Editing Crossword (section)

== Software ==

Software that aids in ''creating'' crossword puzzles has been written since at least 1976;<ref name="scifri">{{cite web| title="Dr.Fill" Vies for Crossword Solving Supremacy |url=https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/dr-fill-vies-for-crossword-solving-supremacy/ |date=19 Sep 2014}}</ref> one popular example was Crossword Magic for the [[Apple II]] in the 1980s.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://apple2history.org/appendix/aha/aha80/|title=1980–84 Misc|date=9 July 2010}}</ref> The earliest software relied on people to input a list of fill words and clues, and automatically maps the answers onto a suitable grid. This is a [[search problem]] in computer science because there are many possible arrangements to be checked against the rules of construction. Any given set of answers might have zero, one, or multiple legal arrangements. Modern open source libraries exist that attempt to efficiently generate legal arrangements from a given set of answers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://projectboard.engineering.com/project/crossword-layout-generator---open-source|title=Crossword Layout Generator – Open Source|date=17 November 2019|access-date=17 November 2019|archive-date=17 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191117121039/https://projectboard.engineering.com/project/crossword-layout-generator---open-source|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In the late 1990s, the transition began from mostly hand-created arrangements to computer-assisted, which creators generally say has allowed authors to produce more interesting and creative puzzles, reducing [[crosswordese]].<ref name="scifri2">{{cite web |title=Inside the Box: Crossword Puzzle Constructing in the Computer Age |url=https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/inside-the-box-crossword-puzzle-constructing-in-the-computer-age/ |date=19 September 2014 |author=Julie Leibach}}</ref>

Modern software includes large databases of clues and answers, allowing the computer to randomly select words for the puzzle, potentially with guidance from the user as to the theme or a specific set of words to pick with greater probability. Many serious users add words to the database as an expression of personal creativity or for use in a desired theme. Software can also be used to assist the user in finding words for a specific spot in an arrangement by quickly searching through the dictionary for all words that fit.<ref name="scifri2"/>

In 1998 in Jakarta, publisher Elex Media Komputindo (Gramedia Group) published a crossword software entitled "Teka-Teki Silang Komputer" (Computerized Crossword Puzzle [Eng]) in diskette form. It is the first Crossword Puzzle software published in Indonesia. Created by Sukmono Bayu Adhi, the software is archived in the National Library of the Republic of Indonesia (Salemba Library, Jakarta).<ref>The catalog can be accessed online at http://opac.perpusnas.go.id/DetailOpac.aspx?id=62691</ref>