Online Dictionary

Look up word definitions using this cute tool

Description

Given a word, this tool returns its definitions found from Internet dictionaries. The words recently looked up are saved, and loaded automatically when the tool is started next time.

Unzip the .zip file, and change working directory to the folder that contains dict.m, or add that folder to your Matlab path.

Usage examples:
   dict
   dict('computer')

*Internet connection is needed.

• MATLAB release: MATLAB 7 (R14)
• Other requirements: developed and tested under 7.0.1 (R14) SP1

[John D'Errico]

As a gui tool that is so easily used, and so obvious in its use, I'm conflicted. I'd happily give this a rating of 5 in a heartbeat as a dictionary tool. Every actual word I tested it with was provided with a definition.

The code itself appears to be well written, using a self-documenting style with descriptive variable names. This helps when there is perhaps a Java problem in the future.

What I don't like is the fact that it has not a single line of help in the file. Again, yes, it is a gui. But it lacks an H1 line, so that lookfor will fail if you try to find this function a year from now.

This is a good code. It could easily have been a splendid one.

[John D'Errico]

This tool now merits the comment I wanted to give it in the first place - splendid.

[Richard Brown]

You need to change the line which creates the GUI figure, as for some screen resolutions (e.g. 1280x800, a common laptop resolution), the GUI appears halfway off the top of the screen.

Also, a minor point - is it possible to make the text in the text box become selected when you click in it, so that you can type right away without deleting the text first?

currently sets the position property to [500, 400, 420, 500], which, if you're using a laptop with resolution 1280x800 for example (a common screen size),

[Richard Brown]

sorry about the bottom paragraph there, I thought I'd deleted it!

[James Yu]

According to Richard's comments, I have made the following 2 changes:

1. The window is initialized to be at screen center
2. When clicked, the text in the text field is automatically selected and wait for overwriting.

Enjoy!