<!-- MHonArc v2.4.4 --> <!--X-Subject: Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing --> <!--X-From-R13: "Fenivf E. Qnfrl" <rsvaqryNvb.pbz> --> <!--X-Date: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 08:31:28 -0700 --> <!--X-Message-Id: Pine.LNX.4.04.9906021001330.11870-100000#fnord,io.com --> <!--X-Content-Type: text/plain --> <!--X-Reference: Pine.BSF.4.10.9906012345550.9295-100000#shell9,ba.best.com --> <!--X-Head-End--> <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN"> <html> <head> <title>MUD-Dev message, Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</title> <!-- meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow" --> <link rev="made" href="mailto:efindel#io,com"> </head> <body background="/backgrounds/paperback.gif" bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#0000FF" alink="#FF0000" vlink="#006000"> <font size="+4" color="#804040"> <strong><em>MUD-Dev<br>mailing list archive</em></strong> </font> <br> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] <br clear=all><hr> <!--X-Body-Begin--> <!--X-User-Header--> <!--X-User-Header-End--> <!--X-TopPNI--> Date: [ <a href="msg00390.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00392.html">Next</a> ] Thread: [ <a href="msg00388.html">Previous</a> | <a href="msg00399.html">Next</a> ] Index: [ <A HREF="author.html#00391">Author</A> | <A HREF="#00391">Date</A> | <A HREF="thread.html#00391">Thread</A> ] <!--X-TopPNI-End--> <!--X-MsgBody--> <!--X-Subject-Header-Begin--> <H1>Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</H1> <HR> <!--X-Subject-Header-End--> <!--X-Head-of-Message--> <UL> <LI><em>To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Subject</em>: Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</LI> <LI><em>From</em>: "Travis S. Casey" <<A HREF="mailto:efindel#io,com">efindel#io,com</A>></LI> <LI><em>Date</em>: Wed, 2 Jun 1999 10:30:33 -0500 (CDT)</LI> <LI><em>Reply-To</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev#kanga,nu">mud-dev#kanga,nu</A></LI> <LI><em>Sender</em>: <A HREF="mailto:mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu">mud-dev-admin#kanga,nu</A></LI> </UL> <!--X-Head-of-Message-End--> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-Begin--> <HR> <!--X-Head-Body-Sep-End--> <!--X-Body-of-Message--> <PRE> On Tue, 1 Jun 1999, Matthew Mihaly wrote: > > However, has anyone ever done any study or seen anything that proports > > to explain what a common (for some value of common) user would like? > > In other words, usability? > > Yes, I agree fully with this sentiment. Reading these endless streams of > posts dissecting the details of writing parsers is lovely in an academic > way, but I don't know anyone that would type "get red sword and blue sword > then walk north" rather than: > get red sword > get blue sword > n I think that trying to make a full natural language parser is a bit much, but I'd personally prefer to be able to type: get red sword and blue sword n or, if the red and blue swords are the only swords in the room: get all swords n Personally, I'm interested in parsing not to make the command language be English, but to make it easier and more flexible to use. That's one reason that I decided to make my own parser under MudOS instead of using the MudOS one -- the Lima people had too much of an emphasis on requiring commands to be grammatically correct for my taste. (On most LP muds, "get sword 2" is how you'd get the second sword listed in the room. On Lima, it was "get second sword". I recall someone asking if understanding of the "get sword 2" syntax could be added, and Beek replying that he could, but he wouldn't, since "get sword 2" was not English. That's the kind of thing that I think is excessive.) > Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against academic discussion, nor > against the idea of making a mud simply to please yourself. However, if, > as it seems, the stated goal of this parser discussion is to make things > easier on players, I think you're going in the wrong direction. I can't speak for others, but I certainly wouldn't require grammatically correct input -- as I said above, I just want my parser to be more flexible and powerful. The parser I was building supported: get sword 2 get second sword get 2nd sword (never got around to adding Diku-style) get all swords get all sword (it wasn't picky about correct pluralization) ... and a bunch of other stuff besides. Where I thought it was reasonable, I allowed "sloppy" input -- e.g., > get blue sword, book, red sword, and toad Taken: blue sword, red sword, toad There is no book here. would be the result if there were no book around. I found that much better than: > get blue sword, book, red sword, and toad There is no book here. > get blue sword, red sword, and toad Taken. I tried to make error messages as informative as I could (e.g., giving a brief summary of the correct syntax with the error message), but it still needed a lot of work in that area. I also had support for aliases, including aliases with numbered parameters (so you could rearrange parameters or insert things between them if you wanted to -- e.g., make an alias "w $1 $2 -> wield $1 in $2 hand"). Aliasing more than just verbs was planned (so you could do things like alias "sw -> sword" and type "get sw"), but never implemented. This would have allowed players to define their own abbreviations, and/or to alias anything they commonly misspelled. (I know -- a good client will do all of this. It's always been my feeling, though, that players who can use mud-specific clients shouldn't have any advantages over those who, for whatever reason, can't. Thus, I wanted to support client-like features on the mud itself.) -- |\ _,,,---,,_ Travis S. Casey <efindel#io,com> ZZzz /,`.-'`' -. ;-;;,_ No one agrees with me. Not even me. |,4- ) )-,_..;\ ( `'-' '---''(_/--' `-'\_) _______________________________________________ MUD-Dev maillist - MUD-Dev#kanga,nu <A HREF="http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev">http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev</A> </PRE> <!--X-Body-of-Message-End--> <!--X-MsgBody-End--> <!--X-Follow-Ups--> <HR> <ul compact><li><strong>Follow-Ups</strong>: <ul> <li><strong><A NAME="00399" HREF="msg00399.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></strong> <ul compact><li><em>From:</em> Greg Miller <gmiller#classic-games,com></li></ul> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-Follow-Ups-End--> <!--X-References--> <UL><LI><STRONG>References</STRONG>: <UL> <LI><STRONG><A NAME="00388" HREF="msg00388.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></STRONG> <UL><LI><EM>From:</EM> Matthew Mihaly <diablo#best,com></LI></UL></LI> </UL></LI></UL> <!--X-References-End--> <!--X-BotPNI--> <UL> <LI>Prev by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00390.html">RE: [MUD-Dev] Languages (slightly offtopic, was Text Parsing)</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by Date: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00392.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Prev by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00388.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Next by thread: <STRONG><A HREF="msg00399.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></STRONG> </LI> <LI>Index(es): <UL> <LI><A HREF="index.html#00391"><STRONG>Date</STRONG></A></LI> <LI><A HREF="thread.html#00391"><STRONG>Thread</STRONG></A></LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> <!--X-BotPNI-End--> <!--X-User-Footer--> <!--X-User-Footer-End--> <ul><li>Thread context: <BLOCKQUOTE><UL> <LI><STRONG>Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</STRONG>, <EM>(continued)</EM> <ul compact> <ul compact> <LI><strong><A NAME="00378" HREF="msg00378.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></strong>, Ben Greear <a href="mailto:greear#cyberhighway,net">greear#cyberhighway,net</a>, Wed 02 Jun 1999, 06:31 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00384" HREF="msg00384.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></strong>, Travis S. Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#io,com">efindel#io,com</a>, Wed 02 Jun 1999, 12:57 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00398" HREF="msg00398.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></strong>, Greg Miller <a href="mailto:gmiller#classic-games,com">gmiller#classic-games,com</a>, Wed 02 Jun 1999, 23:24 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00388" HREF="msg00388.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></strong>, Matthew Mihaly <a href="mailto:diablo#best,com">diablo#best,com</a>, Wed 02 Jun 1999, 14:30 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00391" HREF="msg00391.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></strong>, Travis S. Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#io,com">efindel#io,com</a>, Wed 02 Jun 1999, 15:31 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00399" HREF="msg00399.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></strong>, Greg Miller <a href="mailto:gmiller#classic-games,com">gmiller#classic-games,com</a>, Wed 02 Jun 1999, 23:24 GMT <UL> <LI><strong><A NAME="00410" HREF="msg00410.html">[MUD-Dev] Re[2]: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></strong>, Travis Casey <a href="mailto:efindel#io,com">efindel#io,com</a>, Thu 03 Jun 1999, 00:52 GMT </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00414" HREF="msg00414.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></strong>, David Bennett <a href="mailto:ddt#discworld,imaginary.com">ddt#discworld,imaginary.com</a>, Thu 03 Jun 1999, 01:31 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> </UL> </LI> <LI><strong><A NAME="00401" HREF="msg00401.html">Re: [MUD-Dev] Text Parsing</A></strong>, Greg Miller <a href="mailto:gmiller#classic-games,com">gmiller#classic-games,com</a>, Wed 02 Jun 1999, 23:25 GMT </LI> </UL> </LI> </ul> </ul> </LI> </UL></BLOCKQUOTE> </ul> <hr> <center> [ <a href="../">Other Periods</a> | <a href="../../">Other mailing lists</a> | <a href="/search.php3">Search</a> ] </center> <hr> </body> </html>