WD++

The third Working Draft of State Chart XML has been published.

There is a possibility that I will take some time to bring Commons SCXML upto speed.

I often get asked about the lifecycle of W3C specifications in this context. Here is the state machine (some edge cases skipped for brevity):

The plan, usually, is to end up on the bottom right.

SISR goes PR

Acronym soup aside, Semantic Interpretation for Speech Recognition is now a Proposed Recommendation. Here.

If you've ever developed speech applications (haven't we all), you're probably aware that the grammars are crucial. Whats more, the semantic interpretation pieces often need to be rewritten across platforms. And thats generally OK, until its time to switch or support more (voice) browsers.

So this could be good. GRXML or ABNF camp welcome.

And along with some alignment to web applications as we know them, à la Reusable Dialog Components (RDC) tag library (at Jakarta), speech application authoring might even start coming up everyone's alley.

Hard questions

These are trying times; the nephew has mastered speed-dialing. And he wants to know.

After a brief hi, I am required to state my favorite animal. I try to get out of it by saying there isn't one in particular. That earns me three chances. After barely making that one, I'm expected to provide reasons for all three, all of which promptly undergo severe scrutiny. It never gets easier.

As I hang up, I'm left wondering about all the answers I've forgotten over the years.

The world isn't flat

• The W3C publishes the first Working Draft of SCXML (July 05)
• Apache Jakarta releases an implementation, Commons SCXML v0.5 (July 06)
• Apache Shale releases a dialog manager implementation using the Commons library (Jan 07)
• The subsequent W3C Working Draft adds a Shale example as an informative appendix (Feb 07)

रंजिशे सही ...

... दिलही दुखाने के लिये आ,
आ फिरसे मुझे छोडके जाने के लिये आ.

The Ghazals in the concert this Sunday made the drive worthwhile, this one remains my favorite. Serious word play ensues.