[alicebot-archcomm] Shortcut elements, and the <sr/> tag

[Dr. Rich Wallace]

In program M I made <sr/> along with a few other tags be "macro" tags
defined in a table of "macro substitutions".

This both simplified the parser and the definition of AIML.

['<topic/>','<get name="topic"/>'],
['<input/>','<input index="1"/>'],
['<that/>','<that index="1,1"/>'],
['<star/>','<star index="1"/>'],
['<thatstar/>','<thatstar index="1"/>'],
['<topicstar/>','<topicstar index="1"/>'],
['<sr/>', '<srai><star/></srai>'],
['<size/>', '<bot name="size"/>'],
['<date/>', '<system>date</system>'],
['<person/>', '<person><star/></person>'],
['<person2/>', '<person2><star/></person2>']



> Hi Guys,
>
> It's been a while since any major discussion has happened here....
>
> Anyways, I was thinking about the semantics of the <sr/> tag, and how it
> is simply a shortcut for <srai><star index="1"/></srai>. Also, as far as
> I am aware, it doesn't support the index attribute.
>
> With regard to some other tags, who use empty content to define their
> semantics to become a shortcut tag include person, and gender.  Maybe it
> is time to either a) remove all shortcut elements (creating implicit
> content for a tag with empty content can be confusing), or b) make the
> shortcut tags more well defined, ie: tags who can contain content, and
> does not generate any effects/content if the tag contains empty content,
> should support being used as a shortcut element.  Also, all shortcut
> elements should support the index attribute.
>
> Secondly, I propose that the <sr/> tag be deprecated, as using a unified
> approach to defining shortcut elements would make <srai/> the equivalent
> replacement to <sr/>. Or, if shortcut elements are to be removed
> completely, then <sr/> should be removed for the same reason.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jon
>
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-- 
Dr. Rich
W A L L A C E
ALICE A.I. Foundation
drwallace@www.alicebot.org
"Dean of cheezo-hobby system hackers."--Salon