Link is a simple Java app which creates random, (usually) unintelligent sentences based on sentences which it has previously encountered. This is a very simple concept actually - essentially it encounters a word and links the word with the word before it and after it (if applicable). But it's a little weird to fully grasp how this is done in a program - for people not accustomed to the sorts of techniques used, anyway.

The program is available for download here in the Downloads section. It's the compiled-binaries only for now - I want to comment the code better before anyone sees it. Some of the stuff it does looks a little confusing in code, and it could use some better comments.

For anyone wondering. . . for the screenshot I didn't really talk that much, I simply copied and pasted some of the top Google results for "commencement speech" - Steve Jobs', Stephen Colbert's, and Jon Stewart's, if you really want to know.

The Basic Idea

The program keeps track of which words have been encountered by adding them to an array the first time they are encountered. When a duplicate word is encountered, the program makes note of any new words which it appears before or after. It also makes note of which words have started and ended sentences, as well as which punctuation symbols were used when a given word ended the sentence.

Currently the only input method is via the textfield at the top. You can paste text using keyboard shortcuts. When you click "Say it" or press Enter in the textfield, Link will "read" the sentence(s) you typed, and will then "speak" a random response. Clicking the "Make me talk" button makes Link "speak" without being spoken to (as long as Link is capable of doing so - the program will not respond if the word array has not already been filled.

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I've been working on a simple little Java app which employs a neat little concept I've heard of being used in different programs that I figured I would like to try my hand at. It takes an English sentence as input and analyzes each word, and links each word you feed it as input to the word behind it, and then forms a sentence based on those links. (By the way, I plan to put it up here source and all when it's done - soon - for anyone who's interested.)

To test it out, I figured I woud try to find a nice, long piece of well-known text - like a famous speech or monologue - and put it in and see what the program came up with. I decided to use Steve Jobs' Stanford University commencement address, since it's more than long enough, and I'm sure many Mac-lovers have posted it all over their blogs, sites, etc.

Here's what it came up with. ("YOU:" shows what I said, "ME:" shows what the computer said back in response.)

Update June 10 2008 - This program is released as "Link". Click here for more info.