Zlang FAQ
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Zlang  Frequently Asked Questions

  1. How is Zlang pronounced?
  2. What is Zlang technology?
  3. Isn't this just speech recognition?
  4. Do I have to learn new commands to control my Zlang enabled application?
  5. What is the relationship between Zlang and proLengua?
  6. Is Zlang limited to a particular platform, such as Windows 98 or NT?
  7. How can third parties integrate Zlang technology into their Web applications?

How is Zlang pronounced?

The correct pronunciation is "slang", but  "zee lang" is also natural and acceptable.

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What is Zlang technology?

Zlang is a software technology that can make other software applications easier to use by allowing them to be controlled using natural language.

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Isn't this just speech recognition?

No. This is actually language recognition, were your requests are analyzed to determine a subsequent action. Some consider this "artificial intelligence". Requests to Zlang-enabled products can be entered using the keyboard. Optionally, speech recognition can be used as the input method. As speech recognition matures, it could become the dominant way of interacting with Zlang-enabled applications

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Do users have to learn new commands to control a Zlang-enabled application?

No. The premise of Zlang is that it should assume the responsibility for understanding your users. They only do what comes natural by describing what they want (as if they were telling a person to do it). If Zlang needs more information, or a clarification, it should ask the user specific questions. Users will achieve the highest degree of success when they employ correct grammar and spelling.

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What is the relationship between Zlang and proLengua?

Zlang refers to the underlying technology that makes language recognition work.  proLengua is an integrated development environment for building Web-based Zlang applications.

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Is Zlang limited to a particular platform, such as Windows ME or XP?

No. Zlang and proLengua technologies are implemented using platform-independent Java (1.2 or greater), so any platform supporting such a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) can run Zlang. You can obtain the JVM for most popular operating systems from http://java.sun.com.

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How can third parties integrate Zlang technology into their applications?

Using proLengua, developers design language templates to handle natural language queries.  When these templates are developed and fully tested, they can be deployed on a Zlang Web Service server.  The Zlang Web Service adheres to the emerging Web Services standard (utilizing SOAP, WSDL, etc.), so the Zlang language engine can be accessed by virtually any client, including VBScript, Perl, Java, C/C++, JavaScript, etc.  One important part of the template that the template designer creates is the template result. This result can be any kind of text, such as HTML, or a an executable script.  The result can also contain selected information about the match itself.

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This page was last updated 09/30/02