Chatbots are becoming common these days, but there is even a greater challenge.

How can one write a program to generate a correct sentence?

This is something a human being can do effortlessly but it's difficult for a software.

An even greater challenge is: Understanding a sentence

If a sentence goes like: 'Obi is a boy'. We instantly understand that Obi is a name of a human being who happens to be a male under the age of 18. We also make instant guesses like Obi may be a student, based on the context of the sentence.

Task: Write a program to understand a 1-3 word input, and also respond with a 1-3 word input.

You can write your own custom dictionary and tell us which words are allowed.

no cheating, it's not required but you should show source code

unfortunately,i dont have d time and its not in my todo list.

Hmmm but am assuming you know that its a waste of time as no computer is going to be able to think for itself except you think you can play God! Bots are trainable but to what extent? You get to a stage where it gets too slow and you are just getting started! Notice that bots actually give static answers. . Have you tried confusing a bot before? Thats fun, lolzz

Anyways, dnt think am also gonna ever have time fore such a task. . .

got three jobs lined up,even at that,reading sedgewick will be a better thing to do.

great replies @Fayimora and naija_swag. I'm glad you both agree it's the greatest challenge of programming, and even more glad you could not possibly think about attempting it And I still doubt there's any existing tough programmers on NL.

Tough? I can handle it but the question really is, who has the time?

Fayimora:

Tough? I can handle it but the question really is, who has the time?

Eh, somehow, I think that's a pretty cheap escape clause.

HAhaha no but on a serious note, using a language like Ruby would make it fun for me but the problem is TIME. Theres just too much to do. If you don't mind we might try it in December tho. .  We might still be building and optimizing in December 2014 lmaooo.

We should do it using Ruby or at least Perl. If we MUST use graphics then we just gotta use Java

lol, I've been trying this for several days and although I know I'm getting a headway, I know I still have a long way to go

I have seen intelligent chabots like elbot.com, it seems to be the best and doesn't appear to be stalling you all the time like the other chatbots around.

HMm ok cool, Have fun!

Fayimora:

Tough? I can handle it but the question really is, who has the time?

make the time

BCuZiMBlaCk:

make the time

. . . . or shut up!

Interestingly enough i thought google will have solved it.

I noticed something with google translator. I will use english and spanish as an example.

Translate "i will food eat tomorow morning" to spanish will give "voy a comer la comida por la mañana el día de mañana"
Now translate "voy a comer la comida por la mañana el día de mañana" back to english "I eat the morning meal tomorrow"
Now translate "I eat the morning meal tomorrow" to spanish "Que como la comida de la mañana de mañana"

So you can see that even the perfect google translator extrapolates sometimes. That is how i catch scammers sometimes.
When those idiots pop into my chatbox, i start speaking spanish - by the time they use translator to say they are spanish, i will catch them.

If you translate "What is your name" to spanish with google translator - it will tell you "¿Cuál es tu nombre?" which is the literal transation.
But a real spanish speaker will never say that - they will say "Como se llama" / "como te llamas" (if you remember that shakira's hips dont lie) - literarily means
"how do you call yourself"?

But the translator has been improving over time - i have been observing it. Few months ago - it does not know what "caramba" meant - but now it does,
but it can still not translate the literal meaning based on context. Because caramba is the same as our own "haba" here - which can be used to express surprise, shock, annoyance and different things. But google will only translate it to "wow".

DHTML, I love your fascination about Google Translator, anyway, spammers are much more easier to catch than that If I was going to chat with a spammer, it would be so I can get his location. Anyways, this is much different from a translator. There is a large team at Google working on Google translator. When they want to develop translations for a language, they can go to a whole University, get their best professors in that language, create a condusive working environment for them, and give them some spreadsheet tasks to complete. I have seen this myself and I was one of the people who facilitated Google in Pidgin translation.
The thing is, it takes an understanding of different philosophies of the brain to understand how this works. Did you hear about the new processor just developed by IBM that has neurally connected switches like the brain? It has already received some million dollars of funding (even though IBM already has money). Just because they said it can help develop computers that can behave like our brains. Have you read about the next Kinect device Microsoft is building that can read emotions and all? Did you read about the machines built by scientists that can get clips and images from our thoughts and if we were thinking about a video or image, it could identify it when shown? The truth is we're already getting there, but the big companies have leverage.
I am not trying to approach the matter from the big doors, I'm just trying to get in via a small hole that I'm quite convinced is leading to the inside. I would have worked better with a team, but all the people I talk to really seem dumb about it, so It's like I'm stuck with myself.

^^^I quite get the feeling. When i first named myself as "dhtml". I will talk to fellow developers - let us do something like this and that - but they will be looking like mumu. So i started doing those stuffs - and after doing it, i show them and say - see, this is what i was talking about.
That is one thing that has made me gain some popularity, and i practice what i preach also.

Anyway, I know that if i have a good team, I will have done wonders. Working alone is not easy at all, but i enjoy it all the same. I just completed the core features of my site (www..net), the remaining na tweaking and posting more useful stuffs. Doing it alone was not easy at all.

Lol, nice. People are really lazy both physically and mentally. One thing I have discovered with getting a good team is your ability to really share your passion and motivation across those who look up to you. In the beginning, never target the big guys for a team, just go with someone who has a bit of knowledge or skills, who is ready and completely willing to learn and work. At first I was doing most things alone, but now I don't just have a great team, but I have many who are willing to work with me; a really big temptation. (Running Lean is the smart way )
Secondly, one should do a complete prototype of whatever they want to build first, before going ahead. It's very important one creates a business plan of whatever they are doing as it will help them analyze what they are doing and how exactly to move ahead.

Btw, how come it appears you're hosting your site yourself? Or are you not Sawyerrken?

^^^What are you talking about? I aint Sawyer Kenn - that is dual core na, I am Anthony ogundipe - dhtml ?
Dual core is the one hosting the website for me na.

Oh, sorry. It's been a long time. Usernames and nice names and all can really get confusing on Nairaland.

Oh, and sorry, I forgot to add.

You really did a good awesome job with that site. I just hope it's easy to maintain. Nice job man

Btw, have you tried developing stuff like twitter or facebook before?

__

Edit: Ok, Can see a bit of drupal now. . .

True it is drupal to an extent (maybe 60%), but can you explain why you login from www.accounts..net?

Hmm, the coding seems really pretty raw, you may have done it for different reasons. I can analyze what exactly it's doing on firefox though, but it seems like your own personal choice more or less.

www.accounts..net - is the single-sign-on module for the site. The drupal installation[b]s[/b] - for there are multiple drupal installations - and the entire website make use of the login framework - that is why everywhere you look on the site look alike. Except for the tell-tale features, you can see it is not a typical drupal site in many ways. All the subdomains classrooms., blogs. are separate drupal installations.

If you wish to learn more about my sso - type into google - " sso" - that is one of the features that makes this different from regular drupal sites.
Frontend codes can be analysed with firefox easily. If you look carefully you will see a slight semblance in the sso and google's sso - coincidence really.

Hmm, you sound like SSO is a fuss Of course that can be seen by a dumb web developer. It is easily seen that the sites are on different subdomains and can therefore not be the same drupal installation. Thought you were referring to some security measure or style. I personally don't like the ideas of 'cookies only' for security. When I was talking about firefox, I was actually referring to fiddler addon, I was thinking the subdomain was performing some kind of special hidden security measures

^^^Yes the subdomains provide additional security measures - or the whole place go don full of spam now. No fuss about the sso, i was just saying that the website is not just a typical drupal installation. The SSO servers as a DOOR to the site, and that is all there is to it.

By the way, a dumb developer may see an SSO and may not recognize it - you are far from a dumb developer naaa. Haba.

I have done an API for the Nigerian Stock Exchange, i might implement a feature where it will require an API key - so the sso may come in useful again.

Nigerian Stock Exchange API - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-816057.0.html

Hmm, when I refer to security measures, I'm actually more scared of website hijacks, rfi, lfi and co. A legal user registers on your site and starts to explore the security weaknesses, and eventually takes over it for you. The StockExchange stuff is cool though, nice job

^^^Thanks though. I am security conscious though, but if you find any holes just let me know - so i take measures to close it up.