A1 Program help

Downloading the program

For each of the units in this course, there is a different version of the program. Each time you are expected to run the program, either as part of an example or for an exercise, there will be a link in the text that looks something like this.

Download MiniLing: Words

This indicates that you're downloading the version of the program to be used in the Words unit.

When you click on the link, your browser should download the program. You can control where the program goes; how you do this depends on the browser and the operating system you're using. If you're not sure how to save downloaded files where you want them, check with the manual for your computer, the help facility for your browser, or the computer staff at your school. Alternately you can move the file where you want it after you download it. Ideally you should create a directory on your computer for the program and for any files you create with it. You could call it "MiniLing". After doing this, save or move any versions of the MiniLing that you download to this directory.

Running the program

When you have downloaded the program, you'll have a file with a name like MiniLingWords.jar. The name should indicate which unit in the course it's for, and the file will always end in ".jar". To launch the program, just double-click on the file icon. To quit the program, click in the close box in the main window (the one whose title begins with "MiniLing".

Using the program

The program always starts up with a particular "world" loaded into it, that is, a set of kinds of objects and creatures, states and events. And it usually also starts up with a particular language loaded into it, that is, a set of words and possibly a grammar specifying how the words can be combined to form meaningful sentences. You will usually be able to change this language in some way or another.

How you interact with the program will depend on which unit you're in, but there will always be a large window with a title at the top that starts with "MiniLing". This window is normally divided into two parts, one at the top for displaying meanings and one at the bottom for displaying forms. The representation of the meaning will be a picture or animation of some object or scene in the "world" of the program, and the form will be a representation of the way a word or sentence sounds, looks, or is produced.

You interact with the program by clicking on the buttons you will in the main window and by making selections or typing in text in other windows that will appear once you have clicked on certain buttons. In some versions of the program, you may also save what you've done in a file and then load the file when you run the program another time.