Re: infobot mailing lists

[Jonathan H. <vha...@ru...>]

> Ummm, platform independence?  Can you get Python for windows? 

Of course!
http://www.python.org/download/download_windows.html

All I was saying is that a fresh look at everything, the pros and cons
of python/perl/everything else should be examined, and the right tool
chosen for the job.

> Again, it seems silly to bring another communications protocol into
> play if you want to do this, since the whole purpose of the bots is to
> be on IRC.

I'd say the whole purpose of a bot is to be available for queries.
Whether those queries come from IRC, Jabber, AIM, or a desktop applet,
a well designed bot should still be able to respond to them.

> Not that I would ever want a bot I run getting orders from a bot
> somebody else runs.

Even the original infobot source has a method that allows two bots to
share their data.  If I ask my bot something that it doesn't know, it
will ask all "friendly" bots I have told it about, and if one of them
has an answer, my bot will learn from it.  This is a wonderful feature,
and should never be dismissed by describing it as "getting orders from
somebody else's bot".

> I'm surprised you didn't mention Corba and XML.

I didn't mention them because they're slow, inefficient, bloated, messy,
and complicated.

Give me some credit.

When I mentioned Python, I mentioned it because it was a good language
for the task (including its platform independence).  When I mentioned
Perspective Broker, I mentioned it because it is a nice efficient way
for applications to communicate remotely IF THEY SHOULD WANT TO.

> Sorry if I sound cynical, but I've seen the results of misapplying
> stuff like that.

As have I.  As I said, give me some credit.


Back to my original point:  Let's not assume that any way is the best
architecture just yet.  Let's have a look at the options, and design a
bot that will work properly, from scratch.