2018年1月15日 星期一


An audio file reader in FORTH

Ching-Tang Tseng
Hamilton, New Zealand
16 Jan 2018
ilikeforth@gmail.com

We pursued different kinds of application from FORTH. Another could be used as a daily using example is a FORTH designed FILE READER with real voice output.

This kind of application has many advantages. It can be applied to infinite files or objects. I needed it especially when I was getting old gradually. Here, I am not going to talk about its advantages again. There were many articles posted in this blog site had talked about many advantages of a speak-able FORTH system already, but written in Chinese. I am always to make my FORTH system able to do speaking. Major function is in English speaking, Chinese speaking included as well. For the time being, the quality of all Chinese speaking resources did not come up to the practical level. It was just can do only. Chinese speech digital technical development ought to carry out by Chinese government. This topic is out of my discussing range.

Such a design needs Text To Speech (TTS) functions from the platform of Operating System. I am an user of TTS not a designer of TTS. I use FORTH to develop what I need from TTS resources. Owing to this kind of design is always not going to follow the so called new FORTH standard, violate the insistence of new standard supporters, and almost nobody is interesting in it, this posting has only demo without code.

Voice output could be coded into the program in a speak-able FORTH system. Speaking style are sortable, changeable, adjustable…etc., all are able to be controlled by FORTH. After we went into 64 bits FORTH era, Lina64 under Ubuntu V.16.04 OS was one of my favorite FORTH systems. Public domain free charge TTS resources in Linux environment are abundant, much... much more than Windows’ OS environment has supplied.

In general, there were many free charge tools could be used to do the text to speech output from a text file. Their features are as simple as just reading from the beginning to the ending of a file.

This article demonstrates a special video display, designed by myself; show you a controlled audio text file reader in FORTH. I am using a so called break point technique in this design. Once you are touching keyboard after this FILE READER started, system will be HALT (<halt>) until speaking of current streaming text in one sentence had been finished. Let you able to do new different arrangements over there, then use GO to keep going to go again.

For example, while HALT, you are allowed to change the gender of the speaker, to adjust setting parameters of TTS, to modify the typo in the original text file, to look up meanings of some unfamiliar words from a digital dictionary in the same computer, or even though you are feeling bothering before the end of reading, to use a standard instruction QUIT with double ENTER actions, you are able to stop speaking thoroughly… etc., all intentional operations are permitted.

To teach and promote FORTH according to the so called new FORTH standard are difficult nowadays. I have nothing to say about such a situation. And I have no intention to do any teaching or any promotion of FORTH again. I did and enjoyed whatever I needed. They were developed and used in FORTH environment. For the sake of foreclosing any criticism from anywhere, I used to do posting here only. This is my way, my website, my FORTH world. I am happy in using all my design but unhappy with any kind of nonconstructive attacking.

An Introduction of FORTH old material came from FORTH Interest Group (FIG) 35 years ago, to be reused in this demonstration on purpose.


You are welcome to look at and to listen to this demonstration as following.


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