September 27, 1999
Seen Any Bots Lately?
| If you are regular visitor to the on-line world (and you probably
wouldn't be here if you were not), you undoubtedly have seen lots of
bots. Bots--the term is derived from robot--are software programs
that operate on the web to gather information, simulate human behavior,
or carry out other tasks on behalf of users. Also known as intelligent
agents, or just agents, these programs are increasingly used
to automate a wide range of tasks.
Web crawlers or spiders may be the most important bots currently in use. They read and index web pages for search engines such as Altavista and Google, following links from one site to another across the web. But other bots have been developed that collect news according to an individual's interests, shop, simulate human conversations, and play elaborate games--all on-line. The links below provide an introduction to bots and some opportunities to see how they work. |
Links:BotSpot is the most comprehensive source of information on bots, with lists of newsbots, chatterbots, shopping bots, data mining bots, an FAQ and lots more
Search Engine World has in-depth information on the spiders and crawlers used by the major search engines and how they work
Extractor is a bot that reads and summarizes text; this site includes an on-line demo that lets you test it on a URL
Ventura Communications Ltd., an Israeli firm, offers a free beta version of its FormAgent, a bot that automates the tedious task of filling out forms on-line
Adhound is an agent that searches classified ads according to criteria you specify and e-mails the results to you (free, requires registration)
Hex is an Australian chatterbot with whom (which?) you can hold a conversation--if you can put up with his (its?) often rude responses
Jon Katz has an article on sexbots on Slashdot.org
Bot Epidemic is the mother lode for those interested in game bots (but if you can understand its jargon you probably got bored with this page long ago. . .)
