[alicebot-archcomm] Transformation "Circle"

[Noel Bush]

> - Suppose that we have standard XML-based log file format.

It would be great to specify an XML log file format which could be
offered for all implementors as a standard way to do logging.  For the
moment, this looks like one of those (many) things that are "left up to
the implementation".  I have been very happy with the simple log file
format I mentioned on the general list recently; along with XSL it lets
me (and anyone else :-)) browse through conversations quite simply.

I envision a whole host of additions; for one I'd like to see (or
implement) a more elaborate logging format akin to the targeting
namespace I proposed a while back, which could be used by a more
"componentized" version of Rich's targeting GUI to support rapid kb
buildup.

I guess that I would see targeting as the glue that holds your diagram
together, Eugene.  In my opinion, the whole process of specifying,
building, enhancing, and analyzing a knowledge base can be enabled by
targeting.  I think I've elaborated somewhat on ideas about how this
might work in previous posts, but I could summarize if anyone would find
that useful.

Of course an overarching question is: what ought to be specified as part
of this committee's work, and what ought to be "left up to the
implementation"?  This committee has had an interesting trajectory: we
started out by very quickly diverging from questions of
specification/reification to discussions of new functionality -- and
somehow the ideas went flying by so fast that very few were captured.  I
look at the subsequent phase as a kind of reality-check, in which we
began to understand that there needs to be some foundational work,
specifying what already exists (or what the consensus is ought to
exist), before futuristic ideas can be constructively explored.  Now
we're sort of in a middle ground, where we have something more akin to a
formal specification -- for AIML -- but neither is that complete nor is
anything else specified (bot architecture in general, targeting
specifically)...so my concern would be to keep this discussion
well-framed within the context of the further work we need to do, while
still keeping an eye to the future.

But back to your diagram: I'm sure it's useful for us as a framework in
which to discuss some different issues.  Most interesting for me is
targeting, as I said.