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User A is working on his or her lab write-up and needs to fit some data to a curve. User A wants a data analysis tool that will read in a data set of x and y values and create a best fit quadratic curve. User A doesn't want to spend the time to write and debug least squares algorithm, but wants fast and accurate results with a minimum of time spent on actually coding the program. The Galatea scripting language should make it possible to define this in only a couple of lines of code, and the data processing end should work out how to solve the problem.
User B wants to create a program that will solve `Sudoku' puzzles. B wants to be able to give his program an unsolved Sudoku grid and have the program compute the solution grid. Unfortunately, B doesn't know of any algorithms to solve Sudoku puzzles, but if B can define the problem properly with the scripting system, Galatea should be able to take care of creating a suitable one for B. User B will write down the rules of the game in the scripting language and define the format of the input and output.
User C wants to create a dynamic text-based adventure game. This is the most ambitious project and will probably require quite a bit of coding work from C. User C wants the game world to change every time the player starts a new game, so C will give instructions in the scripting language that will allow Galatea to generate `actions' and descriptions for the entire game world. User C doesn't know much about sentence parsing techniques, but still wants the game to have a `natural' feel, so C will write some basic processing rules in script and Galatea will figure out how to parse and execute text commands from the player.
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I need to go read through some more scripting articles before I start figuring out how I want the syntax to work LOL.
You know, if you actually pull this off you could make it your undergrad thesis, but we'll have to wait and see what happens. As SHilbert would say at a time like this, you're going to want to read the first 6 (?) chapters of the Dragon Book.