megahal_interfaces.3

megahal is the conversation simulators conversing with a user in natural language. The program will

.\" Copyright 2000, 2001, 2002 David N. Welton <[e-mail]>
.\" $Id: megahal_interfaces.3,v 1.3 2003/08/26 12:49:16 lfousse Exp $
.TH MEGAHAL INTERFACES 3  "April 12, 1993" "" "Linux Programmer's Manual"
.SH NAME
megahal interfaces - C, Python and Tcl interfaces to Megahal
.SH SYNOPSIS
.nf
.B #include <megahal.h>
.sp

.B void megahal_setnoprompt(void);
.sp
.B void megahal_setnowrap(void);
.sp
.B void megahal_setnobanner(void);
.sp
.BI "void megahal_seterrorfile(char *"filename );
.sp
.BI "void megahal_setstatusfile(char *"filename );
.sp
.B void megahal_initialize(void);
.sp
.BI "char *megahal_initial_greeting(void" );
.sp
.BI "int megahal_command(char *"input );
.sp
.BI "char *megahal_do_reply(char *"input ", int" log );
.sp
.BI "void megahal_output(char *"output );
.sp
.BI "char *megahal_input(char *"prompt );
.sp
.B void megahal_cleanup(void);
.sp

.SH DESCRIPTION
.p
.B Initialization
.br
Megahal is initialized with the \fBmegahal_initialize()\fP function.
\fBmegahal_setnoprompt\fP eliminates the prompt from interactive
sessions.  \fBmegahal_setnowrap()\fP stops output from being wrapped.
\fBmegahal_setnobanner()\fP prevents megahal from printing out the
initial 'banner'.

.B Files
.br
\fBmegahal_seterrorfile\fP and \fBmegahal_setstatusfile\fP set which
files megahal will use for error and status reporting, respectively.

.B User interaction
.br
\fBmegahal_initial_greeting\fP returns an initial greeting for the
user, such as "hello", "ciao", etc...  \fBmegahal_command\fP checks
its input for a Megahal command (like QUIT), and acts upon it, if
found.  If it finds nothing, it returns 0.  \fBmegahal_do_reply\fP is
the core of megahal.  It takes a string as input, and calculates a
reply, which it returns.  \fBmeghal_output\fP is for outputting text
to stdout, such as megahal's replies.  Input may be obtained with
\fBmegahal_input\fP, which takes a prompt string as an argument, and
returns a string input by the user.

.B Example
.br
\fBmain.c\fP in the source distribution is a good example of how to
use Megahal's C API.

.SH "TCL INTERFACE"

.BI "load"\ libmh_tcl.so
.br
Load the Tcl interface shared object into the Tcl interpreter.

.B mh_init
.br
Initialize megahal brain.

.BI "mh_doreply"\ text
.br
Takes some text as input and returns a megahal reply.

.B mh_cleanup
.br
Save megahal brain to disk.  You will lose your changes if this does
not occur.

.SH "PYTHON INTERFACE"

.BI "import"\ mh_python
.br
Import the Megahal Python interface into the Python interpreter.

.B mh_python.initbrain()
.br
Initialize megahal brain.

.BI "mh_python.doreply(" text )
.br
Takes some text as input and returns a megahal reply.

.BI "mh_python.learn(" text )
.br
Takes some text as input and updates the model without generating a reply.

.B mh_python.cleanup()
.br
Save megahal brain to disk.  You will lose your changes if this does
not occur.

.SH "REFERENCES"
More information can be found about megahal at
http://megahal.sourceforge.net

Jason Hutchens, the original author of Megahal can be found at:
http://www.amristar.com.au/~hutch/

.SH BUGS
The C library is not yet ready.

.SH "AUTHOR"
Man page written by David N. Welton <[e-mail]>, modified by
Laurent Fousse <[e-mail]>.