[pandorabots-general] Newbie Problem

[Dr. Rich Wallace]

Brian, the simple answer to your question is that there does exist a body,
the AIML Architecture Committee, to debate, propose and adopt changes and
additions to the AIML spec.   For various reasons, that committee has been
dormant since 2002, and the 1.0.1 spec has remained frozen in place.  One
reason has been that the guy we relied on to write the spec (who is not a
computer scientist, but a "musician") has decided to compete with us
rather than cooperate, and has now announced his own confusing attempt to
create an "XAIML" standard right here on this mailing list and elsewhere. 
I personally don't see any standards efforts moving forward until someone
starts making more money from AIML applications.  So far the various
projects have adopted an "embrace and extend" approach, which has been
fertile ground for innovation.

One way to handle a simple macro extension like yours is at the authoring
level.  You can have the botmaster write <sr2/> but internally expand that
expression into <srai><star index="2"/></srai> in the AIML file.  That way
you get the best of both worlds.  "AIML Authoring Tools" has been a
subject of ongoing discussion for some time.

Rich

> Below is a category out of the Alice AAA Reducer.aiml file.
>
> <category>
> 	<pattern>_ HOWEVER *</pattern>
> 	<template>
> 		<srai><star/></srai>
> 		<srai><star index="2"/></srai>
> 	</template>
> </category>
>
> My question is this...
>
> If.....  <srai><star/></srai> = <sr/>
> Then...  <srai><star index="2"/></srai> = <sr2/>???
>
> Then this would be oh so much briefer if stated as:
>
> <category>
> 	<pattern>_ HOWEVER *</pattern>
> 	<template>
> 		<sr/>
> 		<sr2/>
> 	</template>
> </category>
>
> Thoughts?
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