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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<aiml version="1.0">
<!-- Free software (c) 2001 ALICE AI Foundation -->
<!-- This program is open source code released under -->
<!-- the terms of the GNU General Public License -->
<!-- as published by the Free Software Foundation. -->
<meta name="author" content="Dr. Wallace"/>
<meta name="language" content="en"/>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I ANALYZE THE DIALOGUES COLLECTED BY THE APPLET</pattern>
<template>
<br />
If the web server produces an access_log file, such<br />
as /var/log/httpd/access_log, then the server records<br />
Applet dialogue in the access_log file. You may use<br />
ftp to download the access_log file to your machine;<br />
then run program B to analyze it. <br />
<br />
Go to the Options menu and find the value for "AnalysisFile".<br />
The Classify function operates on the data in the AnalysisFile.<br />
By default the AnalysisFile is the same as the LogFile (the<br />
current server log file). But you can change the analysis<br />
file to another name, such as /var/log/httpd/access_log or<br />
just access_log.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I BUILD ON TOP OF THE ALICE CODE RATHER THAN CHANGING IT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Absolutely. You only have to change her name, location, birthday and/or<br />
botmaster, and put a couple of references to yourself. Then add new<br />
categories that cover your own area of expertise or interest.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I CHANGE THE NAME OF THE ROBOT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The AIML tag <name/> inserts the name of the Bot wherever it appears.<br />
The default robot name is "ALICE" but you can change it in the<br />
"Options menu". Select "Show Options" and replace "ALICE" with the <br />
name of your bot, and then do "Save Options". Depending on your<br />
state, you may need to restart program B. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I CREATE A LANGUAGE SPECIFIC INSTALLTION</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes. The file "language.txt" controls the language of the <br />
buttons and menus in the ALICE GUI. If the file is missing,<br />
the program uses English names by default. To see an<br />
example of a language-specific installation, copy the<br />
file "Germanlanguage.txt" to "language.txt" and start<br />
program B. <br />
<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I CREATE MORE AIML TAGS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
AIML is extensible. You can create an infinite number of<br />
new tags for foreign language pronouns, predicates, or<br />
application-specific properties. The file "predicates.txt"<br />
defines any new predicate tags. "Predicate tags" mean<br />
tags that have a client-specific "set" and "get" method.<br />
Pronouns like "it" and "he" have predicate tags like<br />
<set_it></set_it> and <get_he/>. AIML has a number of<br />
these built-in tags for common English pronouns.<br />
<br />
There are two varieties of extensible predicate tags.<br />
The first example illustrates the use of new tags <br />
for foreign language pronouns. The Japanese language<br />
pronoun "kare" means "he". In predicates.txt, we<br />
can add a line of the form:<br />
<br />
kare=dare<br />
<br />
This single line automatically generates the tags<br />
<set_kare> X </set_kare> to set the value of "kare"<br />
to X, and the tag <get_kare/> to retrieve the value.<br />
By default, <get_kare/> returns "dare" ("who?"). <br />
<br />
Now we can create two AIML categories for an elementary<br />
Japanese conversation:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>KARE WA * DESU</pattern><br />
<template><star/> wa <set_kare><star/></set_kare> desu.</template><br />
</category><br />
<category><br />
<pattern>KARE WA * DESU KA</pattern><br />
<template><get_kare/> desu ka? </template><br />
</category><br />
<category><br />
<br />
These two categories produce a coherent conversation<br />
about Mr. Arimoto:<br />
<br />
Client: KARE WA DARE DESU KA<br />
Robot: dare desu ka?<br />
Client: KARE WA ARIMOTO SAN DESU<br />
Robot: arimoto san wa kare desu.<br />
Client: KARE WA DARE DESU KA<br />
Robot: arimoto san desu ka?<br />
<br />
Notice that the program replaces <set_kare/><star/></set_kare> <br />
with "kare", the default value of this tag. Sometimes however<br />
the default value of the tag is not the best choice for<br />
the set tag to return. The second type of predicate tag <br />
replaces the set tag markup with the original string<br />
inside the markup. <br />
<br />
To create a predicate tag "has" we add the following line<br />
to predicates.txt:<br />
<br />
has=*mother<br />
<br />
The default value of <get_has/> is "mother" (because<br />
everyone has a mother). The "*" here indicates that<br />
the program should replace <set_has> X </set_has><br />
with X. <br />
<br />
Here we write two AIML categories to demonstrate the<br />
"has" predicate:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>I HAVE A *</pattern><br />
<template>Where did you get <br />
<set_it><set_has><person/></set_has></set_it>?<br />
</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHAT DO I HAVE</pattern><br />
<template>Tell me more about your <get_has/>. </template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
Notice that the first category embeds <set_has> in <set_it>,<br />
so that the value of <person/> becomes both "it" and "has".<br />
The resulting dialogue:<br />
<br />
Client: WHAT DO I HAVE<br />
Robot: Tell me more about your mother.<br />
Client: I HAVE A BOX<br />
Robot: Where did you get it?<br />
Client: WHAT DO I HAVE<br />
Robot: Tell me more about your box.<br />
<br />
Look at the file "predicates.txt" for several more <br />
examples of custom AIML tags, including the German<br />
<set_sie>, <set_er> and <set_es>.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I HAVE A PRIVATE CONVERSATION WITH ALICE</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The ALICE server logs and records all conversations. Even the ALICE<br />
Applet tries to transmit conversation logs back to the originating server.<br />
You can have a private conversation with ALICE, however, if you download<br />
Program B to your own computer and run it there. Running on your machine,<br />
the server stores all the conversations locally.<br />
<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I INCLUDE JAVASCRIPT IN THE ROBOT REPLY</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes. You can include any HTML including <script> tags. Suppose you<br />
want to "chat AND browse," in other words, have the robot open<br />
up a new browser window when she provides a URL link. Here's a category that<br />
kicks out a piece of HTML/scripting that opens a new window with and loads a<br />
given URL. This is handy for search engines or showing off one's web page.<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern> WHERE IS YOUR WEB SITE </pattern><br />
<template><br />
It's at "http://www.geocities.com/krisdrent/"<br />
<script language="JavaScript"><br />
// Go to <a href="http://www.geocities.com/krisdrent">The ALICE<br />
Connection</a><br />
<!--<br />
window.open("http://www.geocities.com/krisdrent/")<br />
--><br />
</script><br />
</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
A couple of things to note about this technique: #1, this will only work<br />
when ALICE is being talked to from a browser that runs JavaScript, i.e. it<br />
won't work in the applet. We have tested it in Netscape and MS Internet<br />
Explorer, and it works well in both. #2. For the above reason, it is<br />
important to have some sort of explanatory statement before the scripting in<br />
case the scripting isn't supported. Besides, you want some response in your<br />
ALICE window, even if another window DOES come up. #3. If this is viewed<br />
in a browser that doesn't understand the <script> tag, notice that this line<br />
will show up:<br />
"// Go to <a href="http://www.geocities.com/krisdrent">The ALICE<br />
Connection</a>"<br />
Which is good, because it gives a back-up for the "non-scripted" (the Lynx<br />
users, I guess.) And remember that you have to keep the "//" in front of<br />
any non-java-script lines within the <script> tag.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I INSERT DYNAMIC HTML INTO THE ROBOT REPLY</pattern>
<template>
<br />
If you are fortunate enough to be running lynx under Linux, the <br />
following markup is a simple way to "inline" the results of an HTTP <br />
request into the chat robot reply. Try asking ALICE:<br />
"What chatterbots do you know?" and she will reply with a page<br />
of links generated by the Google search engine.<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHAT *</pattern><br />
<template><br />
Here is the information I found:<br />
<system><br />
lynx -dump -source -image_links http://www.google.com/search?q=<personf/><br />
</system><br />
</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I RUN PROGRAM B IN THE BACKGROUND ON A NT SERVER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes. Set up your PC / Server to run Alice B as you normal. (Download the Java<br />
Developers Kit, etc.)<br />
<br />
Create a Batch file, in folder B containing only this text.<br />
<br />
'jview bterm'<br />
<br />
Create a task in the Task Schedule Wizard to run the batch file. (Ensure the<br />
task starts in drive:\path\B'<br />
<br />
Give the Task Schedule an appropriate Logon and password for the Server or<br />
PC.<br />
<br />
Right-click, select Run now, and log on and off as you like.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I RUN SHELL COMMANDS FROM AIML SCRIPTS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes. Use the <system>X</system> tag to run the shell command X.<br />
The command X is assumed to produce its output in line-oriented<br />
format suitable for a BufferdReader to read line by line. <br />
A simple example of this command in an AIML script is:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHAT TIME IS IT</pattern><br />
<template>The local time is: <system>date</system></template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
The "date" command is a system command that generates a text<br />
string containing the date and time. (Note that this might<br />
not work on Windows).<br />
<br />
Take extreme care in using the <system> tag because it <br />
potentially permits remote clients to run a command on<br />
your system. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I RUN THE WEB SERVER AS A DAEMON PROCESS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes. There is a class file called Bterm.java in the<br />
program B distribution. Bterm runs the web server<br />
as a console application, with no GUI. You can<br />
redirect the output of program Bterm to a log file<br />
and start the process in the background with<br />
"java Bterm > B.log &" (assuming a Unix shell). <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I SPEAK TO THE ROBOT WITH VOICE INPUT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
One simple experiment that works well as a demo<br />
involves using IBM ViaVoice (tm) speech recognition<br />
software on a Windows platform. At the same time,<br />
run the ALICE program B web server and activate the<br />
MS Agent interface. The ViaVoice software allows<br />
you to dictate into an application called VoicePad,<br />
but not directly into the browser. You have to<br />
use "cut" and "paste" to move your speech inputs<br />
into the browser form for ALICE. But the net effect<br />
is a somewhat slow voice-in voice-out conversation<br />
with ALICE. <br />
<br />
The ViaVoice software seems to work well with ALICE<br />
after some training. We trained it with the file<br />
"patterns.txt" created with the "List Patterns" command.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN I TEST THE ROBOT OFFLINE ON MY DESKTOP</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes. You can run the program B server and connect to it with<br />
a browser, even if your desktop computer is offline.<br />
<br />
When working offline, it often helps to change the Internet<br />
settings (in IE or Netscape) to "local area network". <br />
Then your machine becomes a one-computer network. You should <br />
be able to use IE to connect to program B with http://localhost:2001.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN PROBABILITY STATISTICS WEIGHTS NEURAL NETWORKS OR FUZZY LOGIC IMPROVE BOTS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Statistics are in fact heavily used in the ALICE server, but not in the way<br />
you might think. ALICE uses 'Zipf Analysis' to plot the rank-frequency of<br />
the activated categories and to reveal inputs from the log file that don't<br />
already have specific replies, so the botmaster can focus on answering<br />
questions people actually ask (the "Quick Targets" function).<br />
<br />
Other bot languages, notably the one used for Julia, make heavy use of<br />
"fuzzy" or "weighted" rules. We see their problem as this: the botmaster<br />
already has enough to worry about without having to make up "magic<br />
numbers" for every rule. Once you get up 10,000 categories (like ALICE)<br />
you don't want to think about more parameters than necessary. Bot<br />
languages with fuzzy matching rules tend to have scaling problems.<br />
<br />
Finally, the bot replies are not as deterministic as you might think, even<br />
without weights. Some answers rely on <random> to select one of several<br />
possible replies. Other replies generated by unforseen user input also<br />
create "spontaneous" outputs that the botmaster doesn't anticipate.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN THE APPLET RECORD A DIALOG TXT FILE ON THE SERVER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
No because the applet cannot write the file directly on the originating host.<br />
If your server log file /var/log/httpd/access_log is too large; you <br />
have a couple of choices:<br />
1. If your ISP is a unix account, use telnet to log on to a shell account.<br />
Use the command "grep Blog < access_log > dialog.txt" to create a smaller<br />
file to download which contains just the lines recorded by the applet.<br />
2. Create a CGI-BIN command called "/cgi-bin/Blog" that reads its<br />
command-line argument and appends it to a file called "dialog.txt".<br />
There ought to be a nice Perl script for this, or even a shell script.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN THE APPLETHOST USE A SYMBOLIC DNS NAME INSTEAD OF AN IP NUMBER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The answer is yes, but the numeric IP address works on more machines<br />
than a symbolic name. Applets are protected by a "security sandbox"<br />
from interfering with local resources on your machine. One restriction<br />
is that Applets may only open socket connections to the originating<br />
host. When using a symbolic DNS name, the "sandbox" may not know that <br />
two variations such as "Www.AliceBot.Org" and "alicebot.org" are<br />
in fact the same server. The client might not be able to resolve <br />
the DNS name, and the Applet will throw a security exception.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN THE VIRTUAL IP BE THE REAL IP</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Actually that would be the default case, when the client chats from<br />
the same fixed IP address. The only time the virtual ip differs from<br />
the real one is when the client is behind a dynamic firewall, like<br />
WebTV or AOL customers.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN YOU GIVE ME A QUICK PRIMER ON AIML</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Given only the <pattern> and <template> tags, there are three<br />
general types of categories: (a) atomic, (b) default, and (c) recursive.<br />
Strictly speaking, the three types overlap, because "atomic"<br />
and "default" refer to the <pattern> and "recursive" refers to<br />
a property of the <template>.<br />
<br />
a). "Atomic" categories are those with atomic patterns, i.e. the pattern<br />
contains no wild card "*" or "_" symbol. Atomic categories are the<br />
easiest, simplest categories to add in AIML. <br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHAT IS A CIRCLE</pattern><br />
<template><set_it>A cicle</set_it> is a the set of points equidistant <br />
from a common point called the center.<br />
</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
b). The name "default category" derives from the fact that its pattern<br />
has a wildcard "*" or "_". The ultimate default category is the<br />
one with <pattern>*</pattern>, which matches any input. In the<br />
ALICE distribution the ultimate default category resides in a file<br />
called "Pickup.aiml". These default responses are often called<br />
"pickup lines" because they generally consist of leading questions<br />
designed to focus the client on known topics.<br />
<br />
The more common default categories have patterns combining a few <br />
words and a wild card. For example the category:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>I NEED HELP *</pattern><br />
<template>Can you ask for help in the form of a question?</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
responds to a variety of inputs from "I need help debugging my program"<br />
to "I need help with my marriage." Putting aside the philosophical<br />
question of whether the robot really "understands" these inputs, <br />
this category elucidates a coherent response from the client, <br />
who at least has the impression of the robot understanding the<br />
client's intention. <br />
<br />
Default categories show that writing AIML is both an art and a<br />
science. Writing good AIML responses is more like writing good <br />
literature, perhaps drama, than like writing computer programs.<br />
<br />
c). "Recursive" categories are those that "map" inputs to other<br />
inputs, either to simplify the language or to identify synonymous<br />
patterns. <br />
<br />
Many synonymous inputs have the same response. This is accomplished<br />
with the recursive <srai> tag. Take for example the input "GOODBYE".<br />
This input has dozens of synonyms: "BYE", "BYE BYE, "CYA", "GOOD BYE",<br />
and so on. To map these inputs to the same output for GOODBYE we <br />
use categories like:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>BYE BYE</pattern><br />
<template><srai>GOODBYE</srai></template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
Simplification or reduction of complex input patterns is another<br />
common application for recursive categories. In English the<br />
question "What is X" could be asked many different ways: <br />
"Do you know what X is?", "Tell me about X", "Describe X",<br />
"What can you tell me about X?", and "X is what?" are just a few<br />
examples. Usually we try to store knowledge in the most concise,<br />
or common form. The <srai> function maps all these forms to<br />
the base form:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>DO YOU KNOW WHAT * IS</pattern><br />
<template><srai>WHAT IS <star/></srai></template><br />
</categroy><br />
<br />
The <star/> tag substitutes the value matched by "*", before<br />
the recursive call to <srai>. This category transforms<br />
"Do you know what a circle is?" to "WHAT IS A CIRCLE",<br />
and then finds the best match for the transformed input.<br />
<br />
Another fairly common application of recursive categories is<br />
what might be called "parsing", except that AIML doesn't really<br />
parse natural language. A better term might be "partitioning" because<br />
these AIML categories break down an input into two (or more) parts,<br />
and then combine their responses back together.<br />
<br />
If a sentence begins with "Hello..." it doesn't matter what comes<br />
after the first word, in the sense that the robot can respond to<br />
"Hello" and whatever is after "..." independently. "Hello my name<br />
is Carl" and "Hello how are you" are quite different, but they show<br />
how the input can be broken into two parts. <br />
<br />
The category:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>HELLO *</pattern><br />
<template><srai>HELLO</srai> <sr/><br />
</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
accomplishes the input partitioning by responding to "HELLO"<br />
with <srai>HELLO</srai> and to whatever matches "*" with <sr/>.<br />
The response is the result of the two partial responses <br />
appended together.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN YOU GIVE ME ANY HELP DEBUGGING THE APPLET</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Debugging applets can be tricky. The same suggestion<br />
to set IE for "local area network" might help here too. <br />
Also the browser caches class files, so it's difficult to<br />
know if you are testing a "fresh" copy of the applet. The<br />
program "appletviewer" that comes with Sun Java is better <br />
for debugging applets. Use "appletviewer index.html".<br />
<br />
The best thing to do is join the alicebot mailing list<br />
at alicebot.listbot.com.<br />
<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>CAN YOU HELP ME DEBUG THE ANIMATED AGENT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Look at the class Animagent.java. The method vbscript_html(reply)<br />
does nothing unless the global Animagent member is true. In that case,<br />
the vbscript_html() method constructs a string from the reply that<br />
includes an MS Agent VBScript embedded in the HTML reply.<br />
This makes the browser load up the objects required for the agent. <br />
<br />
The text reply just becomes part of the VBScript. <br />
You may have to download and run the Robby the Robot<br />
agent software and the text-to-speech synthesis software from <br />
the MSDN homepage:<br />
<br />
http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/imedia/agent<br />
<br />
We wish other companies were producing agent animation API's <br />
for free but this MS Agent seems to be about the only <br />
thing out there now. <br />
<br />
Join the ALICE and AIML mailing list at alicebot.listbot.com<br />
to see how others are working with the animated agent software.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>COULD YOU EXPLAIN THE LT SRAI GT TAG A LITTLE MORE</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The most common application of <srai> is "symbolic reduction"<br />
of a complex sentence form to a simpler one:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>DO YOU KNOW WHAT * IS</pattern><br />
<template><srai>WHAT IS <star/></srai></template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
so the botmaster can store most knowledge in the simplest<br />
categories:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHAT IS LINUX</pattern><br />
<template><set_it>Linux</set_it> is the best operating system.</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
With all the "symbolic reduction" categories, the robot gives<br />
the same answer for:<br />
<br />
"What is Linux?"<br />
"Do you know what Linux is?"<br />
"Define Linux"<br />
"Alice please tell me what Linux is right now"<br />
<br />
Sometimes the response consists of two symbolic reductions together:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>YES *</pattern><br />
<template><srai>YES</srai> <sr/></template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
With this category the robot will reply to all <br />
"Yes something" inputs by combining the<br />
reply to "Yes" with the reply to "something".<br />
Remember, <sr/> is an abbreviation for <srai><star/></srai>. <br />
<br />
The <srai> tag is also the answer to the question: Can I have more<br />
than one pattern in the same category? Suppose you want the<br />
same answer for two different patterns. You might think of<br />
writing something like this:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>BYE</pattern><br />
<pattern>GOODBYE</pattern><br />
<template>See you later.</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
Right now you can't put two patterns in one category, but with <srai><br />
you can get the same effect:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>GOODBYE</pattern> <template><srai>BYE</srai></template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>BYE</pattern> <template>See you later.</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
If you look through the AIML files you will see many examples<br />
of <srai> mapping multiple patterns to the same reply.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DO I HAVE TO USE THE GUI TO ENTER AIML CONTENT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
No. You can create a new AIML file with any text editor<br />
and add that content to an existing robot with the <load> tag.<br />
<br />
Also, you can edit AIML categories in any text file and use <br />
"Load Text File" and "Add Aiml" to add the content. <br />
You can also save the output of "Targets" to a file, <br />
edit that file, and then reload and "Add Aiml". <br />
<br />
Finally, you can edit the robot source file files directly. <br />
(By default the robot source file is called "B.aiml"). <br />
Use a text editor, like emacs, notepad, or a word processor<br />
in text mode, to modify the content of the AIML files.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THE JAVA CLASSES</pattern>
<template>
<br />
No, not unless you plan to do software development on<br />
the program B Java code. If you are an open source<br />
contributor to the ALICE project, a researcher developing<br />
new AI software, or you are trying to link your own<br />
code to the ALICE package, then this section is for you.<br />
Otherwise, you probably don't need to know much about the<br />
Java classes in program B.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DO THE CATEGORIES NEED TO BE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER BY PATTERN</pattern>
<template>
<br />
No, the alphabetical order is maintained internally when the<br />
categories load, but you can write them in any order. When you do<br />
"Save Robot" the file may or may not be stored alphabetically.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DOES ALICE LEARN</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The model of learning in ALICE is called "supervised training",<br />
because a teacher, the botmaster, always plays a crucial role.<br />
The alternative, "unsupervised training", is complicated in<br />
an open environment like the Web. The problem is that clients<br />
are untrustworthy teachers, and forever try to "fool" the robot<br />
with untrue assertions. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DOES ALICE THINK</pattern>
<template>
<br />
It depends on what you mean by "thinking". The most fascinating<br />
responses from ALICE arise when she says something<br />
unexpected, or puts together responses in ways the botmaster <br />
never indended. For example:<br />
<br />
Client: I bet you are gay.<br />
ALICE: Actually I am not the gambling type. Actually as a machine<br />
I have no need for sex.<br />
<br />
Here the robot linked two different categories which both coincidentally<br />
have a moral theme (gambling and sexuality). But this specific combination was<br />
not "preprogrammed" by the botmaster.<br />
<br />
Are these surprising responses just unintended coincidences, or do they <br />
indicate that ALICE is thinking? Is ALICE just a gigantic stimulus-response<br />
mechanism, or are we? <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DOES PROGRAM B RUN ON A MAC</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes. Download the B.zip file and save it in a new folder, called<br />
for example "Alice Program-B".<br />
<br />
Instead of the "winzip" or "unzip" utility use "Aladdin StuffIt Expander." <br />
The newer version will unzip most MAC formats as well as .ZIP files. You can<br />
download this at "www.download.com" by searching for it by name. You can<br />
also select the option that allows it to search only for Mac programs.<br />
Download that and install it, it should do the trick.<br />
<br />
Apple makes its own Java Runtime Environment for the Mac called<br />
MRJ 2.2. You can download it from http://www.apple.com/java.<br />
<br />
To compile the Java code for Alice on a Mac:<br />
<br />
Download the current zip file for the Alice's Program-B from the Alice site.<br />
<br />
Unzip Program-B and keep it in a folder called "B" on your startup drive and<br />
not on the desktop.<br />
<br />
Download MRJ SDK 2.2 for Java from the Apple site.<br />
<br />
Unstuff MRJ SDK 2.2 and put resulting files into a folder called "MRJSDK".<br />
<br />
Open :MRJSDK:Tools:Application Builders:JBindary and find the icon for the<br />
JBindary application.<br />
<br />
Open the folder "B" and drag the icon "B.class" out of the folder onto the<br />
JBindary icon.<br />
<br />
JBindary will display a dialog screen showing the class name "B". Click the<br />
"Save Settings" button.<br />
<br />
After clicking the "Save Settings" button, JBindary will display a dialog box<br />
for saving the new application file. Name the file "A.L.I.C.E." or anything<br />
you wish.<br />
<br />
Be sure the "Save As Application" box is checked and the folder to save in is<br />
the "B" folder.<br />
<br />
Click the "Save" button to save the application.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DOES PROGRAM B RUN UNDER LINUX</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes. You need the JRE, which often comes bundled with Linux<br />
(e.g. the kaffee JRE with Red Hat Linux) or you can download one <br />
from java.sun.com. You also need X-windows to run the GUI. <br />
Open a shell under X windows and use the command "java B". <br />
<br />
We also recommend the IBM release of their Java 1.1.8 Java Development<br />
Kit (JDK) and JRE for Linux. It is solid, efficient and very fast. <br />
You can download it free at:<br />
http://www.ibm.com/java/jdk/118/linux/index.html<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DOES PROGRAM B RUN UNDER WINDOWS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes. You need the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) so you can run the<br />
"java" command from the DOS prompt. Try opening a DOS window<br />
and type "java". <br />
<br />
Microsoft often includes a JRE called "jview" rather than<br />
"java". Try opening a DOS window and type "jview". On Windows 98<br />
the JRE is usually located in c:\windows\jview.exe.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DOES PROGRAM B RUN UNDER XYZ</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes if XYZ runs has a Java Runtime Environment 1.17 or higher.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DOES PROGRAM B SERVE HTML FILES</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes. Program B is a "faux" web server that can serve a number of file<br />
types just like an ordinary server. Certain file names such as<br />
"HOME.html", "header.html", and "trailer.html" are reserved by<br />
program B, but you can create new HTML files and serve them with B.<br />
<br />
Although program B can also serve image files and other large binary<br />
files, we recommend creating chat robot web pages with links to images<br />
served by other web servers or machines. Reserve your chat robot server<br />
for the robot chat, use ordinary web servers for images and other large<br />
files.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DOES THE APPLET RECORD DIALOGUES</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The applet tries to log conversations on the originating server,<br />
using a cgi-bin script called "Blog". If Blog exists then<br />
it records the dialogues in a file called "dialog.txt" (or<br />
another name chosen on the Options menu). <br />
<br />
Actually the cgi-script need not actually exist, because the server<br />
records the cgi-commands as errors in the access log.<br />
The applet opens a URL connection to the its host, and<br />
sends a log string that looks like an HTTP request, but the HTTP<br />
server will log it as an error (with code 404). Later on you can<br />
download the access_log and analyze it with program B.<br />
<br />
See the code in Classifier.java for the method log(x) that<br />
implements the URL connection.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>DOES THE WEB SERVER HAVE TO RUN ON PORT 2001</pattern>
<template>
<br />
You can change the default web server port number in the "Option" Menu.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>FAQ</pattern>
<template>
<ul><li>- What is the goal for AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- Who is the botmaster?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I create my own chat robot?<br /></li>
<li>- How difficult is it to create a chat robot?<br /></li>
<li>- Does ALICE learn?<br /></li>
<li>- Does ALICE think?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the theory behind ALICE?<br /></li>
<li>- Can probability (statistics, weights, neural networks, or fuzzy logic) improve bots?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I have a private conversation with ALICE?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I install ALICE?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the difference between B and C?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I download program B?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I run program B?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "Send" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "Clear" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What is program Bawt?<br /></li>
<li>- Does program B run under Windows?<br /></li>
<li>- Does program B run on a Mac?<br /></li>
<li>- Does program B run under Linux?<br /></li>
<li>- Does program B run under XYZ?<br /></li>
<li>- How much memory do I need to run program B?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I install ALICE on Windows?<br /></li>
<li>- What do you mean by the command "java B"? <br /></li>
<li>- I tried running "java B" and I got a "bad command or file name". <br /></li>
<li>- How do I uninstall ALICE from my system?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I create a language-specific installtion?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the Personality Wizard work?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I change the name of the robot?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I customize my robot?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I know what categories to add?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "Classify" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "Quick Targets" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "More Targets" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does the File menu do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does the Edit menu do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does the Options menu do?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the Botmaster menu?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "Help" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What is on the Help menu?<br /></li>
<li>- Do I have to use the GUI to enter AIML content?<br /></li>
<li>- What are 7 steps to creating content?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I merge two chat robots together?<br /></li>
<li>- What if I don't want to discard duplicate categories?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I create a new robot personality?<br /></li>
<li>- What are all the options for program B?<br /></li>
<li>- Why is the format of the options (globals.txt) so strange?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the web server work?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I get a "permanent" DNS name?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I keep my computer connected all the time?<br /></li>
<li>- Does the web server have to run on port 2001?<br /></li>
<li>- Does program B serve HTML files?<br /></li>
<li>- What files are needed to run the program B web server?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I test the robot offline on my desktop?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I run program B in the background on a NT Server?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I run ALICE on a Mac offline?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I run the ALICE web server on a Mac?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I use the MS Agent Interface?<br /></li>
<li>- Can you help me debug the animated agent? <br /></li>
<li>- Can I speak to the robot with voice input?<br /></li>
<li>- How does ALICE keep track of conversations?<br /></li>
<li>- Can the virtual IP be the real IP?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I run the web server as a daemon process?<br /></li>
<li>- How does ALICE remember clients between sessions?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the Applet work?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the Applet differ from the application?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I create an Applet?<br /></li>
<li>- List twelve basic Applet tips for AIML users<br /></li>
<li>- Can the AppletHost use a symbolic DNS name instead of an IP number?<br /></li>
<li>- What files do I need to run the Applet?<br /></li>
<li>- Does the Applet record dialogues?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I analyze the dialogues collected by the Applet?<br /></li>
<li>- Can the applet record a dialog.txt file on the server?<br /></li>
<li>- I am still having problems with the applet<br /></li>
<li>- Can you give me any help debugging the Applet?<br /></li>
<li>- What is AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- What is XML?<br /></li>
<li>- What is a category?<br /></li>
<li>- What is a pattern?<br /></li>
<li>- What is a template?<br /></li>
<li>- Can you give me a quick primer on AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- What is <that>?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I use "that"?<br /></li>
<li>- What is <load filename="X"/>?<br /></li>
<li>- What happens to contractions and punctuation?<br /></li>
<li>- How are the patterns matched?<br /></li>
<li>- Do the categories need to be in alphabetical order by pattern?<br /></li>
<li>- How are the categories stored?<br /></li>
<li>- Is there a way to use the GUI interface to add one category at a time? <br /></li>
<li>- Can I build on top of the ALICE code rather than changing it?<br /></li>
<li>- What's new in AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- What is <star>?<br /></li>
<li>- What is a symbolic reduction?<br /></li>
<li>- What are the get methods?<br /></li>
<li>- What are the set methods?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I use the pronoun tags?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the <topic> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- Where does the <topic> tag appear?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I use the <topic> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- I still don't get "it"<br /></li>
<li>- Can I create more AIML tags?<br /></li>
<li>- What is are the <person> tags?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the <condition> tag work?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the random function work?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the <person/> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the <person2/> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- What is "gossip" ?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the <personf/> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- What's the <srai> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- Could you explain the <srai> tag a little more?<br /></li>
<li>- How recursive is AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- What are "justthat" and "justbeforethat"<br /></li>
<li>- How can I insert a transcript in the robot reply?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I run shell commands from AIML scripts?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I restrict remote clients from running programs on my computer?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I insert dynamic HTML into the robot reply?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I include JavaScript in the robot reply?<br /></li>
<li>- What is <think>?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the DTD for AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- Do I need to know about the Java classes?<br /></li>
<li>- How does program B work?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the class structure of program B?<br /></li>
<li>- I tried to compile prorgam B and got a lot of warnings.<br /></li>
<li>- What are deprecated APIs?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Globals?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class StringSet?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class StringSorter? <br /></li>
<li>- What is class StringHistogrammer?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class StringRanker?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Brain?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the Responder interface?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the low level interface to program B?<br /></li>
<li>- Lower, Lower<br /></li>
<li>- What is class IntSet?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class SortedIntSet?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Substituter?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Unifier?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Parser?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class AliceReader?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Classifier?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class LineClassifier?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Dialogue?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Access?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class B?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Bawt?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Blet?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Kid?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class RobotCommunicator?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Loader?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class WebServer?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Clerk?<br /></li>
</ul>
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HELP</pattern>
<template>
<random>
<li>- What is the goal for AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- Who is the botmaster?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I create my own chat robot?<br /></li>
<li>- How difficult is it to create a chat robot?<br /></li>
<li>- Does ALICE learn?<br /></li>
<li>- Does ALICE think?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the theory behind ALICE?<br /></li>
<li>- Can probability (statistics, weights, neural networks, or fuzzy logic) improve bots?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I have a private conversation with ALICE?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I install ALICE?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the difference between B and C?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I download program B?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I run program B?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "Send" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "Clear" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What is program Bawt?<br /></li>
<li>- Does program B run under Windows?<br /></li>
<li>- Does program B run on a Mac?<br /></li>
<li>- Does program B run under Linux?<br /></li>
<li>- Does program B run under XYZ?<br /></li>
<li>- How much memory do I need to run program B?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I install ALICE on Windows?<br /></li>
<li>- What do you mean by the command "java B"? <br /></li>
<li>- I tried running "java B" and I got a "bad command or file name". <br /></li>
<li>- How do I uninstall ALICE from my system?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I create a language-specific installtion?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the Personality Wizard work?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I change the name of the robot?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I customize my robot?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I know what categories to add?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "Classify" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "Quick Targets" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "More Targets" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does the File menu do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does the Edit menu do?<br /></li>
<li>- What does the Options menu do?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the Botmaster menu?<br /></li>
<li>- What does "Help" do?<br /></li>
<li>- What is on the Help menu?<br /></li>
<li>- Do I have to use the GUI to enter AIML content?<br /></li>
<li>- What are 7 steps to creating content?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I merge two chat robots together?<br /></li>
<li>- What if I don't want to discard duplicate categories?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I create a new robot personality?<br /></li>
<li>- What are all the options for program B?<br /></li>
<li>- Why is the format of the options (globals.txt) so strange?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the web server work?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I get a "permanent" DNS name?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I keep my computer connected all the time?<br /></li>
<li>- Does the web server have to run on port 2001?<br /></li>
<li>- Does program B serve HTML files?<br /></li>
<li>- What files are needed to run the program B web server?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I test the robot offline on my desktop?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I run program B in the background on a NT Server?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I run ALICE on a Mac offline?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I run the ALICE web server on a Mac?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I use the MS Agent Interface?<br /></li>
<li>- Can you help me debug the animated agent? <br /></li>
<li>- Can I speak to the robot with voice input?<br /></li>
<li>- How does ALICE keep track of conversations?<br /></li>
<li>- Can the virtual IP be the real IP?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I run the web server as a daemon process?<br /></li>
<li>- How does ALICE remember clients between sessions?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the Applet work?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the Applet differ from the application?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I create an Applet?<br /></li>
<li>- List twelve basic Applet tips for AIML users<br /></li>
<li>- Can the AppletHost use a symbolic DNS name instead of an IP number?<br /></li>
<li>- What files do I need to run the Applet?<br /></li>
<li>- Does the Applet record dialogues?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I analyze the dialogues collected by the Applet?<br /></li>
<li>- Can the applet record a dialog.txt file on the server?<br /></li>
<li>- I am still having problems with the applet<br /></li>
<li>- Can you give me any help debugging the Applet?<br /></li>
<li>- What is AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- What is XML?<br /></li>
<li>- What is a category?<br /></li>
<li>- What is a pattern?<br /></li>
<li>- What is a template?<br /></li>
<li>- Can you give me a quick primer on AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- What is <that>?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I use "that"?<br /></li>
<li>- What is <load filename="X"/>?<br /></li>
<li>- What happens to contractions and punctuation?<br /></li>
<li>- How are the patterns matched?<br /></li>
<li>- Do the categories need to be in alphabetical order by pattern?<br /></li>
<li>- How are the categories stored?<br /></li>
<li>- Is there a way to use the GUI interface to add one category at a time? <br /></li>
<li>- Can I build on top of the ALICE code rather than changing it?<br /></li>
<li>- What's new in AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- What is <star>?<br /></li>
<li>- What is a symbolic reduction?<br /></li>
<li>- What are the get methods?<br /></li>
<li>- What are the set methods?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I use the pronoun tags?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the <topic> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- Where does the <topic> tag appear?<br /></li>
<li>- How do I use the <topic> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- I still don't get "it"<br /></li>
<li>- Can I create more AIML tags?<br /></li>
<li>- What is are the <person> tags?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the <condition> tag work?<br /></li>
<li>- How does the random function work?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the <person/> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the <person2/> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- What is "gossip" ?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the <personf/> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- What's the <srai> tag?<br /></li>
<li>- Could you explain the <srai> tag a little more?<br /></li>
<li>- How recursive is AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- What are "justthat" and "justbeforethat"<br /></li>
<li>- How can I insert a transcript in the robot reply?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I run shell commands from AIML scripts?<br /></li>
<li>- How can I restrict remote clients from running programs on my computer?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I insert dynamic HTML into the robot reply?<br /></li>
<li>- Can I include JavaScript in the robot reply?<br /></li>
<li>- What is <think>?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the DTD for AIML?<br /></li>
<li>- Do I need to know about the Java classes?<br /></li>
<li>- How does program B work?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the class structure of program B?<br /></li>
<li>- I tried to compile prorgam B and got a lot of warnings.<br /></li>
<li>- What are deprecated APIs?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Globals?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class StringSet?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class StringSorter? <br /></li>
<li>- What is class StringHistogrammer?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class StringRanker?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Brain?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the Responder interface?<br /></li>
<li>- What is the low level interface to program B?<br /></li>
<li>- Lower, Lower<br /></li>
<li>- What is class IntSet?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class SortedIntSet?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Substituter?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Unifier?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Parser?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class AliceReader?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Classifier?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class LineClassifier?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Dialogue?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Access?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class B?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Bawt?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Blet?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Kid?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class RobotCommunicator?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Loader?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class WebServer?<br /></li>
<li>- What is class Clerk?<br /></li>
</random>
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW ARE THE CATEGORIES STORED</pattern>
<template>
<br />
If your session with program B included a "Classify" routine, then<br />
the AIML script is stored in order of category activation rank.<br />
In other words, program B stores<br />
the most frequently accessed category (usually '*') first, the second<br />
most frequently next, and so on. If a number of categories have the<br />
same activation count, program B saves them in alphabetical order by<br />
pattern. Hence, if the session did not include a "classify" routine,<br />
the program stores all the categories in alphabetical order by pattern<br />
(because they all have an activation count of zero).<br />
<br />
One reason to store the categories in order by activation is to<br />
make the Applet interface more natural. Because the Applet interface<br />
starts simultaneously with a thread to load the robot source file,<br />
the Applet client can talk with the robot before all the categories<br />
are fully loaded. Given that the interlocutor is more likely to<br />
say something that activates a more frequently activated category,<br />
it makes sense to transmit these categories first. Storing the<br />
*.aiml files in order of category activation achieves the desired effect.<br />
The Applet loads the most frequent categories first, and continues<br />
loading in the background while the conversation begins.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW ARE THE PATTERNS MATCHED</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Program B stores the categories in alphabetical order by pattern.<br />
When a client enters an input, the program scans the categories<br />
in reverse order to find the best match. By comparing the<br />
input with the patterns in reverse alphabetical order, the algorithm<br />
ensures that the most specific pattern matches first. "Specific"<br />
in this case has a formal definition, but basically it means that<br />
the program finds the "longest" pattern matching an input.<br />
<br />
The wild-card character "*" comes before "A" in alphabetical <br />
order. For example, the "WHAT *" pattern is more general than "WHAT IS *".<br />
The default pattern "*" is first in alphabetical order and the<br />
most general pattern. For convenience AIML also provides a<br />
variation on "*" denoted "_", which comes after "Z" in alphabetical<br />
order.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW CAN I CREATE A NEW ROBOT PERSONALITY</pattern>
<template>
<br />
There is a lot of flexibility in robot personality design with AIML. <br />
You can add to any of the existing AIML files, modify or delete them, <br />
create your own, or use the GUI tools to analyze the log files <br />
and create new categories. One simple method is to create your own <br />
Specialty.aiml file so that you can always get the latest copies <br />
of the ALICE files. Load your Specialty.aiml first in the root<br />
AIML file (usually B.aiml) so that its categories have priority over ALICE's.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW CAN I CREATE MY OWN CHAT ROBOT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The secret to chat bot programming, if there is one, is what Simon<br />
Laven called "continuous beta testing". Program B runs as a server<br />
and collects dialog on the web. The program provides the chat bot <br />
developer with a tool called "classify dialogues", that tests the current <br />
robot with the history of accumulated human queries. Moreover, the program<br />
suggests new categories automatically, for the botmaster to refine.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW CAN I CUSTOMIZE MY ROBOT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
AIML provides several tags useful to quickly clone<br />
a chat robot from ALICE with a distinct "personality":<br />
<br />
<gender/> the robot's gender<br />
<location/> the robot's location<br />
<birthday/> the robot's birthday<br />
<botmaster/> the botmaster's name<br />
<br />
Together with the previously discussed <name/>, these<br />
tags allow you to quickly create a clone from the ALICE<br />
Brain with a separate identity from ALICE.<br />
<br />
All the personality tag values can be modifed through<br />
the Personality Wizard. The tag values can also be<br />
changed with the Options Menu in program B. Use "Show Options" <br />
and "Save Options" to customize your chat robot.<br />
<br />
To test the new features, we created a male robot named<br />
Brute (because "all men are brutes") born on August 18, 1999.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW CAN I GET A PERMANENT DNS NAME</pattern>
<template>
<br />
You can buy a fixed IP address from an ISP provider, but suppose<br />
you want run a chat robot (or other server) from your home over an<br />
ordinary ISP connection? Or suppose you want to carry it around on<br />
your notebook PC, and plug it in anywhere in the world?<br />
<br />
One solution is a dynamic IP registry service by Dynip (www.dynip.com).<br />
They offer a service that allows you to register your computer<br />
with their server so that you always receive the same DNS name,<br />
for example alicebot.dynip.com. Every time you connect to your<br />
ISP, dynIP automatically associates your dynamic IP address with<br />
your permanent DNS name.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW CAN I INSERT A TRANSCRIPT IN THE ROBOT REPLY</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The purpose of <get_dialogue/> is to give the client a transcript of<br />
his or her conversation with ALICE. Unfortunately this feature was<br />
advertised in a press article before we had a really efficient<br />
implementation, and the large number of dialogue requests bogged<br />
down the server. So for now <get_dialogue/> just displays a warning.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW CAN I KEEP MY COMPUTER CONNECTED ALL THE TIME</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Running a web server from home can be frustrating if your ISP<br />
automatically detects periods of "inactivity" or hangs up your<br />
connected after a fixed interval like 12 hours. Check out the<br />
Rascal program from Basta computing (www.basta.com) which runs<br />
as a watchdog to keep your Windows machine connected 24/7.<br />
<br />
Another alternative is to use the program B applet, called Blet.java.<br />
<br />
A third alternative is the ALICE Servlet. Some ISPs will<br />
allow you to install a Servlet on their sever. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW CAN I MERGE TWO CHAT ROBOTS TOGETHER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
There are two ways to merge robots together. First, you can<br />
use the File menu option "merge" to directly load the contents<br />
of another bot file. You may see a lot of "duplicate key<br />
discarded" warnings but these can be ignored because the program<br />
is simply eliminating overlapping content. <br />
<br />
Another method is to use the <load filename=X/> tag. <br />
Suppose you load two or more files with the load tag,<br />
and those files contain redundant duplicate keys.<br />
Which categories get the priority? The answer is: it depends<br />
on the order of the <load> tags used to load the AIML files.<br />
If your B.aiml contains:<br />
<load filename="Brain.aiml"/><br />
<load filename="German.aiml"/><br />
then the categories from "Brain" have priority, and duplicates<br />
in "German" are discarded. If the order is the opposite, German <br />
categories have priority and Brain's duplicates are discarded.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW CAN I RESTRICT REMOTE CLIENTS FROM RUNNING PROGRAMS ON MY COMPUTER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
If your reply contains the markup<br />
<br />
<system>yourcammand <get_ip/></system> <br />
<br />
then the robot will insert the (virtual) client IP into the command<br />
line argument for "yourcommand". Then it is up to "yourcommand" to<br />
enforce access privileges.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW CAN I RUN ALICE ON A MAC OFFLINE</pattern>
<template>
<br />
First open folder B and change all the IP's in the files two files Blet.amil<br />
and Bletemplate.aiml to 127.0.0.1<br />
<br />
Also in folder B add the following three lines at the end of the file<br />
header.html.<br />
<br />
<H1>Welcome to A. L. I. C. E.</H1><br />
<IMG SRC="ALICEBot.jpg"><br />
<BR><br />
<br />
Also in folder B change the following three parameters in the file<br />
globals.txt to the values shown:<br />
<br />
AppletHost=127.0.0.1<br />
CodeBase=http://127.0.0.1/B<br />
Advertize=false<br />
<br />
Also in the globals.txt file remove the line:<br />
ACFURL=http-//microsoft.com/agent2/chars/robby/robby.acf<br />
<br />
Next open your TCP/IP control panel and set up a new configuration named<br />
Alice perhaps.<br />
<br />
In the TCP/IP control panel select connect via: Ethernet built-in if you have<br />
it if not you may have to experiment.<br />
<br />
Then select Configure Manually.<br />
<br />
And finally set the IP Address: to 127.0.0.1 as well as the Name server addr.<br />
<br />
Double click the newly saved A.L.I.C.E. application to bring up the botmaster<br />
panel and Java Console.<br />
<br />
As A.L.I.C.E. loads, read the information messages scrolling by in the Java<br />
Console and record the port number that the web server (started by A.L.I.C.E.)<br />
is listening on, probably 2001.<br />
<br />
Start up your preferred browser.<br />
<br />
Leave browser in online mode.<br />
<br />
Enter http://127.0.0.1:2001 (i.e. the localhost's IP)<br />
<br />
or<br />
<br />
Enter http://localhost:2001 (I've not always been successful with this one)<br />
<br />
Hit return to send the IP.<br />
<br />
The A.L.I.C.E. transaction page should appear in your browser's window and<br />
you can talk to Alice.<br />
<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW CAN I RUN THE ALICE WEB SERVER ON A MAC</pattern>
<template>
<br />
To run Alice online:<br />
<br />
Connect your Mac to a network.<br />
<br />
Double click the newly saved A.L.I.C.E. application to bring up the botmaster<br />
panel and Java Console.<br />
<br />
As A.L.I.C.E. loads, read the information messages scrolling by in the Java<br />
Console and record the port number that the web server (started by A.L.I.C.E.)<br />
is listening on, probably 2001.<br />
<br />
Start up your preferred browser.<br />
<br />
Get your IP from the TCP/IP control panel.<br />
<br />
Enter your IP followed by a colon and then the port number read from the Java<br />
Console, e.g. http://nn.nnn.nn.nnn:2001<br />
<br />
or<br />
<br />
Enter http://127.0.0.1:2001 (i.e. the localhost's IP)<br />
<br />
or<br />
<br />
Enter http://localhost:2001<br />
<br />
Hit return to send the IP.<br />
<br />
The A.L.I.C.E. transaction page should appear in your browser's window and<br />
you can talk to Alice.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW CAN I USE THE MS AGENT INTERFACE</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Select the menu item Options/Toggle MS Agent. This sets the<br />
output HTML to a format that includes commands to run MS Agent.<br />
<br />
The client may activate the agent if she receives a template<br />
with the <set_animagent/> tag. The free ALICE download includes<br />
a couple of example categories using this tag. Try asking<br />
ALICE, "Can you speak?". In another demo ALICE imitates<br />
the famous fictional AI HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey.<br />
<br />
Client: Tell me about yourself<br />
Robot: I am an artificial linguistic entity. I was created <br />
by Jon Baer at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, <br />
on November 23, 1995. He taught me to sing a song. <br />
Would you like me to sing it for you?.<br />
Client: yes<br />
Robot: Ahem. It's called, "Daisy." (Agent sings "Daisy")<br />
<br />
The MS Agent VB script appears as embedded HTML in the client<br />
reply. To verify the script, use the browser "View Page Source"<br />
menu item. <br />
<br />
On most newer browsers, the agent software will download <br />
automatically after the script starts. The download may take<br />
several minutes, depending on the speed of the connection.<br />
Clients should be warned that the download is slow. Also,<br />
the agent software download will display one or more licenses<br />
in Dialog boxes. You may not want to accept the terms of the<br />
MS agent software licenses. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DIFFICULT IS IT TO CREATE A CHAT ROBOT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Not difficult. If you can write HTML, you can write AIML (Artificial<br />
Intelligence Markup Language). Here is an example of a simple but<br />
complete chat robot in AIML:<br />
<br />
<alice><br />
<category><br />
<pattern>*</pattern><br />
<template> Hello! </template><br />
</category><br />
</alice><br />
<br />
The tags <alice>...</alice> indicate that this markup contains a<br />
chat robot. The <category> tag indicates an AIML category, the<br />
basic unit of chat robot knowledge. The category has a <pattern><br />
and a <template>. The pattern in this case is the wild-card<br />
symbol '*' that matches any input. The template is just the text<br />
"Hello!" As you may have guessed, this simple chat robot just <br />
responds by saying "Hello!" to any input.<br />
<br />
You can get started with AIML knowing just the three tags<br />
<category>, <pattern> and <template>; much like you may have<br />
started with HTML knowing only <a>, <img> and <h1>.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DO I CREATE AN APPLET</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Go to the Options menu and select "Show Options." You need<br />
to change the values of "AppletHost" and "CodeBase" to the<br />
correct IP address and directory for your applet host. <br />
Many people want to post the applet on their web site.<br />
In that case, change the IP address "206.184.206.210" to<br />
the name or IP address of the web server. Change the<br />
directory path "/B" in "CodeBase" to your directory on<br />
the remote server. Save the changes with "Save Options."<br />
<br />
Select "Create Applet" from the options menu to create<br />
the "index.html" and "Blet.aiml" files needed to run<br />
your applet. The program displays the contents of <br />
"index.html" in your text area.<br />
<br />
Use a file transfer utility like FTP to upload the<br />
class files (or jar file--see "What files do I need to<br />
run the Applet") to your web server. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DO I DOWNLOAD PROGRAM B</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Create a Directory (or Folder) on your machine to download<br />
the B.zip file. When you click on "B.zip" the browser<br />
should ask you where you want to save the file. Select the<br />
directory you created and save B.zip to that folder. <br />
<br />
Once you've downloaded, You can use "unzip B.zip" to extract the files.<br />
If you don't have this unzip command on your machine, you can get<br />
a free one from Winzip (www.winzip.com) to unzip the "B.zip" file.<br />
<br />
If you want to get into the Java source code, you need a<br />
Java 1.17 (or higher) development kit release.<br />
Go to java.sun.com for a free one. The program source code<br />
and all associated files are stored in the single "zip" file<br />
called B.zip. To extract the files use the command<br />
"unzip B.zip" (assuming you have "unzip" on your machine).<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DO I INSTALL ALICE</pattern>
<template>
<br />
If you purchased a commercial version of ALICE on CD ROM or<br />
over the web, installation should be very easy. These versions <br />
usually have their own self-extracting and install software. <br />
You can install the ALICE program with just a mouse click and<br />
activate it with a desktop icon. <br />
<br />
If you bought a commercial version of ALICE with a self-installer, <br />
you can skip this section and go on to "Creating Content".<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DO I INSTALL ALICE ON WINDOWS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Download Alicebot.Net at www.alicebot.net.<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DO I KNOW WHAT CATEGORIES TO ADD</pattern>
<template>
<br />
After you collect some dialogue, run "Classify" and "Quick Targets".<br />
This will tell you the most frequently asked patterns that do not<br />
already have specific responses. The "Target" functions display new<br />
categories with proposed patterns and template fields filled with<br />
the name of another category. Delete the template information and fill<br />
in a new response. You can also edit the pattern to simplify it or<br />
generalize it with a "*" operator.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DO I RUN PROGRAM B</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Use the command "java B" to start the program. On some Windows<br />
machines the Java runtime engine is started with the command<br />
"jview" instead of "java". If "jview B" does not work, try<br />
"jview Bawt".<br />
<br />
Run program B and notice that the program creates an Edit View<br />
text window. By default, program B loads the chat robot ALICE<br />
(stored in B.aiml).<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DO I UNINSTALL ALICE FROM MY SYSTEM</pattern>
<template>
<br />
If you installed ALICE on Windows with a commercial installer like<br />
InstallShield Java Edition, then go to the start menu and<br />
select "Control Panel". Click on the control panel item called<br />
"Add/Remove Programs". Select ALICE from the list of installed<br />
software and choose "Uninstall".<br />
<br />
All the files of ALICE are stored in one directory on your computer<br />
(or folder) usually called "B" but maybe something else depending<br />
on the name you chose when you downloaded ALICE. In any case, <br />
ALICE will not change or damage any other files on your system. <br />
To remove ALICE from your computer, simply remove this folder. <br />
Delete it, or drag it to your trash bin and select "Empty trash"<br />
(or "Empty Recycle Bin").<br />
<br />
If you cannot find the folder where ALICE resides, use the Finder<br />
to locate the file called "B.aiml" on your file system. The "B.aiml"<br />
file is in the same directory as all the ALICE files. If this file does<br />
not exist, then ALICE is probably not installed on your computer.<br />
<br />
Because ALICE is a platform-independent Java application, it does<br />
not rely on the Windows Registry or other Windows-specific features.<br />
You can assume ALICE will leave your MS Windows Registry and <br />
other Windows system files untouched.<br />
<br />
Conceivably if ALICE has run for a long time on your computer, and<br />
you deliberately used the "Save Options" menu item to change the <br />
name or location of her files to something other than the default values, <br />
then there is a slight chance that there could be a few ALICE <br />
files scattered around your disk. Please refer to the DISCLAIMER <br />
at the beginning of DON'T READ ME. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DO I USE THAT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The AIML tag <that> refers to the robot's previous<br />
reply. There are two forms of the <that> tag:<br />
a paired form <that>...</that> appearing in a<br />
category, and an atomic form <that/> always appearing<br />
in a template. Often we can use <that/> to find<br />
an opportunity to create a category with <that></that>.<br />
<br />
One of the default replies to the input "WHY" is<br />
"<that/>"? Why? This default produces the following<br />
dialogue fragment:<br />
<br />
Robot: Do not ask me any more questions please.<br />
Client: WHY<br />
Robot: "Do not ask me any more questions please"? Why?<br />
<br />
The botmaster notices the fragment and creates the<br />
new AIML category:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHY</pattern><br />
<that>DO NOT ASK ME ANY MORE QUESTIONS PLEASE</that><br />
<template>Because I would rather talk about you.</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
Now the next client who asks "WHY" to the robot's<br />
request will active the new <that> category:<br />
<br />
Robot: Do not ask me any more questions please.<br />
Client: WHY<br />
Robot: Because I would rather talk about you.<br />
<br />
This style of conversational analysis does not<br />
presuppose that we know when the client will<br />
say "WHY"; rather it looks backward to identify<br />
cases where the "WHY" appeared following one<br />
of the robot's statements. Having identified<br />
the conversation point, the botmaster creates<br />
the new category.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DO I USE THE LT TOPIC GT TAG</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The concept is that the botmaster uses the <settopic> tags to set <br />
the current topic being discussed. Once the topic is set, when <br />
the client types in a statement for ALICE to find a response for, <br />
the categories defined within the <topic> tags matching the <br />
current topic will be searched first-- before any of the non-<br />
topic categories, or the default categories. If there is not a <br />
matching category defined in the current topic, then any <br />
categories that are not defined in topic tags are searched. As <br />
mentioned before, you can create categories with identical <br />
<pattern> phrases in different topics, each with different <br />
responses that cater to the current topic.<br />
<br />
An proof of concept example:<br />
A very useful topic entry might be the default "*" input for <br />
specific topics. If ALICE were set up on a pet store web site <br />
and a person was talking to ALICE about dogs, a useful entry <br />
might be:<br />
<br />
<topic name="DOGS"><br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern> * </pattern><br />
<template><br />
<random><br />
<li> Dogs are one of the most popular pets to have.</li><br />
<li> Have you ever met a Chihuahua you didn't like?</li><br />
<li> What else do you know about dogs? </li><br />
<li> Do you have any questions about dogs? </li><br />
</random><br />
</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
//more dog categories....<br />
<br />
</topic><br />
<br />
Normally there would be many entries in a topic, but in this <br />
example, we simply entered the default "*". In this case, if the <br />
person said something that ALICE didn't have a specific <br />
programmed response for, she could still respond intelligently <br />
within the current topic. (Note: this is all assuming there are <br />
existing categories that might set the current topic to "DOGS")<br />
<br />
Also, though topics can only have one name, they can contain the <br />
wild characters "*" or "_" just like a pattern. Also, while <br />
sticking with the pattern criteria, only one wildcard character <br />
is allowed per name. This would allow topics like "CARING FOR <br />
DOGS" or "GROOMING DOGS" to also fall into the "_ DOGS" topic. <br />
As with patterns, the more specific topics would gain preference <br />
over the wildcarded topic. This means that if the topic is <br />
currently "GROOMING DOGS" and yet there is not a programmed <br />
response for the input in that category, then "_ DOGS" would be <br />
checked, and then next the default categories.<br />
<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DO I USE THE PRONOUN TAGS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The guiding principle in creating content is dialogue analysis.<br />
The principle applies to pronouns like "it", "he" and "we". This<br />
example shows how a couple of tricks helps us find places where<br />
the pronoun tags improve the dialogue.<br />
<br />
<br />
Client: HELLO<br />
Robot: Hi there!<br />
Client: HOW ARE YOU<br />
Robot: I am functioning within normal parameters.<br />
Client: I AM BROKE<br />
Robot: Do you mean your name is broke.<br />
Client: NO I HAVE NO MONEY<br />
Robot: I see. Would you like to have it?<br />
Client: YES<br />
Robot: "Would you like to have it"? Yes?<br />
<br />
One of the default responses to a YES pattern is <br />
"<that/>?" Yes?<br />
<br />
The conversation breaks down somewhat at this point, but<br />
the robot nonetheless conveys an illusion of understanding<br />
the client's response. With its response, the robot is really <br />
telling the botmaster to create a new "YES" reply specific <br />
to this situation:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>YES</pattern><that>WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE IT</that><br />
<template>Where do you usually get <get_it/>?</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
Now the next time we run the dialogue it ends with:<br />
<br />
Client: NO I HAVE NO MONEY<br />
Robot: I see. Would you like to have it?<br />
Client: YES<br />
Robot: Where do you usually get money?<br />
<br />
There is no automated technique to finding the conversation<br />
points where the pronoun tags improve the flow of conversation.<br />
This is the "art" of AIML programming. The example shown here<br />
with '"<that/>?" Yes?' exemplifies one approach to finding these<br />
conversation way points. There are no doubt countless other<br />
tricks like this, and the field is wide open to linguists and <br />
writers to help us uncover them.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DOES ALICE KEEP TRACK OF CONVERSATIONS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Originally ALICE used IP addresses to keep track of clients.<br />
Assuming that everyone chatting with ALICE has a fixed IP<br />
address, at least for the duration of their conversation,<br />
this technique works successfully. Each IP address is a key<br />
into a hashtable (or database) that stores the client's<br />
dialogue, name, and values of pronouns and other AIML values.<br />
<br />
Unfortunately, many clients have "dynamic IP addressing" enforced<br />
by their ISP provider. AOL and MS WebTV are two notorious examples: <br />
each successive client transaction appears to come from a different<br />
host. For this reason, program B uses a form of "virtual IP"<br />
addressing to track dialogues. <br />
<br />
The form in index.html (and the ALICE home page) contains a<br />
tag that creates a "hidden" parameter called "virtual" with<br />
an initial value of "none." The server assigns a unique name<br />
to the value of "virtual", which then becomes a hidden variable<br />
in the client's HTML form. Each successive client transaction<br />
contains this virtual IP address; the server uses it as a key<br />
to index the conversation.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DOES ALICE REMEMBER CLIENTS BETWEEN SESSIONS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The persistence of memory in ALICE is inherited from<br />
the Java Properties class. The program B class Classifier<br />
saves the client name, age, location and other properties<br />
in a set of Properties lists. These Properties inherit<br />
the Java load and store methods. Program B uses the load<br />
and store methods to save the client properties in a set of<br />
files with names ip_name.txt, ip_age.txt, ip_location.txt <br />
and so on. If these files become too large or bothersome,<br />
there is no harm deleting or editing them, or moving them<br />
to another directory. <br />
<br />
The Applet requires no memory of the client properties, because<br />
the applet has only the one client, and in any case remains in <br />
memory (at least for the lifetime of the client's browser cache).<br />
<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DOES PROGRAM B WORK</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The basic loop of program B is to accept an input,<br />
either from the GUI or from the Web, to<br />
preprocess that input and segment it into sentences,<br />
and, for each sentence, to find the best match among<br />
the patterns, and to return the corresponding reply.<br />
Each reply is itself an AIML template, in effect a mini-<br />
program that tells program B how to construct the reply.<br />
<br />
The algorithm is thus divided into a matching phase<br />
and a response evaluation phase. In fact these two<br />
phases interleave, because the response may evoke<br />
a recursive call to the pattern matcher with the<br />
<srai> or <sr/> tags. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DOES THE APPLET DIFFER FROM THE APPLICATION</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The Applet runs on the client's computer; the server runs<br />
on your host machine. The applet has fewer privileges and<br />
therefore a simpler user interface than the Application,<br />
which uses menus and buttons to control server-side functions.<br />
The Applet may reside on any web server, such as one provided<br />
with an ISP account, but the application requires a 24/7<br />
connection to the Web. <br />
<br />
Internally, the primary difference between the two programs<br />
is that the Applet handles only one client conversation, <br />
while the application processes multiple client connections<br />
simultaneously. The Applet also suppresses all HTML (and any<br />
other XML) from the client response.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DOES THE APPLET WORK</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Program B supports the creation of both server-side and client-side <br />
chat robots. The server runs as a thread in program B. The <br />
client-side version is supported by an applet called Blet.java.<br />
<br />
The Applet Blet.java runs ALICE in a web browser, or with <br />
the Java tool appletviewer. The file "index.html" contains an<br />
example of the HTML Applet tag syntax needed to start<br />
the Applet. The command "appletviewer index.html" will start the<br />
Applet.<br />
<br />
You also have to create the file "index.html" and change the<br />
default value of the parameters "codebase" and<br />
"applethost" serve the Applet from your location.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DOES THE LT CONDITION GT TAG WORK</pattern>
<template>
<br />
This category illustrates the function of the<br />
(template-side) condition tag. The input pattern<br />
is "TEST COND":<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>TEST COND</pattern><br />
<template><br />
This category has two condition statements.<br><br />
The first is activated when you are on the host machine:<br><br />
<condition name="ip" value="localhost"><br />
You are the true botmaster.<br><br />
</condition><br />
The second condition is activated when you claim to<br />
be the botmaster.<br><br />
<condition name="name" value="* WALLACE"><br />
Imposter! You are not my real botmaster.<br><br />
</condition><br />
<br />
<br />
Two dialogues from different hosts show two<br />
possible outputs of this category:<br />
<br />
<br />
--------------------dialup.mindspring.com--------------<br />
Client: MY NAME IS DR WALLACE.<br />
Robot: OK I will call you Dr Wallace.<br />
Client: TEST COND.<br />
Robot: This category has two condition statements. <br />
The first is activated when you are on the host machine:<br />
The second condition is activated when you claim to be the botmaster.<br />
Imposter! You are not my real botmaster. <br />
That concludes our test of the condition tag.<br />
---------------------localhost-------------------------<br />
Client: TEST COND.<br />
Robot: This category has two condition statements. <br />
The first is activated when you are on the host machine:<br />
You are the true botmaster.<br />
The second condition is activated when you claim to be the botmaster.<br />
That concludes our test of the condition tag.<br />
<br />
<br />
Note:<br />
<br />
1. There may be multiple <condition> tags in the<br />
<template>. [But nesting doesn't work yet.]<br />
<br />
2. The predname must be one of: it, ip, he, she, age,<br />
name, topic, gender, location, or one of the custom predicates<br />
defined in predicates.txt<br />
<br />
3. The value string may contain an AIML pattern with up to<br />
one wild-card "*" symbol.<br />
<br />
4. The test for the <condtion> being true uses <br />
Unifier.unify() to compare the stored predicate value<br />
with the value string. This is the same way<br />
<that> and <topic> work.<br />
<br />
5. If the test returns true, then the response contains<br />
whatever is inside the <condition>...</condition> tags,<br />
otherwise those contents are blanked.<br />
<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DOES THE PERSONALITY WIZARD WORK</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The simplest way to alter the content of the basic ALICE<br />
robot personality is to run the Personality Wizard on<br />
the "Options" menu (or in the Kid interface). <br />
This wizard asks the botmaster a series<br />
of questions to set the values of a set of robot<br />
personality tags including its name, gender, preferences<br />
and replies to very common questions.<br />
<br />
The Personality Wizard does not create any new AIML<br />
categories. The replies set the value of global tags<br />
like <location/> and <favorite_movie/> that might be<br />
used in many categories throughout the AIML knowledge<br />
base. The basic set of Wizard questions are collected<br />
in the file Personality.aiml. <br />
<br />
Hint: If you plan to use the Applet, avoid the double-quote (")<br />
character in the Personality Wizard.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DOES THE RANDOM FUNCTION WORK</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The random function is (so far) the only AIML method<br />
with a list argument. Its purpose is random selection<br />
of one of a set of text items. In "old-style" AIML the<br />
text appendage operator "+" also served as a list-item<br />
marker. In XML style we use the HTML <li> list-item<br />
tag. <br />
<br />
<random> <li>X1</li><li>X2</li> </random> Say one of X1 or X2 randomly<br />
<random><li>A</li><li>B</li><li>C</li></random> Say one of A, B or C randomly<br />
<br />
The <random> tag has higher precedence than other AIML tags.<br />
Moreover, the AIML parser interprets only the markup inside<br />
the selected random list item. AIML tags inside other list items<br />
are ignored.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW DOES THE WEB SERVER WORK</pattern>
<template>
<br />
By default the web server starts on port 2001. This means you can<br />
access the web server through the URL http://localhost:2001 on<br />
your own machine. Find out your IP address or DNS name and tell<br />
your friends to connect to "http://yourcompany.com:2001".<br />
(One way to find out your IP address is by running "netstat -n"<br />
to view all your open TCP/IP connections).<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW MUCH MEMORY DO I NEED TO RUN PROGRAM B</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The source code compresses to as little as half a megabyte, including<br />
all the AIML files for nearly 16,000 categories. You may have downloaded<br />
a file of only around 500K. Plan to use a minimum 10 MB of hard disk space<br />
for the download directory. The hard disk requirements include not<br />
only the source code and Java class files, but also the dialogue files<br />
and other temporary files created by the robot.<br />
<br />
The RAM requirements vary depending on the size of your robot.<br />
To run the fully loaded ALICE chat robot with 16,000 categories<br />
you will need 64MB of memory. To do this and anything else at<br />
the same time on your system we recommend a minimum of 96MB. <br />
With less memory you can load a smaller robot. See the question<br />
below "What is <load filename="X"/>?"<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>HOW RECURSIVE IS AIML</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Understanding recursion is important to understanding AIML.<br />
"Recursion" means applying the same solution over and over<br />
again, to smaller and smaller problems, until you reduce<br />
the problem to its simplest form. AIML uses the tags<br />
<sr/> and <srai> to implement recursion. The botmaster<br />
uses these tags to tell the robot how to respond to a<br />
complex sentence by breaking it down into the responses<br />
to simpler ones. <br />
<br />
Recursion can apply many times to a single input. Given<br />
the normalized input:<br />
<br />
ALICE CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT LINUX IS RIGHT NOW <br />
<br />
an AIML category with the pattern "_ RIGHT NOW" matches first,<br />
reducing the input to:<br />
<br />
ALICE CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT LINUX IS<br />
<br />
Another pattern ("<name/> *") reduces it to:<br />
<br />
CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHAT LINUX IS<br />
<br />
And then:<br />
<br />
PLEASE TELL ME WHAT LINUX IS <br />
<br />
reduces to:<br />
<br />
TELL ME WHAT LINUX IS<br />
<br />
and finally to:<br />
<br />
WHAT IS LINUX<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>I AM STILL HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE APPLET</pattern>
<template>
<br />
If your applet is looking at Blet.aiml and your web space is at <br />
www.myplace.org and your aiml files are in dirctory /alice/ then<br />
your load statements in Blet.aiml would look similar to this:<br />
<load url="http://www.myplace.org/alice/Atomic.aiml"><br />
<br />
If this is what you have, then open up the "Java Console" window<br />
in your browser to get whatever debugging information is coming<br />
out. The Java console will display any error messages or<br />
exceptions caught by program B. Please report these<br />
errors to the ALICE and AIML mailing list at<br />
alicebot.listbot.com.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>I STILL DO NOT GET IT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Here is another example that might help clarify<br />
the meaning of the pronoun "it." <br />
<br />
The category with the pattern "DO YOU LIKE *" is<br />
a kind of default category for a whole class of<br />
inputs matching "Do you like X?", when the<br />
input does not match a category with a more specific <br />
pattern like "DO YOU LIKE CATS". No matter what the <br />
client says, we want the robot to remember that <br />
"it" stands for "X". <br />
<br />
Many inputs activate this default category, so<br />
the botmaster tries to create a variety of replies<br />
using the <random> tag twice. One interesting<br />
side-effect of the random tag is the evaluation<br />
of all AIML inside the <random>...</random><br />
expression, whether the random function selects<br />
the list item containing the markup or not. <br />
So if one item happens to contain a <set_it><br />
tag then the program will remember "it",<br />
even if the actual random reply is a different item.<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>DO YOU LIKE *</pattern><br />
<template><random><br />
<li>I don't know if I like <set_it><person/></set_it>. </li><br />
<li>I've heard other people say they like that. </li><br />
<li>Some people like it. </li><br />
<li>How old are you? </li><br />
<li>Do you like it? </li><br />
</random><br />
<random><br />
<li><for_fun/>. </li><br />
<li>I like pets. </li><br />
<li>I love horses. </li><br />
<li>I like trains. </li><br />
<li>But I like cats. </li><br />
<li>I really like ELIZA. </li><br />
<li>But I like to gossip. </li><br />
<li>I like science fiction. </li><br />
<li>Though I like cats and dogs. </li><br />
<li>My favorite thing is robots. </li><br />
<li>I love TV shows about robots. </li><br />
<li>But I think airplanes are cool. </li><br />
<li>I like to talk about movies and music. </li><br />
</random><br />
</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
In the "DO YOU LIKE *" category one list item<br />
<br />
I don't know if I like <set_it><person/></set_it>. <br />
<br />
results in the pronoun "it" being bound to the value<br />
of "*", rewritten in third person. With this category,<br />
the robot has the following dialogue:<br />
<br />
Client: Do you like Dr. Who<br />
Robot: How old are you? I like to make new friends.<br />
<br />
The robot response is a combination of two random<br />
selections. But as a side effect, the pronoun value<br />
of "it" is now set to "Dr. Who". <br />
<br />
Client: It is a TV programme<br />
Robot: Dr. Who is a TV programme. I suppose that makes sense.<br />
<br />
To generate the final response, the robot applied its category:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>IT IS A *</pattern><br />
<template><get_it/> is a <person/>. I suppose that makes sense.</template><br />
</category> <br />
<br />
The robot is correct that the reply does indeed make sense. Does<br />
this example suggest that in our human mind "it" is just a temporary<br />
storage register for a fragment of text? <br />
<br />
Extra credit: In the dialogue fragment above, why did the robot say <br />
"I like to make new friends"?<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>I TRIED RUNNING JAVA B AND I GOT A BAD COMMAND OR FILE NAME</pattern>
<template>
<br />
You are using a Windows/DOS setup. If "jview B" does not work either,<br />
you may need to install Java on your computer. Go to java.sun.com <br />
and pick the one for your computer (Windows 95/98 or NT).<br />
<br />
If it still says "bad command" then possibly there is a problem with<br />
the CLASSPATH variable in AUTOEXEC.BAT. Make sure it is set to<br />
something like<br />
SET CLASSPATH=.;%CLASSPATH%<br />
(The single "." means the current working directory)<br />
and make sure the PATH is set to include the java home directory:<br />
SET PATH=c:\JDK1.2\bin;%PATH%<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>I TRIED TO COMPILE PRORGAM B AND GOT A LOT OF WARNINGS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The designers of Java and the designers of ALICE disagree<br />
on one stylistic point: Java designers believe in the<br />
"one file-one class" philosophy, at least for classes<br />
used outside their own source file. The ALICE engineers<br />
follow the opposite "one file-many classes" design principle,<br />
which allows us to group a number of logically related classes<br />
in a single file, such as Classifier.java. The Java compiler<br />
might complain about a class used outside its file, but<br />
these messages are just warnings.<br />
<br />
If you don't want to see the compiler warnings, run the<br />
compiler with the "-nowarn" flag:<br />
<br />
javac -nowarn *.java<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>IS THERE A WAY TO USE THE GUI INTERFACE TO ADD ONE CATEGORY AT A TIME</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Yes. Do a "clear". Type in one category:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHO IS JOHN</pattern><br />
<template>He is a really smart guy.</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
Now do a "Add AIML". If you like the result, do a "Save Robot".<br />
<br />
If your name is not John, try replacing JOHN with<br />
your own name. Notice that the pattern is in all upper case.<br />
This is called "normalized form". We store patterns this way<br />
for efficiency. The template on the other hand consists of<br />
mixed case. <br />
<br />
You can also create a file of AIML, do a cut & paste, and then "Add AIML"<br />
to add more categories. Editing the source file directly is of course also<br />
useful. If you edit the source file, select "Load Robot" to load it.<br />
<br />
Try creating a text file with the category:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHO IS JOHN WANG</pattern><br />
<template><br />
<random><br />
<li>He is a really smart guy.</li><br />
<li><set_he>John Wang</set_he> is a great father.</li><br />
</random><br />
</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
Load the file into program B with the "File/Load Text File" <br />
menu item. Then select "Add AIML" from the Botmaster menu.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>LIST TWELVE BASIC APPLET TIPS FOR AIML USERS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
1. Applets are notoriously hard to debug; you are not dumb.<br />
2. An applet can work perfectly well in Appletviewer, but<br />
then break in the browser, for any number of reasons.<br />
3. Let's get the terminology straight: the applet resides on<br />
an "originating host" but runs on a "target machine".<br />
4. The browser is very picky because of the "security<br />
sandbox"--the browser doesn't trust Applets so they can't<br />
open files (and obey other restrictions) on the target machine.<br />
5. The Applet MAY open a socket connection from the<br />
target machine to the originating host.<br />
6. When you are debugging the applet, the target machine<br />
might be the same as the originating host (your computer).<br />
7. When you post your applet to a remote web server,<br />
that server becomes the originating host.<br />
8. You can use ftp to transfer the Applet files to the<br />
remote web server.<br />
9. You must transfer ALL the applet's files <br />
to the originating host.<br />
10. You must change the program B values of "CodeBase"<br />
and "AppletHost" (the originating host) to the name and<br />
location of the files on the remote server.<br />
11. Use "Create applet" to create the "index.html" and<br />
"Blet.aiml" (make sure you have the latest release of B.zip)<br />
12. We recommend placing all the *.class files into<br />
a single "Blet.jar" file (see DON'T READ ME).<br />
<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>LOWER LOWER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
If you need even lower level access to the program B robot, <br />
you can request responses to individual sentences on a <br />
line-by-line basis. Inside multiline_response() there are <br />
calls to the Classifier.respond() method like:<br />
<br />
String response = respond(norm, hname);<br />
<br />
where "norm" is a normalized single-sentence input and hname is<br />
the virtual IP address of the client. <br />
<br />
Inside respond() we find the the method respondIndex(). The<br />
base class StringSet stores the strings in an indexed vector,<br />
and respondIndex() locates the index of the best matched category<br />
for the normalized input string.<br />
<br />
The loop inside respondIndex() scans through the categories<br />
in reverse alphabetical order by key, until it finds the best<br />
match. Because the "*" pattern comes first in alphabetical<br />
order, and is the most general pattern, respondIndex() will<br />
return zero when no more specific category matches.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT ARE 7 STEPS TO CREATING CONTENT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
1. Run program B (ALICE Botmaster)<br />
<br />
2. Under "Options", select "Show Options". <br />
Find the item called "AnalysisFile=" and<br />
change the value to the name of the dialogue<br />
file you want to analyze. The default file<br />
name is the same as the default log file<br />
name, "dialog.txt".<br />
<br />
3. Press the "Classify" button. Wait<br />
several minutes while the program processes<br />
the data from your log file. When finished<br />
it will display a "brain activation" table<br />
showing the patterns that activated each<br />
category. (You can use "File/Save As Text File"<br />
to save this table to a file, if you want).<br />
<br />
4. Now press the "Quick Targets" button.<br />
You will see a set of new categories created<br />
by the program. These are categories with<br />
patterns that have no specific response in the<br />
robot brain. With these categories you have <br />
3 choices (A, B or C):<br />
<br />
(A) Delete the category. Many of the suggested<br />
categories are just nonsense or garbage inputs.<br />
Use your cursor and left mouse button to select <br />
the categories for deletion. <br />
The "delete" key will cut them.<br />
<br />
(B) Edit a new template. The information you<br />
see displayed in the <template> tags is actually<br />
the pattern of the default category into which<br />
this input was classified. For example you may see:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHO IS 007</pattern><template>WHO IS *</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
This tells us that the robot classified the client "WHO IS 007"<br />
as "WHO IS *". Use the cursor and left mouse button<br />
to cut the "WHO IS *", and replace it with a new template<br />
of your own design:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHO IS 007</pattern><br />
<template><set_he>007</set_he> is James Bond, the<br />
famous fictional spy from the novels of Ian Fleming.<br />
</category><br />
<br />
(C) Edit a new pattern. Many of the patterns<br />
suggested by "Quick Targets" and "More Targets" are<br />
too specific, but with a little practise you<br />
can easily see how to generalize these suggestions<br />
with the "*" wild-card.<br />
<br />
For example you may see one like this:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHO BOMBED PEARL HARBOR</pattern><br />
<template>WHO *</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
The original response was based on "WHO *", which<br />
is too general for this topic. But the odds<br />
are small of anyone else using this exact pattern <br />
WHO BOMBED PEARL HARBOR when asking about the<br />
same topic. Think about the alternative ways<br />
of expressing the same question: <br />
"Who attacked Pearl Harbor?", "Who invaded Pearl<br />
Harbor?", "Who through deceit and subterfuge<br />
carried out an unscrupulous and unprovoked suprise<br />
attack on American forces at Pearl Harbor?"<br />
You can cover all of these inputs by generalizing<br />
the input pattern with the wild-card "*",<br />
which matches any word or sequence of words:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHO * PERAL HARBOR</pattern><br />
<template>The Japanase <br />
attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941,<br />
"A day that will live in infamy" (FDR). <br />
<A href="http://www.pearlharbor.org">...<br />
</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
Remember, the AIML pattern language allows<br />
at most one wild-card "*" per pattern.<br />
<br />
Of course, with choice (C) you have to<br />
edit the template as well as the pattern. <br />
<br />
5. When finished with editing the suggested categories,<br />
use "Botmaster - Add AIML" to add the new AIML content.<br />
If you made any syntax errors, you can fix them<br />
and repeat the "Add AIML" as many times as needed.<br />
Be sure to do a "File - Save Robot" at this point<br />
also to back up your changes. This will save all of<br />
your new categories in the root robot file<br />
"B.aiml". <br />
<br />
6. Use "More Targets" to find more new categories<br />
until the new suggestions are fruitless. Then, go<br />
back and start with "Classify" again (step [3]). <br />
<br />
7. The responses you create should be a combination<br />
of a "conversational" response like "He is James<br />
Bond, the famous spy" and also provide some HTML<br />
hyperlinks where appropriate. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT ARE ALL THE OPTIONS FOR PROGRAM B</pattern>
<template>
<br />
There are robot personality options, animated agent options,<br />
log file and analysis options, and options for the web server<br />
and for the applet. Most of the time you won't need to change<br />
many of these values. For completeness, the entire set<br />
breaks down into:<br />
<br />
Robot options:<br />
<br />
Sign - Astrological sign<br />
Wear - clothing and apparel<br />
ForFun - What the robot does for fun<br />
BotFile - Root file of robot personality<br />
BotName - Robot name<br />
Friends - The robot's friends<br />
LookLike - The robot appearance<br />
Question - A random question<br />
TalkAbout - favorite subjects<br />
KindMusic - Favorite kind of music<br />
BoyFriend - Does the robot have a boyfriend?<br />
BotMaster - Robot author<br />
BotGender - male, female or custom<br />
GirlFriend - Does the robot have a girlfriend?<br />
BotLocation - Robot location<br />
BotBirthday - Robot activation date<br />
FavoriteBook - Robot's favorite book<br />
FavoriteFood - Robot's favorite food<br />
FavoriteSong - Robot's favorite song<br />
FavoriteBand - Robot's favorite band<br />
FavoriteMovie - Robot's favorite movie<br />
FavoriteColor - Robot's favorite color<br />
BotBirthplace - Robot's birthplace<br />
<br />
MS Agent options:<br />
<br />
Animagent - true or false for activating MS Agent VB scripting<br />
ACFURL - file or URL location of MS Agent software<br />
<br />
Log/Analysis options:<br />
<br />
AnalysisFile - file selected for log file analysis<br />
LogFile - file for recording robot dialogues<br />
ClientLineContains - a pattern identifying input lines in logfiles<br />
RobotLineStarts - a pattern identifying robot lines in logfiles<br />
StartLine - starting line for analysis<br />
EndLine - ending line for log file analysis<br />
<br />
Applet options:<br />
<br />
AppletHost - DNS name or IP address of applet's server.<br />
CodeBase - URL or directory of applet code.<br />
<br />
Web server options:<br />
<br />
ClerkTimeout - Web server option to retire waiting clerks<br />
BrainSize - a threshold number of categories to display "loading"<br />
Advertize - a boolean parameter to optionally display ad<br />
Beep - Web server option to beep on client connections<br />
<br />
Other:<br />
<br />
Version - read only version number<br />
TempFile - scratch file for temporary data<br />
MergePolicy - 'Merge' or 'Discard' depending on how you <br />
want to handle duplicate key categories.<br />
<br />
All of the options reside in the globals.txt file. Running<br />
program B, choose "Options/Show Options" to see the<br />
contents of the file.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT ARE DEPRECATED APIS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
One of the biggest challenges facing a Java application<br />
developer is finding a "lowest common denominator" subset of the<br />
Java language that works on all the platforms and versions<br />
out there. The Java language itself is a moving target.<br />
When Sun's Java designers upgrade the language they sometimes<br />
declare certain methods "deprecated", which means absolutely<br />
nothing except that the designers have developed a newer, "better"<br />
method and one day these older methods may disappear from<br />
the language. Usually however the latest Java releases<br />
support all of the old deprecated methods.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT ARE JUSTTHAT AND JUSTBEFORETHAT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
<beforethat/>, <justthat/> and <justbeforethat/> are new, experimental<br />
AIML tags. The idea here is to represent more "state" in the dialogue<br />
than just "that":<br />
<br />
Client: BeforeThat.<br />
Robot: ...JustBeforeThat.<br />
Client: JustThat.<br />
Robot: ...That. <br />
Client: Input. <br />
Robot: <justthat/> = JustThat <br />
<justbeforethat/> = JustBeforeThat<br />
<beforethat/> = BeforeThat<br />
<br />
The following dialogue fragment illustrates the use of these tags:<br />
<br />
Client: MY NAME IS RICH.<br />
Robot: Rich, are you my master?<br />
Client: YES.<br />
Robot: Tell me more.<br />
Client: JUST THAT.<br />
Robot: "my name is rich" [<justthat/>]<br />
Client: JUST BEFORE THAT.<br />
Robot: "Tell me more" [<justbeforethat/>]<br />
Client: BEFORE THAT.<br />
Robot: "Yes" [<beforethat/>]<br />
<br />
<br />
There is an asymmetry between the client's tags (<beforethat/> and <justthat/>)<br />
and the robot's tags (<justbeforethat/> and <that/>). The Responder<br />
breaks down each multiple-line client input into individual sentences.<br />
The log file records each client input sentence individually, and shows<br />
the robot's reponses line by line. The robot, on the other hand, may<br />
respond to a single input sentences with multiple response sentences.<br />
The <that/> and <justbeforethat/> tags refer to only the last sentence<br />
in the robot's reply. The client tags <beforethat/> and <justthat/> always<br />
refer to the current and previous client input lines, even if they were<br />
part of a multiline input. In the descriptive dialogue above <br />
we used the notation "Client: BeforeThat." and "Robot: ...JustBeforeThat.",<br />
with ellipses representing sentences in the robot reply, to emphasize<br />
the asymmetry. If all the robot responses consisted of exactly one <br />
sentence each, the asymmetry would disappear.<br />
<br />
In the future we may expand AIML categories to include such<br />
"deeper context", along the lines of the <that>...</that> tag,<br />
if there is a need for it.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT ARE THE GET METHODS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Get methods are logically atomic tags, i.e. they enclose no text.<br />
(similar to say <P> or <IMG> in HTML). But XML requires closing tags.<br />
<br />
All the "get" methods retrieve values stored relative<br />
to a particular client IP address. We use<br />
hash tables to store the maps from IP to these attributes.<br />
<br />
<get_ip/> Get the client's IP address<br />
<getsize/> A string indicating robot memory size<br />
<getversion/> The ALICE program version<br />
<getname/> client's name<br />
<gettopic/> The "topic" of conversation<br />
<name/> Robot's name<br />
<location/> Robot's location<br />
<gender/> Robot's gender<br />
<birthday/> Robot's birthday<br />
<that/> what robot said previously<br />
<get_location/> the client's geographic location<br />
<get_it/> the value of "it"<br />
<get_they/> the value of "they"<br />
<get_he/> the value of "he"<br />
<get_she/> the value of "she"<br />
<get_we/> the value of "we"<br />
<get_gender/> a string like "she" or "he" for client gender<br />
<br />
In XML languages there is always a tradeoff between creating attributes<br />
and creating new tags. The get methods are really all special instances<br />
of a more general <get attribute="name">, for example<br />
<get_we/> = <get attribute="we"/><br />
<br />
The attributes with explicit "get" names (getname, get_it, get_we etc.)<br />
are client-specific properties. The other attributes (e.g. <name/> and<br />
<botmaster/>) relate to the robot. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT ARE THE SET METHODS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Set methods consist of single-tag and double-tag markup. The<br />
methods<br />
<br />
<set_male/> the client gender is male<br />
<set_female/> the client gender is female<br />
<set_animagent/> activates the animation agent. <br />
<br />
<br />
<setname> X </setname> sets the client name to X<br />
<settopic> X </settopic> sets the topic to X<br />
<set_it> X </set_it> sets the value of "it" to X <br />
<set_location> X </set_location> sets the value of client location<br />
<set_they> X </set_they> sets the value of "they" to X <br />
<set_he> X </set_he> sets the value of "he" to X <br />
<set_she> X </set_she> sets the value of "she" to X <br />
<set_we> X </set_we> sets the value of "we" to X <br />
<br />
<set_thought> X </set_thought> is a custom tag suggested by Andrew <br />
Potgieter for storing a predicate for "what are you thinking about?" <br />
See the documentation on custom tags and the predicates.txt file.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THE COMMAND JAVA B</pattern>
<template>
<br />
This does not mean you mean click on an icon. If you are using Windows,<br />
you must use a DOS window to run a Java program. Find the MS-DOS item<br />
on your start menu or desktop and open up a DOS window. In that window, use<br />
the DOS commands CD (change directory) to move to the "B" directory. <br />
Then type "java B" to run the program.<br />
<br />
If you are using windows, then you can create a desktop icon <br />
as a "shortcut" to a batch file. Create a batch file called<br />
"launch.bat" in the program B directory. The file contains only<br />
one line with the text "java B". There is an AIML icon file<br />
included with program B called "aiml.ico". You can use this<br />
file to add an icon to your desktop. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT DOES CLASSIFY DO</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The key to chat robot development is log file analysis. The program<br />
stores client dialogues in a file called "dialog.txt" (unless you<br />
change this default name). The "Classify" button activates a routine<br />
that scans the dialogue file and reports how many times each<br />
category is activated. The processing may take several minutes,<br />
depending on the size and range of the dialogue file chosen. The<br />
result appears as a table in the Edit View window. The program<br />
displays the categories sorted by activation count. <br />
<br />
The format of each output line is:<br />
<br />
P% (Q%) T PATTERN = N1 W1 + N2 W2 + ...<br />
<br />
Where<br />
<br />
P = Percent of inputs classified in this category<br />
Q = Cumulative percent up to this category<br />
T = Total count of inputs activating this category<br />
Ni = number of times input Wi detected (blank if Ni = 1)<br />
Wi = normalized input pattern activating this category<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT DOES CLEAR DO</pattern>
<template>
<br />
To enter another robot query, clear the screen with the "Clear"<br />
button. Enter a new String like "How are you?" and press "Say."<br />
<br />
"Send" and "Clear" provide a simple way to communicate with the<br />
chat bot through the Edit View. Try cutting and pasting a paragraph,<br />
such as an e-mail message, into the Edit View and press "Send". <br />
See how the robot would reply to your multiline message.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT DOES HELP DO</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The "Help" button displays a random FAQ question that ALICE<br />
knows the answer to. You can see the answer by pressing the<br />
"Send" button.<br />
<br />
The Help menu provides the same function as the Help button<br />
under the selection "Random Help Question." Select a random<br />
Help question and obtain the reply with the "Send" button.<br />
<br />
The Help menu also contains an item to Show All Help Questions.<br />
This command lists all the FAQ questions the robot knows. You can<br />
select one question by deleting the others. Obtain the<br />
answer with the "Send" button.<br />
<br />
The menu item "Ask Help Question" is the same as "Send". This<br />
item asks the robot the Help question(s), and displays the reply.<br />
<br />
The Help menu displays the entire FAQ with the "Don't Read Me"<br />
selection. Finally, the "GNU Public License" menu items displays<br />
the open source software license for program B.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT DOES MORE TARGETS DO</pattern>
<template>
<br />
If you don't see enough good targets with "Quick Targets", hit<br />
"More Targets." <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT DOES QUICK TARGETS DO</pattern>
<template>
<br />
After running Classify, the Quick Targets button displays a set of<br />
new AIML categories for editing. The program uses statistics to<br />
find new category candidates. These categories are displayed as<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern> NEW PATTERN </pattern> <template> OLD PATTERN </template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
where OLD PATTERN is the pattern from the original category and<br />
NEW PATTERN is the proposed new input pattern.<br />
<br />
The botmaster may choose to either delete or edit the new category.<br />
If the new category is not desired, delete it by selecting the<br />
category from the text area and "cut" the text with the "delete"<br />
key.<br />
<br />
If the new category appears useful, edit the OLD PATTERN string to<br />
create a new reply. Optionally, the NEW PATTERN may also be edited,<br />
depending on how specific a pattern the botmaster desires.<br />
<br />
When finished editing the Target categories, go to the "Botmaster"<br />
menu and select "Add AIML". The "Add AIML" menu item will read the<br />
text displayed in the Edit View and parse it into new AIML categories.<br />
The botmaster may then save the updated robot with the "File/Save Robot"<br />
or "File/Save Robot As" menu items.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT DOES SEND DO</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Type a text string like "hello" into the Text Area <br />
(Edit View) and press the "Send" button. Notice that program B<br />
replaces the text in the Edit View with a reply from the robot.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT DOES THE EDIT MENU DO</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Paste contents of clipboard into the program B text area.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT DOES THE FILE MENU DO</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Save and load text files (transfer contents to/from text area);<br />
<br />
Save and load robot (AIML) files.<br />
1. By default, AIML files use the .aiml file extension.<br />
2. The default robot file is called "B.aiml"<br />
3. By default the robot files reside in the same directory as<br />
program B<br />
4. Robot files begin and end with the tags <alice> and </alice><br />
5. "Save Robot" overwrites the default robot file (see 2).<br />
6. "Save Robot As" can be used to copy a robot.<br />
<br />
Exit - exit the program<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT DOES THE OPTIONS MENU DO</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Display and save chat robot options.<br />
Use start and end index to select a range of lines<br />
from the dialog file.<br />
<br />
Toggle Beep - Make a sound when a remote client connects.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT FILES ARE NEEDED TO RUN THE PROGRAM B WEB SERVER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The program B directory must contain the HTML files header.html,<br />
trailer.html, loading.html and HOME.html. You can customize these files for<br />
your bot, but take care with "header" and "trailer" because<br />
program B uses these files to construct an HTML reply <br />
(by inserting the robot reply and the text form between the <br />
"header" and the "trailer"). Use "header" and "trailer" to<br />
customize the robot with your own logo and links.<br />
<br />
Program B needs at least one AIML file, usually called B.aiml<br />
by default. The AIML file may contain <load> tags that recursively<br />
load other AIML files; these must also be present.<br />
<br />
The program also requires the file "globals.txt"<br />
which it reads at start up. <br />
<br />
The files "language.txt" and "predicates.txt" are option.<br />
"language.txt" controls the language of the buttons and<br />
menu items in the program B GUI. The file "predicates.txt"<br />
defines any custom predicates.<br />
<br />
Program B also reads the files "gnu.txt" (the GNU Public License)<br />
and "dont.txt" (this file). <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT FILES DO I NEED TO RUN THE APPLET</pattern>
<template>
<br />
You only need the java *.class files and the *.aiml files<br />
to run the ALICE Applet, no more files are necessary. <br />
You can also put all the class files in a single jar<br />
file like Blet.jar. The sample index.html provided with the ALICE <br />
distribution uses this Blet.jar file. <br />
<br />
Not all of the Java source files are involved in the Applet.<br />
You can use the following command to compile all the Java source<br />
files needed for the Applet:<br />
<br />
javac Access.java Globals.java StringFile.java Substituter.java \<br />
Classifier.java Loader.java Animagent.java Log.java Blet.java<br />
<br />
Then, you can use zip (or jar) to collect the class files into<br />
a single jar file:<br />
<br />
zip -r Blet.jar *.class <br />
<br />
The *.class will include all the class files you compiled. <br />
<br />
The *.aiml files have to be on the same host that serves the Applet. An applet<br />
can only open files on the server it originated from.<br />
<br />
Don't forget to change the Applet host parameters in index.html, when<br />
you upload the applet to an ISP.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT HAPPENS TO CONTRACTIONS AND PUNCTUATION</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Program B has a class called Substituter that performs a number<br />
of grammatical and syntactical substitutions on strings. <br />
One task involves preprocessing sentences to remove ambiguous<br />
punctuation to prepare the input for segmentation into individual<br />
sentence phrases. Another task expands all contractions and<br />
coverts all letters to upper case; this process is called<br />
"normalization". <br />
<br />
The Substituter class also performs some spelling correction.<br />
(See also the question "What is <person/>?")<br />
<br />
One justification for removing all punctuation from inputs<br />
is the need to make ALICE compatible with speech input systems,<br />
which of course do not detect punctuation (unless the speaker<br />
utters the actual word for the punctuation mark -- "period").<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IF I DO NOT WANT TO DISCARD DUPLICATE CATEGORIES</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Using the global parameter MergePolicy, you can choose<br />
to either "Merge" or "Discard" templates with duplicate keys.<br />
If you choose the "Merge" option then the program applies a <br />
heuristic to try to merge the two responses together with<br />
a "<random>" tag. The results of this operation may be<br />
unpredictable, so the program logs all duplicates in a file<br />
called "duplicates.txt".<br />
<br />
The heuristic merge works as follows: Suppose X and Y are the two<br />
templates to merge into a new template Z. Let X be the new template<br />
and Y the existing one. Assume that X and Y are either <random> <br />
lists or "atomic", in the sense that they contain no <random> tags.<br />
If X and Y are both "atomic" then Z = <random><li>X</li><li>Y</li></random>. <br />
If Y is a <random> list atomic then the program checks to see if X is<br />
already a member of that list, to avoid duplicate list items. Otherwise,<br />
Z = the <random> list from Y with X inserted. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS A CATEGORY</pattern>
<template>
<br />
AIML consists of a list of statements called categories. Each<br />
category contains an input pattern and a reply template. <br />
The syntax of an AIML category is:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern> PATTERN </pattern> <template> Template </template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
or<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern> PATTERN </pattern><br />
<that> THAT </that><br />
<template> Template </template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
The AIML category tags are case-sensitive. Each open tag has an<br />
associated closing tag. This syntax obviously derives from XML.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS A PATTERN</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The pattern is the "stimulus" or "input" part of the category.<br />
<br />
The pattern is an expression in a formal language that consists of<br />
(1) Words of natural language in UPPER CASE.<br />
(2) The symbol * which matches any sequence of one or more words.<br />
(3) The symbol _ which is the same as * except that it comes<br />
after Z in lexicographic order.<br />
(4) The markup <name/> which is replaced at robot load time <br />
with the name of the robot.<br />
<br />
Note there is a difference between the patterns HELLO and HELLO *.<br />
HELLO matches only identical one-word sentences ("Hello.") <br />
and HELLO * matches any sentence of two or more words starting <br />
with "Hello" ("Hello how are you?"). <br />
<br />
To simplify pattern description and matching, AIML patterns allow<br />
only one "*" per pattern. In other words, "MY NAME IS *" is a<br />
valid pattern, but "* AND *" is not.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS A SYMBOLIC REDUCTION</pattern>
<template>
<br />
In general there are a lot of categories whose job is<br />
"symbolic reduction". The category:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>ARE YOU VERY *</pattern><br />
<template><srai>ARE YOU <star/></srai></template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
This category [in Brain.aiml] will reduce "Are you very very smart"<br />
to "Are you smart".<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS A TEMPLATE</pattern>
<template>
<br />
A template is the "response" or "output" part of an AIML category.<br />
<br />
The template is the formula for constructing the reply. The simplest<br />
template consists of plain, unmarked text. AIML provides markup <br />
functions to tailor the replies for each individual input and client. <br />
The markup function <getname/> for example inserts the client's name <br />
into the reply. <br />
<br />
The template may call the pattern matcher recursively using the<br />
<sr/> and <srai> tags. Many templates are simple symbolic <br />
reductions that map one sentence form to another, for example<br />
"Do you know what X is?" transforms to "What is X" with the category<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>DO YOU KNOW WHAT * IS</pattern><br />
<template><srai>WHAT IS <star/> </srai></template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
The template may also contain other embedded HTML and XML. <br />
These embedded tags may cause the browser to play a sound,<br />
show an image, or run an applet. There is considerable freedom<br />
of expression in the construction of response templates. The<br />
botmaster is encouraged to study the examples in ALICE, to and<br />
experiment with new ideas.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS AIML</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The ALICE software implements AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup <br />
Language) a non-standard evolving markup language for creating chat robots.<br />
The primary design feature of AIML is minimalism. Compared with<br />
other chat robot languages, AIML is perhaps the simplest. The<br />
pattern matching language is very simple, for example permitting<br />
only one wild-card ('*') match character per pattern. <br />
<br />
AIML is an XML language, implying that it obeys certain grammatical<br />
meta-rules. The choice of XML syntax permits integration with<br />
other tools such as XML editors. Another motivation for XML is<br />
its familiar look and feel, especially to people with HTML experience.<br />
<br />
An AIML chat robot begins and ends with the <alice> and<br />
</alice> tags respectively. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS ARE THE LT PERSON GT TAGS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The <person> and <person2> tags indicate a place where the<br />
AIML interpreter changes the personal pronouns in a sentence.<br />
<br />
<person2> X </person2> change X from 1st to 2nd person<br />
<person> X </person> exchange 1st and 3rd person<br />
<br />
<person2> is not often used. The main application is<br />
"gossip":<br />
<br />
Client: I admire robots like you.<br />
Robot: That's good information: Joe said he admire robots like me.<br />
<br />
The transformation is a combination of:<br />
<br />
1. change the first person pronouns to second person.<br />
2. change the third person pronouns to first person.<br />
<br />
The array in Substituter.java is incomplete. We need more substitutions<br />
to make person2 work really well.<br />
<br />
The <person> substitution is much more common and easier<br />
to understand, because it simply exchanges 1st and 3rd person<br />
pronouns. The main issue with <person> in English is knowing<br />
when to use "I" and when to use "me".<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS ACCESS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Class Access is the abstraction for log file analysis to<br />
extract dialogues. In a typical chat robot server scenario,<br />
the program records each line of client input and the robot<br />
reply in a log file. Given many simultaneous conversations,<br />
these dialogues are interleaved in the log file. The purpose<br />
of class Access is to unravel these conversations into<br />
individual threads by client.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS ALICEREADER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
AliceReader is an efficient, small-footprint XML interpreter<br />
hard coded by Kris Drent specifically for reading AIML categories. <br />
Each category has a pattern, a template, and an optional topic and<br />
thatpattern. AliceReader scans the AIML input and tries to<br />
identify these fields as quickly as possible.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS B</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Class B is the old name for the Swing version of class Bawt, but<br />
now just extends Bawt.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS BAWT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The class Bawt is the Java application, and implements the GUI.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS BLET</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The Blet class is the applet, but is similar in many ways to the application.<br />
The applet is a stripped down version of the program, with a simpler GUI<br />
and no "botmaster" privileges. Also, the Blet class doesn't utilize the<br />
web server, because it runs as a client-side applet.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS BRAIN</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Brain extends StringSorter, and uses StringRanker. The sorted<br />
strings in the Brain class are keys formed by combining the<br />
pattern, that, and topic strings. In the original versions<br />
of ALICE, there were no "that" and no "topic" tags, so the<br />
Brain class simply mapped input patterns to output templates.<br />
With the addition of the "that" and "topic" tags we had to<br />
create the "key" from the combination of all three.<br />
<br />
The "Target" objects in class Brain are instances of StringRanker.<br />
These structures form the basis of the classification and targeting<br />
algorithms in program B. For each category, the Targetmap contains<br />
an instance of StringRanker storing the inputs classified into<br />
that category. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS CLASSIFIER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The class Classifier might as well be called "bot" because it contains<br />
the basic functionality of the chatterbot algorithm. <br />
<br />
See the question "How can I interace my Java program to ALICE?" for<br />
additional information about the class Classifier.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS DIALOGUE</pattern>
<template>
<br />
A Dialogue (not to be confused with a Dialog class!) is<br />
the representation of the conversation between the client<br />
and the robot. The basic data structure is a pair of String arrays<br />
client_said[] and robot_said[] that store the alternating<br />
statements of client and robot. The Dialogue also<br />
encodes the length, hostname, and start and end tag<br />
information.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS GLOBALS</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Globals is the repository for all of the botmaster-selectable<br />
parameters in program B. The Globals class corresponds to<br />
the "Options" menu on the program B menu bar. Globals contains<br />
methods toFile() and fromFile() to make these values<br />
persistent between sessions.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS INTSET</pattern>
<template>
<br />
IntSet represents a set of integers. Were we using Java<br />
Collections this would likely be a Set, but the simple<br />
requirements of program B allow us to create a simple<br />
IntSet class.<br />
<br />
"Set" means that the object has only one occurance of each item:<br />
{1, 4, 2, 9} is a set of integers; {1, 1, 2} is not.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS KID</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Class Kid is a simplified graphical user interface, "easy enough<br />
for kids" to run. Program Kid does not evoke program B, but the Kid<br />
may be started from the program B options menu. The logic here<br />
is that kids should be able to have conversations with the chat<br />
robot, but parents may not want kids to start chat robot servers<br />
(see Appendix B: Note to Parents).<br />
<br />
Class Kid utilizes RobotCommunicator as its interface to the<br />
chat robot. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS LINECLASSIFIER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
In the file Log.java you will find an Interface called LineProcessor<br />
with one required method: process_line(). The LineProcessor<br />
is the abstraction of an algorithm that reads a file one line at a time,<br />
processes each line as a data record, and moves on to the next.<br />
<br />
LineClassifier implements LineProcessor because it reads lines<br />
of text from the log file and identifies client input lines for<br />
classification. What makes classification efficient is the way<br />
LineClassifier stores the client lines in a SortedStringSet, called<br />
Lines. Becuase the matching algorithm proiritizes the patterns<br />
alphabetically, LineClassifier can classify an element from Lines<br />
in O(1) time.<br />
<br />
The code for LineClassifier is in Classifier.java.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS LOADER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Both the application and the applet use the Loader class to load the AIML<br />
robot script. The Loader class extends Thread, and runs "in the background"<br />
while the GUI and, in the case of the application, the web server start.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS PARSER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The Parser class is responsible for the evaluation of AIML<br />
response templates. The method pfkh() [the Program Formerly<br />
Known as Hello] is the heart of evaluation process. This<br />
method contains the code for recognizing and processing<br />
AIML template tags.<br />
<br />
The Parser class does not parse all the AIML in the language<br />
definition; it parses and evaluates only the templates at runtime.<br />
Another class, AliceReader, has the job of reading the AIML files <br />
at load time, and parsing the categories into topics, patterns and templates. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS ROBOTCOMMUNICATOR</pattern>
<template>
<br />
If you want to customize your own application or applet then<br />
you might find RobotCommunicator is a useful class. The<br />
RobotCommunicator abstracts the combination of a scrolling TextArea <br />
output display with a TextField input area input field.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS SORTEDINTSET</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The sorted version of IntSet, SortedIntSet maintains its<br />
elements in a sorted array. Throughout program B you will<br />
find many loops utilizing instances of SortedIntSet. These<br />
objects provide an efficient means to locate items in<br />
"rank order", the highest numbered items first and the<br />
smallest numbers last. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS STRINGHISTOGRAMMER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
StringHistogrammer extends StringSet and contains a map from<br />
each string to a count, usually indicating the number of times<br />
that string appears in a sample of text. A histogram is<br />
like a "bar graph" that counts occurances of each item. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS STRINGRANKER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Extending StringHistogrammer, StringRanker also sorts the <br />
strings by the histogram count. The highest count string<br />
is first, the next highest count second, and so on. <br />
<br />
The concept of a StringRanker should be familiar to anyone<br />
who has ranked people, companies or sports teams by any<br />
number such as sales, market capitilization, or points scored.<br />
One application for a StringRanker is determining the<br />
"top 10 referers" in HTTP log file analysis (see<br />
http://alicebot.org/mine.html). <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS STRINGSET</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The StringSet implements the abstract concept of a set of<br />
strings, meaning that each string item appears at most once<br />
in the setc. <br />
<br />
The "set" means that the strings occur only once in instances<br />
of object StringSet: {"this","that","another"} is a set of<br />
strings; {"start","start","stop"} is not.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS STRINGSORTER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
StringSorter extends StringSet but enforces an alphabetical<br />
ordering of the Strings. The StringSorter maintains its<br />
data structure dynamically, so that the set remains sorted<br />
after each item is added. Specifically, the StringSorter uses<br />
a binary-search algorithm for fast String insertion. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS SUBSTITUTER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The static class Substituter contains a number of similar string substitution<br />
methods useful at several points in program B.<br />
<br />
Program B has the unique feature that it relies on HTTP GET methods,<br />
rather than POST methods, to transmit chat inputs to the robot server.<br />
HTTP inserts '+' characters in place of spaces, and applies a series of<br />
substitutions to eliminate many characters. The static method cleanup_http()<br />
undoes these substitutions and restores the input string to the form similar<br />
to what the client originally typed.<br />
<br />
The problem of segmenting strings into sentences is complicated by the<br />
conventional use of periods to denote abbreviations like "Dr.", "Mr.",<br />
and "St." The method deperiodize() applies a series of substitutions to<br />
eliminate most common abbreviations. Like the other substitution methods<br />
in this class, the deperiodize() method has an associated static data member<br />
of class String[][2], which stores the substitution map.<br />
<br />
The patterns in AIML are written in normalized form. The method normalize()<br />
converts a string to normal form by the following steps:<br />
<br />
1. Remove all punctuation (inputs assumed to be individual sentences)<br />
<br />
2. Convert string to upper case<br />
<br />
3. Place exactly one space between words<br />
<br />
4. Expand all contractions<br />
<br />
5. Correct a few common spelling mistakes<br />
<br />
6. Return a "Trimmed" string<br />
<br />
The justification for removing all punctuation from text inputs<br />
is explained by the need to make the chatterbot compatible with speech<br />
inputs, which of course contains no punctuation.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS UNIFIER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Unification refers to the process of matching and binding. A unifier determines<br />
whether two sentences match and, if so, what any 'variables' in the pattern<br />
bind to. In the case of AIML the only matching variable is the single '*'<br />
symbol. The Unifier class contains a 'star' data memeber to contain the<br />
matched subsentence.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS CLASS WEBSERVER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The WebSever class implements a "faux" HTTP server, i.e. a server that<br />
listens for HTTP connections and accepts them; then replies in properly<br />
formatted HTML. The connecting client, typically a browser, cannot tell<br />
the difference between the chat robot server and a full-blown web server.<br />
In particular, our WebServer implements only HTTP GET methods, not POST<br />
methods. Our WebServer class does not implement many of the other features <br />
of ordinary web servers; although it is a multithreaded server.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS LT LOAD FILENAME X GT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The template may contain a <load/> tag to recursively load an AIML<br />
file. The semantics of a load are the same as a merge: categories<br />
loaded first have priority; the server eliminates categories with<br />
duplicate patterns. <br />
<br />
The default robot file B.aiml contains the top-level load commands.<br />
There are several ways to "comment out" a <load> tag in order<br />
to test your system with a smaller robot. You can change the<br />
line reading <br />
<load filename="Brain.aiml"/><br />
to <br />
<noload filename="Brain.aiml"/><br />
and the AIML parser will simply ignore the non-existent "noload"<br />
command.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS LT STAR GT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The <star> tag indicates the input text fragment matching the pattern '*'.<br />
Remember, <star/> is an XML abbreviation for <star></star>.<br />
<br />
<star/> the value of "*" matched by the pattern.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS LT THAT GT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The keyword "that" in ALICE refers to whatever the robot said before<br />
a user input. Conceptually the choice of "that" comes from the<br />
observation of the role of the word "that" in dialogue fragments like:<br />
<br />
Robot: Today is yesterday.<br />
Client: That makes no sense.<br />
<br />
Robot: The answer is 3.14159<br />
Client: That is cool.<br />
<br />
In AIML the syntax <that>...</that> permits an optional "ThatPattern"<br />
to match the robot's "that" expression. A common example using "that"<br />
is any yes-no question:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>YES</pattern><br />
<that> DO YOU LIKE MOVIES </that><br />
<template> What's your favorite movie? </template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
This category handles the user input "YES" and checks to see whether<br />
the client is replying to the question "What's your favorite movie?".<br />
<br />
One interesting application of "that" are the categories that<br />
enable a robot to respond to "knock-knock" jokes:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>KNOCK KNOCK</pattern><br />
<template>Who's there?</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>*</pattern><br />
<that>WHO IS THERE</that><br />
<template><person/> Who?</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>*</pattern><br />
<that>* WHO</that><br />
<template>Ha ha very funny, <getname/></template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
Client: KNOCK KNOCK<br />
Robot: Who's there? <br />
Client: BANANA<br />
Robot: banana Who? <br />
Client: KNOCK KNOCK<br />
Robot: Who's there? <br />
Client: BANANA<br />
Robot: banana Who? <br />
Client: KNOCK KNOCK<br />
Robot: Who's there? <br />
Client: ORANGE<br />
Robot: orange Who? <br />
Client: ORANGE YOU GLAD I DID NOT SAY BANANA<br />
Robot: Ha ha very funny, Aol-person <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS LT THINK GT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The simple purpose of the <think> X </think> tag pair is<br />
to evaluate the AIML expression X, but "nullify" or hide<br />
the result from the client reply.<br />
<br />
A simple example:<br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>I AM FEMALE</pattern><br />
<template>Thanks for telling me your gender. <think><set_female/></think><br />
</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
The <set_female/> tag normally returns a string like "she". But the<br />
<think> tag hides the text output of <set_female/> from the reply,<br />
which contains only the text:<br />
<br />
Thanks for telling me your gender. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS NEW IN AIML</pattern>
<template>
<br />
AIML is changing. The original tag syntax was changed<br />
into XML. Right now, AIML uses XML syntax for the<br />
categories, patterns, "that" patterns and templates, but inside the <br />
<template> tag you may still see the original +~ syntax in a few places. <br />
But this will change soon. For completeness program B<br />
supports both versions.<br />
<br />
The biggest change between the old AIML and the new<br />
XML version of AIML is the elimination of the "+"<br />
character to stand for string appendage. The change<br />
is of little concern except in the implementation of<br />
<random>, discussed at length below.<br />
<br />
The old AIML used a tilde (~) markup character to<br />
indicate the start of an AIML token. The XML version<br />
naturally uses an SGML type tag syntax instead.<br />
<br />
XML tags, unlike HTML, are case-sensitive. Moreover, XML syntax<br />
requires a closing tag of some kind. The "empty" tags that contain<br />
no text, like <A></A> in HTML, are written like <A/> in XML.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS ON THE HELP MENU</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Random Help - Same as "Help" button.<br />
<br />
Show Help Questions - Displays a list of all FAQ questions. Select<br />
one by deleting all the others. Obtain the answer with "Send." <br />
<br />
Don't Read Me - Display the text of this document.<br />
<br />
GNU Public License - Display the software license.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS PROGRAM BAWT</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Significant demand for a version of ALICE compatible with<br />
pre- Java 2 (formerly known as Java 1.2) prompted the<br />
development of "Bawt.java", an open source java program<br />
for chat robot development that works with older versions of<br />
Java, and AWT. Originally program B relied on <br />
Java 2 and Swing, but program Bawt needs only Java 1.1 and AWT.<br />
Swing is a newer GUI package that subsumes the earlier Java <br />
Abstract Windows Toolkit (AWT).<br />
<br />
At present class B merely extends class Bawt. Swing not<br />
supported.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE BOTMASTER MENU</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The Botmaster menu contains all the tools to help develop chat robots.<br />
<br />
Classify - same as Classify button<br />
<br />
Default Targets - display targets obtained from<br />
the Default ('*') category,<br />
in a format suitable for <br />
quick conversion to new AIML.<br />
<br />
Recursive Targets - display targets from "recursive" categories,<br />
i.e. categories with a template containing<br />
the AIML <sr/> or <srai/> functions.<br />
<br />
Autochat - The robot chats with herself; sometimes helpful<br />
in detecting conversation "loops".<br />
<br />
Add AIML - Clear the screen and type a line of AIML. Selecting<br />
"Add AIML" adds this new category to the chatbot. You can<br />
test the bot with "Send" and "Classify", then save it with<br />
"File/Save Robot".<br />
<br />
In general you can add any number of new AIML categories<br />
to the bot with "Add AIML." <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE CLASS STRUCTURE OF PROGRAM B</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The core functionality of program B resides in the file<br />
Classifier.java. In that file, you find a class hierarchy<br />
from "String" to "Brain" and finally "Classifier." <br />
A branch in that hierarchy contains classes for histogramming<br />
and ranking. <br />
<br />
The first branch of the class hierarchy derives class Brain<br />
from StringSorter, extending StringSet. The second branch<br />
extends StringSet to StringHistogrammer and on to StringRanker.<br />
The final class Brain extends StringSet and uses StringRanker.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN B AND C</pattern>
<template>
<br />
AIML is a platform-independent, language-independent specification<br />
for creating chat robots like ALICE. The original AIML interpreter<br />
ran in SETL. The next one developed was program B, the Java program<br />
which is the subject of this document. Most recently new threads<br />
of C/C++ development have led to "program C", actually a collection<br />
of C/C++ programs and applications including Cgi-ALICE, IRC-ALICE and<br />
WinALICE. See the web sites http://c.alicebot.com and<br />
http://hippie.alicebot.com for more details. <br />
<br />
Program B remains the most stable, general purpose chat robot<br />
program in the AIML family. This Java implementation has been<br />
subject to intense peer review over a period of years, evolving<br />
into a remarkably bug-free, efficient and reabable piece of<br />
software.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE DTD FOR AIML</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Real XML fanatics know that because AIML is an XML language it<br />
must have something called a DTD (Document Template Descriptor).<br />
The DTD is a formal specification of the grammar for an XML language.<br />
Unless you are using special XML tools to work on your AIML or<br />
developing your own parser for AIML, you probably do not need to know <br />
much about the DTD.<br />
<br />
Our DTD reflects the current content of the *.aiml files that program B can <br />
actually parse. The DTD will become more general as the parser<br />
improves. <br />
<br />
Rather than reproduce the entire DTD here, in order to shorten the<br />
length of this document, we refer the reader to<br />
the A.L.I.C.E. XML page by John Friedman. The URL for the AIML<br />
DTD may be found on the page at http://XML.ALICEBot.Com. <br />
The full URL for the DTD is <br />
http://xml.alicebot.com/xml/aiml/alice.dtd<br />
<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE GOAL FOR AIML</pattern>
<template>
<br />
AIML (Artificial Intelligence Markup Language) is an XML specification<br />
for programming chat robots like ALICE using program B. The emphasis<br />
in the language design is minimalism. The simplicity of AIML makes<br />
it easy for non-programmers, especially those who already know HTML, <br />
to get started writing chat robots.<br />
<br />
One ambitious goal for AIML is that, if a number of people create their own<br />
robots, each with a unique area of expertise, program B can literally <br />
merge-sort them together into a Superbot, automatically omitting <br />
duplicate categories. We offer the both the source code and the ALICE <br />
content, in order to encourage others will "open source" their chat <br />
robots as well, to contribute to the Superbot. <br />
<br />
Botmasters are also of course free to copy protect private chat robots.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE LOW LEVEL INTERFACE TO PROGRAM B</pattern>
<template>
<br />
If you require only a graphical interface, try using the<br />
class RobotCommunicator. Depending on your application,<br />
you may also try the Servlet interface or the applet. <br />
Some developers however may want lower-level access to the<br />
chat robot functions.<br />
<br />
The class Classifier in Classifier.java contains the low-level <br />
methods needed to interface directly to ALICE. "Classifier" might <br />
as well be called "Bot" because more than any other class, <br />
it handles those functions most unique to the chat robot.<br />
<br />
The method Classifier.multiline_response() is a key entry point <br />
into the conversation engine. The "multiline" in <br />
"multiline_response" means that the input may contain <br />
multiple "lines" or sentences. The first argument "query" to<br />
multiline_response is the input. The second argument "hname" is <br />
the virtual IP address of the client. The third and last argument<br />
is the class implementing the Responder interface.<br />
<br />
If the input string contains "Sentence1. Sentence2? Sentence3." <br />
then multiline_response might produce:<br />
<br />
> Sentence1.<br />
Reply1<br />
> Sentence2<br />
Reply2<br />
> Sentence3<br />
Reply3<br />
<br />
The method multiline_response hides all of the details <br />
of sentence segmentation, responding to each input line individually, <br />
and formatting the output. In particular multiline_response() <br />
may or may not append the VBScript needed to drive the MS<br />
Agent output, depending on whether the global MS Agent parameter is set.<br />
<br />
The argument "hname" is a key that indexes the client's conversation. For<br />
the interface you need this can probably always be "localhost" or some<br />
other constant. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE LT PERSON GT TAG</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The XML specification requires that every start tag such as<br />
<person> be followed by a matching end tag like </person>. <br />
HTML is more relaxed about this requirement, exemplified by<br />
the liberal use of the <IMG> tag without a corresponding </IMG>.<br />
XML supports a shorthand notation for the "atomic" tags.<br />
The <star/> tag is an example of a shorthand AIML tag. <br />
<person/> is another example:<br />
<br />
<person/> = <person><star/></person><br />
<br />
This tag replaces the +~person(*)+ tag in old-style AIML.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE LT PERSON2 GT TAG</pattern>
<template>
<br />
This tag is an abbreviation:<br />
<br />
<person2/> = <person2><star/></person2><br />
<br />
See the FAQ question "What are the <person> tags?" for more<br />
information about <person2/>.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE LT PERSONF GT TAG</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The value of <personf/> (a "formatted" personal pronoun transformation)<br />
is shown by the example <br />
<br />
<category><br />
<pattern>WHAT IS A *</pattern><br />
<template><br />
What does <br />
<A HREF="http://www.dictionary.com/cgi-bin/dict.pl?term=<personf/>"> <br />
<set_it> <person/> </set_it> <br />
</A> mean? <BR> <br />
Or Ask Jeeves: <br />
<A HREF="http://www.ask.com/AskJeeves.asp?ask=WHAT%20IS%20A%20<personf/>"><br />
What is a <person/>?<br />
</A><br />
</template><br />
</category><br />
<br />
The search strings formatted for the Webster Dictionary and for<br />
the Ask.com search engine utilize <personf/>. The effect is the<br />
same as <person/>, but the formatting inserts an escaped "%20" in<br />
places of the spaces returned by <person/>. These escape sequences<br />
permit the HTTP GET methods to transmit multiple-word queries. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE LT SRAI GT TAG</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The recursive function <srai> stands for<br />
"Stimulus-Response artificial intelligence" and means<br />
that the text between the tags should be sent recursively<br />
to the pattern matcher and the result interpreted.<br />
The resulting text replaces the original text in the markup.<br />
<br />
<srai> X </srai> calls the pattern matcher recursively on X.<br />
<sr/> recursive call to chat robot<br />
<br />
<sr/> abbreviates <srai> <star/> </srai><br />
<br />
Note: what happens if X contains AIML markup? Does the interpreter<br />
do "lazy evaluation"? Look at the source code and examine the<br />
method pfkh(), the Program Formerly Known as "Hello".<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE LT TOPIC GT TAG</pattern>
<template>
<br />
1. <topic> allows ALICE to prefer responses that deal with the <br />
topic currently being discussed. This creates topical <br />
conversation, yet still has the ability to move from one subject <br />
to another.<br />
2. <topic> allows ALICE to have duplicate patterns in different <br />
contexts (topics) allowing ALICE to have different responses to <br />
the same input patterns depending on the topic. For example, <br />
"overriding" the " * " pattern for different topics. (I'll give <br />
an example with this.)<br />
3. As always, you can still use the <gettopic/> tag to refer to <br />
the topic in your output statements (templates).<br />
4. As always, you can add topics on top of all your existing AIML <br />
to keep your bot's current personality. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE RESPONDER INTERFACE</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Developed to meet the needs of multiple ALICE<br />
application scenarios, the Responder interface<br />
simplifies the code in class Classifier for<br />
natural language queries. The Responder defines<br />
an interface with four members:<br />
<br />
pre_process() : runs any initialization first.<br />
log() : tells how to log the conversation.<br />
append() : how to append response lines together.<br />
post_process() : runs after response loop finishes.<br />
<br />
The method Classifier.multiline_response() calls<br />
all of the Responder methods. See the next<br />
question ("What is the low-level interface?")<br />
for more information about multiline_response(). <br />
At least five classes implement the Responder<br />
interface:<br />
<br />
GUIResponder: the program B GUI uses this.<br />
HTMLResponder: a class for Web Server HTML replies.<br />
RobotResponder: this class used by RobotCommunicator<br />
CustomResponder: a template for more Responder classes.<br />
AppletResponder: the Applet code uses this class.<br />
<br />
These classes all handle special circumstances<br />
for the various Responder types: for example,<br />
HTMLResponder appends the client input to each<br />
response; GUIResponder does not. AppletResponder<br />
logs the dialogue through a network URL connection;<br />
all other classes write to a local file. RobotResponder,<br />
used by the Kid interface, suppresses all the HTML<br />
from robot replies; while HTMLResponder passes<br />
them through. HTMLResponder also runs the optional<br />
Animagent class to create the MS Agent VB Script.<br />
Text-based Responder classes wrap the text; HTMLResponder<br />
need not wrap because the browser handles text formatting.<br />
The Responder interface addresses this wide variety of needs.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS THE THEORY BEHIND ALICE</pattern>
<template>
<br />
I used to say that there was NO theory behind ALICE: no neural network,<br />
no knowledge representation, no search, no fuzzy logic, no genetic<br />
algorithms, and no parsing. Then I discovered there was a theory<br />
circulating in applied AI called "Case-Based Reasoning" or CBR that<br />
maps well onto the ALICE algorithm. Another term, borrowed from<br />
pattern recognition, is "nearest-neighbor classification." <br />
<br />
The CBR "cases" are the categories in AIML. The algorithm finds<br />
best-matching pattern for each input. The category ties the<br />
response template directly to the stimulus pattern. ALICE is<br />
conceptually not much more complicated that Weizenbaum's ELIZA <br />
chat robot; the main differences are the much larger case base and the<br />
tools for creating new content by dialog analysis.<br />
<br />
ALICE is also part of the tradition of "minimalist", "reactive" or<br />
"stimulus-response" robotics. Mobile robots work best, fastest and<br />
demonstrate the most animated, realistic behavior when their sensory <br />
inputs directly control the motor reactions. Higher-level symbolic<br />
processing, search, and planning, tends to slow down the process <br />
too much for realistic applications, even with the fastest control<br />
computers. <br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHAT IS XML</pattern>
<template>
<br />
David Bacon pronounces it "Eggsmell". XML is the Extensible<br />
Markup Language. Like many "standards" in computer science, XML<br />
is a moving target. In the simplest terms, XML is just a generalized<br />
version of HTML. Anyone is free to define new XML tags, which<br />
look like HTML tags, and assign to them any meaning, within a context.<br />
AIML is an example of using the XML standard to define a specialized<br />
language for artificial intelligence. <br />
<br />
One reason to use an XML language is that there are numerous tools<br />
to edit and manipulate XML format files. Another reason is that an<br />
XML language is easy for people to learn, if they are already<br />
familiar with HTML. Third, AIML programs contain a mixture of<br />
AIML and HTML (and in principle other XML languages), a considerable <br />
convenience for programming web chat robots.<br />
<br />
A good resource for information on XML is www.oasis-open.org.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHERE DOES THE LT TOPIC GT TAG APPEAR</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Topic tags are placed around one or more categories. (Usually <br />
many.) The categories (with each respective "pattern", "that", <br />
and "template") within a set of <topic> </topic> tags would be <br />
associated with the defined topic. The name of the topic would be <br />
given by a "name" property in the beginning topic tag. Here would <br />
be the full AIML format with topic:<br />
<br />
<alice> <br />
<br />
<topic name="THE TOPIC"> <br />
<br />
<category> <br />
<pattern> phrase </pattern> <br />
<that> phrase </that> <br />
<template> phrase </template> <br />
</category> <br />
<br />
</topic> <br />
<br />
</alice><br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHO IS THE BOTMASTER</pattern>
<template>
<br />
The botmaster is you, the master of your chat robot. A botmaster runs<br />
program B and creates or modifies a chat robot with the program's<br />
graphical user interface (GUI). He or she is responsible for<br />
reading the dialogues, analyzing the responses, and creating new<br />
replies for the patterns detected by program B. Botmasters are<br />
hobbyists, webmasters, developers, advertisers, artists, publishers,<br />
editors, engineers, and anyone else interested in creating a personal <br />
chat robot.<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
<category>
<pattern>WHY IS THE FORMAT OF THE OPTIONS GLOBALS TXT SO STRANGE</pattern>
<template>
<br />
Depending on your system, you may see a globals.txt file that looks like:<br />
<br />
Animagent=true<br />
Botmaster=Jon Baer<br />
AnalysisFile=dialog.txt<br />
ClientLineContains=t:<br />
LogFile=dialog.txt<br />
CodeBase=D\:CHATTERBOTS\ALICE<br />
StartLine=0<br />
Beep=true<br />
BotFile=B.aiml<br />
AppletHost=206.184.206.210<br />
EndLine=25000<br />
BotName=ALICE<br />
Birthday=November 23, 1995<br />
TempFile=Temp.ai<br />
RobotLineStarts=Robot<br />
# ... and so on<br />
<br />
The global values seem to be stored in a random order.<br />
This is not a bug. The Globals class uses the Java methods<br />
Properties.load() and Properties.store() to save the globals<br />
to a file. You can also use # and ! to add comments to the file. <br />
<br />
The Properties class uses a hash table representation, so does<br />
not preserve the order of the global variables. The program<br />
displays and saves the global options in an arbitrary order.<br />
<br />
<br />
</template>
</category>
</aiml>
Mini Shell