[alicebot-archcomm] Predicates, Once Again

[Dr. Rich Wallace]

Jon, I agree that a method of specifying predicate defaults should be part
of the AIML standard.

BTW I am still searching for a volunteer to serve as the editor of the
AIML spec document.

Rich

> Hi All,
>
> Been a while since I've stirred this list, so must be
> time to do it again.
>
> We never did get any general consensus on predicate
> handling in AIML Interpreters, so I feel it's time to
> try again.
>
>>From my experience, other people appear to like having
> the ProgramD-style default predicate value(s). From my
> personal experience, I prefer specifying the default
> value with the <get/> itself.
>
> Sooo, perhaps we could come to some sort of middle
> ground, making both avenues part of the standard.
>
> I'd also like to see the AIML specifications relax
> quite a bit as to what is allowed to be a name for a
> predicate. Currently, if I'm not mistaken, it can be a
> single word (no space characters allowed, etc).
> Personally, I'd like to expand it to the bare minimum
> of any sequence of alphanumeric characters
> ([A-Za-z0-9]), and the space character (0x20 - I
> think). Such as <get name="first name"/> would be
> legal syntax.
>
> As for default values, I think that adding a
> requirement to the AIML Standard that AIML
> Interpreters must define some (Interpreter dependant)
> method to allow an AIML Author to specify a global
> default value for predicates.
>
> I'd also like to see the <get/> tag itself extended in
> functionality, to allow the J-Alice style of default
> values. Where any valid template tag is valid as
> content of <get/>, and that it of course be mixed
> content (so other elements + character data is valid).
>
> For example: <get name="some value"><srai>GET RANDOM
> DEFAULT VALUE</srai></get> is considered valid AIML
> markup.
>
> I'm not use if the standard specifies when a predicate
> is considered to be empty, but I assume that as long
> as the value of the predicate is the empty string (""
> in some programming languages), then any method of
> providing a default value can be applied.
>
> If my ideas, although not perfectly stated, seem to go
> down well with you, then we'd also need to be specific
> about with method of specifying the default value
> ranks highest. I feel that the natural order would of
> course be: if <get/> has markup content, use that,
> else if a global default value has been set at
> startup, use that, else return the empty string.
>
> At present, I don't know how I feel about specifying
> default values for specific tags, but am certain that
> there are some among you who would feel these should
> be part of the standard too.
>
> In the case of specifying default values for specific
> predicates, in terms of order, I believe it would fall
> between markup content and global default value.
>
> Now just a matter of getting all of your thoughts
> about the merging of these two methodologies for
> predicate default values (and predicate names).
>
> 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