Date:	Tue, 12 Aug 1997 17:49:58 +0800 (GMT)
From:	Orlando Andico <orly AT gibson DOT eee DOT upd DOT edu DOT ph>
To:	Eli Zaretskii <eliz AT is DOT elta DOT co DOT il>
cc:	Paul Derbyshire <ao950 AT FreeNet DOT Carleton DOT CA>, djgpp AT delorie DOT com
Subject:	Re: The DJGPP Oracle
In-Reply-To:	<Pine.SUN.3.91.970812121855.1213K-100000@is>
Message-ID:	<Pine.SGI.3.93.970812174855.1540A-100000@gibson>
MIME-Version:	1.0

On Tue, 12 Aug 1997, Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> Paul, I think that's a wonderful idea!  I thought about it for a while
> way back, when the FAQ began to grow.  The only problem that precluded
> me to do something like that was that people usually ask questions in
> a variety of forms, and making an AI program that would parse them and
> get useful answers seemed like a major project.  But if you can make
> it happen, I'm sure lots of users would be a lot happier.
..
> I doubt if this menu-driven approach is good enough, since menus are
> usually too rigid.  As a recent example, someone who asks about
> `getvect' won't necessarily understand that ``How do I hook an
> interrupt'' is the same question.
> 
> The best way to see if this approach works is to take a single FAQ
> chapter and make a prototype program that will answer such questions.
> Then everybody and their dog could play with the prototype and tell
> you what they think.

What's wrong with grep? Or the search in the Info reader? AFAIK the FAQ
is available in Info format. That's probably much better than a simple
menu-based program.

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Orlando Alcantara Andico
WWW:   http://www.dilnet.upd.edu.ph/~orly/   Email: orly AT mozcom DOT com
ICBM:  14 deg. 30' N, 120 deg. 59' E         POTS:  (+632) 932-2385
"violet serene like none I have seen apart from dreams, that escape
 me, there was no girl as warm as you."

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