
              Makefile may need to be modified, depending on whether you
              are using Berkeley (BSD) or AT&T System V (SYSV) UN*X.  By
              default, the Makefile is set up for SYSV.  If you are running
              on a Berkeley UN*X platform (on Sun workstations, for example),
              you will need to edit the Makefile to comment out the SYSV 
              option, and uncomment the BSD option.  Once this has been
              done, you can compile the program.

              To compile the program, just type the following command:

                  make

              Assuming no errors occur, the program 'word' should be
              generated in your current working directory.

              If you get this far, you're ready to start cranking out
              new words.  To invoke the program, the sequence is:

                  word [word_file] [num_words] [num_syllables]

              where [word_file] is the template file used as input (the
              template file 'w.vilani' is provided with this program).
              The second parameter is the total number of word you want
              generated on this invocation.  There's no upper limit, but
              I recommend you never specify more than 10,000, just in case
              something goes wrong.  (You can always create more later.)
              The last parameter is the maximum number of syllables any
              given word will have.  This doesn't mean that all the words
              generated will be this long.  It only means that none will
              be longer.  (I.e. if you specify 5 syllables, all the words
              produced will have 1 to 5 syllables.)

              That's all there is to it!


              - Mark F. Cook, Hewlett-Packard Co., 21 Feb. 1993
                markc@hpcvss.cv.hp.com