On Tuesday 23 Sep 2003 9:19 pm, rikona wrote:I'm looking forward to strong AI ;-)
Hello Anne,
Monday, September 22, 2003, 12:31:31 AM, you wrote:
AAW> Don't want to rain on your parade, rikona, but 'natural language' AW> searches never seemed to give me answers either.
It is VERY likely that your "natural language" search was nothing at all like what I am proposing. Just because you can type in a regular sentence into a search engine means almost nothing. It may only remove the 'noise' words and look for others, perhaps even with an 'and' between them. Yech.
For starters, I am talking about a help system that uses a thesaurus to translate between the 'natural language' words and the 'jargon' used in the docs. The system also understands 'help' ideas such as 'how do I' etc. Other ideas are also used, such as clustering. It is not just a simple search.
Also note that almost all inquiries here need more info in addition to the original question. The system must be interactive to be really useful. After the first request, the system then makes a request for more info, just as happens on this list. Based on this improved 'understanding' of the problem, solutions are then offered. If need be, these can be further refined.
AW> Back again, I think, to the fact that no search can give an answer AW> that isn't in the docs,
It may be in the docs, but not in a form that is readily accessible by a simple search.
AW> the docs are written by those who didn't need to ask
True. :-)
It's an interesting proposition, but not an overnight job, I think <g> I'll look forward to seeing that in a future Mandrake release?
Sir Robin
-- "I can say: 'Thank these bees for their honey as though they were kind people who have prepared it for you'; that is intelligible and describes how I should like you to conduct yourself. But I cannot say: 'Thank them because, look, how kind they are!'--since the next moment they may sting you. - Wittgenstein
Robin Turner IDMYO Bilkent Univeritesi Ankara 06533 Turkey
www.bilkent.edu.tr/~robin
Want to buy your Pack or Services from MandrakeSoft? Go to http://www.mandrakestore.com
