[pandorabots-general] Newbie Problem

[Brian Hoecht]

Thank you Rich.

You are the Dr. and you know I always enjoy your historical
perspective on why AIML and ALICE are the way that they are.

As to my original question, if <sr2/> is an efficient abbreviated
tag, it should undergo peer review and be approved, then
scheduled for release with an update to the standards for all to
expect and enjoy.  Hunting down instances of <srai><star
index="2"/></srai> and swapping in <sr2/> is not a difficult
exercise when the complete ALICE data set can be sorted or
searched by a variety of criteria.

It isn't exactly a high impact kind of improvement (there are not
that many instances of it in the Alice AAA data set).  I'm just
chipping away at things as I see them while I go through the
Alice AAA code.

And without sounding like I'm trying to engineer a conversation
(it is weird writing to you, but adding a perspective meant more
for the rest of the readers), I don't want my company to go off
on its own developing custom tags, means and methods which are
not available to everyone.

I understand the practical reality that with the standard setting
organization stalled out since 2002, there was little choice, but
that is no longer the case.  And we do have a terrific list of
willing volunteers!

Separately, I'm going to send a follow up email under a different
Subject describing the renewed activity at the Foundation in case
anyone missed it.  To be fair it was buried in with the message
about beta testing the AIML Editor.


-----Original Message-----
From:
pandorabots-general-bounces+brian_hoecht=msn.com at list.pandorabots
com
[mailto:pandorabots-general-bounces+brian_hoecht=msn.com at list.pan
dorabots.com] On Behalf Of Dr. Rich Wallace
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 9:18 PM
To: pandorabots-general at list.pandorabots.com
Subject: RE: [pandorabots-general] Newbie Problem

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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