Re: Waiter, there is a fly in my soup.


7 Jan 1995 20:04:21 GMT

In article <baf.789504026@max.tiac.net>,
Carl Muckenhoupt <baf@max.tiac.net> wrote:

>So start implementing this in TADS, right? Only it gets stuck on "there
>is". After a while I figure it out. It's the word "there". TADS, using
>ADV or Worldclass, treats "there" like "it": as a special word referring
>to the last applicable object mentioned.

Just punt that. It's only there to allow things like

>look in the cupboard. put the dishes in there.

ADV.T didn't have this for years and no one ever noticed. I thought of it
while writing the specialWords code for WorldClass. It's gratuitous. Just
get rid of it.

>a) Remove "there" from the list of special words. Unappealing, as it
>would involve direct modification of the library, rather than using the
>"modify" construct.

If there is no way to coerce modify into doing what you want (which might
be the case, I don't know), then just replace the specialWords list
entirely. I don't think this is a big deal; the specialWords list is
unlikely to change much, if at all.

>b) Hack up a preparse function that detects "there is" and replaces it
>with "there's". Also unappealing, especially since Worldclass has its
>own preparse function, and you can't modify it without replacing it
>entirely.

Well, I could always move the meat of the WorldClass preparse routine into
another function. Then you could replace the WorldClass preparse (which
would then be a single line calling the "meat" function), call the "meat"
function yourself, and then do your own stuff on the output.

This sounds like a good change to make. I'll do it and update the copy on
ftp.ai.mit.edu: pub/users/dmb/worldclass.

Dave Baggett
__
dmb@ai.mit.edu MIT AI Lab "Verbing weirds language" -- Calvin
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