This addresses this in several ways:
* Created mechanism to load 'commented' JSON (using '//' or '#' comments on a single line)
* Embedded comments into the mycroft.conf, indicating use, legal values, and where they get overridden
* Create ConfigurationManager.instance() static method to replace ConfigurationManager.get(). This produces more readable code like:
ConfigurationManager.instance().get("value") instead of ConfigurationManager.get().get("value")
* Made _ConfigurationListener 'private'
* docstring'ed things
* intent_failure message now carries along the utterance's lang code
* normalizing query for Wolfram Alpha
* added normalization of "whats" to "what is". This is technically incorrect ("whats" means more than one instance of "what", as in "the whats and whys of open source"), but that is a rare phrase. Unfortunately, several STT engines incorrectly output things like "whats 8 + 4", which is grammatically incorrect. So we'll handle the common and potentially screw up the uncommon.
* more parsing test cases, including a few corrections
The utterance is now placed on the bus along with its language code. If not specified, it uses "en-us".
Added a new mycroft.util.parse module. It contains the normalize() function. Normalization currently does two things:
* Expands contractions ("they're" -> "they are", etc)
* Optionally removes articles ("a", "an", "the"). Removing is the default.
* Textual numbers become digits, up to 20. E.g. "What is the weather in four days" becomes "What is weather in 4 days".
NOTE: This is potentially a breaking change! Remove "the", "a" and "an" from your .voc files!
Skill changes:
* I cleaned up the .voc files for the default Skills.
* Split the date_time keyword into an extra entity. Now a "QueryKeyword.voc" exists, with "what|tell" instead of combing that into "what is time" in the TimeKeyword.voc.
* Volume skill now accepts 1-11, e.g. "turn volume to 11"
The 1980s birthed a new form of interaction between computers and users. For the first time computers became capable of understanding the most basic form of human communication - pointing and grunting. The mouse and the GUI revolutionized computing and made computers accessible to the masses.
We have now entered a third era. We are rapidly approaching a time when computer systems will understand human language and respond using the most natural form of human communication – speech.
This is an important development. Some might even call it revolutionary.
Despite its importance, however, the technologies that will underpin this new method of interaction are the property of major tech firms who don't necessarily have the public's best interests at heart.
Not anymore.
Meet Mycroft – the worlds first open source natural language platform. Mycroft understands human language and responds with speech. It is being designed to run on anything from a phone to an automobile and will change the way we interact with open source technologies in profound ways.
Our goal here at Mycroft is to improve this technology to the point that when you interact with the software it is impossible to tell if you are talking to a human or a machine.
This initial release of the Mycroft software represents a significant effort by the Mycroft community to give the open source world access to this important technology. We are all hoping that the software will be useful to the public and will help to usher in a new era of human machine interaction.
Our community welcomes everyone to use Mycroft, improve the software and contribute back to the project. With your help and support we can truly make Mycroft an AI for everyone.
Joshua W Montgomery – May 17, 2016
Åke Forslund
penrods
Augusto Monteiro
Jonathan D'Orleans
Arron Atchison