THALES: a Software Package for Plane Geometry Constructions with a Natural Language Interface

THALES: a Software Package for Plane Geometry Constructions with a Natural Language Interface K. FABRICZ JATE University Szeged, Egyetem u. 2., Hungary, H-6722 / / Z. ALEXIN, T. GYIMOTHY, T. HORVATH Research Group on the Theory of Automata at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Szeged, Somogyi u. 7., Hungary, H-6720 e-mail: sztaki!ella!h42gyi Abstract THALES is a software package for plane geometry constructions, supplied with a natural language interlace. Using THALES requires no knowledge of a programming language. The interface is capable of processing practically all kinds of instructions within the subset of plane geometry English. The "static semantic" module has been generated on the basis of a high-level attribute specification. Transportability, modifia- bility and generality -- the key issues of natural language interface design -- are investigated in the project note. The notion of specifiability is intro- duced to replace the three features mentioned above. 1. Introduction* Natural language interfaces represent one of the most common applications of natural language processing. In the eighties, not only a considerable increase in natural language interface refinement has been achieved, but also methods for design and evaluation have been worked out [Mart 83, Schr 881. One might think that a natural language inter- face of the nineties would be properly described in terms ol throe parameters, viz., (i) transportability (ii) modifiability by the user Off) generality Our experience with THALES shows that none of these features is attainable in the near future. Rather, natural language interfaces based on well- defined subsets of languages and supplemented with possibly lull semantics appear to be real can- didates for applications in the following years. Re- quirements for transportability and generality run counter to the need to supply the interface with as full semantics as possible. Modifiability by the user can be maintained at a price that is hardly worth paying. If one lets the user tailor the interface to his/her needs, that natural language interlace should pro- vide this possibility by relaxing syntax or seman- tics. We do not consider this a real ahernative. Neither does modifiability in the form of substitu- tion of one expression by another on the basis of their semantic identity seem to be a realization of what the term "modifiability by the user" suggests (Cf. [JAKE 88]). However, there appear to be different parts of natural language interlace design that may be reused in other applications. We shrill refer to this possibility by the term "specifiability" -- a feature that merits thorough consideration. 2. An Overview of THALES THALES is a program package fbr plane ge- ometry constructions. The constructions are carried out as series of instructions lormulated in English. Through a menu system, it is possible to save con- structions and parts of constructions lot some later application, the constructions may be inserted into other applications. The instructions can be stored and edited as normal ASCII files. A number of examples covering the majority of tasks related to plane geometry are supplied to help the teacher or student in teaching …

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