dougie@its63b.UUCP (03/04/87)
I have heard about the various "chatty" programs which have been written to imitate Psychiatrists (sp?), Doctors, Scribe's, etc, but have never had the opportunity to play (play?!) use any of these programs. This kind of software interests me a lot and would like to know if any of them (or similar type) are freely available. There is a book, I believe, titled "The Policeman's Beard is Half-Constructed" which chronicles the 'works' of one of these programs (I can't remember which). Does anyone know of its availability/publisher/price, and if there are any other recommended books in this kind of area. Any info appreciated. I will summarise any e-mail to me if there is any interest. [ .. I *know* this article is already in misc.misc. before anyone flames me for bad netiquette. I've had trouble trying to post to the more relevant ones. DJN ] -- Dougie Nisbet University of Edinburgh | <UUCP> ...seismo!mcvax!ukc!its63b!dougie Medical Statistics Unit | <JANET> dougie@uk.ac.ed.its63b Medical School Teviot Place Edinburgh Scotland
cracraft@sonia.cs.ucla.edu (Stuart M. Cracraft) (03/06/87)
In article <310@its63b.ed.ac.uk> dougie@its63b.ed.ac.uk (D Nisbet) writes: > >I have heard about the various "chatty" programs which have been written >to imitate Psychiatrists (sp?), Doctors, Scribe's, etc, but have never >had the opportunity to play (play?!) use any of these programs. This kind >of software interests me a lot and would like to know if any of them >(or similar type) are freely available. > Ractor is one of the funniest programs I've ever seen. I ran it on a Macintosh over at the local software shop, and it had me in stitches for almost an hour. (The stiches were recently removed by GNU-EMACS's `doctor' mode.) Stuart
copp@bellcore.UUCP (03/06/87)
"The Policeman's Beard is Half Contructed," authored by Racter (with a little help from William Chamberlain), Warner Books Inc., 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10103, USA. First printing Oct 1984. This is a new publisher. You may have to write directly to Warner Books, P.O. Box 690, New York, NY 10019, USA. They ask for a check for the list price ($9.95) plus $0.75 per order and $0.50 per copy. This is not a technical book. It tells you very little about Racter. It is an amusing addition to your coffee table. Martin Gardner (or was it Hofstedder?) devoted two or three pages to Racter about three years ago (Scientific American). Good article. The program itself can be purchased, IBM PC format, for about $75--see the SA article.) -- David H. Copp (201) 829-4337 bellcore!copp