<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>

<aiml version="1.0">

<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 &lt;name/&gt; 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 />

&lt;set_it&gt;&lt;/set_it&gt; and &lt;get_he/&gt;. 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 />

&lt;set_kare&gt; X &lt;/set_kare&gt; to set the value of "kare"<br />

to X, and the tag &lt;get_kare/&gt; to retrieve the value.<br />

By default, &lt;get_kare/&gt; returns "dare" ("who?"). <br />

<br />

Now we can create two AIML categories for an elementary<br />

Japanese conversation:<br />

<br />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;KARE WA * DESU&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;&lt;star/&gt; wa &lt;set_kare&gt;&lt;star/&gt;&lt;/set_kare&gt; desu.&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<br />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;KARE WA * DESU KA&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;&lt;get_kare/&gt; desu ka? &lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<br />

&lt;category&gt;<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 &lt;set_kare/&gt;&lt;star/&gt;&lt;/set_kare&gt; <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 &lt;get_has/&gt; is "mother" (because<br />

everyone has a mother). The "*" here indicates that<br />

the program should replace &lt;set_has&gt; X &lt;/set_has&gt;<br />

with X. <br />

<br />

Here we write two AIML categories to demonstrate the<br />

"has" predicate:<br />

<br />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;I HAVE A *&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;Where did you get <br />

&lt;set_it&gt;&lt;set_has&gt;&lt;person/&gt;&lt;/set_has&gt;&lt;/set_it&gt;?<br />

&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<br />

<br />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;WHAT DO I HAVE&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;Tell me more about your &lt;get_has/&gt;. &lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<br />

<br />

Notice that the first category embeds &lt;set_has&gt; in &lt;set_it&gt;,<br />

so that the value of &lt;person/&gt; 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 />

&lt;set_sie&gt;, &lt;set_er&gt; and &lt;set_es&gt;.<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 &lt;script&gt; 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 />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt; WHERE IS YOUR WEB SITE &lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;<br />

It's at "http://www.geocities.com/krisdrent/"<br />

&lt;script language="JavaScript"&gt;<br />

// Go to &lt;a href="http://www.geocities.com/krisdrent"&gt;The ALICE<br />

Connection&lt;/a&gt;<br />

&lt;!--<br />

window.open("http://www.geocities.com/krisdrent/")<br />

--&gt;<br />

&lt;/script&gt;<br />

&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<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 &lt;script&gt; tag, notice that this line<br />

will show up:<br />

"// Go to &lt;a href="http://www.geocities.com/krisdrent"&gt;The ALICE<br />

Connection&lt;/a&gt;"<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 &lt;script&gt; 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 />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;WHAT *&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;<br />

Here is the information I found:<br />

&lt;system&gt;<br />

lynx -dump -source -image_links http://www.google.com/search?q=&lt;personf/&gt;<br />

&lt;/system&gt;<br />

&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<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 &lt;system&gt;X&lt;/system&gt; 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 />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;WHAT TIME IS IT&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;The local time is: &lt;system&gt;date&lt;/system&gt;&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<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 &lt;system&gt; 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 &gt; B.log &amp;" (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 &lt;random&gt; 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 &lt; access_log &gt; 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 &lt;pattern&gt; and &lt;template&gt; 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 &lt;pattern&gt; and "recursive" refers to<br />

a property of the &lt;template&gt;.<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 />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;WHAT IS A CIRCLE&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;&lt;set_it&gt;A cicle&lt;/set_it&gt; is a the set of points equidistant <br />

from a common point called the center.<br />

&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<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 &lt;pattern&gt;*&lt;/pattern&gt;, 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 />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;I NEED HELP *&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;Can you ask for help in the form of a question?&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<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 &lt;srai&gt; 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 />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;BYE BYE&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;&lt;srai&gt;GOODBYE&lt;/srai&gt;&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<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 &lt;srai&gt; function maps all these forms to<br />

the base form:<br />

<br />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;DO YOU KNOW WHAT * IS&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;&lt;srai&gt;WHAT IS &lt;star/&gt;&lt;/srai&gt;&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/categroy&gt;<br />

<br />

The &lt;star/&gt; tag substitutes the value matched by "*", before<br />

the recursive call to &lt;srai&gt;. 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 />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;HELLO *&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;&lt;srai&gt;HELLO&lt;/srai&gt; &lt;sr/&gt;<br />

&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<br />

<br />

accomplishes the input partitioning by responding to "HELLO"<br />

with &lt;srai&gt;HELLO&lt;/srai&gt; and to whatever matches "*" with &lt;sr/&gt;.<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 &lt;srai&gt; is "symbolic reduction"<br />

of a complex sentence form to a simpler one:<br />

<br />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;DO YOU KNOW WHAT * IS&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;&lt;srai&gt;WHAT IS &lt;star/&gt;&lt;/srai&gt;&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<br />

<br />

so the botmaster can store most knowledge in the simplest<br />

categories:<br />

<br />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;WHAT IS LINUX&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;&lt;set_it&gt;Linux&lt;/set_it&gt; is the best operating system.&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<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 />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;YES *&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;&lt;srai&gt;YES&lt;/srai&gt; &lt;sr/&gt;&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<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, &lt;sr/&gt; is an abbreviation for &lt;srai&gt;&lt;star/&gt;&lt;/srai&gt;. <br />

<br />

The &lt;srai&gt; 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 />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;BYE&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;GOODBYE&lt;/pattern&gt;<br />

&lt;template&gt;See you later.&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<br />

<br />

Right now you can't put two patterns in one category, but with &lt;srai&gt;<br />

you can get the same effect:<br />

<br />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;GOODBYE&lt;/pattern&gt; &lt;template&gt;&lt;srai&gt;BYE&lt;/srai&gt;&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<br />

<br />

&lt;category&gt;<br />

&lt;pattern&gt;BYE&lt;/pattern&gt; &lt;template&gt;See you later.&lt;/template&gt;<br />

&lt;/category&gt;<br />

<br />

If you look through the AIML files you will see many examples<br />

of &lt;srai&gt; 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 &lt;load&gt; 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 &lt;that&gt;?<br /></li>

<li>- How do I use "that"?<br /></li>

<li>- What is &lt;load filename="X"/&gt;?<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 &lt;star&gt;?<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 &lt;topic&gt; tag?<br /></li>

<li>- Where does the &lt;topic&gt; tag appear?<br /></li>

<li>- How do I use the &lt;topic&gt; 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 &lt;person&gt; tags?<br /></li>

<li>- How does the &lt;condition&gt; tag work?<br /></li>

<li>- How does the random function work?<br /></li>

<li>- What is the &lt;person/&gt; tag?<br /></li>

<li>- What is the &lt;person2/&gt; tag?<br /></li>

<li>- What is "gossip" ?<br /></li>

<li>- What is the &lt;personf/&gt; tag?<br /></li>

<li>- What's the &lt;srai&gt; tag?<br /></li>

<li>- Could you explain the &lt;srai&gt; 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 &lt;think&gt;?<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>