help wanted: playground construction

Tril dem@tunes.org
Thu, 22 Oct 1998 22:50:20 -0700 (PDT)


Your idea sounds a lot like mine, except I don't know what AI is exactly,
so I'm not planning on doing it.

I'm working on a generic unified typesystem, using my idea of sets as
properties.  Persistence will initially be done by loading (to RAM) an
image file of all the objects at startup, and saving everything into the
image on exit.  The first few things I'll add (in no particular order, and
probably simultaneously) are logic, mathematics, a proof system, parallel
constructs, and perhaps some preliminary natural language support (which
may or may not be part of anyone's definition of AI). 

I'm not sure how much I need to "experiment with object systems"; I
consider this AS the object system.  I don't see how state machines fit in
the picture at all; I don't consider them a "more abstract" view of
hardware at all (instead, they seem lower-level).  My idea of an "abstract
CPU" is a context that evaluates expressions, not a bit-crunching
automaton. 

I'll resume work on my prototype C code and you can decide whether to help
me on my project or start your own.  The snapshot is at
http://www2.tunes.org/~dem/tunes/ and has been dormant since I posted it
last month.

Why the hurry?  When I hurry, I lose track of details.  In this project,
the details are of utmost importance.  Moving slowly is the best way to
make lasting progress.  Even if I don't succeed this attempt, at least it
won't be because I rushed it.

David Manifold <dem@tunes.org>