A while ago (on the scale of years), I created a word-finder/unscrambler utility app for myself that proved quite useful. This was before Wordle was a popular time-wasting thing that it is now. (As far as I know, there's no payout for playing or reaching the top of the leaderboard.) It was also before I knew about Pay-to-play-to-earn and used to play games purely for entertainment. At some point, I moved the supposedly self-contained app to a new PC, on which it stopped working. Not being bothered to debug it and find out why, I moved on to other things (including working on my own Website).
Fairly recently, I put the app in debug mode and pored over the output to see where and why it was failing. It turns out that the new system requires the app run with admin permissions to extract its word list file to the same directory. I extracted the archive containing the word list from the executable, expanded that and put the file in that directory, then ran the utility again. Everything works now. A few weeks later, I offered to sell a copy to someone whom was struggling with finding high-scoring words for a Web-based version of Wordle. She suggested that while my app is useful as desktop software, I might really make a decent amount for/from it if I provided it as a Web-based service available through a subscription-based payment system. I agree.
The main problem is that I have to convert it from a Java app using an SQLite DB to a PHP one using MySQL (since the Web hosting company I'm using doesn't support Java or .Net). That's not going to be an easy or small task, but I can do it with a bit of brushing up on OOP and MVC in PHP (since the way I started implementing my Website uses MVC ideas, but in an arse-about-face manner that requires rectifying and completing). Part of that includes working out how to move a multi-conditional/level sort using lambda functionality in Java to a custom function in PHP (although I may be able to shift it to a dynamically-generated statement or stored procedure in SQL). Meanwhile, I have all my other shit to deal with (like finding a job in case this latest scheme to torture myself for a month or two doesn't work out). Oh, the joys of being a masochist with bright ideas...
Anyway, have a Brody Dalle tune because we all need things to keep us inspired to do stuff ...
I figured that a good way for me to maximise my potential for earning is to internationalise the interface (both in terms of word lists that are searched and the text of the interface itself). I set about looking for word lists for various languages I want to support (primarily Deutsch, English, espanol, Francais and Italian). However, I discovered a github repo with a whole trove of language files for many languages, extracted from Libre/OpenOffice dictionary extensions. Now, I have word lists for the following languages:
- Bulgarian
- English (including American, Australian and South African variants)
- German (including Austrian and Swiss variants)
- Hungarian
- Icelandic
- Indonesian
- Luxembourgish
- Mandarin (Chinese)
- Norwegian (Norsk)
- Portuguese (European)
- Tagalog (Philippine)
However, what I have is a complete word list file for Afrikaans (AKA South African Dutch, what started off as a mixture of Dutch, German and French, but has since diverged). I couldn't find one online and thus decided to create one of my own. However, the dictionary I have is ~560 pages long and I am on page 9 (still in the Aa~ section, of which there are many words). I regret my decision to compile a word list for this particular language, particularly since it isn't one I enjoyed learning back in my school days. It's tedious work and, being a procrastinator, I can find of distracting things to do instead (including writing this post about it). I know myself well enough to know I won't get it finished this month, let alone the month after that if I don't get some serious money in, so that'll have to go on the back burner and be part of a phase two or three development (along with support for non-Latin-based languages like Mandarin and Russian), if ever.
Do you have two or more distinct words in your language? Why not combine them to make a whole new word? Afrikaans does this, far more so than happens in English. Take "Aandeel" (share) as an example:
- "Aandeelhouer" is a shareholder (an instance where English also combines words), but Afrikaans goes a step further:
- "Aandeelhouersbelang" is "Shareholders' equity".
- Then there's "Aandeelhouersveradering" (shareholders' meeting) and "Aandeelhouersregister" (shareholders' register).
I'm aware German does the same sort of thing (eg: antibabypillen are contraceptives and Backpfeifengesicht is a face asking to be punched), but the difference is that I don't create the word list for it, since I have already downloaded one that someone else
Anyway, the point of all this is that certain development tasks are very tedious and I'd rather not do them, but I've got to bring in money (or crypto) . I remember why I wanted to give up doing software development for a living. Turning one's hobbies and passions into work (or at least a means to bring in money) takes the joy out of life. "Follow your passions" is possibly the piece of advice I was ever given as far as having long-term gainful employment goes.
Now, my poor fingers and wrists need a break from writing. Until next time, Snark out!
Thumbnail image: Cropped screenshot of the desktop version of the utility app I developed in Java
