SPT - Synonyms Source Design

I. Introduction
Synonyms are read in from file(s) and kept in the following table:

• Vector<SynonymObj> to keep all synonym information
• Hashtable<String, Vector<Integer>> to keep the indexes of each word

Theoretically, all synonyms are symmetric (bi-directional), so only one (direction) synonym is needed to read in from users. The system will automatically generate the symmetric synonym. In addition, duplicated synonyms are ignored. This information is stored in a Vector of Synonym pairs as a result of:

• Even index: the original synonym
• Odd index: the symmetrical synonym

II. Algorithm

• Read in each line (synonym pair: word=synonym) form synonym file
• Check if the synonym pair does not exist in synonymIndex_
  • check if word exists in synonymIndex_
    • if not=> does not exist
    • if yes, check if synonym exists in synonymList_ from the index of word in synonymIndex_
      • if not => does not exist
      • if yes => exist
• if the synonym pair does not exist in synonymIndex_
  • Add word|synonym to synonymList_
  • Add synonym|word to synonymList_

  • Update index of word to synonymIndex_
  • Update index of synonym to synonymIndex_

III. Java Classes

• Synonym.java: a Java object class for synonym pair: word|synonym
• Synonyms.java: a java class to load synonyms from file(s) and keep them in synonymList_ and synonymIndex_.

IV. Example

Inputs:

• dog=canine
• cat=feline
• canine=mutt

Vector<Synonym> synonymList_

Hashtable<String, Vector<Integer>> synonymIndex_