1.5

Table Of Contents

148e Cache and the Golden RuleMacSpeech Dictate 1.5

Text and the Cache

Lookatthesecondexampleabove:thinkaboutthecommand

Capitalizethe

Word“Committee”

.HowdoesMacSpeechDictateknowwheretheword“com-

mittee”is?Itknowsbecauseittypeditintherstplace.HowdoesMacSpeech

Dictateknowwherethecursorisnow?(Itmustknowthis,sothatitcanknow

howfartojumpbackinordertoselecttheword“committee”andcapitalizeit.)It

knowsbecauseitdidthetypingthatputthecursorthere.

Lookatwhatthesecondexampleabovedoesnotdo.WhentheuserhastoldMac-

SpeechDictatetocapitalizetheword“committee”andshewantstoresumedic-

tatingattheendof thesentence,doessheclickthemouseafterthethenalPe-

riodandstartdictating?No!Shesays

GotoEnd

.Thatway,MacSpeechDictate

movestheinsertionpoint,andMacSpeechDictatestillknowswhereitis.When

theuserwantstoreplace“asuggestion”with“animplication”,doessheusethe

mousetoselectthewords“asuggestion”?No!ShetellsMacSpeechDictateto

selectthosewords,sothatwhenshesays“animplication”,MacSpeechDictate

knowswheretheselectionisandwhat’sbeingreplaced.

MacSpeechDictatecansendsignalstoanapplication.ButMacSpeechDictate

can’tactually“see”what’sgoingon.Itdoesn’tknowwhatthecurrentdocument

windowlookslike,orwhatyoudothere.MacSpeechDictateknowsonlywhatit

hasdonethere.Asitworkswithtext,MacSpeechDictatememorizesitsownac-

tions:thetextittypes,thenavigationitperforms.Thismemoryiscalledthecache.

ThecacheishowMacSpeechDictatekeepstrackof whattextisinthewindow

andwheretheselectionorinsertionpointislocatedwithinthattext.

Whenyou’reusingMacSpeechDictatetoworkwithtext,therefore,youshouldn’t

doanythingthatgoesbehindMacSpeechDictate’sback.Don’tusethemouseand

keyboardtonavigate,select,cutandpaste,ortype.If youdo,thecachewillget

outof syncwithreality.(That’snotadisaster!YoucantellMacSpeechDictateto