On October 26th, I will send to Markle by overnight delivery a Macintosh diskette containing the first draft Verb Network Editor. This version of the editor will look approximately like the screen diagrams presented earlier. It will support the following functions:
creation of new verbs
editing of verb time to prepare, time to execute, importance, facial expression
editing of verb classification values
creation of new roles
the network navigator
the network classifier
assignment of consequences to roles
*s-code expression evaluator
*library of functions for the s-code language
All of these features are guaranteed and will be demonstrable on October 26th. In addition, we hope to have these other features functioning:
editing expressions
editing verb characterization flags
editing emotional and physical reactions
editing role definitions
None of the code available on October 26th will be final code; we expect that many bugs and deficiencies will remain. However, it will be functioning well enough to demonstrate the overall concept and use of the VNE.
Chris will be responsible for all of the above features except for those marked with an asterisk; these will be handled by Dave. In addition, Dave will serve as the C++ guru for Chris, reviewing his code and making suggestions for improving its readability and robustness.
Travel costs, New York trip, August 12 - 15: $1,671.24
PowerMac 8500 $4,308.92
Keyboard $177.79
21" Monitor $2,366.73
Laser printer $990.21
C++, MacWrite $482.72
ZIP Drive $312.36
Dave Walker $5,000
Chris Crawford $10,000
Total $25,309.97
The storybuilder will have a "New Verb" menu option under the "Edit" menu. When selected, it will bring up a dialog box that will allow the user to type in the name of the verb. It will create a new verb, enter a complete set of default values, and present an edit screen for the verb.
There are five numbers associated with verbs: time to prepare, time to execute, importance, facial expression, and audience. These five numbers will be editable from the main screen.
This allows the user to set the various flags that describe a verb, used to search for verbs of a feather.
There will be a "New Role" menu item in the "Edit"; when selected, it will bring up a dialog box asking for the label for that role. When dismissed, the new role will be entered into the role list and default values will be entered for it.
This has been specified earlier. No major changes are anticipated.
This is a new feature that will make it possible to select verbs by their approximate properties. The network navigator is useful when the network already exists, but when you're bringing it up for the first time, there is no network to navigate, and so most verbs will be inaccessible. The classifier is a quick-and-dirty database search engine that allows the user to bring up sets of verbs with defined characteristics, and then choose the appropriate verb from the list.
This also has been specified in connection with the network navigator.
"S-code" is a tokenized language for evaluating arithmetic and boolean expressions associated with the system. The VNE will present S-code to the storybuilder in a highly readable format. It will output the S-code in a file; these S-code expressions will be evaluated by the S-code interpreter, returning either arithmetic or boolean values.
This will be a set of several dozen functions commonly used in Le Morte D'Arthur, callable in S-code.
This is the system previously described for editing the role definitions and weighting equations.
The verb characterization flags are the 32 flags that will help characterize the verbs in the network. The editor for these will use simple checkboxes to assign their values. This will be done in a separate dialog box.
These are the changes in emotional and physical state associated with the execution of a verb.
These are S-code expressions telling whether a given character fits a given role.