Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sdd.hp.com!hplabs!pyramid!athertn!joshua From: joshua@athertn.Atherton.COM (Flame Bait) Newsgroups: comp.ai Subject: Re: Repository of AI source code Message-ID: <33919@joshua.athertn.Atherton.COM> Date: 14 Dec 90 02:45:33 GMT References: <33874@joshua.athertn.Atherton.COM> Reply-To: joshua@Atherton.COM (Flame Bait) Organization: Atherton Technology, Sunnyvale, CA Lines: 35 This is the current context: >> >It would be extremely useful to have access to an archive of source code >> >for common AI problems. Such an archive could contain simple planners, >> >parsers, frame-based representations, and commonly used algorithms. This >> >would encourage sharing and discourage reinventing the wheel. >> >> Instead of a central archive, have a central index. That means that >> one machine does not have to store all the source, etc. It just needs >> to store an index and "how to get" instructions from all the various >> sites listed in the index. >> >> This has been successfully done on rec.games.frp, where someone keeps a >> list of electronic resources and how to use them. It is posted every month, To which theo@cs.fau.edu (Theo Heavey) replied: >Wouldn't it be more efficient to keep this "index" at an anon ftp site? >This would reduce the amount of repostings of the entire "index". >If the moderator (if there is one) on rec.games.frp just listed the >new sites for information via anon ftp as they are introduced I think >it would be a lot more helpful. In theory you're right, but in practice, posting the list is better. The index can be posted automatically every month, so no one has to worry about it. Also, the people most likely to use it are new to the newsgroup, and may not even know of the index's existance. Also, posting it regularly serves to remind the "old timers" of its existance and the various sources of sources. At the minimum you should post the location of the index every month (or every two weeks). If the index is not posted regularly, then it should be available via email archive-server (not just FTP). Remember, most of the people who get newsgroups can not FTP things. They only have UUCP connections to the net, and can not use FTP, only email. Joshua Levy (joshua@atherton.com)