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AIList Digest Volume 6 Issue 009
AIList Digest Tuesday, 12 Jan 1988 Volume 6 : Issue 9
Today's Topics:
Queries - Expert System Shells for IBM Mainframes &
Scott Fahlman and BUILD,
AI Tools - Voice Synthesizers & Dictionaries &
SNOBOL4 Language and AI Software,
Bindings - Psychology List,
Philosophy - Open Systems & Evolution of Intelligence
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 88 15:31:28 EST
From: gould!dsacg1!ntm1169@uunet.UU.NET (Mott Given)
Subject: Request info on expert system shells for IBM mainframes
I am doing a market survey of expert system shells available for IBM
mainframes, including but not limited to, IBM's ESE, Cullinet's
Application Expert, Aion's ADS/MVS, Nixdorf's Twaice, and KES from
Software A&E. I am interested in comments on the strengths and weaknesses
of these products from people who have had experience using them. I am
also interested in comments on why users selected one of these packages over
the other ones that were available.
Please send your replies to AIList.
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 88 12:46:09 GMT
From: mcvax!botter!klipper!biep@uunet.uu.net (J. A. "Biep" Durieux)
Subject: Scott Fahlman and BUILD
Does anyone know whether Scott Fahlman is reachable by email, or whether
his BUILD-program is available (and from where, if so)?
Thanks a lot in advance!
--
Biep. (biep@cs.vu.nl via mcvax)
Protect endangered species: Forbid line-eater hunting!
[Try Fahlman@C.CS.CMU.EDU on the ARPANET. -- KIL]
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 88 22:30:14 GMT
From: hubcap!ncrcae!gollum!rolandi@gatech.edu (rolandi)
Subject: speech gizmos for pc's
Regarding inexpensive PC speech devices, there is an ad for a $69.95
PC add-on in the winter 1987 issue of PC AI. It is from COVOX, Inc. of
675 Conger St., Eugene, OR 97402. Ph. (503) 342-1271. I have not seen
it but it is said to do text-to-speech and such. A few years back, this
company made an inexpensive speech recognition device for the C64. It
was very impressive and well worth the money.
walter rolandi
rolandi@gollum.UUCP ()
NCR Advanced Systems, Columbia, SC
u.s.carolina dept. of psychology and linguistics
------------------------------
Date: 9 Jan 88 00:18:43 GMT
From: caset!catuc!peter@arizona.edu (Peter Collins)
Subject: Re: voice synthesizer package needed
In article <5854@ccv.bbn.COM>, lawrence@bbn.COM (Gabe Lawrence) writes:
> In article (Todd Michael Bezenek) writes:
> >
> >I am looking for a voice synthesizer package that produces good
> >quality voice.
> >
>
> Check out the "What's New" article on pg. 86 of the January '88 BYTE citing
> the new Heath HV-2000 speech processing system. It's an IBM-compatible
> half-size plug in card consisting of a speech synthesizer, audio amplifier,
> a speaker, and a 60K buffer. It will read ASCII text files or ASCII data
.....
I've played with this board at a local Heath store. Not bad for the price
but be carefull - the pc board itself is not of that great quality. The
local Heath Tech and myself managed to inadvertantly lift several traces
off the board while trying to debug the board after he assembled the kit.
I hope Heath comes out with a new batch of higher quality boards.
> =Gabriel Lawrence=
> =BBN Communications=
peter collins
Computer Automation
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 88 15:51:31 GMT
From: grc!don@csd1.milw.wisc.edu (Donald D. Woelz)
Subject: TRC and thanks
Just a quick thanks to all those who graciously pointed me
toward obtaining the PD sources to TRC. I had many responses
to my request.
--
Don Woelz {ames, rutgers, harvard}!uwvax!uwmcsd1!grc!don
GENROCO, Inc. Phone: 414-644-8700
205 Kettle Moraine Drive North Fax: 414-644-6667
Slinger, WI 53086 Telex: 6717062
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 88 13:35 CST
From: Christopher Maeda <maeda@MCC.COM>
Subject: Microsoft CD-ROM dictionary
The Human Interface group at MCC wanted to use the Microsoft CD-ROM as a
data base in a natural language project. Microsoft, however, would not
give out (or sell) any documentation on how the information was stored,
making it practically unusable. Another company, Facts on File, Inc.,
was happy to sell us a developer's license for their CD based picture
database, the Visual Dictionary. So unless you just want to look up
words with your PC, stay away from the Microsoft product.
Chris Maeda
(maeda@ai.ai.mit.edu)
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 10 Jan 88 00:08:11 est
From: amsler@flash.bellcore.com (Robert Amsler)
Subject: The OED story
Date: 30 November 1987, 10:54:07 EST
Reply-To: MCCARTY%UTOREPAS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu
Sender: HUMANIST Discussion <HUMANIST%UTORONTO.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu>
From: MCCARTY%UTOREPAS.BITNET@wiscvm.wisc.edu
To: Robert Amsler <amsler@flash.bellcore.com>
Contributor: May Katzen <MAY@VAX.LEICESTER.AC.UK>
Subject: 1st edn. of the OED in CD-ROM and 2nd edn. in hardcopy
I have received the following information from Tim Benbow of
Oxford University Press about its publishing plans for the
OED, in response to the query from Mr Wall.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Oxford University Press has announced that early in 1988
it will publish the original Oxford English Dictionary,
1884-1928, issued in twelve printed volumes, on two CD ROM disks.
OUP states that this product is very user-friendly, much more so
than other similar products on the market.
These CD ROMs can run on a PC, XT or AT or an IBM clone with
a 640 K memory with either a CGA or EGA device. A Hitachi,
Philips, or Sony disk drive is required. The display monitor
may be monochrome, but a colour monitor is preferable, as colour
is used to distinguish different types of information.
OUP also plan to make the original OED available on magnetic tape
in a fully structured version with embedded codes, written in IBM
format.
In 1989, OUP will publish the Oxford English Dictionary, Second
Edition, which is the text of the original OED, plus supplements,
plus new material which has been added recently. This will be
published in a printed version of 20 volumes.
The database containing this material will be made available in a
number of electronic forms.
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 88 16:59:19 -0800
From: Richard Nelson <nelson@ICS.UCI.EDU>
Subject: SNOBOL4 language and AI at SIMTEL20
SNOBOL4 is a remarkably powerful if unstructured symbolic processing and
pattern matching language. A SNOBOL4 interpreter for MS-DOS and a report
discussing use of SNOBOL4 for artificial intelligence, with many AI-related
routines are now available via standard anonymous FTP from SIMTEL20:
Filename Type Bytes CRC
Directory PD1:<MSDOS.SNOBOL4>
VSNOBOL4.ARC Binary 286049 805EH
VSNOBOL4.TXT ASCII 5750 296DH
AISNOBOL.ARC Binary 258956 AC71H
AISNOBOL.TXT ASCII 5984 2E23H
Short Descriptions:
VANILLA SNOBOL4
Vanilla SNOBOL4 provides the entire Bell Labs SNOBOL4 programming
language, except for real numbers and external functions. The total size
of the object program and data cannot exceed 30K bytes in this entry-level
version. Vanilla SNOBOL4 was released by Catspaw, Inc., maker of a
commercial enhanced version of SNOBOL4, because they believe that many
people would enjoy programming in SNOBOL4, if there was a version of the
language that was widely and freely available. Included in the package
is an overview of the SNOBOL4 programming language, the Vanilla SNOBOL4
interpreter, and numerous example SNOBOL4 programs. The file VSNOBOL4.TXT
contains a more detailed description of the files contained in VSNOBOL4.ARC.
AI PROGRAMMING IN SNOBOL4
AISNOBOL.ARC contains text and code from the report "Artificial
Intelligence Programming in SNOBOL4," by Michael G. Shafto. Included is
SNOBOL4 code for things such as augmented transition networks, word
endings, semantic information retrieval, and Wang's algorithm for
theorem-proving. A more detailed description is contained in AISNOBOL.TXT.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 88 17:55:21 EST
From: "Keith F. Lynch" <KFL@AI.AI.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Psychology list
> From: uhccux!todd@humu.nosc.mil (The Perplexed Wiz)
> It's been at least three or four years since I last saw an attempt to
> create a newsgroup devoted to psychology. So, I thought I'd test the
> waters once more.
There IS a psychology list: EPSYNET%UHUPVM1.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU.
...Keith
------------------------------
Date: 9 Jan 88 10:52:00 GMT
From: goldfain@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu
Subject: Re: Seminar Announcement
An announcement of a seminar by Peter Cariani, titled
"Structural Preconditions for Open-Ended Learning through Machine Evolution"
contained an abstract, which made the following (excerpted) claims :
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------<
> Evolutionary machines cannot be constructed through computations alone. <
> New primitive category construction necessitates that new physical <
> measuring structures and controls come into being. While the behavior of <
> such devices can be represented to a limited degree by formal models, <
> those models cannot themselves create new categories vis-a-vis the real <
> world, and hence are insufficient as category-creating devices in their <
> own right. Computations must be augmented by the physical construction <
> of new sensors and effectors implementing processes of measurement and <
> control respectively. This construction process must be inheritable and <
> replicable, hence encodable into symbolic form, yet involving the autono- <
> mous, unencoded dynamics of the matter itself. <
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------<
Is Peter Cariani on the net and is he able to get involved in a discussion of
the items in this abstract? I find these claims very open to question -
either I am not understanding them fully, or they are debateable.
Mark Goldfain arpa: goldfain@osiris.cso.uiuc.edu
(A lowly student at)--> University of Illinois at U-C
------------------------------
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 88 10:15 EST
From: GODDEN%gmr.com@RELAY.CS.NET
Subject: Evolution of Intelligence
I am reading (of all things) a book about dogs (>The Canine Clan< by
John McLoughlin) and I came across a comment about intelligence that I
share with the net without comment. Since I don't have the book with
me at the moment I cannot offer an exact quote, but this is close:
Intelligence arises in order to make efficient use of the senses.
-Kurt Godden
godden@gmr.com
[For a more elaborate development of this viewpoint see the
recent book by Fischler and Firschein on The Eye and the Brain.
A major premise is that perception is a goal of AI (or of any
intelligence) rather than just a preprocessing stage. -- KIL]
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End of AIList Digest
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