Java Libraries for Accessing the Princeton Wordnet: Comparison and Evaluation
Mark Alan Finlayson · 2014
Java is a popular programming language for natural language processing.I compare and evaluate 12 Java libraries designed to access the information in the original Princeton Wordnet databases.From this comparison emerges a set of decision criteria that will enable a user to pick the library most suited to their purposes.I identify five deciding features: (1) availability of similarity metrics; (2) support for editing; (3) availability via Maven; (4) compatibility with retired Java versions; and (5) support for Enterprise Java.I also provide a comparison of other features of each library, the information exposed by each API, and the versions of Wordnet each library supports, and I evaluate each library for the speed of various retrieval operations.In the case that the user's application does not require one of the deciding features, I show that my library, JWI, the MIT Java Wordnet Interface, is the highest-performance, widest-coverage, easiest-to-use library available.A Java developer seeking to access the Princeton Wordnet is faced with a bewildering array of choices: there are no fewer than 12 Java libraries that provide off-the-shelf access to Wordnet data, each with various combinations of features and performance.In addition to these 12 libraries, there are also at least 12 additional libraries 1 that, while not providing direct access to Wordnet data themselves, provide functions such as similarity metrics and deployment of Wordnet data to database servers.In this paper I compare, contrast, and evaluate each of the 12 libraries 2 that provide direct access to the Princeton Wordnet data, so as to help Java developers find the library 1 See Table 6 for a list of all libraries and their URLs. 2 I have made my best effort to be as complete as possible in identifying libraries that support access to Wordnet.It is possible, however, that I have missed some more obscure libraries, especially libraries whose primary purpose is not Wordnet access but some other function.