NextWord version 1.0 ReadMe

Disclaimer:
NextWord v1.0 is provided strictly AS IS.  i can not guarantee that the program will be
100% stable on every system it may be run on and will not be held responsible for any
damages caused directly or indirectly my the use of this program.  In any case, the worst
that should happen is that the program will perform an illegal operation error and shut
itself down.  NextWord is completely freeware and should not be used for any monetary gain
or to perform any illegal activities.  Again, i will not be held responsible should anyone
decide to use it for harrassment or other illegal purposes.  As freeware, i provide no
guarantees on its quality or any promises of future upgrades or bug-fixes.

That said, please enjoy using NextWord and send it to all your friends!

System requirements:
NextWord should run on any computer using Windows 95/98/NT.  It will not run from DOS or
Windows 3.x or earlier.  It should work on just about any IBM-compatible system.  If you
have problems with the program on your system, please let me know by emailing me at the
address given below.

Installing:
To intall NextWord, simply unzip the EXE into a comfortable directory and double-click it
to run the program.  No install program is included in the archive, so any setup, such as
adding the program to the Start menu or creating a shortcut on the desktop must be done
manually.  The easiest way to add a shortcut is to simply drag the EXE from its folder onto
your desktop.  From then on, all you have to do is double-click the icon to run NextWord.

So what does it do??
NextWord is a simple artificial intelligence program which consumes textual information and
tries to generate sentences using what it has learned.  In a nutshell, you feed it whatever
text you can find; old emails, webpage content, your favorite recipe, whatever.  Each time
you enter more information, NextWord's vocabulary grows and the sentences he can generate
become more and more diverse.  The fun of using the program is that you never know what
crazy sentences he's going to concoct next.

Using the program:
When you first open NextWord, it should give you an error message telling you that it
cannot find the memory data file and that a new one will be created.  This is perfectly
normal.  After hitting OK, you will be taken to the main program screen, which is in the
form of a faily straightforward dialog box.  At the top of this dialog box, taking up most
of the window space, is a large text edit box.  This is where you can enter or paste textual
information which will then be consumed by NextWord and added to his database of words.
When you first use NextWord, he will have no vocabulary and will therefore be unable to
create sentences.  The more data you give him, the "smarter" he gets, so be sure to feed him
alot.  You can do this by simply typing sentences into the edit box or pasting it in by
right-clicking on the box and selecting paste.  For example, if the instructions on how to
use your brand new Scan-o-matic color scanner are open in Notepad, simply select the text
you wish to copy, right-click and select "Copy" then go to NextWord, right-click in the edit
box and select "Paste."  You're then ready for NextWord to process the information, which
brings us to...

The Process button.  This button is located directly beneath the text box.  Once you have
alot of text in the edit box, click Process and NextWord will analyze it and store it in
memory.  After it's done, the edit box will be cleared so you have a clean slate to enter
more information or display silly sentences.

The Clear button, located to the right of the Process button, simply clears out the text
area without processing the information.  Use this if you change your mind about what you
want to feed to NextWord.

The Read from File button, which is at the far right, can be used to directly process files
that are in a text format.  This means that .doc files created by WordPad will NOT work.
The safest way to use this button is to only select files with a .txt extension, which are
pretty much guaranteed to be in plain text format.  If you want NextWord to process text
from a file with formatting, copy it from the associated program and paste it into the edit
box.  Once you've selected a file to read, it will be read in and processed (this may take
some time, especially with large files)  More data for NextWord!  Yummy!

The Generate New... button will cause NextWord to take all of what he has learned and
assemble a sentence which should theoretically make sense.  Realistically, the sentence is
much more likely to be a string of silly words which ALMOST make sense.  But that's half the
fun, because you never know what he's going to come up with next.  Each time you click on
this button, the contents of the edit box will be replaced with a silly sentence or
paragraph (depending on your selection), so be sure to process any information you don't
want to lose before you click the Generate New... button.

The two radio buttons to the right of the Generate New... button, Sentence and Paragraph,
control just how much text is generated with each click of the button.  NextWord's
sentences will average from 1 to 15 words and paragraphs will be made up of about 5 to 15
sentences.

The bottom row of buttons manipulate the memory data file and allow you to leave the
program.  In order, they are Clear Memory, Save Now, Exit without Save, and Save and Exit.
Clicking on the Clear Memory button will enable you to wipe all of NextWord's memory, giving
you a clean slate to work with.  Use it with caution, however.  If you save to the data file
after using this button, all memory accumulated will be lost.  Save Now causes all the data
to be saved immediately to the data file.  Exit without Save allows you to leave the program
without saving any changes to the data file.  This can come in handy if you accidentally
clear his memory and don't want to lose the data file.  And Save and Exit will first save
the changes and then exit the program.

That's all there is to it!  Simple, huh?

The menus:
Oops.  Almost forgot.  NextWord DOES have two pop-up menus available for use: File and Help.
The File menu contains options corresponding to the buttons at the bottom of the dialog box
and as such are completely useless.  The Help menu contains but one option, the "About
NextWord" option.  This will bring up a dialog box telling you the version and who wrote
the blasted thing.  But more importantly, you'll get to look at the spiffy :-P icon in all
it's glorious detail!  You might also spy a mention of some silly website like Fargus.net.
i really don't know how that got there. ;-)

Now, that's REALLY all there is to it.  Unless you want to read the boring stuff below.

Misc. Ramblings:
NextWord requires lots and lots of text.  Give him it.  Load him with veritible
shmorgasbords of text!  Copy the whole Win98 Help file database!  Give him all those steamy
love letters between you and your cyber-lover!  Heck, while you're at it, feed him this
ReadMe file!  Remember, the more he has to chew on, the more crazy the sentences he will
come up with.
A word of caution, however: NextWord will be whatever you make him.  If you don't want him
swearing at your mother, don't feed him any swearwords.  He doesn't know right from wrong,
heck, he doesn't even know what he's saying so don't take anything said by him personally.
Also, while the program has been used extensively and i have yet to come across any fatal
errors, NextWord may have some still crawling around in his system.  If you encounter any
anamolies please email me at the address at the end of this document describing the bug and
the conditions under which the program was running.  i am aware of a few kinks in the
software which i will get to in a minute, so please don't send me a bug report about
something i am already working on.  NextWord's limits should be your computer's RAM
(including virtual memory) and your hard drive capacity.  If he runs out of space
unexpectedly, strange things may happen.  Let me know about those too! (i promise, he won't
eat your monitor)

Copyright information and other annoyingly boring information:
NextWord was written by Stephen Terry with the help of a few beta testers who told him he
was doing it all wrong.  It is provided as freeware and as such, you may distribute it
freely to anyone anywhere provided you meet the following two conditions: 1) You transmit
the original ZIP file containing the EXE and this ReadMe file, and 2) The program is, to the
best of your knowledge, the latest version in existance.  If you break one of those rules,
a very mean man will come and stick his tongue out at you.  Oh, and don't go doing something
like hacking it to make me look stupid or something.  i hate that.

Above all, enjoy the program.  i spent way too much time on it, so use it alot so i won't
feel like i wasted my time.  Enjoy!

NextWord v1.0
Written by: Stephen Terry
Copyright 1999

Send bug reports to: stlocutus@hotmail.com
Please include specific details of the problem and a description of the system and
environment it was running under when the error occured.  Please do not send me information
about any of the following bugs, as i am currently aware of them and working to fix them:

The window will not redraw when processing large amounts of information.  This means that if
you move another window over it, and then click on NextWord, the window might look really
funky.  Simply wait until it's done processing, and the problem will go away.

Clicking on the X in the upper-left corner will exit the program without writing changes to
the data file and will not ask you to confirm.  Easy workaround.  Don't click the X.

And now for the really weird one.  If you enter data into the Input box, click the Process
button, then the Generate New button, and finally hit Enter or ESC, the program will exit.
If you hit Enter, the data will be saved.  If you hit ESC, it won't be.  To avoid this
strange error, don't hit the ESC key while NextWord is the active window, and don't hit
enter unless you've clicked on the Generate New button twice or more in a row.

When the program is opening files using the Read from File button, and when it is reading
or writing an especially large data file it may take a long time to do so.  Sometimes it
looks as if the program has simply frozen.  Give it a minute or so before you determine that
it is dead in the water.  To avoid this problem, try to use the edit box instead of the
Read from File button as much as possible, as i'm still working to streamline that part of
the program.  Also, processing long novels in a single bound is not advised, as you may be
waiting all night.

The edit box DOES have a limit.  It is a rather large one, though.  In particular, if you
copy and paste a really long article on a webpage, it may not get it all.  Look at the text
after you've copied it to ensure that you got the whole thing before you click Process.

The About Box says "Special thanks to Fargus.net"  i think an alien invaded my computer and
put that there.  It's not my fault, really.