Great idea! Don´t know whether I have the time to join the program presently because I am much too busy. Thanks a million though!

From the Depths and To the Heights to share in all spheres

Hi all,

I've had to rework my approach to the CForm project yet again... (sigh)
Wanting to keep my options open for using both Akkadian and Sumerian signs has really
made me use a few more brain cells than on the average day.
As our Meso scribes must have known, cuneiform is not as intuitive as it looks
But, on the bright side, the data model and relationships have solidified a lot since I've started.

As I mentioned, due to the complicated relationship of the cuneiform signs to sounds and transliterations,
standard SQL is not sufficient, so I've been busy rolling my own brand of SQL:
one designed for searching and comparing text, like in better word processors,
but also maintaining a iterative relationship to a collection of related objects.

Heres are some examples of the 'metagrammar' I've come up with so far:

// SELECT 3 Signs LIKE C'a'C
Selects first 3 signs with a 3 'letter' pronunciation having an initial consonant, a medial 'a', and a final consonant
// SELECT Signs LIKE CV'g'
Selects all signs with a 3 'letter' pronunciation having initial consonant, medial vowel and final 'g'
// SELECT Signs LIKE *'a'*
Selects all signs with a pronunciation having an 'a' sound anywhere
// SELECT Signs LIKE ?'a'?
Selects all signs with a 3 'letter' pronunciation having a medial 'a'
// SELECT Signs LIKE CV* AND NOT LIKE ?u*
Selects all signs with any pronunciations having an initial consonant and any vowel except for 'u'
// SELECT Signs 'ta'
Selects first sign having a pronunciation 'ta'

In addition to Consonant and Vowel specifiers, possibly some linguistic modifiers like D for 'dental' or L for 'labial' will get worked in, but
waiting to see how to see how useful and practical they will be.
I intend to add a feature to allow the student to practice on any subset of the signs,
as defined by ad hoc queries above, all at once, or randomly.

Ha, no more guesses as to when it will be done... just soon