C++ AI Blog

[Arthur T. Murray]

A C++ AI Weblog for implementing artificial intelligence is at
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/cpp.html -- with C++ source.

Arthur T. Murray
--
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/307824.307853 -- ACM SIGPLAN Notices;
http://www.sl4.org/archive/0205/3829.html -- comments by Dr. B.G.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595654371/ -- AI textbook
http://www.kurzweilai.net/mindx/profile.php?id=26 - Mind-eXchange

[White Wolf]

Arthur T. Murray wrote:

A C++ AI Weblog for implementing artificial intelligence is at
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/cpp.html -- with C++ source.

What is on your site does not really look C++. You use a non-existent
header (iomanip.h), you use typedef to create an existing type bool (with
another name, but what for?). Your code is full of unmanaged pointers, no
use of STL data structures (which in itself is not an error, but the use of
_any_ generic element is missing, even one written by yourself) etc. The
code looks like something from 10 years ago. I strongly suggest that before
you start putting an awful lot of manhours into an AI system you learn
enough to do it right. Otherwise you will make something which have have
unreasonably high maintenance.

This post is not meant to be discouragement, but a friendly warning/help to
give you the chance to not go down to a path which is clearly not the best
one.

--
WW aka Attila

[Arthur T. Murray]

"White Wolf" <wo***@freemail .hu> graciously wrote on Sun, 7 Sep 2003:

Arthur T. Murray wrote:

A C++ AI Weblog for implementing artificial intelligence is at
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/cpp.html -- with C++ source.
What is on your site does not really look C++.

It was written by an engineer who took a course in C++ a year ago.
You use a non-existent header (iomanip.h),
The "iomanip.h" is supposed to be a header for the manipulation
of input/output. I don't know if the header is included in the
engineer's rather old (early) version of C++, or if he has
written it himself and did not give it to me yesterday
when he handed me the four pages of C++ code that I
proceeded to key into the uploaded "cpp.html" webpage.
you use typedef to create an existing type bool
(with another name, but what for?).
I do not know. I will have to ask the incognito engineer.
Your code is full of unmanaged pointers,
no use of STL data structures (which in itself is not an error,
but the use of _any_ generic element is missing, even one
written by yourself) etc.
Sorry; I don't know any C++ -- he did it as a favor for me :-)
The code looks like something from 10 years ago.
At least it's a start, something for others to react against.
As of twelve hours after uploading, the "cpp.html" page
has gotten around fifty hits in response to this Usenet thread.
(And it is redundantly at three other domains on the Web :=)
I strongly suggest that before you start putting an awful lot
of manhours into an AI system you learn enough to do it right.
Otherwise you will make something which have have
unreasonably high maintenance.
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/theory5.html is my main work.

Currently (as you may notice from the "See also..." links at
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/cpp.html :-) the plan is to
set up such "XYZ AI Weblogs" for about twenty "XYZ" programming
languages as a departure point for coding AI in each language.
Even if the very first code has some defects... THE RACE IS ON.
This post is not meant to be discouragement, but a friendly
warning/help to give you the chance to not go down to a path
which is clearly not the best one.
You are one of Nature's gentlemen, and I thank you kindly.
--
WW aka Attila

Again thanking "WW aka Attila",

Sincerely,

Arthur T. Murray
--
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/307824.307853 -- ACM SIGPLAN Notices;
http://www.sl4.org/archive/0205/3829.html -- comments by Dr. B.G.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0595654371/ -- AI textbook
http://www.kurzweilai.net/mindx/profile.php?id=26 - Mind-eXchange

[White Wolf]

Arthur T. Murray wrote:
[SNIP]

What is on your site does not really look C++.
It was written by an engineer who took a course in C++ a year ago.

Well, I hope he did not pay for that course.

You use a non-existent header (iomanip.h),

The "iomanip.h" is supposed to be a header for the manipulation
of input/output.

Nope. It is a pre-standard header, from an ancient past. :-)
I don't know if the header is included in the
engineer's rather old (early) version of C++, or if he has
written it himself and did not give it to me yesterday
when he handed me the four pages of C++ code that I
proceeded to key into the uploaded "cpp.html" webpage.
He did a usual C++ course, which teaches C++ from 10 years ago.

you use typedef to create an existing type bool
(with another name, but what for?).

I do not know. I will have to ask the incognito engineer.

I would rather not ask him anything anymore. At least C++. He is probably
perfect in Java or SmallTalk.
Sorry; I don't know any C++ -- he did it as a favor for me :-)
Khm. This favor stinks. ;-) He does not know much C++ either.

The code looks like something from 10 years ago.

At least it's a start, something for others to react against.

If you want a flame war...
As of twelve hours after uploading, the "cpp.html" page
has gotten around fifty hits in response to this Usenet thread.
(And it is redundantly at three other domains on the Web :=)

Great. How many reactions did you get? Nowadays if people see code like
this (I mean serious C++ programmers) they will remember the URL just not to
use it by mistake.

I strongly suggest that before you start putting an awful lot
of manhours into an AI system you learn enough to do it right.
Otherwise you will make something which have have
unreasonably high maintenance.

http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/theory5.html is my main work.

Currently (as you may notice from the "See also..." links at
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/cpp.html :-) the plan is to
set up such "XYZ AI Weblogs" for about twenty "XYZ" programming
languages as a departure point for coding AI in each language.
Even if the very first code has some defects... THE RACE IS ON.

The code displayed on your page is *not* C++. And you know a gentleman does
not race if he knows in advance that he will win. :-)

This post is not meant to be discouragement, but a friendly
warning/help to give you the chance to not go down to a path
which is clearly not the best one.

You are one of Nature's gentlemen, and I thank you kindly.

Oh. I was joking with gentleman and now you say it... I must be weakening.
;-)

IMHO if you try to search for AI and C++ on the internet (Google is your
friend [TM]) you will most probably find people who not only know AI but
also C++.

(Sidenote: to learn C++ to be an expert might take up to 3 years of
permanent, cutting edge C++ work.)

Anyway, good luck for your quest!

--
WW aka Attila

[llewelly]

uj***@victoria. tc.ca (Arthur T. Murray) writes:

"White Wolf" <wo***@freemail .hu> graciously wrote on Sun, 7 Sep 2003:

Arthur T. Murray wrote:

A C++ AI Weblog for implementing artificial intelligence is at
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/cpp.html -- with C++ source.
What is on your site does not really look C++.

It was written by an engineer who took a course in C++ a year ago.

A year ago!?! Was it taught by a charlatan or an ignoramus? Sorry,
that was harsh, give me a minute to calm down.

You use a non-existent header (iomanip.h),
The "iomanip.h" is supposed to be a header for the manipulation
of input/output.

[snip]

"iomanip.h" dates from 1990-era C++ . The C++1998 standard mandates
<iomanip> (no .h suffix) Anyone still using iomanip.h is at least
5 years out of date. This and other evidence leave me feeling your
incognito engineer was taught C++ by someone not remotely
qualified. It is sad to hear of courses still so far behind the
times.
[snip] Currently (as you may notice from the "See also..." links at
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/cpp.html :-) the plan is to
set up such "XYZ AI Weblogs" for about twenty "XYZ" programming
languages as a departure point for coding AI in each language.
Even if the very first code has some defects... THE RACE IS ON.

[snip]

Please don't pretend this code can be used any kind of fair or honest
language comparision.

[Kevin Goodsell]

llewelly wrote:

"iomanip.h" dates from 1990-era C++ . The C++1998 standard mandates
<iomanip> (no .h suffix) Anyone still using iomanip.h is at least
5 years out of date. This and other evidence leave me feeling your
incognito engineer was taught C++ by someone not remotely
qualified. It is sad to hear of courses still so far behind the
times.

Is this formatting really necessary? Personally, I would appreciate it
if you'd set your news client to format messages left-justified like
most usenet messages. It's a distraction to have it indented like that.

-Kevin
--
My email address is valid, but changes periodically.
To contact me please use the address from a recent posting.

[David B. Held]

"llewelly" <ll*********@xm ission.dot.com> wrote in message
news:86******** ****@Zorthluthi k.local.bar...

uj***@victoria. tc.ca (Arthur T. Murray) writes:
[snip]

Currently (as you may notice from the "See also..." links at
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/cpp.html :-) the plan is to
set up such "XYZ AI Weblogs" for about twenty "XYZ"
programming languages as a departure point for coding
AI in each language.
Even if the very first code has some defects... THE RACE
IS ON.

[snip]

Please don't pretend this code can be used any kind of fair
or honest language comparision.

I don't think that's the point. I think Mr. Murray is convinced
that he really understands intelligence and AI well enough to
have conveniently provided a template whereby skilled
programmers can crank out new AIs like sweatshop children
cranking out Nikes. Perhaps he believes that by encouraging
programmers from different languages to "race" towards his
"goal", it will harness the competitive energy of said
programmers, achieving his ultimate aim of producing the
first real intelligent artifact. And all this will be accomplished
without him having learned a single programming language
or paying a single programmer to write a single line of code.

It's a clever idea...if you know a bunch of clueless and naive
programmers. But if you know such coders, they probably
aren't smart enough to write the AI anyway. And if they were,
you'd be wondering why they would do it for free, make it
publicly available, and do it in their spare time.

I don't think it's far from the mark to say that Mr. Murray is
an AI crackpot. Looking at his web site in depth shows
that he has a rather shallow view of AI, specifying things
like making the user press Return after certain inputs, and
leaving obviously difficult tasks like: "Create a sensory
modality for the AI" up to the programmer. If he had any
financial gain from this, I'd say he's the modern-day maker
of Stone Soup. But alas, it seems to me that all he has is
too much free time on his hands.

He seems to think that an AI can be built incrementally,
without really fully understanding how human cognitive
processes work in detail. I think a good 60-70 years of
less-than-spectacular AI projects indicates otherwise.
Of course, none of this really has to do with C++.

Dave

[llewelly]

"David B. Held" <dh***@codelogi cconsulting.com > writes:

"llewelly" <ll*********@xm ission.dot.com> wrote in message
news:86******** ****@Zorthluthi k.local.bar...

uj***@victoria. tc.ca (Arthur T. Murray) writes:
[snip]

> Currently (as you may notice from the "See also..." links at
> http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/cpp.html :-) the plan is to
> set up such "XYZ AI Weblogs" for about twenty "XYZ"
> programming languages as a departure point for coding
> AI in each language.
> Even if the very first code has some defects... THE RACE
> IS ON. [snip]

Please don't pretend this code can be used any kind of fair
or honest language comparision.

I don't think that's the point.

On second thought, agreed. I saw 'RACE', and
comp.programmin g.contests, and jumped to conclusions. Call it a
knee-jerk reaction from too many ill-designed and poorly done
langauge comparisons. (Usually done by people who think they have
to prove their favorite langauge is 'better' than C++, by some
ill-chosen definition of 'better' .)

[snip] He seems to think that an AI can be built incrementally,
without really fully understanding how human cognitive
processes work in detail. I think a good 60-70 years of
less-than-spectacular AI projects indicates otherwise.
Of course, none of this really has to do with C++.

[snip]

Agreed. (Though I'm curious where you got '60-70 years' - the only
computer I know of from 60 years ago was the British Colossus; I
don't think ENIAC was finished until 1947 or so.)

[David B. Held]

"llewelly" <ll*********@xm ission.dot.com> wrote in message
news:86******** ****@Zorthluthi k.local.bar...

"David B. Held" <dh***@codelogi cconsulting.com > writes:
[snip]

He seems to think that an AI can be built incrementally,
without really fully understanding how human cognitive
processes work in detail. I think a good 60-70 years of
less-than-spectacular AI projects indicates otherwise.
Of course, none of this really has to do with C++.

[snip]

Agreed. (Though I'm curious where you got '60-70 years' -
the only computer I know of from 60 years ago was the
British Colossus; I don't think ENIAC was finished until
1947 or so.)

I guess the first AI projects were run in people's heads. ;)

Dave

[Y2KYZFR1]

uj***@victoria. tc.ca (Arthur T. Murray) wrote in message news:<3f******@ news.victoria.t c.ca>...

A C++ AI Weblog for implementing artificial intelligence is at
http://mentifex.virtualentity.com/cpp.html -- with C++ source.

Arthur T. Murray

that is some pretty heinous code, and you were silly for "re-typing"
something that un-useable anyway, a short quick search of google would
have found at least half a dozen source code to color coded syntax
highlighted html programs.

sorry to here you this person wasted so much of your time.