[MUD-Dev] string parsing

[Nathan Yospe]

On Fri, 31 Oct 1997, Chris Gray wrote:

:[Nathan Y:]

:[Example snipped.]

:My lord that's complicated! That actually works now? Do you put all words
:in a dictionary, so they are known beforehand? What happens with typos?
:Can you turn that prediction off?

"works" is a relative term. I'm going to have to speed this thing up. On my
66 MHz PPC 601, with the metrowerks Java 1.1.3 compiler/JIT, it cannot keep
up with my typing speed (which is OK, the search just dies, but I'd like it
to be useful to fast typists like myself, not just people like my hunt and 
peck roomie), and it often comes up with some really wierd matches. I thought
I had tweaked the weighting system to satisfaction before, but the new "learn
the user's habits" neural net really tweaks that tweaking. Still, I have
utmost confidence that this neural net (and its sucessors - I'm planning to
apply the same principal to the physical memory of the VR hardware for the
GURU) will revolutionize gameplay. Typos produce REALLY wierd results. I've
been thinking of making the text flash red when an impossible to parse line
comes up. Yes, prediction can be turned off, but errors are far more likely
when it has been. All _local_ words are in a (dynamic) dictionary, as well
as any nonlocalized word, meaning verbs, adverbs, pronouns (dynamicly
evaluated, and you can have the program substitute in the evaluated name as
you type it, and keep updating it as you continue to type), and certain
colloquialisms. The neural net has a sunsidary FL AI that will track and
occasionally commit things, for example colloquial pronouns (the sucker, 
the bastard), but it is as yet untested. Hey, this sucker is getting me a
job...

:Questions, questions, questions...

*grin*
--

"You? We can't take you," said the Dean, glaring at the Librarian.
"You don't know a thing about guerilla warfare." - Reaper Man,
Nathan F. Yospe  Registered Looney                   by Terry Pratchett
yospe at hawaii.edu   http://www2.hawaii.edu/~yospe           Meow