Spelling.SAM
A spelling program using Don't Ask's S.A.M.

When I first received SAM (Software Automatic Mouth by Don't Ask Software $59.95) last Christmas, the first priority was to add speech into all the great "shoot 'em up, save the world" game program listings typed in over the past year. Hearing the score updated was great; and the verbal reassurance that the world had been saved, at least for that round, was comforting. It wasn't until later -- and after complete satiation, for I am truly a games junkie -- that another application for SAM smacked me in the face.

My older son came home from school with a list of words to be learned as part of his homework. As any computer parent knows, it's much easier to get the children to play with the computer than to do their homework. We had previously written programs for math facts, a joystick game to differentiate nouns from verbs, and experimented with cassette recorder spelling routines (POKE 54018,52 turns the prerecorded cassette on; POKE 54018,60 turns it off).

What a perfect application for SAM! How else can a spelling program work without hearing the word to be spelled? Other elements of a good education program (immediate reinforcement, use of audio and visual reinforcers and correction of mistakes) were built in, and the result is Spelling.SAM. The program requires less than 8K and is loaded after SAM is booted.

Press the START key to hear the word. This can be done as many times as desired, and SAM will repeat the word. When you're ready to spell the word, press SELECT.

Spelling.SAM can be tinkered with, and any improvements are welcomed. Care must be taken when adding words in Lines 1000-1998. Incorrect phonetics will cause the word not to be spoken during program operation. Instead, the console will beep twice. Use the SAM documentation glossary for help. Spelling words are limited to ten spaces.

The program can be changed to use RECITER. This will alleviate phonetic problems but could cause poor enunciation. Change the following to use RECITER:

• Line 20 -- SAM= 8199 and each of the phonetics to text in Lines 1000-1310. Also, change the phonetics to text in Lines 22, 331, 501, 701, 801, 851 and 1005.
• The boot procedure is changed to: (1) Boot SAM; (2) USE a disk containing RECITER and MEM.SAV; (3) USE DOS option L to load RECITER; and (4) LOAD SPELLING.SAM.

If you don't own a SAM disk, what are you waiting for? Add the world of speech to your programs. It really is a lot of fun.

Archiver's Note: I believe Line 770 has a typo. It should read "FOR K=1 TO 20:NEXT K". Without the NEXT statement, the sound is distorted.

SPELLSAM.LST is available in ATASCII format.

4 DATA 560,216,352,946,509,570,136,464
,945,572,656,464,239,350,409,7388
60 DATA 473,177,260,627,45,296,285,209
,643,8,728,833,139,882,626,6231
125 DATA 396,395,422,285,690,531,716,8
22,777,71,690,489,75,575,183,7117
330 DATA 911,155,202,841,933,402,939,7
52,704,850,848,128,323,736,999,9723
450 DATA 983,438,309,549,197,434,479,1
07,564,739,118,732,533,989,973,8144
530 DATA 41,144,637,759,337,674,948,76
8,31,566,741,843,120,982,436,8027
615 DATA 994,928,79,81,672,363,766,574
,639,540,9,566,743,116,431,7501
702 DATA 712,993,927,874,313,570,145,9
9,148,766,329,113,124,764,291,7168
810 DATA 145,210,983,197,471,317,788,2
08,84,759,417,589,528,829,333,6858
851 DATA 935,186,241,962,22,759,392,14
5,160,243,97,103,82,755,720,5802
990 DATA 224,469,407,46,128,117,601,39
7,192,639,175,393,664,850,210,5512
1130 DATA 115,197,300,771,584,761,598,
888,93,357,403,565,291,248,580,6751
1280 DATA 196,328,237,534,350,428,202,
922,435,744,4376