NEW!! Try out the new online guidebook

ray · Post by **ray** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 1:01 am

Well, I can't thank Jack and Zemkat enough for all of the work they've been doing on this. They are definitely very brilliant people.
This is still a work in progress but here's the link to a new and improved version of the online guidebook.

This version allows users to post comments about routes as well as keep a running ticklist of their accomplishments (entitled "Spray"). You can also ask the Crag Sloth simple questions such as "Are there any good fingercracks at Left Flank?" and get an answer. The capabilities of the Crag Sloth will improve with time so don't lose interest if your questions are not being answered by him.

The pictures are not available in this version yet but will be later.

Play around, give some feedback, and have fun.

http://www.redriverclimbing.com/RRCGuideV2/

Post by **t bone** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 1:22 am

i like it . keep up the good work!

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 1:27 am

very nice!!

Post by **ynot** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 1:41 am

That sloth looks likes he's all hopped up on mountain dew and moonpies.

Post by **Jack** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 4:30 am

Glad you guys like it. Hopefully in the next day or two I'll make a little page explaining how to use the question thing. The hope is that you just type a question in, and he answers it, but the reality is a little less stellar (for now).

Things like "What it is, my slothy? Where da party at? I want to get schooled on some moderate offwidths. I hear there are some cool ones at muscle beach. What were their names again?" work. So do things like "easy trad at fortress" and "stout handcracks" and "dry, sunny sport". Things like "I hate offwidths. If you show me one more offwidth, I'll kill you. Show me SPORT damn it" will result in no routes, for he ignores almost everything you say and tries to find bolted offwidth routes.

He also has a limited vocabulary at the moment. So "Show me some bolted easy tens at roadside" works (more or less), but "show me all the 5.12a sport" does not. For the moment, just use the form below it to make your question more specific.

Post by **Jack** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 4:48 am

Oh, I forgot to say he does understand a few modifiers like "easy trad not at fortress" and "easy handcracks or moderate handcracks that are superb".

If you like CS, then the words "disjunctive normal form" are relevant here. For everyone else, that just means slagcroth has crappy grammar. "easy handcracks or fistcracks" is different than "easy handcracks or easy fistcracks",
as the first will return all fistcracks.

Also "show me sport and trad" shows you the (zero) routes that are both sport and trad simulataneous. No, not mixed. Nothing. "Show me sport or trad" does work.

Sorry, working on it. English is hard.

Post by **Yasmeen** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 12:11 pm

Man, keep up the good work, Jack. That's pretty sweet.

Post by **dingo** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 4:06 pm

Very cool.

Post by **tomdarch** » Mon Jan 06, 2003 7:58 pm

I'm aware of how hard it is to parse natural language, but I entered "Show me good offwidth trad routes" and the Sloth returned actual results - clearly it should have been an empty set!

Seriously, though, it's great!

Post by **tomdarch** » Tue Jan 07, 2003 2:51 am

Just remembered that Merrick had mentioned the idea of putting this on a handheld. Any ideas about what it would take to make this into a Palm app? That would be really, really useful!