2 ms·

This is a problem with Chronic and not with the webapp. It looks like Chronic doesn't understand the distinction between midnight and noon. *Edit: Looks like a

by amoeba 17y ago

This is a problem with Chronic and not with the webapp. It looks like Chronic doesn't understand the distinction between midnight and noon. *Edit: Looks like a lot more is wrong with Chronic. http://www.timeapi.org/pdt/seven%20hours%20before%20tomorrow http://www.timeapi.org/pdt/seven%20hours%20before%20tomorrow

joe_the_user 17y ago
The thing is that natural language processing can't be solved in pieces like this. Even a real human being doesn't understand discreet fragments of otherwise comprehensible human language. It is only by looking language as a whole that we human get the understanding, so spreading language processing out through a number of websites wouldn't work... Plus this kind of "service" would be very fragile even the cases it would otherwise work...
catch23 17y ago
http://www.presdo.com http://www.presdo.com has a much more powerful natural language time parser (that system handles all the timezones in the world) but they don't have a great api for extracting that info. It can't handle stuff like "seven hours before tomorrow" but it can do more common phrases like "tomorrow after lunch" or "day after tomorrow at 3pm"
- joe_the_user 17y ago
  day after tomorrow at 3pm Lol, even I would be thrown by that phrase... (a comma might help) It's like SQL. The problem with SQL isn't that simple SQL phrases are that different from normal language OR that complex SQL phrases break the rules of simple SQL phrases. The problem with SQL is that humans beings have a lot of trouble understanding complex phrases that follow the most consistent possible rules followed by simple phrases... So clever NLP often just out-clevers itself communicating with us... (remember SQL was originally intended to be a language usable by even non-programmers and ended up being a language that even many programmers feared ... though I have an unusual fondness for it).
- catch23 17y ago
  Also, it handles time ranges, subject, verb, multiple time selections, and timezones of the person you're scheduling with. I've been using it for a long time already and it's pretty good at handling crazy stuff like: "Meet with sam@gmail.com and jim@gmail.com next wednesday from 3pm to 9pm or first thursday of next month from 4pm to 8pm" This creates an event that allows sam & jim to choose between these 2 dates. If presdo had an api to extract this information, I'd be on board!

by amoeba 17y ago

joe_the_user 17y ago

The thing is that natural language processing can't be solved in pieces like this. Even a real human being doesn't understand discreet fragments of otherwise comprehensible human language. It is only by looking language as a whole that we human get the understanding, so spreading language processing out through a number of websites wouldn't work... Plus this kind of "service" would be very fragile even the cases it would otherwise work...

catch23 17y ago

http://www.presdo.com http://www.presdo.com has a much more powerful natural language time parser (that system handles all the timezones in the world) but they don't have a great api for extracting that info. It can't handle stuff like "seven hours before tomorrow" but it can do more common phrases like "tomorrow after lunch" or "day after tomorrow at 3pm"

joe_the_user 17y ago
day after tomorrow at 3pm Lol, even I would be thrown by that phrase... (a comma might help) It's like SQL. The problem with SQL isn't that simple SQL phrases are that different from normal language OR that complex SQL phrases break the rules of simple SQL phrases. The problem with SQL is that humans beings have a lot of trouble understanding complex phrases that follow the most consistent possible rules followed by simple phrases... So clever NLP often just out-clevers itself communicating with us... (remember SQL was originally intended to be a language usable by even non-programmers and ended up being a language that even many programmers feared ... though I have an unusual fondness for it).
catch23 17y ago
Also, it handles time ranges, subject, verb, multiple time selections, and timezones of the person you're scheduling with. I've been using it for a long time already and it's pretty good at handling crazy stuff like: "Meet with sam@gmail.com and jim@gmail.com next wednesday from 3pm to 9pm or first thursday of next month from 4pm to 8pm" This creates an event that allows sam & jim to choose between these 2 dates. If presdo had an api to extract this information, I'd be on board!