[Carl2]

  I've just started using a free bot with an aiml brain, okay it worked in win 7 without problems.  I've used Hal for years and like it but I still have an intrest in the aiml bot.  Looking around for an editor I can use I ended up with AimlPad, so I can add knowledge.  I can ask a question and get the response I put in an aiml file.  I can use AimlPad to open and change existing files.  The largest problem I am having at this time is the existing set of d2-a.aiml to d2-z.aiml files.  Example definition of a car  "A small vehicle moved on wheels; usually, one having but two wheels and drawn by one horse; a cart.."  I get info from 2001 and the definitions must be from  before the model A.  The next problem is the Response is focused on a single word in the sentence ex:  I say " That is a surprise to me " and the response is "  the act of seizing unexpectedly; surprisal. '
  Anyways I'm trying to dig my way through all the info dating back to who knows when, there do seem to be some cleaver aiml bot's but I want to work with what i"m using for now but still make improvements.  Next is it possible for an aiml bot to learn as hal can? 
Carl2         

[DaveMorton]

Hey, Carl! Congrats on your first AIML bot! Welcome to the Torture Factory! 

Seriously, having an AIML based bot can be a very rewarding experience, but it requires a huge amount of work to make it stand out from all of the other "ALICE Clones" out there. the largest amount of work involved is going (literally) line by line through the code, and deciding what responses you want to keep, and what you want to change, and even what you want to toss out altogether.

As far as AIML editors, you've picked one of my "top 5" favorites. However, if you want to check out some more before you make a decision, take a look at Simple AIML Editor (SAE for short) and GaitoBot AIML Editor (Yes, I know... Even the English page is in German! but the program isn't. Mostly...). Both are useful and easy to use. I've got both installed on my computer, and I like them both. SAE is still a "work in progress", but it works well as it is.

An AIML bot's ability to "learn" is directly related to the chat engine/AIML interpreter that you're using. I'm not all that familiar with most chat engines, but I know some of the "basics" of many. If you can tell me which one you're using, I can probably help you more with this.

[Carl2]

  I downloaded several free programs for comparison, I have two favorites one because of the characters and the other because I seem to like the program. The program with the Aiml brain is Virtualfem.  It does have a brain editor built into it and also an Aiml target editor built into it. Naturally it comes without instructions on how to use the editors.  I played around with them but did not see any results and decided to stop and try to learn a little more before continuing.  I have the Simple AIML Editor but it will not open any of the files because of several different reasons. The AimlPad was able to open the files and also allowed me to make my own file.
  I did find a Learn Aiml that was not accepted in its current form, which I downloaded and tried. I am also interested in the SRAI which I think will broaden the input and allow a more natural response.
Carl2

[philatronic]

Hey, Carl! Congrats on your first AIML bot! Welcome to the Torture Factory! 

Seriously, having an AIML based bot can be a very rewarding experience, but it requires a huge amount of work to make it stand out from all of the other "ALICE Clones" out there. the largest amount of work involved is going (literally) line by line through the code, and deciding what responses you want to keep, and what you want to change, and even what you want to toss out altogether.

As far as AIML editors, you've picked one of my "top 5" favorites. However, if you want to check out some more before you make a decision, take a look at Simple AIML Editor (SAE for short) and GaitoBot AIML Editor (Yes, I know... Even the English page is in German! but the program isn't. Mostly...). Both are useful and easy to use. I've got both installed on my computer, and I like them both. SAE is still a "work in progress", but it works well as it is.

An AIML bot's ability to "learn" is directly related to the chat engine/AIML interpreter that you're using. I'm not all that familiar with most chat engines, but I know some of the "basics" of many. If you can tell me which one you're using, I can probably help you more with this.

I can confirm that the simple aiml editor program is still available here http://www.riotsw.com/sae.html and is working well in Puppy linux7.5 xenial, under wine 1.5  (yes ancient I know).

I have the wine prefix set to win7 no problems running at all. The app is not bad at all - it is what it say's it is.