[MUD-Dev] Text Parsing

[Caliban Tiresias Darklock]

On 10:47 AM 6/2/99 -0500, I personally witnessed Travis S. Casey jumping up
to say:
>
>I think this is becoming a strawman discussion.  To reiterate what I've
>said in this message and a couple of others:
>
> - There's a long way between trying to improve mud parsers by making use
>   of NLP ideas and trying to implement full "natural language" input.

Yes, there is, but if it looks like NLP then it better be NLP. If I can say
"pick up the sword" then I should also be able to expect your parser to
understand "put down the axe", "pick up all the swords", and -- the real
pisser -- "pick up the best sword". That's really what I want in most MUDs
that don't ask me to run around selling everything I pick up; I want the
best available weapon and the best available armor. I should not have to
type "examine 1.armor", "examine 2.armor", "examine 3.armor" -- or even
worse, "examine steel armor", "examine emerald armor", "examine mythril
armor" -- because when I say "pick up the best armor" the game should know
enough to examine all the armor, select the most effective armor I am
capable of using, compare it to the armor I'm currently wearing, and report
either that I have picked up some piece of armor or that I don't see any
armor better than what I'm wearing. If you DO expect me to run around
selling armor and weapons to get money, then "get best [whatever]" ought to
pick up whatever looks like I could sell it for the highest price. I don't
think it's unreasonable to think "get best" all by itself should pick up
the things that look the most expensive until I can't carry any more. 

And you'd better understand "wear best armor" and "wield best weapon" at
the very least. ;)

If your parser *looks* like it understands English, then it *better*
understand English. Otherwise, your parser is a sham. It's fake; it looks
like NLP, but it isn't, and people will NOT be happy. It is easier to write
a parser that is inherently UNnatural -- because it doesn't look or act
very much like English at all, none of the users will expect it to work
like English. 

> - Allowing input that's closer to English does not require *not* allowing
>   traditional mud-style commands.

I would rather do a *good* job supporting one parser than an "acceptable"
job supporting two. 

-----
| Caliban Tiresias Darklock            caliban at darklock.com 
| Darklock Communications          http://www.darklock.com/ 
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