As most of you know, I have long opposed UEB for use in the United States and, not surprisingly, I still do so. Just to be complete, I am a sighted retired computational scientist who became interested in braille software development back in 2000. Because of this interest I was lucky enough to meet John Boyer back then. I would estimate that I have spent the equivalent of at least two working years on UEB issues: studying UEB in great detail, trying to help various organizations who were opposing it, and carefully documenting my objections on my website. I realize that the current situation is unlikely to change but I would like to respond to a few of the comments in this thread. As a programmer for more than 40 years I find it essential when I read technical material that includes software fragments that these fragments are identical to what would appear in working software that incorporates those fragments. That is, I should whenever I wish, be able to copy and paste these software fragments directly into actual computer code. I find it impossible to comprehend why braille-using programmers wouldn't prefer to learn, read, or write computer code using the same characters that sighted people do. I've seen programs written by persons whose native language isFrench or another non-English language which uses a similar alphabet to English (ASCII)
and while the comments are often in their native language, they do not translate the keywords of the programming language to their native language. (It's possible that there are cases I'm unaware of where there are forms of programming languages that use other alphabets where compiling requires backtranslation.) On a similar note it is my impression that many braille-using adults prefer to directly enter print or computer code using either a standard keyboard or the default 8-dot computer braille table built into their braille display and have no trouble switching back and forth from computer braille to six-dot contracted braille. Since the deficiencies of UEB math have been well-domented elsewhere I have just this one statement. As a computational mathematician I have been continually impressed with how Nemeth math represents the true nature of mathematics in a way that I've not seen any other braille system come close to. Next I'd like to make two technical comments about translating and back-translating. First, both of these processes are technically speaking examples of parsing. Those of you with an advanced computer science background are likely aware that the standard techniques long used for lexical analysis and parsing are quite different from the way these processes are handled in table-based braille software. I understand that the use of tables is intended to make it possible for the same engine to translate according to numerous braille systems and I've observed that the popularity of this feature is a primary reason for the widespread adoption of liblouis. However, I wouldn't be surprised if some of the advances in parsing lead to new approaches to braille software in the future. The second comment is specific to backtranslating UEB. My understanding is that there is a "mathematical" proof that the prefix-root nature of UEB makes it possible to automate fully correct backtranslation of UEB. (It may be that the use of shortform contractions violates this; I'm not sure. If so, one would need to scan for shortforms first.) However, my concern is not whether correct UEB can be automatically backtranslated, my concern is whether human-produced UEB, which is likely to contain various errors, can be automatically backtranslated. It is important to realize that it is the presence of extra rules more than the elimination of a few problematic contractions that makes accurate UEB backtranslation potentially automatable. For example, as was pointed out in an earlier post on this thread, UEB allows a leading period (full stop) if the item is preceded by a Grade 1 indicator. In other words, the real question is whether a UEB backtranslator can localize braille errors just as a compiler can generally find all the mistakes in a piece of code without crashing. Finally, congratulations and best wishes to everyone who has been and/or still is working so hard to make liblouis a success. This is truly an impressive project of worldwide importance! Sincerely, Susan Jolly www.dotlessbraille.org For a description of the software, to download it and links to project pages go to http://www.abilitiessoft.com