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AICHAT.DOC Page 1 of 8 ****************************************** * * * AICHAT.EXE * * * * Created 23/7/90 by Avatar (Andrew Pam) * * Sysop of S.I.G. BBS +61 3 888-8846 * * * * Ver 2.3 written 7/4/91 * * Copyright (c) 1991 Serious Cybernetics * * * ****************************************** Table of Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Legal Notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 | Vertical Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Status Line . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Local Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Control Characters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Entering AIchat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Sysop Hours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Exiting AIchat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Customising AIchat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The AI algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Colours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Technical Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Future Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 AICHAT.DOC Page 2 of 8 Legal Notice ~~~~~~~~~~~~ This program is Shareware. You may distribute it as widely as you wish. You may not modify AICHAT.EXE or this file AICHAT.DOC in any way, nor may you omit either file or the sample AICHAT.AI file. You may not include any other files as part of the AIchat distribution package, and you may not charge more than a fair and reasonable copying fee. If you continue using this program on an ongoing basis after having tested it, you must send $10 (A$20 if outside Australia) or more to the address at | the end of this documentation with your name and (if a Sysop) the name | of your bulletin board. | You will receive a disk containing the latest version of the program | registered in your name and a selection of other Freeware and Shareware | software from Serious Cybernetics. Please specify the size and shape of | disk you require when ordering. No warranty of any kind is expressed or | implied, and the author will not be held liable for any damages, | consequential or otherwise, caused by the use, misuse or abuse of this | program. We told you the rules, now don't forget them! Failure to | abide by these terms constitutes a breach of copyright law. Nyaah! | Vertical Bars ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Lines in this document with a vertical bar "|" in the left margin have | been added or modified since the previous version 2.2 release. Introduction ~~~~~~~~~~~~ AIchat came about because I was unimpressed by the existing "robot sysops", most of which appeared to be based on Eliza. Joseph Weizenbaum wrote Eliza to simulate a Rogerian psychologist, not a sysop, and unless you know any sysops who believe in practising Rogerian psychology on their users, I don't find it a very convincing simulation. I decided to set about writing a program that would be more interesting to chat to. The underlying paradigm of AIchat is that it simulates a sysop, who has a "train of thought" (or CURRENT TOPIC) at any given time and will endeavour to involve the user in a discussion. However, if the user changes topics or mentions something upon which AIchat can make a witty remark, it will happily do so. After somewhere between 2 and 12 minutes or when it can no longer find any topics of interest to discuss with the user, it will "get bored" and make an excuse to leave. AIchat is programmed to make a few typing mistakes from time to time in order to simulate a human typist. There is a 50:1 chance on any given phrase that it will forget to use the shift key and type everything in lowercase. There is also a 50:1 chance on any given character that it will accidentally make a typo, either by typing the wrong character altogether or by getting two adjacent characters reversed, and a 10:1 chance that it won't notice and will fail to correct the mistake. AICHAT.DOC Page 3 of 8 Installation ~~~~~~~~~~~~ AIchat is designed to work with all bulletin board software. It does | not require access to any files maintained by the BBS, but it is capable | of reading RBBS style DORINFO1.DEF files (also used by Remote Access, | SuperBBS and QuickBBS), WWIV style CHAIN.TXT files, and GAP style | DOOR.SYS files. Multi-user operation is now fully supported. For a summary of the command line parameters, run AICHAT. This will produce the following usage guide: Usage: AICHAT {options ...} <username> {options ...} Options: /<baud> where <baud> = 0 for local /<port> where <port> = 1 to 4 /A => auto AI chat (no yell) /C => sysop initiated chat | /D => read GAP style DOOR.SYS file | /G<ANSI> where <ANSI> = 0 to 3 | /R => read RBBS style DORINFO1.DEF file | /W => read WWIV style CHAIN.TXT file | /W<name> where <name> = filename of WWIV style file To test AIchat locally, the only parameter required is your name, since AIchat defaults to local operation with ANSI colour enabled. A baud rate other than zero will enable remote operation using the specified communications port. It is a fatal error to specify a non-initialised, disconnected or otherwise invalid port since AIchat assumes that a user is already online and makes no attempt to check that the port is operational. | The /A parameter indicates that AIchat was invoked by the user as an AI | program and not to chat to the sysop, and will start the program in AI | mode. The /C parameter indicates that AIchat was invoked by the sysop | as a normal chat program and not by the user, and will start the program | in chat mode. On registered copies, /C will also skip displaying the | credits when AIchat is executed. If either of these parameters is used | AIchat will not attempt to attract the sysop's attention, so ensure you | never allow the /C parameter to be invoked by users. | The /D, /R and /W parameters will automatically determine the user's | name, baud rate, port, ANSI capability and time remaining, so no other | parameters are required when they are is used; this is therefore the | recommended option where possible. However, the other options will | override these settings if placed later on the command line. The /G, | /G0 and /G2 options will disable ANSI facilities and use only standard | ASCII text. The use of a FOSSIL (Fido-Opus-Seadog Standard Interface Layer) communications driver such as David Nugent's BNU or Ray Gwinn's X00 is highly recommended when using AIchat remotely, especially at speeds of 2400 BPS and higher. Characters are unlikely to be lost at normal typing speeds, but if macros are used at the higher speeds they are very likely to lose characters if a FOSSIL is not used. AIchat will automatically detect the presence of a FOSSIL. AICHAT.DOC Page 4 of 8 Status Line ~~~~~~~~~~~ While AIchat is running a status line will be displayed on the bottom line of the screen in reverse video. From left to right, the status line gives the following information: * The version number of this release of AIchat * LOCAL or the current communication port and baud rate * The current user's full name (if known) * THINK if AIchat is currently "thinking aloud" * LOG if AIchat is currently logging the chat to AICHAT.LOG | * The time left until AIchat "gets bored", [CHATTING], or [YELLING] Local Commands ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following local commands are currently provided by AIchat: Alt-A AI mode Alt-C Chat mode Alt-J Jump to DOS Alt-L Logging toggle Alt-T "Thinking aloud" toggle PageUp Add one minute to AI chat time PageDn Subtract one minute from AI chat time Escape Terminate chat and exit program. Using Alt-A and Alt-C to change modes is totally invisible to the user, so you can break into AIchat either to converse with a user yourself or just long enough to insert your own witty remarks! Control Characters ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following control characters are currently supported by AIchat: Crtl-G Bell (does not ring at local console if typed by remote user in AI mode) Ctrl-H Backspace (will not backspace beyond first column) Ctrl-I Tab (uses standard 8 character tab stops) Ctrl-J Line Feed (scrolls at bottom of screen) Ctrl-K Reverse LF (will not move beyond top of screen) Ctrl-L Clear Screen Ctrl-M Carriage Return Ctrl-N Home Cursor (moves cursor to top left corner) Ctrl-U Cursor Forward (will not move beyond last column) Ctrl-X Cancel (deletes the entire line) All escape sequences from the user except ANSI/VT100 cursor movements are currently ignored. The "arrow" cursor keys are fully supported and the Home and Ctrl-Home keys perform Ctrl-N and Ctrl-L respectively. AICHAT.DOC Page 5 of 8 Entering AIchat ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When AIchat is invoked, unless the /A or /C parameters were used, you will be greeted by the copyright notice and the following message: Yelling at Sysop... Press ALT-C to chat, ESC to abort | If a SPK: device driver (such as Chris Dunford's SPKR.SYS) is installed | and a valid PAGE.RA file is in the current directory or (with DOS 3.0 | and later) the same directory as AICHAT.EXE, a tune will be played | during Sysop hours. If not, the normal PC "bell" will be rung | continuously instead. A PAGE.RA file may consist of lines beginning | with: "TONE" followed by the desired pitch in hertz and duration in | hundredths of a second, "WAIT" followed by the duration in hundredths of | a second, or anything else (which will be ignored). At this point you can press Alt-C to enter chat mode, Escape to cancel the chat with the message "Sysop is not currently available", or any other key to proceed immediately to AI mode (useful if you don't intend to enter chat mode and want the sysop-summoning sounds stopped swiftly!) Alternatively, you can do nothing, in which case after a few seconds the program will automatically enter AI mode. If the current user was using AIchat less than 5 minutes earlier, it will cancel the chat as if Escape had been pressed instead of proceeding to AI mode. This prevents users from getting carried away and hogging the board (since chatting doesn't use up logon time) and lends some badly needed credibility to the program's excuses. Sysop Hours ~~~~~~~~~~~ The sysop is currently assumed to be available between the hours of 10am and 10pm. This means that outside these hours, AIchat will not make sounds to attract the sysop's attention when the user requests a chat. The sysop may of course choose to answer the chat anyway if they are present, and AIchat will currently never tell the user "Sysop is not currently available" except in the circumstances outlined above. These hours are not currently customisable. Exiting AIchat ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When AIchat is in AI mode, any phrase containing the letters "BYE", "CIAO" or "ADIOS" will cause the program to say goodbye and exit. These keywords are not currently customisable. Some users have expressed difficulty with this, trying words like "quit" and "exit", but at this stage I find it more logical to support human ways of ending a conversation rather than computer ones. In chat mode, the only way to exit is for the sysop to press Escape on the local keyboard. AICHAT.DOC Page 6 of 8 Customising AIchat ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AIchat uses a file called AICHAT.AI to control AI mode. If this file is not present or readable when AIchat is run, it will exit with the "Sysop is not currently available" message unless run with the /C parameter, in which case it will function in chat mode only. This file is an ASCII text file and can be edited with any text editor of your choice in order to customise the way in which AI mode responds to user input. If the file is too long for AIchat to process, it will use as much of it as possible and will log an error message showing the last topic or keyword it was able to read. AICHAT.AI is structured as a list of TOPICS, each optionally containing a list of PHRASES and/or a list of groups of KEYWORDS, each optionally | containing its own list of PHRASES. A phrase may currently be up to 255 characters long, while a topic or keyword is not case sensitive and may be any length, although currently only the first 10 characters are significant. Underscores "_" in the topic or keyword will be treated as spaces, since actual spaces may be removed by some text editors, especially at the end of a line. A topic is signified by one or more blank lines followed by the name of the topic. Every group of blank lines in the file therefore signifies the start of a new topic. A group of keywords consists of one or more keywords on the same line separated by vertical bars "|". A phrase consists of a line of text starting with a digit and a space. The digit indicates the chance of using this phrase relative to any of the other phrases in this group. A zero will result in the phrase being ignored by AIchat and may be used to temporarily disable an unwanted phrase. | A line may also start with a plus sign "+" to indicate that it is a | continuation of the phrase on the previous line. A phrase may be | continued on any number of successive lines, but any portion after the | first 255 characters will be ignored. Topics and keywords may not be | continued in this fashion, so invalid continuation lines not part of a | phrase will also be ignored. The first topic in the file is the default topic, and has no name. This topic remains in effect until the first blank line in the file, which of course signifies the start of the next topic. All phrases in the default topic will be used as random non-sequiturs when AIchat isn't discussing any particular topic and has no idea what the user is talking about. All keywords in the default topic will not change the current topic under discussion when used. Topics and keywords will normally only match complete words or phrases. However, if the first or last character of a topic or keyword is an asterisk "*" it will also match any word or phrase beginning and/or ending in the specified topic or keyword. For example, the keyword "eat" will not match the word "great", but the keyword "*eat" will. Neither keyword will match the word "greater", but the keywords "great*" and "*eat*" will. The keyword "***" will match any asterisk! AICHAT.DOC Page 7 of 8 The AI algorithm ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When AIchat processes user input, if there is a topic currently under discussion, it will first search for a keyword in that topic. If not, or if no keyword is found, it will search all the topics to see if any of them were mentioned explicitly. If so, that topic will be treated as the current keyword found. If no keyword has been found yet or a topic explicitly mentioned has no unused phrases left, all keywords in AICHAT.AI with unused phrases left will be searched in order of occurence. If a keyword with no unused phrases left belonging to a topic which does have unused phrases left is found, that topic will be noted as an alternative. If no other keyword is found, this alternative topic will become the current topic, otherwise the topic of the keyword found will become the current topic. If no keyword was found, a phrase in the current topic will be selected. If there are no unused phrases left in the current topic, or on a 3:1 chance, the current topic will be dropped. If no keyword was found and there is no current topic, there is a 10:1 chance of each topic with unused phrases left being chosen as the new current topic. Finally, if no keyword was found and there was no current topic, one of the unused phrases in the default topic will be selected; if there are none left unused, the program will make an excuse and exit. If a keyword with unused phrases WAS found, one of those will be selected. If the selected phrase ends in a question mark "?", there is a 20:1 chance that the user's first name will be appended to the question. For example, "What's up?" will become "What's up, Doc?" if Doc is the current user. If the user's first name is "The", their second name will be used instead. AICHAT.DOC Page 8 of 8 Colours ~~~~~~~ The following colours are used by AIchat when ANSI is enabled: Light Grey Default colour White System messages Green "Yelling at Sysop" message Cyan Characters typed by user Yellow Characters typed by sysop or AIchat Light Green AIchat's internal "thoughts" Light Red Fatal error messages These colours are not currently customisable. Technical Notes ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AIchat provides a wordwrap facility superior to the one in the Remote Access internal chat routines. Although AIchat will read the BIOS row and column information and work correctly on any text resolution with at least 80 columns (I often use 132 columns by 60 rows) the wordwrap will always ensure that text is wrapped after column 79 to match user displays. Words longer than 20 characters will not be wrapped. The Alt-J Jump to DOS facility will swap most of AIchat to EMS (if | available) or disk, leaving only about 8K of RAM in use. All I/O is done strictly through DOS and BIOS calls without any direct hardware access whatsoever, so it should work with any PC system compatible at the BIOS level, which is just about everything these days. | AIchat will also relinquish time slices to multitaskers when possible. Future Enhancements ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you have any further suggestions or comments, feel free to leave a | message to "Avatar" on my bulletin board, E-mail me as Avatar on | 199:4242/1@RainbowNet, 3:632/348@FidoNet or 28:4100/32@SIGnet, | "avatar@csource.oz.au" on the Internet or write to: Serious Cybernetics P.O. Box 409 Canterbury VIC 3126 Australia This program was brought to you courtesy of S.I.G. BBS on +61-3-888-8846 Share and enjoy!