A common feature of text input tools is spell checking. It exists in search engines, email clients and of course in word processors like Microsoft Word. By having a spell checker when you are typing you can be more efficient than if you had to check the spelling with a separate proofing tool. Spell checking is a common request by the users of the room planning software CET Designer which is developed by Configura. In this thesis Windows Spell Checking API is evaluated and compared to alternative spell checkers. A prototype of an integrated spell checker in CET Designer text tool is then implemented with Windows Spell Checking API.

The aim of this dissertation is to provide a unified treatment of various spell checkers and correctors. Firstly, the spell checking and correcting problems are formally described in mathematics in order to provide a better understanding of these tasks. An approach that is similar to the way in which denotational semantics used to describe programming languages is adopted. Secondly, the various attributes of existing spell checking and correcting techniques are discussed. Extensive studies on selected spell checking/correcting algorithms and packages are then performed. Lastly, an empirical investigation of various spell checking/correcting packages is presented. It provides a comparison and suggests a classification of these packages in terms of their functionalities, implementation strategies, and performance. The investigation was conducted on packages for spell checking and correcting in English as well as in Northern Sotho and Chinese. The classification provides a unified presentation of the strengths and weaknesses of the techniques studied in the research. The findings provide a better understanding of these techniques in order to assist in improving some existing spell checking/correcting applications and future spell checking/correcting package designs and implementations. / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Computer Science / unrestricted