The Kitchin Research Group

(defun words-dictionary ()
  (interactive)
  (browse-url
   (format
    "http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/%s?s=t"
    (thing-at-point 'word))))

(defun words-thesaurus ()
  (interactive)
  (browse-url
   (format
    "http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/%s"
    (thing-at-point 'word))))

(defun words-google ()
  (interactive)  
  (browse-url
   (format
    "http://www.google.com/search?q=%s"
    (if (region-active-p)
        (url-hexify-string (buffer-substring (region-beginning)
                                             (region-end)))
      (thing-at-point 'word)))))


(defvar words-funcs '()
 "functions to run in `words'. Each entry is a list of (key menu-name function).")

(setq words-funcs
  '(("d" "ictionary" words-dictionary)
    ("t" "hesaurus" words-thesaurus)
    ("g" "oogle" words-google)))
 

(defun words ()
  (interactive)
   (message
   (concat
    (mapconcat
     (lambda (tup)
       (concat "[" (elt tup 0) "]"
               (elt tup 1) " "))
     words-funcs "") ": "))
   (let ((input (read-char-exclusive)))
     (funcall
      (elt 
       (assoc
        (char-to-string input) words-funcs)
       2))))

(defun words-twitter ()
  (interactive)
  (browse-url
   (format
    "https://twitter.com/search?q=%s"
    (if (region-active-p)
        (url-hexify-string (buffer-substring (region-beginning)
                                             (region-end)))
      (thing-at-point 'word)))))

(add-to-list 'words-funcs
  '("w" "twitter" words-twitter)
  t) ; append

(defun words-atd ()
  "Send paragraph at point to After the deadline for spell and grammar checking."
  (interactive)
  
  (let* ((url-request-method "POST")
         (url-request-data (format
                            "key=some-random-text-&data=%s"
                            (url-hexify-string
                             (thing-at-point 'paragraph))))
         (xml  (with-current-buffer
                   (url-retrieve-synchronously
                    "http://service.afterthedeadline.com/checkDocument")
                 (xml-parse-region url-http-end-of-headers (point-max))))
         (results (car xml))
         (errors (xml-get-children results 'error)))
    
    (switch-to-buffer-other-frame "*ATD*")
    (erase-buffer)
    (dolist (err errors)
      (let* ((children (xml-node-children err))
             ;; for some reason I could not get the string out, and had to do this.
             (s (car (last (nth 1 children))))
             ;; the last/car stuff doesn't seem right. there is probably
             ;; a more idiomatic way to get this
             (desc (last (car (xml-get-children children 'description))))
             (type (last (car (xml-get-children children 'type))))
             (suggestions (xml-get-children children 'suggestions))
             (options (xml-get-children (xml-node-name suggestions) 'option))
             (opt-string  (mapconcat
                           (lambda (el)
                             (when (listp el)
                               (car (last el))))
                           options
                           " ")))

        (insert (format "** %s ** %s
Description: %s
Suggestions: %s

" s type desc opt-string))))))

(add-to-list 'words-funcs
  '("s" "spell/grammar" words-atd)
  t) ; append