Dear Quixote users,

I've been investigating how to solve a data search and display problem for
a web site I'm working on, and thought that using Quixote (or something
like it) might do the trick. Since I don't know much about this system, can
you hazard a guess at whether I ought to investigate this further --i.e,
does the set-up below seem possible?

++++++++++++
On the site, the web user asks a ficticious "Doctor" a question
(plain-english sentence), using an HTML form. A script filters out the
stop-words, and then searches among a database of hundreds of ready-made
answers, and chooses just *one* that is the best match of text words and
keywords, and displays the full text of *only* that one as the answer; so
that there is a dialog set up between the user and the 'doctor'. (A
refinement, also, could be that the web user may sign the original
question, "wondering" or "just curious", or a name, "john", and the
Doctor's reply can start, "Dear Wondering" in true Dear Abby style).

Note that the result is intended to be a cross between Dear Abby and the I
Ching; ironic and humorous mismatches are fine; so exact and accurate
answers to the question are not required. This is not a site about cancer
of the colon. Or at least, not directly.
++++++++++++

Any thoughts or leads appreciated. I know HTML and some javascript, and I'm
willing to move to Linux or MacOS X.

Steven Rowat
MacOS 9.2, G3/233

Replies off-list please, since I'm not presently a subscriber.







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