https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2024/09/http-ftp-and-dict/ Photo of Terence Eden. He has a beard and is smiling. Terence Eden's Blog Mastodon. LinkedIn. GitHub. Email. Feed. [?] Theme: [ / ] 2024-09-18 http:, ftp:, and ... dict:? By @edent[a] * internet * 15 comments * 500 words * read ~11,187 times. --------------------------------------------------------------------- I went for a spelunk^0 through an ancient codebase a few weeks ago which contained a curious regex that I just couldn't grok^1. {<((https?|ftp|dict|tel):[^\'">\s]+)>}i I'm familiar with HTTP and FTP. I worked in the mobile industry, so knew that tel:+44... could be used to launch a dialer. But DICT?!?!?! It turns out that, lurking on the Internet are Dictionary Servers! They exist to allow you to query dictionaries over a network. For many years, the Internet community has relied on the "webster" protocol for access to natural language definitions. [...] In recent years, the number of publicly available webster servers on the Internet has dramatically decreased. Fortunately, several freely-distributable dictionaries and lexicons have recently become available on the Internet. However, these freely-distributable databases are not accessible via a uniform interface, and are not accessible from a single site. The (informal) standard was published in 1997 but has kept a relatively low profile since then. You can understand why it was invented - in an age of low-size disk drives and expensive software, looking up data over a dedicated protocol seems like a nifty^2 idea. Then disk size exploded, databases became cheap, and search engines made it easy to look up words. How it works You can try it out today! Run this command in your terminal: curl dict://dict.org/d:Internet That will bring back the definition from the server's default dictionary. If you want to look up a word in a specific dictionary - like The Jargon File - you can run: curl dict://dict.org/d:Internet:jargon You can even use it for simple translation tasks. For example, to translate English to Japanese: curl dict://dict.org/d:Internet:fd-eng-jpn What Else? Perhaps the easiest way to explore the protocol and server is to use telnet: telnet dict.org dict Type the command HELP and help ye shall receive: 113 help text follows DEFINE database word -- look up word in database MATCH database strategy word -- match word in database using strategy SHOW DB -- list all accessible databases SHOW DATABASES -- list all accessible databases SHOW STRAT -- list available matching strategies SHOW STRATEGIES -- list available matching strategies SHOW INFO database -- provide information about the database SHOW SERVER -- provide site-specific information OPTION MIME -- use MIME headers CLIENT info -- identify client to server AUTH user string -- provide authentication information STATUS -- display timing information HELP -- display this help information QUIT -- terminate connection 250 ok That will allow you to see all the dictionaries available - in a variety of languages - and the various commands you can use with them. Unanswered Questions 0. Are there any other Dictionary Servers still available on the Internet? 1. Did the Webster Protocol get specified outside of obscure source code? 2. Is there something interesting and modern one could do with a DICT server? --------------------------------------------------------------------- 0. v 1: explore natural caves [syn: {cave}, {spelunk}] -[?] 1. (/grok/, /grohk/, vt. 1. To understand. Connotes intimate and exhaustive knowledge. -[?] 2. nifty \nifty\ adj. 1. Very good; excellent; -- an informal term meaning about the same as {groovy}, sense 1. [informal, 1960's] -[?] --------------------------------------------------------------------- Share this post on... * Mastodon * Facebook * LinkedIn * BlueSky * Threads * Reddit * HackerNews * Lobsters * WhatsApp * Telegram The Algorithm(tm) suggests: * [Obsolete-Symbols-fs8] Obsolete Technology in Unicode 2018 * [Guardian-Phone-Story] "The success of smartphones comes at a price" errr, what? 2012 * [585px-Royal_Coat_of_Arms_of_the_United_Kingdom_HM_Government] Response to Government P2P Consultation 2009 * [fiber-optic-4393369_640] What Is "Internet Use"? 2016 15 thoughts on "http:, ftp:, and ... dict:?" 1. 2024-09-18 12:51 [f4acf195] [social] Bruce Lawson said on social.vivaldi.net: @Edent 'nifty' doesn't mean 'groovy'; groovy is nifty with lashings of extra 'cosmic'. HTH. Reply | Reply to original comment on social.vivaldi.net 2. 2024-09-18 12:52 [11f1f3ce] [activitypu] Jon Wood said on activitypub.blankpad.net: @Edent of course curl supports it. Is there anything you can't use curl for? Reply | Reply to original comment on activitypub.blankpad.net 3. 2024-09-18 13:07 [3dee6666] [bitbang] dan said on bitbang.social: @Edent Oh, interesting! Sticking a dict:// url into Safari on my Mac makes it want to open the Dictionary app. But it falls apart after that... with your example it tries to up the 'dict.org' directly after the :// and gets no entries found, instead of connecting to the dict.org server :/ Reply | Reply to original comment on bitbang.social 4. 2024-09-18 13:21 [4e160e71] [pigsonthew] Andy Mabbett says: Try entering dict:Internet in Wikipedia's search bar [Why this doesn't go to a page on Wikimedia's own Wiktionary or Wikidata is something I'm currently asking] See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DICT Reply 5. 2024-09-18 13:54 [6470ed62] [danq] Dan Q says: Well this makes me want to expand on my ongoing effort to make WordPress-to-X bridges (so far I support Gemini, Spartan, Gopher, and Finger) to support DICT too! Reply 6. 2024-09-18 13:55 [8efaf432] [woof] Oggie said on woof.group: @Edent If anyone else want to go looking, it is a connection on port 2628. Interesting. Also good god search is awful now. The amount of painfully bad results was impressive. Reply | Reply to original comment on woof.group 7. 2024-09-18 14:12 [56ebdc95] [toot] Ian K Tindale said on toot.pikopublish.ing: @Edent did Webster come before the web, ie did one influence the name of the other Reply | Reply to original comment on toot.pikopublish.ing 8. 2024-09-18 14:18 [37df032a] [mastodon] Terence Eden said on mastodon.social: @u0421793 The Webster protocol seems to date back to at least 1989. It's named for the Webster Dictionary. I don't think WWW is named for it Reply | Reply to original comment on mastodon.social 9. 2024-09-18 17:23 [4e160e71] [pigsonthew] Andy Mabbett says: Wikimedia update: I have been shown https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T31229 Reply 10. 2024-09-18 17:54 [d1d3120c] [fosstodon] Alaric Snell-Pym said on fosstodon.org: @Edent ahhh, I'm nostalgic for the days when people made protocols target then just REST APIs... Reply | Reply to original comment on fosstodon.org 11. 2024-09-19 08:26 [1430c94b] [mastodon] Jon Randy said on mastodon.social: @Edent https://dikt.tv/servers Dict servers list Reply | Reply to original comment on mastodon.social 12. 2024-09-22 14:11 [] [news] news.ycombinator.com said on news.ycombinator.com: HTTP: , FTP:, and Dict:? | Hacker News Reply | Reply to original comment on news.ycombinator.com 13. 2024-09-22 20:33 [56e83741] Harmless Drudge says: Was webster an open protocol, or only available on NeXT computers? Reply 14. 2024-09-22 21:00 [83d20464] crosser says: To question 01: https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2229 Reply 1. 2024-09-22 22:58 [b7a57850] @edent says: That is literally the same standard I link to and quote. If you read it, you'll see that it discusses the Webster protocol, but doesn't standardise it. Reply 15. [svg] More comments on Mastodon. What are your reckons? Cancel reply All comments are moderated and may not be published immediately. Your email address will not be published. [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] Comment: [ ] [ ] Allowed HTML: 

 
 

Your Name (required): [                              ] Your Email
(required): [                    ] Your Website (optional):
[                    ]

[ ] Notify me of new posts by email.

[Post Comment] 

To respond on your own website, write a post which contains a link to
this post - then enter the URl of your page here.
Learn more about WebMentions.

[                    ]

[Ping me!]

Get new posts by email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive brand
new posts by email.

You can also follow @blog@shkspr.mobi on the Fediverse.

Email Address [                    ]

Free Sign Up

Join 2,114 other subscribers.

 Search

Search for: [                    ] [Search]
[?] Explore The Archives

  * 2024
      + January  31 posts 

        February  29 posts 

        March  31 posts 

        April  30 posts 

        May  31 posts 

        June  30 posts 

        July  19 posts 

        August  18 posts 

        September  14 posts 

        October  

        November  

        December  

  * 2023
      + January  31 posts 

        February  28 posts 

        March  31 posts 

        April  30 posts 

        May  31 posts 

        June  30 posts 

        July  31 posts 

        August  31 posts 

        September  30 posts 

        October  31 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  31 posts 

  * 2022
      + January  30 posts 

        February  23 posts 

        March  15 posts 

        April  19 posts 

        May  19 posts 

        June  19 posts 

        July  19 posts 

        August  18 posts 

        September  12 posts 

        October  8 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  31 posts 

  * 2021
      + January  31 posts 

        February  28 posts 

        March  31 posts 

        April  30 posts 

        May  31 posts 

        June  30 posts 

        July  31 posts 

        August  31 posts 

        September  30 posts 

        October  31 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  31 posts 

  * 2020
      + January  31 posts 

        February  29 posts 

        March  31 posts 

        April  30 posts 

        May  31 posts 

        June  30 posts 

        July  31 posts 

        August  31 posts 

        September  30 posts 

        October  31 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  31 posts 

  * 2019
      + January  31 posts 

        February  12 posts 

        March  17 posts 

        April  12 posts 

        May  12 posts 

        June  10 posts 

        July  7 posts 

        August  5 posts 

        September  6 posts 

        October  14 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  17 posts 

  * 2018
      + January  8 posts 

        February  4 posts 

        March  6 posts 

        April  14 posts 

        May  5 posts 

        June  6 posts 

        July  6 posts 

        August  13 posts 

        September  14 posts 

        October  8 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  4 posts 

  * 2017
      + January  12 posts 

        February  9 posts 

        March  8 posts 

        April  4 posts 

        May  10 posts 

        June  5 posts 

        July  5 posts 

        August  6 posts 

        September  3 posts 

        October  4 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  

  * 2016
      + January  10 posts 

        February  10 posts 

        March  11 posts 

        April  9 posts 

        May  8 posts 

        June  9 posts 

        July  6 posts 

        August  9 posts 

        September  4 posts 

        October  2 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  14 posts 

  * 2015
      + January  8 posts 

        February  11 posts 

        March  10 posts 

        April  4 posts 

        May  9 posts 

        June  3 posts 

        July  7 posts 

        August  9 posts 

        September  10 posts 

        October  2 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  4 posts 

  * 2014
      + January  13 posts 

        February  13 posts 

        March  15 posts 

        April  14 posts 

        May  8 posts 

        June  7 posts 

        July  9 posts 

        August  5 posts 

        September  5 posts 

        October  1 post 

        November  30 posts 

        December  20 posts 

  * 2013
      + January  25 posts 

        February  17 posts 

        March  15 posts 

        April  18 posts 

        May  11 posts 

        June  14 posts 

        July  6 posts 

        August  14 posts 

        September  6 posts 

        October  4 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  15 posts 

  * 2012
      + January  14 posts 

        February  8 posts 

        March  13 posts 

        April  15 posts 

        May  10 posts 

        June  16 posts 

        July  8 posts 

        August  8 posts 

        September  6 posts 

        October  6 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  30 posts 

  * 2011
      + January  13 posts 

        February  11 posts 

        March  12 posts 

        April  12 posts 

        May  8 posts 

        June  8 posts 

        July  6 posts 

        August  5 posts 

        September  11 posts 

        October  7 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  17 posts 

  * 2010
      + January  6 posts 

        February  15 posts 

        March  12 posts 

        April  13 posts 

        May  4 posts 

        June  3 posts 

        July  15 posts 

        August  8 posts 

        September  11 posts 

        October  10 posts 

        November  30 posts 

        December  9 posts 

  * 2009
      + January  1 post 

        February  5 posts 

        March  3 posts 

        April  7 posts 

        May  12 posts 

        June  8 posts 

        July  10 posts 

        August  10 posts 

        September  12 posts 

        October  22 posts 

        November  31 posts 

        December  15 posts 

  * 2008
      + January  2 posts 

        February  

        March  2 posts 

        April  3 posts 

        May  2 posts 

        June  

        July  1 post 

        August  3 posts 

        September  1 post 

        October  3 posts 

        November  2 posts 

        December  1 post 

  * 2007
      + January  

        February  

        March  

        April  

        May  

        June  

        July  

        August  

        September  

        October  

        November  4 posts 

        December  5 posts 

  * 2006
      + January  

        February  

        March  

        April  1 post 

        May  

        June  

        July  

        August  

        September  

        October  

        November  1 post 

        December  

  * 2005
      + January  

        February  

        March  1 post 

        April  

        May  

        June  

        July  

        August  

        September  1 post 

        October  

        November  

        December  

  * 2004
      + January  

        February  

        March  

        April  

        May  5 posts 

        June  3 posts 

        July  1 post 

        August  

        September  

        October  

        November  

        December  

  * 2003
      + January  

        February  

        March  2 posts 

        April  

        May  

        June  

        July  

        August  

        September  

        October  

        November  

        December  

  * 2002
      + January  

        February  1 post 

        March  

        April  3 posts 

        May  

        June  

        July  

        August  

        September  

        October  

        November  

        December  

  * 2001
      + January  

        February  

        March  

        April  

        May  

        June  

        July  1 post 

        August  

        September  

        October  1 post 

        November  

        December  

  * 2000
      + January  

        February  

        March  1 post 

        April  

        May  

        June  

        July  

        August  

        September  

        October  1 post 

        November  1 post 

        December  

  * 1999
      + January  

        February  

        March  

        April  

        May  

        June  

        July  

        August  

        September  1 post 

        October  

        November  

        December  1 post 

  * 1998
      + January  

        February  

        March  

        April  

        May  1 post 

        June  

        July  

        August  

        September  

        October  

        November  

        December  

  * 1997
      + January  1 post 

        February  

        March  

        April  

        May  

        June  

        July  

        August  

        September  

        October  

        November  

        December  

  * 1995
      + January  

        February  

        March  1 post 

        April  

        May  1 post 

        June  

        July  

        August  

        September  

        October  

        November  

        December  

  * 1993
      + January  

        February  

        March  

        April  

        May  

        June  1 post 

        July  

        August  

        September  

        October  

        November  

        December  

  * 1987
      + January  

        February  

        March  

        April  

        May  

        June  

        July  

        August  

        September  

        October  

        November  

        December  1 post 

  * (c) Terence Eden
  * Contact Me
  * Subscribe
  * Citations
  * Support My Blog
  * Library
  * On This Day
  * About Me

ISSN 2753-1570 MMXXIV