| Correct your Punjabi on Facebook with Gurakhar |
28th Sep 2013
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Shahbaz Singh
ne frequently encounters the Punjabi script on digital platforms, be it status messages on social networking platforms like Facebook or in messaging apps like Whatsapp. Despite its popularity, making sure you are accurate had remained a hitch till now, given the dearth of spell-check softwares. After more than two years of hard work and dedication, a 16-year old student, Shahbaz Singh, has come to the rescue and has developed a software called 'Gurakhar' that spell checks for more than 1 lakh words accurately and efficiently.
Hailing from Moga, Punjab, and son of the leading playwright, Pali Bhupinder Singh, Shahbaz has been fascinated with technology, the internet and computers from a young age. A self-taught web designer, Shahbaz started designing websites at the age of 11 with the help of online tutorials. "I have been developing websites for more than four years now. While working on various projects, I realized that there is no spell-check software available for my mother tongue— Punjabi, and that's when I conceptualized Gurakhar. Creating a huge database of words was a challenge, though," he told Guardian20.
Shahbaz, a class-10 student of D.M. Sr. Sec School, has developed, designed and programmed this online software under the guidance of scholars of Punjabi language and literature, without any external support either from the government or any institute. Those who guided him included Dr. Jalaur Singh, Dr. Uma Sethi, Prof. Jagdeep Singh, Dr. Joga Singh and Prof. Rajinder Singh. "Gurakhar checks misspelled words in Punjabi text (in various fonts) and then suggests the correct spellings. Added information about the selection and usage of proper words is available in the software's advanced mode," he added, commenting on the working of the software. The software has been checked comprehensively for 100 per cent accuracy, with the last checks being done by Punjabi University, Patiala. Shahbaz is keen on pursuing a career in IT, and also wants to learn the latest technologies like VFX, editing etc, to help his father in filmmaking later. To know more about the software, log on to gurakhar.org.
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