/ 
MegaHAL-0.03
/ MegaHAL

NAME

MegaHAL - Perl interface to the MegaHAL natural language
          conversation simulator.

SYNOPSIS

use MegaHAL;

$megahal = new MegaHAL('Path'     => './',
                       'Banner'   => 0,
                       'Prompt'   => 0,
                       'Wrap'     => 0,
                       'AutoSave' => 0);

$text = $megahal->initial_greeting();
$text = $megahal->do_reply($message);

DESCRIPTION

Conversation simulators are computer programs which give
the appearance of conversing with a user in natural 
language.  Such programs are effective because they 
exploit the fact that human beings tend to read much more
meaning into what is said than is actually there; we are
fooled into reading structure into chaos, and we 
interpret non-sequitur as valid conversation.

This package provides a Perl interface to the MegaHAL
conversation simulator written by Jason Hutchens.

USAGE

   $megahal = new MegaHAL('Path'     => './',
                          'Banner'   => 0,
                          'Prompt'   => 0,
                          'Wrap'     => 0,
                          'AutoSave' => 0);

Creates a new MegaHAL object.  The object constructor can
optionaly receive the following named parameters:

'Path'   - The path to MegaHALs brain or training file
           (megahal.brn and megahal.trn respectively).
           If 'Path' is not specified the current working
           directory is assumed.

'Banner' - A flag which enables/disables the banner
           which is displayed when MegaHAL starts up.
           The default is to disable the banner.

'Prompt' - A flag which enables/disables the prompt. This
           flag is only useful when MegaHAL is run
           interactively and is disabled by default.

'Wrap'   - A flag which enables/disables word wrapping of
           MegaHALs responses when the lines exceed 80
           characters in length.  The default is to 
           disable word wrapping.


   $text = $megahal->initial_greeting();

Returns a string containing the initial greeting which is
created by MegaHAL at startup.  


   $text = $megahal->do_reply($message);

Generates reply $text to a given message $message.

BUGS

None known at this time.

AUTHORS

The Perl MegaHAL interface was written by Cory Spencer
<cspencer@interchange.ubc.ca>

MegaHAL was originally written by and is copyright
Jason Hutchens <hutch@ciips.ee.uwa.edu.au>