tsk - Taskusanakirja

A tiny, fast, and portable Finnish-English dictionary that searches as you type.

Overview

tsk (taskusanakirja, "pocket dictionary") is a lightweight Finnish-English dictionary tool written in Go. It leverages a custom trie data structure to provide real-time search results and displays word definitions instantly in a sleek terminal user interface built with tcell and tview. With pre-built binaries for multiple platforms, tsk is designed and has been tested to work seamlessly on Linux, Windows, and macOS.

Features

• Instant Search: Get immediate word suggestions as you type.
• Efficient Lookup: Uses a custom trie for fast and effective searching.
• Responsive TUI: Clean, intuitive terminal interface for quick navigation.
• Cross-Platform Support: Pre-built binaries available for:
  • macOS, aka Darwin (amd64, arm64)
  • Linux (amd64, arm64)
  • Windows (386, amd64)
• Single-file portability: All of the dictionary info has been embedded right alongside the program itself, so you really do only need that one file. Plug and play!

Fun fact

While the word you type will always be at the top of the list, the order of the other words or phrases you see is not deterministic. Repeated lookups of the same phrase will lead to different results:

Or if there are only a few possible completions anyway, their order may be rarranged:

This is a happy accident of the randomly pruning trie data structure we built atop. We could force a deterministic order, but that would take all the fun out of it. 😼

Installation

You can either build tsk from source or download a pre-built binary from Releases.

Downloading Pre-built Binaries

Visit the release page to download the binary suitable for your platform.

Building from Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/hiAndrewQuinn/tsk.git
   cd tsk

2. Build the project using the provided Makefile:

   make

   The compiled binaries will be located in the build directory.

Running with Docker

Assuming you have first run make as above, you can build a Docker image using the attached Dockerfile with

docker build -t tsk .    # make sure to run make first. Otherwise there is no program to copy!

and run it with

docker run --rm -it tsk

Makefile Commands

The Makefile provides several useful targets for building, installing, and cleaning up the project:

• make or make all
  This is the default target. It first generates words.txt from glosses.jsonl using the command:

  jq '.word' glosses.jsonl | sort -u > words.txt

  Then it creates the build directory and compiles the binary for all defined platforms, placing them in the build directory.

• make words.txt
  Regenerates the words.txt file from glosses.jsonl independently. This is useful if you update the glosses and want to update the word list without rebuilding the entire project.

• make build-all
  Builds the binary for all supported target platforms. This target is run as part of the default all target but can also be invoked on its own if you wish to rebuild the binaries.

• make install
  Builds the project (if not already built) and then installs the binary for your current platform into your system's PATH (defaulting to /usr/local/bin). On non-Windows systems, it copies the appropriate binary from the build directory so you can run tsk from anywhere. (Installation is not supported on Windows.)

• make clean
  Removes the entire build directory and any compiled binaries, effectively cleaning up the project build artifacts.

Additionally, you can use flags such as make -B to force rebuilds or make -j4 to build in parallel for faster compilation.

Usage

Run the binary from your terminal:

• On macOS or Linux:

  ./tsk

• On Windows:

  tsk_windows_amd64.exe    # or just double click it!

Once launched, type in the search bar to see instant Finnish word suggestions along with their definitions. Use the arrow keys to navigate through the list, and press Enter to clear the search field.

Security Alerts and Permissions

When downloading pre-built binaries on macOS and Windows, you might encounter security warnings or alerts. These are standard precautions by your operating system to protect against unverified software. If you trust the source (aka, this project), here’s how to bypass these warnings:

macOS

• Unidentified Developer Warning:
  If you see a message that the app is from an unidentified developer, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > General and click the Open Anyway button.

• Alternate Method:
  Right-click (or Control-click) the binary in Finder and select Open. This will prompt a confirmation dialog that allows you to run the application.

Windows

• SmartScreen Warning:
  Windows Defender SmartScreen might display a warning. Click More Info in the warning dialog, then select Run Anyway to launch the application.

• Verification:
  Ensure that the binary is downloaded from the official release page to maintain security and integrity.

Following these steps will allow you to run tsk safely while acknowledging your operating system’s built-in security measures.

Data Sources

• words.txt: A comprehensive list of Finnish words.
• glosses.jsonl: Word definitions (glosses) derived from Wiktionary.

Note: The word list and gloss data are derivatives from Wiktionary and are licensed under CC BY-SA.

License

• Go Code: Released under the Unlicense.
• Data Files (words.txt and glosses.jsonl): Licensed under CC BY-SA due to their derivation from Wiktionary.

Credits & Acknowledgments

• Andrew Quinn: Creator of tsk and a passionate contributor to the Finnish language community.
• tcell and tview for their excellent, portable libraries that power the TUI.
• Wiktionary for providing the source data for word definitions.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you have ideas for improvements, bug fixes, or additional features, please fork the repository and submit a pull request.

Contact

For more information, visit the project repository or check out Andrew's website.

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Happy searching, and thank you for using tsk!