So, you may have tried the IM bots mentioned in last week's article. You're now thinking, "Hey, maybe I can become the next ActiveBuddy and build intelligent bots for AIM and/or MSN Messenger. But how do I do it?"
Companies like Google are flirting with both professional and amateur Web developers to gain a wider usage base. Earlier this month, Google launched a Web API service using the SOAP and WSDL standards. Google's Web API service lets software developers query more than 2 billion Web documents directly from their own computer programs. Google said the API allows communication via Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP), an XML-based mechanism for exchanging typed information.
The Mountain View, Calif.-based Google said the API would allow developers to issue search requests to its index Web pages and receive results as structured data; access information in the Google cache; and check the spelling of words. The Web APIs support the same search syntax as the Google.com site, making it an instant hit with the Web developer community.
Already some developers are tinkering with remote applications using Google API service. Chris McClelland, a programmer based in Marblehead, Mass., has created an AOL IM (AIM) bot -- BotGoogle -- that returns the top five hyperlinks to Google searches via IM. McClelland, a Google fan and AIM bot enthusiast, believes the Web API service will promote creativity among programmers.
Another bot author, U.K.-based Matt Webb, has also built an AIM bot that queries Google's database. Called Googlematic, the bot can easily be engaged in a conversation by typing in a search word or string of words. The bot returns the top result of the search, in detail. If the user wants to see the top 5 results of the search, they only have to type "more." Entering "more" again will bring up the next 5. All Web pages come up as hyperlinks, so a user can click on them to be taken directly to the desired page.
Googlematic was created last September, and was a hit almost right away, Webb said during an IM-based interview. He said creating the bot was "fairly easy" to do because it is built in the Perl language. "The beauty of Perl is it's just gluing together different people's code," he said. "That's why Web services will create the next layer of the Web, really unexpected applications -- because glue is easy to write."
Webb says he's putting more effort into Googlematic -- after making it a little more robust, he'd like to give it more of a memory, let people register and do some of search-term research for them. "But I'm gaining quite a lot of experience in the back-end of bots, so I'm likely to do more experimental non-Google stuff, too," he said.
"What Google are doing is really exciting, but it's really just the beginning of a leap to services that can be combined and recombined to many different channels. And bots are part of this, big time. It's an important new channel," he added.
Besides Google's efforts, a grass-roots effort has sprung up to support the use of IM bot technology. Both McClelland and Web, for example, also have IM bots running on MSN Messenger. Other developers have been busy developing bots for both AIM and MSN Messenger that do much more than just search the Google database. A list of bots at McClelland's site shows how wild and creative an amateur programmer's mind can get.
If you're interested in developing bots, there's at least two places to start on the Web:
- Wired bots - McClelland's site on bots. His site has updates on bot building, a "how-to" section on constructing smart bots and a BotBase collection of modifictions, addons, commands, and full bots that have been submitted by users. The bot list can be found here as well.
- Interconnected - Matt Webb's site on his Googlematic bot has links to sites that can help in building a bot.
Be forewarned: Bot building isn't for the casual IM user. A person needs to know general programming, the old DOS and even Perl before diving into the world of bots.
Content from InternetNews.com reporter Ryan Naraine contributed to this story. Bob Woods is the managing editor of InstantMessagingPlanet.
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