In a long forgotten time this used to be called AI.
A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)
171–180 of 210 posts
Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)
#172Is there a reason why Apple's iPhone spellcheck is often really poor, significantly worse than both LLMs and just...human eyes? I often find myself butchering the spelling of a word in a way where the correct answer is obvious to human eyes (probably because of "typoglycemia" [1]) and an AI LLM immediately understands what I meant to say, but Apple's spellcheck has "No Guesses Found." Does anyone else have this exper…
I have the same experience. Some things I’ve noticed: - they really don’t want you saying bad words of any kind. - they do not look at context at all - they focus too much on the first letter of the word for suggestions
> they focus too much on the first letter of the word
They also do that in Apple Notes. On the iPad the search can only match word prefixes. So if you type "oo" and the entire note consists of just the word "foo", it will find nothing. This doesn't even require fuzzy search, yet they couldn't be bothered while solving the much more difficult handwriting recognition problem.
Also the iPhone's Settings app still doesn't have all settings in the search index. So it's impossible to find the section "headphone safety" & "reduce loud audio" using words like "headphone", "audio" or "safety". This setting was introduced five years ago, by the way.
Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
Completely agree. I was given a small electric fan. It’s great in that it’s portable and I can use it in some of the crummy hotels I have to stay in. Unfortunately, it has a bright blue LED on it so it’s a pain to use at night when you’re trying to sleep. It’s so bright that even covered with tape it still shines through the thin plastic of the fan body. What really gets me is why they bothered putting an operating l…
Can't you improve this product with a screwdriver (to open it up) and wire-snipper (to cut off the LED)?
There is a chance the led is also used as a important diode in the circuit, plainly removing it can greatly reduce the lifespan of the device. (more common in cheaper products)
Adding a appropiate diode in it's place is advised.
Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good product development really does seem to require some sort of leader who demands quality and smacks people when they don't deliver. Linux is nice because of Torvalds for example.
I have to agree with that as a lead. Most developers claim to be done with a task without taking care of the small details that users will immediately notice. It’s a constant struggle to try to get them to care about what is actually the value of the feature they are implementing, let alone chase on their own initiative the small issues unless painfully listed in some requirements document.
For most things small details unfortunately do not really matter and thus are left out
Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Two seconds later he picks up the laptop and heaves it so hard it skipped across the table like a stone on water: "I said fxxking INSTANT ON!!" When did the OG MacBook Air have instant on at launch in 2008? IIRC the M1 brough Instant on and Jobs wasn't around anymore.
Most macbooks I remember since a long time ago were pretty much instant on way before apple sillicon. Maybe you had some corporate crapware installed in yours/.
Depends on your definition of "instant".
What we really mean is before you complete the action of fully opening the hinge to 120deg which is something like 1.5-2seconds?
AFAIK pre M1 days it would be still a few seconds after fully opening and now it's more like < 1sec.
Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes but it’s much broader. Just in general the lack of Steve Jobs noticing these glaring issues and coming down hard to solve them is pretty clear. I remember when macbooks briefly came out with a ridiculously bright standby led that required Black electrical tape over if you wanted to sleep with it in the house. Shortly after no more status leds on any MacBook (thank you!). Nowadays i find non stop little annoyances…
I worked at Apple and heard a lot of Steve stories. He really did personally approve everything. He would be sitting in a room, and team leads would all line up to give their quick 2-minute update. So it's the MacBook Air guy's turn. He comes in and places his prototype down in front of Steve. Steve opens the lid. Two seconds later he picks up the laptop and heaves it so hard it skipped across the table like a stone…
The instant on thing actually bothered me enough to make switch from windows back to Mac( by proxy the idle battery drain on windows was also pretty terrible)
Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)
#177Is there a reason why Apple's iPhone spellcheck is often really poor, significantly worse than both LLMs and just...human eyes? I often find myself butchering the spelling of a word in a way where the correct answer is obvious to human eyes (probably because of "typoglycemia" [1]) and an AI LLM immediately understands what I meant to say, but Apple's spellcheck has "No Guesses Found." Does anyone else have this exper…
I feel the same way about Android's. It just seems like spell check used to be so much better then years ago. But I'm not sure whether it's comparing mobile with desktop expectations. It really seems extremely dumb on Android.
When I used Windows Phone 8.1 I felt like I was typing text twice as fast as on Android. Better suggestions, more accurate keyboard inputs on the same screen size, and selecting an entire word was just a single tap which made fixing a typo very quick as well. Meanwhile back then it was impossible to make certain text selections without a bluetooth keyboard because of how Android constantly tried "fixing" touch-based selections. It's sad that Microsoft shut down the only system & UI that felt like the developers were actually thinking of the user when designing it. To this day no other mobile OS is as friendly to left-handed users.
Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes but it’s much broader. Just in general the lack of Steve Jobs noticing these glaring issues and coming down hard to solve them is pretty clear. I remember when macbooks briefly came out with a ridiculously bright standby led that required Black electrical tape over if you wanted to sleep with it in the house. Shortly after no more status leds on any MacBook (thank you!). Nowadays i find non stop little annoyances…
I worked at Apple and heard a lot of Steve stories. He really did personally approve everything. He would be sitting in a room, and team leads would all line up to give their quick 2-minute update. So it's the MacBook Air guy's turn. He comes in and places his prototype down in front of Steve. Steve opens the lid. Two seconds later he picks up the laptop and heaves it so hard it skipped across the table like a stone…
Does not look like it was a healthy work culture.
Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
Good product development really does seem to require some sort of leader who demands quality and smacks people when they don't deliver. Linux is nice because of Torvalds for example.
I have to agree with that as a lead. Most developers claim to be done with a task without taking care of the small details that users will immediately notice. It’s a constant struggle to try to get them to care about what is actually the value of the feature they are implementing, let alone chase on their own initiative the small issues unless painfully listed in some requirements document.
There is a special role for that: Test Engineer. However, testing is a cost center and is underfunded in most companies.
Re: A spellchecker used to be a major feat of software engineering (2008)
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
I worked at Apple and heard a lot of Steve stories. He really did personally approve everything. He would be sitting in a room, and team leads would all line up to give their quick 2-minute update. So it's the MacBook Air guy's turn. He comes in and places his prototype down in front of Steve. Steve opens the lid. Two seconds later he picks up the laptop and heaves it so hard it skipped across the table like a stone…
Sounds like a petulant child. Wholly unnecessary to get his point across.
> Sounds like a petulant child. Wholly unnecessary to get his point across.
See from the replies to this how well you got your point across.