Simtel MSDOS 1992 September

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********************************************* * * * * * * * P C -- R E A D * * * * Version 2.5 * * * * * * * ********************************************* Developed by: Wash 'n Ware Software Products P. O. Box 91016-199 Baton Rouge, La. 70821 CopyRight 1985 P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 1 T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S Prologue .................................... 2 Introduction ................................. 3 PC-READ ...................................... 5 Using PC-READ ................................ 6 The Command Menu ............................. 8 F1 - Change Logged Drive ..................... 9 F2 - Display Reading Level ................... 10 F3 - Change Directory ........................ 11 F4 - Floating Reading Level................... 12 F5 - Mark and Process Text ................... 13 F6 - Terminate Program ....................... 15 Remember ..................................... 16 Your Evaluation Copy ......................... 17 Appendix A: The Formula ...................... 18 P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 2 PROLOGUE Jean stopped in the hall. He read the nameplate on the office door -- "W. Hannah, Vice President, Marketing". Jean nervously flicked a few imaginary specks from his coat. "Tap-Tap-Tap," he knocked. "Come in," a voice grumbled. W. Hannah, V. P., Marketing, flipped through the Wall Street Journal as Jean entered and set a slim report on the mahogany desk. "Here's the report you'd asked me to prepare on the Directions proposal." Hannah's eyes never left the Journal as he reached for the Directions proposal, hefted it, and pushed it back. "Too short, do it again. Put more words in it." The gruff response was a dismissal; Hannah turned to the mutual funds as Jean left the office, rushing to add words to a report that hadn't been read. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 3 INTRODUCTION While the above vignette is fictional, you may be familiar with similar situations in real life. Too often, the quality of a piece of writing is judged by how many words it contains. The more words, the better the writing. The longer the sentences, the better the writing. This attitude was reflected in most business and government writing for many years (and still is in many cases). Lately, however, a reader revolt has been brewing. "If this writing is so good, then why do I have so much trouble reading it? Why does it give me headaches? Why do I keep putting off reading it? Why do I find myself reading the same paragraph over and over again? WHY CAN'T I MAKE ANY SENSE OUT OF IT?" Some people now feel that writing should be judged by how effective it is and not by how many words it contains. If you can't read it easily, then the writing is not effective. Since effectively relaying information is vital, many organizations are seriously looking for ways to improve the quality of their writing. Some groups have tried creative writing or grammar classes. These classes are designed to improve a person's writing. Creative writing classes spur the imagination, while grammar classes stress the building-block approach to writing. There is a third technique designed to improve your writing. This approach judges the "readability" of writing. It grades writing from the reader's viewpoint by asking, "Is this document easy to read?" If you've ever struggled through the 1040 Federal Tax instruction booklet, you can appreciate that writing can be difficult to read. The Federal Tax instructions are confusing -- and people don't like to read confusing writing. Why are the 1040 instructions so confusing? The writing is grammatically correct. The Tax instructions treat the subject in as creative a way as possible. Yet, P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 4 these instructions fail the third test. They are a collection of long, complex sentences and words. The writing is dreary and "unreadable". Most readers simply cannot tolerate this. It "confuses" them. Complex subject matter does not have to mean complex writing. In fact, a good writer should strive for the opposite. If the subject is complex, then keep the writing as simple as possible. The reader will have enough trouble just digesting the subject matter. You don't want to swamp him by forcing him to decipher the writing. Researchers have been studying the characteristics of readable writing for about 50 years. They have devised several formulas to evaluate writing; most of these formulas deal with sentence length and word complexity. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 5 PC-READ You holding an evaluation copy of a program called "PC-READ". This program rates the complexity of writing as an average grade level (elementary, high school, college) at which the text could be easily read. For instance, a Reading Level of 9 suggests a 9th grade reading level. To make this more meaningful, a recent story in "The Wall Street Journal" indicated that many executives are most comfortable reading at a 7th grade level. This does not mean that business writing should be "baby-writing" of the "See Bill. See Jane" variety. However, it does suggest that simple, concise writing is much more effective than complex writing. Most successful popular writing grades below a 13 on the READING LEVEL scale. As the level rises, people will find the text more and more difficult to read. Government and business writing often rates a very high Reading Level. This high level suggests that people will have trouble reading and understanding the writing. Complex subjects need not have high Reading Levels. For example, consider "The Wall Street Journal". A prime example of clear and concise coverage of complex subjects, the Journal averages a Reading Level of about 11. (Ironic how our Mr. Hannah appreciates clear writing in his WSJ yet demands complex writing from his employees.) Note that a low Reading Level does not mean a piece of text is "good" writing, only that it is probably easy to read. However, most of what you consider "good" writing probably will not have high Reading Levels. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 6 USING PC-READ PC-READ accepts a text file and grades it on complexity. You have a certain amount of flexibility in how you decide to grade the file. You may grade a chunk from the beginning of the file, or just from selected subsections. You can also print a "floating reading level" alongside a condensed version of your text file! PC-READ does not use the grading formula devised by the Department of Defense; instead, it uses a custom algorithm that better reflects the "real world". PC-READ accepts ASCII text files as well as WordStar files, WordPerfect files, and many other popular word processing program files. The text should contain mostly English sentences. Long tables, such as product descriptions and prices, extracts of computer programs, like COBOL data structures, or frequent sections of dialogue will skew the Reading Level. PC-READ comes on a single-sided DOS 1.1 formatted diskette. The program is not copy-protected. To copy PC-READ, place the program diskette in drive A; place the diskette you'd like to copy to in drive B. From DOS, issue the following command: COPY A:PC-READ.COM B: If you have a hard drive system, then place the PC-READ program diskette in drive A and issue the following command: COPY A:PC-READ.COM C: (assuming that C: is the hard drive) PC-READ is now installed. To execute PC-READ, first make sure that PC-READ.COM is on the default drive. From the DOS prompt, enter: PC-READ P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 7 You'll see a title screen introducing PC-READ. Press any key to continue. PC-READ begins by listing the directory of the default drive. If the directory listing is short enough to fit on one screen, PC-READ enters a "ready" state and waits for you to press one of the function keys F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, or F6. Hard disk users may have too many files in their subdirectory to list on one screen. If the directory listing needs more than one screen, you'll be prompted by a message on the bottom of the screen. The message says: "[PgDn] for next page, [PgUp] for previous, [Enter to stop listing" (NOTE: If you have more than 512 files in a subdirectory, PC-READ will terminate with an error message. There's nothing magic about the 512 figure; I had to set a limit somewhere. If this causes a problem, try splitting your large directory into two or more subdirectories.) If you press the PgDn key, the directory listing will scroll to the next available page of file names. If you are already on the last page, nothing will happen. The PgUp key scrolls you to the previous available page of file names. If you are already on the first page, nothing will happen. When you have finished scrolling through the file names, press the Enter key (the Return key). This forces PC-READ into the "ready" state. Only when you are in the "ready" state can you successfully press F1, F2, F3, F4, F5, or F6. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 8 THE COMMAND MENU FUNCTION KEY ACTION F1 Change Logged Drive F2 Display Reading Level F3 Change Directory F4 Floating Reading Level F5 Mark Text to Process F6 Terminate Program P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 9 F1 - CHANGE LOGGED DRIVE Function key F1 keys the routine that changes the default drive id. When you first execute PC-READ, the logged drive is the current drive. For example: SCREEN LOOKS DEFAULT DRIVE LIKE THIS IS A> PC-READ A B> PC-READ B C> PC-READ C A> C:PC-READ A When you initiate PC-READ, it will display the directory of the current drive. Any file you wish to process MUST be in the current drive of the current directory. This means if you have a floppy-based system with PC-READ on drive A and your text files on drive B, you must make file B the default drive BEFORE you can process any of your text files. You can do this by making B the default drive before you begin PC-READ; you can also do this within PC-READ with function key F1. If you press F1, you'll be prompted to enter a one letter drive ID. If you press the carriage return without entering anything, PC-READ will leave the default drive unchanged. If you do enter a one letter drive ID, PC-READ will try to make that the current drive. If the drive ID is invalid, PC-READ beeps you with an error message and asks for a new drive ID. If you change the drive ID successfully, PC-READ displays the directory of the diskette on the new default drive. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 10 F2 - DISPLAY READING LEVEL This option tries to scan the first 50 sentences in a text file. It displays the results on a graphic screen. You're first prompted to enter a file name. If you hit a carriage return If you enter nothing, PC-READ returns to the menu and waits for you to press another function key. If you enter a file name, PC-READ hunts for that file on the current drive. If the file isn't found, PC-READ beeps you with a warning and asks you to re-enter the file name. When PC-READ successfully finds the file, it tries to read the file. (NOTE: PC-READ results are only meaningful for text files. It's possible to process a non-text file, such as a .COM or an .EXE file -- of course, the results will be meaningless.) PC-READ reads the text file and begins calculating a reading level. PC-READ processes the text file from the beginning of the file until it reaches the end of the file OR until it counts 50 sentences (whichever comes first). After processing the text file, PC-READ generates a graphic display showing the reading level. This graphic display shows the typical reading levels of several popular magazines. The reading level for your text file displays on the right-hand side of the scale; it also prints on the bottom of the screen. You can press a "Q" if you wish to terminate PC-READ. If you'd like to process more text files, press an "M" to return to the main menu. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 11 F3 - CHANGE DIRECTORY This option is for hard drive users. When you initiate PC-READ, the program begins using the current directory. For most floppy-based users, this will be "\"; most floppy-based users will never change this. However, hard drive systems often use different subdirectories. PC-READ uses function key F3 to let you change the directory name. When you press F3, PC-READ prompts you for a new path name. A null response leaves the directory unchanged. If you enter a directory name, PC-READ tries to make that name the current directory. If it fails, you'll be beeped with a warning and a chance to enter another directory name. If PC-READ successfully changes the directory, it displays a new directory list of the files within the new directory. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 12 F4 - FLOATING READING LEVEL The Floating Reading Level option prints a condensed version of your document on your attached printer. Alongside the condensed document is the "Floating Reading Level". The reading level is refigured every 10 to 15 sentences. This lets you monitor the reading level throughout your document. You can spot trouble areas where the reading level gets too high; you can also watch for monotonous writing -- this usually happens when the reading levels don't change much through your document. Press function key F4; PC-READ prompts you for a file name. A null response returns you to the main menu. If you enter a file name that PC-READ cannot find on the current drive, PC-READ beeps you with a warning and a request for another file name. If PC-READ finds the file you've entered, it will begin to process the file. As it processes the file, it begins printing the floating reading level on your printer (IMPORTANT!! Be sure your printer is attached and turned on.) The condensed document consists of two or three words from the beginning and end of every fifth sentence or so. This should be just enough so you can spot where you are in a complete list of your document. Every third line or so, the floating reading level prints alongside the condensed sentences. Be careful when you use this option. Occasional "high" reading levels don't necessarily mean a problem. In fact, a "high" reading level every now and then helps change the pace in a document; many people find this helps them read the document by making it more interesting. This option continues processing until it reaches the end of your document. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 13 F5 - MARK AND PROCESS TEXT (NOTE: This option only works with a PRINT-IMAGE text file or a plain ASCII text file. Most word processors let you create a print-image of your text file on disk.) This option lets you select and scan subsections of your text file. Select function key F5 and PC-READ prompts you for a file name. If you press carriage return without entering anything, PC-READ returns to the main menu. If it doesn't find the file on the current drive, PC-READ beeps you with a warning and lets you re-enter the file name. When PC-READ finds your file, it tries to load the entire file into memory. PC-READ uses all available memory to do this and will load as much of your document as it can. Once PC-READ loads in the document, it switches to a display showing the beginning of your document. You can use the following keys: F1 - Mark a boundary of text F2 - Begin processing between two boundaries Shift-F2 - Special case of F2 (see below) F3 - Terminate and return to main menu PgUp - Scroll display up PgDn - Scroll display down Up Arrow - Move cursor up Down Arrow - Move cursor down Use the PgUp and PgDn keys to scroll through your document. When you see the spot from which you'd like to begin processing, use the up and down arrow keys to move the cursor to that line. Once you've done that, press the F1 key. This marks that line as one boundary of selected text. Use the PgUp, PgDn, and up and down arrows to move the cursor to the end of the section to process. Press the F1 key again; this marks the other bound of selected text. You may only mark two bounds. If you press F1 again, you'll get beeped with a warning message. You're asked if you want to change the beginning and ending marks or if you want to leave them alone. Press "N" to leave the marks as they are. If you press "Y", then the beginning bound is set to the line the cursor is currently on. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 14 Once you've marked your two bounds, press either function key F2 or Shift - F2 to begin processing. PC-READ begins scanning from the beginning of the subsection you've marked. When you select function F2, PC-READ discards words from the beginning mark until it reaches the end of a sentence. Once it's found a sentence end, it begins normal processing beginning with the next word. PC-READ does this to eliminate skewed readings caused by sentence fragments at the beginning of a subsection. One side effect is that if a subsection begins with a complete sentece, that beginning sentence is discarded. You can get around this by using Shift-F2 instead of F2 to begin processing. Shift-F2 doesn't try to discard sentence fragments; instead, it begins all processing at the beginning mark. Be careful selecting between F2 and Shift-F2. In general, use F2 when your block begins with a sentence fragment; use Shift-F2 when your block begins with a complete sentence. Once the subsection is processed, PC-READ switches to a graphic display showing the reading level for that subsection. If you are finished with this text file, press the "Q" key to quit back to the main menu. If you'd like to mark and process more sections of the same text file, press a "T". P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 15 F6 - TERMINATE PROGRAM When you press function key F6, PC-READ terminates and control passes back to DOS.ram from the ready state. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 16 REMEMBER The Reading Level is only a measure of what people consider easy reading. It is only meaningful for normal current-day English business writing. Poetry, songs, dialogue, and foreign or historical writings are completely different matters. The Reading Level doesn't measure whether the writing is good or bad, interesting or dull, enjoyable or irritating. It tries to measure whether or not the writing will tire the reader because of the way the words and sentences are assembled. Writers can use this mechanical measurement as a tool to aid them in analyzing and improving their writing. Their success depends on their writing skills and on how effectively they use this tool. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 17 YOUR EVALUATION COPY Earlier versions of PC-READ were distributed by the "user-supported" concept. If you're not familiar with the user-supported doctrine, then read on. The user-supported distribution concept relies on you to decide whether or not a piece of software has any value. If so, then you're asked to send a small fee to reward the software author. This contrasts with the mainstream method of distribution. Normally, you pay big money for a program that may or may not fit your needs. The catch is you won't know if the program works for you until AFTER you pay for it. There are no guarantees, no extensive try-outs, and no refunds. To top it off, your software purchase might be copy-protected. This makes your software investment awkward to use. I've been experimenting with various ways of distributing PC-READ -- also with various prices. At this point, I'm just kinda throwing up my hands and saying: "If you like this program, you can reward the author by sending $10.00 to: Joey Robichaux Wash 'n Ware Software Products P. O. Box 91016-199 Baton Rouge, La. 70821 Anyone interested in muddling through the Turbo Pascal source code can receive a copy for an extra $20.00. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 18 APPENDIX A -- The Formula Okay ... I give up. Everyone wants to know the formula used in PC-READ. I've been reluctant to release the formula, thinking that the formula wasn't really all that important. I felt the important part was how your writing compared to the benchmark writings. Anyway, some one finally pounded through my head that knowing the formula would make it a lot easier to change your writing habits to look more like the benchmark writings. Makes sense, now that I look at it. Anyway, here are the main parts of the formula -- Average Sentence Length -- This one's pretty easy. It's the number of words divided by the number of sentences. Word -- Not always what you think. For example, I don't count capitalized words, nor do I count a string of numbers. I also skip over many abbreviations (ex., Mr, Mrs, Dr, Sgt, etc). A word must also have at least one vowel. Sentence -- Again, not always what you think. A sentence is a string of words followed by a delimiter. A delimiter is one of the following: . , ; ! ? : -- Hard Word -- In general, a word with three or more syllables. There's some fudging when the word is artificially extended with an 'er' or an 'ed'. P C - R E A D Version 2.5 Page 19 The definitions are out of the way, so here goes -- The formula is: Reading Level = (Average Sentence Length + (Number of Hard Words per 100 words)) * 0.4 So what does that tell you. If your reading levels are high, try cutting down on your sentence lengths. Break some compound sentences into simple sentences -- use more semicolons, use more dashes. Also, use less thirty-five cent words. Don't say "This residence is inhabited by the Jones family". Say "That's the Jones's house."