Project Stage One: A Tracery Grammar

For the first stage of the project, you will be making a Tracery Grammar. This exercise will walk you through the steps to create a basic grammar. Your goal with this stage is to get comfortable with Tracery to generate 2 to 3 sentences with each run using the Tracery test tool. 

Instructions

  1. For this stage, we'll be working with Tracery, an open source library that provides an introduction to generative text that you encountered in the advanced section of your tutorial. This is a library used for creating generative documents, images, bots, game character dialog, and many other usages.
  2. Before diving in, play with the interactive tutorial (and review the Tracery section if you need to) and try changing the examples at each stage. Focus on changing the vocabulary and see what impact it has first, then worry about the rest of the elements and particularly the rules. 
  3. For this exercise, we'll be creating a simple sentence generator. You will need to write your own grammar for the actual theory bot. 
  4. To start, we will work with the Tracery visual editor.  Links to an external site.This tool allows for testing generative text directly. Select "tinygrammar" and "JSON" to show the code.
  5. Start by replacing each of the example names. Replace each of the professions as well. Add at least 3 more names and 3 more professions to each of the arrays using the "+" button.
  6. Change the origin to: #name#, a #occupation#, -- don't forget the "," on the end, as we'll use that to transition to the next part of our sample sentence. Hit "reroll" to see different combinations. 
  7. Add a new symbol by pressing the "new symbol" button, then change the name to always 
  8. Set the rules to array options that provide good substitutions for always (such as never, rarely, etc)
  9. Add another new symbol called expecting and follow the same pattern with alternatives such as anticipating, imagining, etc. 
  10. Change your rule to #name#, a #occupation#, was #always# #expecting# this...
  11. Now think about common phrases, word usages, or styles from the theorist or theoretical school you've chosen for your project. Try generating a new sentence using 3 or 4 symbols to create a variety of instances appropriate to that theoretical context. Be sure to copy the text into your own file so that you have it later.