i wrote a bot, well pieced one together from perl bot code, AIML, and bat
files. it used the A.L.I.C.E. AI engine. had various perl modules to dig up
info from the web. it even had code to run a system integrity check and its
next iteration "glassbot" will remote control my machines, and run antivirus at
regular intervals.

there was one bot on IRC that peaked (sic) the curiousity of guys. it was some
clever code that simulated cyber convo.

i dunno what chatterly is, it's not Eliza, Mgonz, ALICE, or ANNA. but it's not
the best AI out there. i'd say Smarterchild and Zola are more advanced. i
believe both of those use ALICE but modified AIML.

i'm more impressed by the newsgroup (NNTP) glue code that they used. an NNTP
bot is harder than an instant message or chatbot. bravo to the mad coder with
too much time on his hands (programming for programming's sake is the most
glorious expression of postmodern idealism).

so mr chatterly programmer, come out of seclusion and tell us if it's written
in perl or python.

michael