Kon - Version 1.0.5 alpha

Phew. It's been an interesting past couple of days in the world of Kon. As you can see from the title, an alpha version of Version 1.0.5 is now up on the website. This version is in the process of changing the file structure around as well as introducing a brand new mode: Google Brain.

First let's talk about the file structure. In version 0.0.4 AIML and Kon's "monkey-see, monkey-do" brain are all in one file. I've decided that I needed to separate the two. I'm also trying to clean up IRC.cs and try to reduce memory necessary to run the bot. In the current version once AIML has been started it doesn't actually shut off, even if you use the command. With this version-in-works, the object should be destroyed manually when you toggle it. I've also gone and changed how the filters work and created their own source file for them. It makes it easier to keep track of and update.

Now for the majority of my headaches for the past 48 hours: Google Brain. I had an idea to improve Kon's AI: use a search engine to get a reply. The basic concept is that search engine results are not static and will change in time. Plus changing search terms may give you different results. Version 1.0.5 now introduces a mode that is designed to go out, search for the conversation term, then pull out some text to return. I should state right up front that THIS IS NOT PERFECT. In fact, sometimes it fails miserably. A lot of the time it ends up making Kon sound like a walking advertisement or a can of spam. However, in those rare moments that it works correctly it's beautiful.

You may be wondering why the version is 1.0.5 vs 0.0.4 of the last update. The reason being, I felt that this update (when it's 100% finished) is such a gigantic leap ahead that it deserves to be bumped up to an actual release version.

I've uploaded what I have under a /src-alpha/ folder. Download, compile and use these files at your own risk. They're still being worked on and probably aren't the most stable. I'll make another blog post in the future when I feel 1.0.5 is really done and is pretty stable.

So until then, here's some quotes from Kon running Google Brain.

<iyouboushi> kon: why is the rum gone?
<kon> to make a signal for the british
<iyouboushi> kon: a miserable little pile of secrets!
<kon> dracula to go back to ytmnd.
<iyouboushi> kon: the answer to life, the universe and everything
<kon> = 42. im not quite sure how
<iyouboushi> kon: multi-pong reply
<kon> omg liek thsi si,, liek, teh kewl8zt cmoic eva!!!111 rotfmao u haev 2 reed cuz it si teh whiet pnog palyzer onos!!!!1111 giren chuuch on

** Reminder: these results are probably atypical. Yes, Kon did display these on the first try but keep in mind it's searching Google for the result. You CAN get the same results if you repeat it enough, but it's equally likely that you'd get gibberish or an advertisement.