[alicebot-archcomm] <that> / <input> precedence

[Ernest Lergon]

Gary Dubuque wrote:
> 
> Can we agree that the last sentence is the one used to match
> against <that>? (I think so.) 
>
Yes.

ProgramV, whose algorithms are based on ProgramD, implements <that> and
<input> as stack. I think, other interpreters are acting the same.

Pattern-side <that>:

It's always the last sentence of the bot's last output used (aka <that
index="1,1"/>, see below).

Template-side <that>:

Due to the stack nature of <that> the indices always have to be counted
from the back:

alice: OneOne. OneTwo. OneThree.

<that/> = <that index="1,1"/> = OneThree
          <that index="1,2"/> = OneTwo
          <that index="1,3"/> = OneOne

user:  ...

alice: TwoOne. TwoTwo. TwoThree.

<that/> = <that index="1,1"/> = TwoThree
          <that index="1,2"/> = TwoTwo
          <that index="1,3"/> = TwoOne

          <that index="2,1"/> = OneThree
          <that index="2,2"/> = OneTwo
          <that index="2,3"/> = OneOne

Search for TESTTHAT and TESTTHATARRAY in
aiml/standard/dev-testcases.aiml for examples.

The same holds for <input>:

user:  OneOne. OneTwo. OneThree.

<input/> = <input index="1,1"/> = OneThree
           <input index="1,2"/> = OneTwo
           <input index="1,3"/> = OneOne

alice: ...

Search for TESTINPUT in aiml/standard/dev-testcases.aiml for examples.

I think, it's a natural way to handle that, but this behaviour should be
expressed clearly in the AIML specs.

Ernest

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