Searching for a rule engine with fuzzy logic abilities - rule-engine

I am looking for a rule engine with fuzzy logic abilities. I wanted to use Jess
but unfortunately it's fuzzy logic plugin is out of date, it's not supported any more and I was unable to download it anywhere.
Is there any similar modern software with this abilities?
I know about CLIPS and FuzzyCLIPS but seemed to look old and useless nowadays, isn't it?

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MIT-Scratch adding/removing language features

I am seeking a way to allow my non-tech users to specify a workflow and execute it (if anyone is interested, I want them to specify and execute test cases). Visual programming seems a good way to go.
Can I modify the Scratch IDE to remove some categories (such as sound, motion, etc), and add some of my own? Ditto for individual keywords (obviously, I then need to handle new keywords).
I have Googled, but the answer is not immediately apparent.
[Update] I have just found Google's Blockly
Blockly was influenced by App Inventor, which in turn was influenced
by Scratch, which in turn was influenced by StarLogo.
It looks very promising. Especially when it says
Exportable code. Users can extract their programs as JavaScript, Python, PHP, Dart or other language so that when they outgrow Blockly
they can keep learning.
Open source. Everything about Blockly is open: you can fork it, hack it, and use it in your own websites.
Extensible. Make Blockly fit with your application by adding custom blocks for your API and remove unneeded blocks and
functionality.
One possible snag is that it is browser based, but if my management don't like that, then I can create a dummy Windows based app consisting of little but a TWebBrowser component.
I will investigate and report back - unless someone else posts an acceptable answer first.
The short answer to your initial question is: no. You can't customize Scratch, or not to the extent that you seem to ask/want.
That said, look at:
custom blocks.
scratch extensions.
variants like snap
using scratch's source code in squeak to make your own variant.
other systems inspired from scratch, like appinventor and blockly.
Only the first two are compatible with the scratch web site.
A word on the site: depending on your purpose with Scratch, the exchange between users is a powerful part of scratch. Check how cooperation is supported, like the backpack. There's also a good wiki that documents much of the above.

Has Anyone Successfully Used CMU Sphinx for Programming by Voice Recognition

I want to start doing some of my coding by voice recognition software (maybe 10-20% of the work I do).
I've seen that some people have had success with Dragon Natural Speaking (DNS) software, but I use a Mac, and unfortunately, Dragon only works on Windows.
Has anyone used the Carnegie Melon open source Sphinx http://cmusphinx.sourceforge.net/ for programming?
Are there other options that I could implement on a Mac? I don't mind dropping a little bit of cash to make this a reality. Ideally it would be a system where I could add in my own commands. (Check out the awesome stuff this guy did, with DNS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SkdfdXWYaI)
There is a protoype plugin for IDEA written by JetBrains developers. The work was done during one of their hackathons.
If you are not fixed with Sphinx, I would recommend Kaldi as an adaptable, compatible open-source speech recognizer. With kaldi you can adapt your own grammar and commands and retrain the underlying models. In addition, there is a python-wrapper that makes Kaldis use easy and convenient.

Tools for building scheduling software

I am freelance programmer and i have a client who wants to build web-based software for scheduling/booking events. There is very few rules for possible booking options, but they are somewhat uncommon so there is no ready-made software to fully support them.
Anyway, besides that, the most important part is pretty common: calendar with events, reminders etc. So i believe there is some tools i can use, at least for that part.
What i'm interested in, is what tools can i use to build custom calendar, where i can write my own rules to prohibit user from booking in certain situations? Maybe there is some special framework (or, much more likely, plugins for web-frameworks) for scheduling software? If not, which ready-made software support maximum customization?
Well since you didn't specify what language your most familiar with i'll just stick to php.
Now you have a few options here.
A) You can start from a framework with some libraries and build from there. The major pro is that you can customize it like you want it. Downside would be more time actually making it, and since a client sets specific deadlines this might not be the right solutions.
B) You could start with something like Joomla. Now I do agree that it does have it's bloat, more than a million lines of code if I can remember. But with some searching I found some good booking systems that are built into modules.
If you go with B, you will be able to worry on details instead of the core grunt stuff. I've used joomla for a few different sites, and it's extremely customizable if you spend time with it.
In the end it's honestly related to your time restrictions, and your language of choice. Joomla is built with PHP if your wondering.
Hope this helps,
Daniel

Criteria for selecting a library for Enterprise usage

What are your criteria for selection a (open source) library (or framework) for enterprise usage?
Some libraries are pretty small and can be easily checked for security flaws or tested for performance. But most libraries are too big to be reviewed before you can start to use them.
When I think of me selecting a library, most if the selection process is just gut feeling. When I try to be more specific, these are the first criteria which come to my mind:
How many developers are working on the project? My feeling is that more developers will find more bugs and security issues. In addition it will be harder to introduce security issues intentionally.
How good is the support? Compared to closed source libraries, I've got the feeling that the support of open source is often much better since you have a community around the globe which will be available whenever you need them.
How wide spread is the library? Are there any books about it on the market? Which other projects are using the library?
What are your criteria? Feel free to edit this note as community wiki.
For me, it depends on whether or not it is paid for or not. In your case, you give the impression you are looking at open source libraries.
In that specific case, I'll look at test coverage. Regardless of the number of contributors, if there aren't any unit tests that I can run myself (as well as enhance and test my use cases for if they fall outside the coverage of the unit tests provided), then that's a massive issue for me.
It's not that I don't appreciate the work that is done already in providing the library, but code in projects like this should have unit tests already with good coverage in order to gain traction.
If there are no libraries that have unit tests, then I would start searching for the library on search engines, actively seeking out negative replies. People who have negative feelings about the code and can crystalize the objective basis for those feelings in terms of how the code failed them will provide more valuable feedback than the masses that say "it works great".
Now for a commercial piece of code, it's completely different. At that point, I'd start looking at the company and it's support staff as a whole, and using that as a determination (as well as tests of your own to see if the library is right for you) as to whether or not to use that company's offering.
Quite often in open source libraries you cannot get reliable support. In such situations your best bet is to fix it yourself, which involves the following requirements.
You need to have the ability to read often messy and undocumented code.
The technical ability to ask the right questions from the right people -- i.e., these people aren't being paid to fix problems and they will only answer you if you make it easy enough for them.
Then you need the ability to fix the bug and get the patch accepted -- because if the patch isn't accepted .....
With this in mind I would be inclined to get a commercial library, or dual licensed library so that I could pay to get a competent engineer (motivated by the money I pay his company) to fix my problem.

How do you collaboratively write specs? [closed]

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I am working with a small team (2 others) of developers that are geographically dispersed, and I'm looking for good ways for us to collaborate on specs... We're thinking we might use Google Docs to write the spec in so we can all have access to modify it in a central location.
What have you done? What good ideas do you have?
If you have an intranet or VPN, I would actually consider installing and using a small Wiki for these specs.
Compared to Google docs you get:
Much better versioning and change tracking (IMHO)
Much easier to start new documents for subsections
An actual markup rather than WYSIWYG (a matter of taste, I prefer LaTeX to Word).
Possible to attach variety of other file types
Very easy to backup
Very easy to create an offline version
You don't have to worry about storing sensitive materials elsewhere.
The disadvantage is that it is not WYSIWYG, which may or may not be an issue to you.
Of course, you can pick a Wiki implementation that supports a better editor, and possibly even a synchronous collaboration one.
Google Wave - exactly what it's meant for - collaboration
IMHO, a word processor is the wrong tool for a programmer. A spec should be written in a plain text editor, and utilize lightweight markup such as reStructuredText, AsciiDoc etc.
The benefits of such an approach are:
There are excellent tools to manage plain text, that are already in the hands of programmers (VCS, automated build systems, diff, patch, programming editors, grep, etc.)
A markup language allow for expressing intent rather then formatting.
That in mind, a Wiki seem to be the obvious choice.
Personally my tool chain of choice is:
reStructuredText as the markup language.
Trac as a Wiki
Firefox + the it's all text extension
Emacs + rst-mode
The choice of technology is one issue and Google docs is a good choice IMHO. But the real challenge is how to manage the process e.g. divide the tasks.
My suggestion is to first make sure that the platform and all related technologies are decided-upon as best as feasible. Then, compose a a thorough table of contents. A well-designed TOC will allow you to divide tasks properly and not "step" on each others' work. From then on you each "flesh" out your assigned sections as well as review each others' work.
In effect, each TOC subsection becomes an atomic unit of work that can be assigned and maintained by an individual who is also accountable for said section(s).
Good luck!
I think it depends on
How heavily into writing the specs you all are
If you're likely writing at the same time
Whether you intend to publish the specs.
Google Docs is nice and easy to get started with. It's also great that you can now export folders all at once. Still, for something that's going to be published to the web, a wiki or general cms is a better presentation vehicle. A wiki will also integrate with your existing site.
If you've got small specs, primarily written by one person then use whatever tool is available where you're hosting the project code or website. If you're not likely to be editing at the same time then a wiki is good.
I've done the wiki thing, the passed document thing and the Google Docs thing.
The wiki thing has a low starting effort and lasts a pretty long time. At a certain size it does get to be a pain.
The passed document thing (writes, email, edit, email, etc) only works while one person is starting everything up. As soon as there are even minor edits then it sucks.
The Google Docs thing is fine until you have several docs and several editors or want to publish it online.
hth
This isn't programming related, but I've personally used Google Docs to write shared documents and found it easy to use.
I would suggest enabling Google Gears however, in the event that the Google servers go down momentarily or an internet connection isn't available.
For writing specs collaboratively, you could try Gingko.
It's a card-tree editor, which means it's a mix between index cards and an outliner, with real-time collaboration and full Markdown support (as well as basic LaTeX).
We are still missing several features (version history, comments, etc), but for some the benefits of having everything in a tree structure outweigh these drawbacks.
Writing specs with it is great, because you can create a card for each user story, and drill into it as much as you like (and organize them into categories if you'd like).
http://gingkoapp.com