an Awkward site regarding AI from 1995 (including ELIZA code in C)

[ron77]

Okay... so I've been searching the web for ELIZA code in C programming language (it's rare to find ELIZA code written in C) and found this... it's dated back to early 1995 :O It's an awkward site about AI and Eliza with a code of a lame implementation of Eliza in C (it looks like the site/article author hated AI or Eliza or something)

Anyway, this dates back to 1995 :O 28 years ago! When I was an 18-year-old high school pupil who had nothing to do with computers or the internet, who would think back then about how the internet and technology would change everything?

The 90s were, for me, the "last normal decade" before we all turned into computer geeks or internet/social media potato couches.

Here is the awkward site: https://www.maths.tcd.ie/~forest/writing/tot/tot.html

And here is the Eliza code in C, which is kinda funny how the author made no attempts to hide his despise and dislikes from that program - this Eliza program is like a parody or a psycho-version of Eliza...

#include <time.h>
#include <math.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

/* These commands inform the compiler to refer to the named 
sources already in existence in order to successfully compile 
the new program.  These sources contain the code defining 
the operations of commands used in this program. */

int main() {

/* This signifies the beginning of the main body of the program.*/

    char r[1000];

/* This sets a maximum on the number of characters allowed in 
a response given by the user of the program. */
    
/* The following is the limited "library" of responses the program 
may use in order to converse with the human interactor. */

    char *strings[]= {  "\nAhhh.\n\n",
    "\nAnd?\n\n",
    "\nTell me more.\n\n", 
    "\nNo kidding?!\n\n", 
    "\nI see.\n\n", 
    "\nSooooo?\n\n", 
    "\nAnd how does that make you feel?\n\n", 
    "\nWhat do you associate with the word 'guacamole'?\n\n", 
    "\nYou don't say?!\n\n", 
    "\n*snigger*\n\n",
    "\nNothing personal, but you are kidding... aren't you?\n\n",
    "\nYawn.\n\n",
    "\nNo! Really?\n\n",
    "\nAnd why do you think that might be?\n\n",
    "\nTell me about your childhood.\n\n",
    "\nElaborate... I feel there's something you're not telling me here.\n\n",
    "\nCould you just repeat that a little louder, talking into this inconspicuous daffodil please?\n\n",
    "\nNurse Smith!!!\n We got a live one here, baby!!!\n\n",
    "\nTell me, what size do you take in strait-jackets?\n\n",
    "\nWhat do you associate with the word 'hippo'?\n\n",
    "\nI'd like to recommend you read this book. I feel could help you overcome your perversions...It's called 'Immuno-aspects of the Spleen'.\n\n"};

/* Now the program, armed with its conversation pieces, prompts 
for the user's first response. */

    printf ("\n\n\n\n\n\nWelcome to Dr Quack's consulting room.\n");
    printf ("Please feel free to divulge all of your deepest secrets.\n");
    printf ("Rates are by the hour or part thereof.\n");
    printf ("To leave the session simply type 'bye'.\n");
    printf ("Thank you.\n\n\n\n");

    printf ("So, how are you today?\n\n");
    gets(r);
    printf ("\nHmm. That good, eh?\n\nI think we should talk about this. So, if your sitting comfortably... SPILL THE BEANS!\n\n");

/* Having delivered its own lines, the program now prompts 
for the users reply and reads in the information. In this 
case the only patterns it need match are a null string, 
ie no input, or the exiting statement "bye". */

    gets(r);

/* An anchor is now set in order to start conversation 
again at a later stage without restarting the whole program.*/

start:

/*Here the program checks for the recognised Quit statement, 
and if it finds it will cease to operate at once. */

    if(r[0] == 'b' && r[1] == 'y' && r[2] == 'e' )
        { printf ("\nGoodbye.  See you again. \n\n");
        exit (0);}

    else {if(r[0] == '\0')
    {printf ("\nTell me, you godforsaken toad, why do you have such a problem with polite conversation?!\n *smeghead*\n\n");
            gets(r); }

    else 

/* This loop tells the program to check for the null 
reply. If the response obtained is neither "bye" nor the 
null statement, it will randomly select a response from its 
library, using a function which is time dependent.*/

while ((r[0] != '\0') && (r[0] != 'b' && r[1] != 'y' && r[2] != 
'e' )){
            srand(time(0));
            printf("%s\n", strings[rand()%21]);
            gets(r); }

/* Here, if the program reads a null response it will 
prompt the user to respond again. */

    if(r[0] == 'b' && r[1] == 'y' && r[2] == 'e' )
        {printf("\nBye.\n\n");
        exit (0);}

/* Here, where the response is still a null string, the 
program prompts one more time for response and if none is 
returned will quit automatically. */

    if(r[0]=='\0')printf("\nAhh, come now, don't be shy. You cant help being such a pathetic weed, and no-one expects you to try. There, there, now.\n\n");
    gets(r);
        if (r[0] != '\0')goto start; 
end:

/* Where the read response is "bye" the program quits. */

    if(r[0]=='\0')printf("Be like that then!\n\n*sniffle*\n\nGoodbye!\n\n");

    return 0;
} }