PAMELA PROJECT - VISUAL AIML

VISUAL AIML v 2.0 STANDARD EDITOR RELEASE 6/22/01 !! REGISTER & DOWNLOAD NOW !!

Until days ago, I was happy using my simple version 0.0 of SWAN (something-without-a-name). Then I decided to place a single web page with some information, and to make things worse :-) join the A.L.I.C.E. Foundation mail list to tell others about my Pamela project and a personal utility I started to call Visual AIML.

My interest was focused on developing my Spanish bot, but a lot of people started to visit this site and sending me mails, convincing me to shift my short term priorities. So I started to put more time to debug and enhance Visual AIML to the point it could be made available to others. I upgraded my first version (1.0) to 1.2, and some advanced options were outlined as future enhancements.

But then it happened ! At some point I saw the need to reformulate the structure of my original tool, to provide a more solid foundation and flexibility to integrate planned and future options. The bad part is that my idea resulted in working 11 hours a day for the last 7 days (F_ _ _ Y_ _ !!! :-)

I'm using this story as an introduction to 1) really thank you all very much for your interest, and 2) to say that I'm finishing to build version 2.0 in order to make it available before June 10th. (deadline).

What is new in version 2.0 ! ( short answer = everything :-)

I'm leaving the information of v 1.2 so you can compare (I chained the previous 2 pages to keep a single link on the main index) For people new to this site : visiting v 1.2 will allow you to better understand what I'm trying to do ( who knows ! )

OVERVIEW OF VISUAL AIML 2.0

The blue box is the standard editor that is going to be released first. The yellow boxes are options that integrate with the standard editor to dramatically increase power and flexibility, as you will learn in the next paragraphs. I'm not sure how to handle the release of options, I decided to make Standard Editor freeware to keep with the spirit of A.L.I.C.E., but on the other hand its taking a lot of my time. The reality is that I can't justify my efforts after this first release unless some fundings become available to support this development. Thanks for your support !!

STANDARD EDITOR Allows to build code for new categories and edit existing categories from DB. Version 2.0 "visible" improvements include :

- New user interface with more options and simplified operation
- Scroll lists to select variables and instructions (pre-defined editable strings involving one or more instructions and
embedded variable values -if required- to accomplish a given task)
- "Hidden" improvements include double internal data buffering, better macros and formulas, etc, etc...
- Following is a view of the new user interface :

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User Preferences :

AIML code :

OPTION MODULES

1. EDITOR EXTENSION Enhances the power of the Standard Editor :

- Increased number of topics, variables, and specially more "instruction strings", including ability to customize your own
- Additional "view modes" allowing DB filtering by date-topic-cat#, by patterns and srais in Z-A order, etc.
- Category DB up to 65.000 records

2. PHRASE SPLITTER Provides enhanced functionality similar to ''Step1" in previous version. Major changes include :

- Instead of working incrementally form words to phrases, I reversed the approach giving freedom to directly enter your
phrase at the editor, which will be internally segmented by words
- Individual words are stored in a Words DB, based on its relative position in the sentence
- Phrases corresponding to Patterns / That / and Srais are stored in the Patterns DB
- Visual indication is provided to identify if the phrase was already used and in which Cat #
- When a phrase cannot be matched, visual indication switched to word showing existing words in their relative position,
and new words marked as new
- With this module installed, standard editor accesses and saves information to 3 DBs (categories, Patterns, and Words)

3. AIML DECODER This option allows to "read" existing AIML files, analyzing individual cat's to import its information to the Categories DB, eliminating duplicates, and keeping centralized information in a format that allows to easy editing and/or rebuilding of a complete AIML file using the Standard Editor (adding the Extended Editor / AutoBuilder options is highly recommended). Another posibility of maintaining a centralized DB is the possibility to merge existing "brains" !!

4. AUTOBUILDER Adds capability to automate build or rebuild a complete AIML file based on records in the Categories DB. Final code is automatically generated, and exported to selected aiml file. User is able to choose among several criteria for ordering the cat's within the file, based on Cat #, date, topics, as well as by type (Srai, That, Std), patterns Z-A, etc.

5. STATISTICS & REPORTING This options uses Excel statistic functions and dynamic tables to produce different reports, rankings, and graphic charts to fully document the "brain" code and help to analyze potential improvements to increase the IQ of your bot.

Since options are still under development, ideas are not final. Suggestions are always welcome !

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User guide available on-line (see link on index)

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