Cleartext: A text editor that only allows the 1,000 most common words in English

Re:Cleartext: A text editor that only allows the 1,000 most ... by kazinator on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @03:38PM (#11441287)

It should support a few template sentences which define a word, which is then allowed to occur in the remainder of the text.

More useful than a document which uses only 1000 common words is a document which uses only 1000 words, plus words which it clearly defines.

I feel as if I could write almost anything if I have that, and it will be self-contained and accessible to anyone with the thousand word vocabulary, plus the ability to internalize definitions, which is a very basic faculty of the intellect.

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Re:Cleartext: A text editor that only allows the 1,000 most ... by skystrife on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @04:07PM (#11441587)

This idea reminds me of an amazing talk by Guy Steele: https://youtu.be/_ahvzDzKdB0

He starts the talk by assuming monosyllabic words as his primitives and builds up the words he needs to use to give the talk by providing definitions for them first.

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Re:Cleartext: A text editor that only allows the 1,000 most ... by kogus on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @04:22PM (#11441728)

Thanks for that, I really enjoyed it. Back when Java was new and cool...

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Re:Cleartext: A text editor that only allows the 1,000 most ... by Spooky23 on Wednesday April 06, 2016 @10:33PM (#11444261)

Keep in mind that the point of these exercises is to make instructions, explanations and short narratives more approachable.

If describing something with a limited vocabulary is awkward and impossible, maybe your approach is too complex.

My 4 year old is starting to learn how to read, and you can see in his eyes the connections made when he tries to read a basic level book. The sentence structure is obvious and predictable, and he's pretty good at getting it.

With a more complex book (Ex: The Little Red Caboose), he recognizes words and "paraphrases" the story with the pictures.

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