[alicebot-archcomm] [VOTE] Attribute var

[Christopher Fahey [askROM]]

I vote YEA. 

I've wanted this from the time <set> and <get> were proposed, and I was
utterly baffled when the idea was defeated back then. To a novice AIML
author, the fact that AIML uses the word "name" to mean several
different things in several different context makes AIML unneccessarily
difficult to learn. 

To those who have voted NO, I ask you to step out of your shoes as a
person who knows AIML already and think about the beginner AIML author.
Even to someone like me who knows AIML pretty well, the expression
"name=" constantly makes me do a double take where at first I think it
means "okay, we're going to declare the user's or the bot's name now",
and then a second later I realize "oh wait, we're referring to the name
of a variable here". This second of pausing and thinking happens to me
*every single time* I see the "name=" expression. 

Also, remember that "deprecated" does not mean "no longer supported".
Changing this doesn't screw anyone's AIML up.

-Cf

[christopher eli fahey]
art: http://www.graphpaper.com
sci: http://www.askrom.com
biz: http://www.behaviordesign.com
 



> -----Original Message-----
> From: alicebot-archcomm-admin@list.alicebot.org 
> [mailto:alicebot-archcomm-admin@list.alicebot.org] On Behalf 
> Of Dr. Richard S. Wallace
> Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2002 10:39 AM
> To: alicebot-archcomm@list.alicebot.org
> Subject: [alicebot-archcomm] [VOTE] Attribute var
> 
> 
> The proposed revision to the AIML specification is:
> 
> Deprecate the 'name' attribute in favor of 'var' in <set> and <get>.
> 
> E.g. write <set var="name">Dorothy</set> instead of
> <set name="name">Dorothy</set>.
> 
> Today is March 14, 2002.  Members of the Architecture 
> Committee have seven
> days, until March 21, 2002, to vote on this motion, unless a 
> majority of the
> committee votes yea or nea before the seven day voting period ends.
> 
> *Bangs Gavel*
> 
> Chair votes yea
> 
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