[pandorabots-general] The Learning Curve

[R. B. Chandler]

Thank you for the advice which I have already gotten from other people but I 
gave it a fair amount of thought before I settled on my choice.  Looking at 
all the various generic reduction categories for the "What is it?" question 
none of them happen where <pattern>_ AUTUMNAL EQUINOX</pattern> would not be 
sufficient for my needs nor do I actually want my bot in this case to 
actually answer anything but the "What is it?" question.  I don't think (at 
this time) I really need to capture all occurances of a multi-word 
keyphrase.  Some might prefer their bot to say anything if there is nothing 
else for it to say but I prefer it to say nothing than something abstract 
and off the top of the head assuming a bot has a head.  If I find later I 
need to expand my thinking I can go back and make the needed adjustments.

You must remember my bot is a character in a story and its part in that 
story is that of a computer.  So, "I don't have that information at this 
time," or, "I am unable to reply to your query at this time,"  are one of 
many such acceptable replies.  As time goes by I will probably dump much of 
the built-in personality that most Pandorabots start out with.  At the same 
time develope the character's personality through long nights of training 
sessions.  I have my bot setup so I can go in and make adjustments to any of 
the AIML files that makes up its brain.

While I am rather new at this whole AIML programing thing; what I want my 
bot to do and how I want it to do it is very fixed in my mind.  It has taken 
me more than 8 years to learn enough to get my web site 
(www.galacticenterprise.com) where I wanted it so I could tell the story the 
way I wanted.  I only have a few weeks invested in my bot so far.

Don't stop, keep the suggestions coming as I'm sure I will use them in time 
and it will help the learning curve as I learn what I can and cannot get 
away with with my bot.  Also I plan to write them all down and put them on 
my web site as helpful hints for botmasters like myself to use.

>Actually, I think if you want to capture all occurances of multi-word
>keyphrases, you need to use the standard 4-category "keyword trick" in
>AIML:
>
><pattern>AUTUMNAL EQUINOX</pattern>
><template>blah blah blah (the definition)</template>
>
><pattern>_ AUTUMNAL EQUINOX</pattern>
><template><srai>AUTUMNAL EQUINOX</srai></template>
>
><pattern>_ AUTUMNAL EQUINOX *</pattern>
><template><srai>AUTUMNAL EQUINOX</srai></template>
>
><pattern>AUTUMNAL EQUINOX *</pattern>
><template><srai>AUTUMNAL EQUINOX</srai></template>
>
>The 1st category handles the key phrase by istelf.  The 2nd when the
>phrase appears at the end of a sentence, the 3rd when it is in the middle
>of a sentence, and the 4th when it appears at the beginning.  All three
>give the same reply thanks to the <srai>.