Linker Systems' JCB Command Reference Manual

Below are listed the commands, grouped to the extent possible. We first show the command, and then give an explanation as to its use.

Logging in & out

Logging in

Format 1:  i am username with password password
Format 2:  i am username
Usage:  If passwords are in use, use format 1. If passwords are not in use, use format 2. Username is the user name, as established by operator commands, below. Password, similarly, is the password established by the operator for the given account. Accounts can be privilieged or unprivileged. When your new knowledge base is first loaded, there is one privileged account, named operator with a password of secret, and no user accounts.

Logging out

Format: bye
Usage: Logging out ends the log-in session started with the log-in command, above. It does not end the HTML session connection. Breaking the HTML session connection will save the knowledge base back to disk.

Trust & consideration

Unlike much of the internet, JCB allows you to assign different levels of trust to various users. For instance, Bob might not trustworthy, but Sue is. Ted might be trustworthy, but only to a certain degree. Also, statements can be made emphatically, or couched to some degree. As a user, you can determine what counts right now.

Trust

Format 1:  trust username to level number
Format 2:  trust username
Format 3:  do not trust username
Usage:  These commands establish how much trust a user is due. This trust level is assignned by the operator. (The operator is your operator account, not someone at Linker Systems.) A trust level of 0 means that the user is totally untrusted. A trust level of 1 means that the user is totally trusted. Of course, any number between 0 and 1 can also be used. Trust levels are multiplicative. For instance, if Alice says that A is bigger than B, and Alice has a trust level of 0.8, and Dale says that B is bigger than C, and Dale has a trust level of 0.7, then the trust level that A is bigger than C is 0.56. Even if users are trusted, and even if they're trusted at the same level, what a user says is considered first and totally for that user. For instance, if we say that Bob is not to be trusted, and Bob says that Tigger is a cat, when Bob asks what Tigger is, he will hear that Tigger is a cat. When Alice asks what Tigger is, she will be told that there's no information on the subject, since Bob is completely untrustworthy. (Sorry, Bob, but I have to use some name as an example. Besides, you're really Robert.) Format 2 is the same as setting the user to a trust level of 1. Format 3 is the same as setting the user to a trust level of 0.

Consideration

Format 1:  consider opinion to level number
Format 2:  consider opinion
Format 3:  consider facts only
Usage:  These commands limit what will be considered. In format 1, we specify what numeric trust level something must have in order to be considered. If a person's trust level falls below this number, then that person's statements will not be considered. As above, multiplication will apply. Some statements, when made with disclaimers like as a belief, will have diminished trustworthiness levels. Format 2 allows any statement with a nonzero trustworthiness level to be considered. Format 3 allows only statements with a trustworthiness level of 1 to be considered.

The Throne of the Programmer

Format 1:  ex progmatica
Format 2:  commoner
Usage:  When the operator speaks, the operator normally speaks as a common man, with some level of trust. However, there is a certain level of world-shaping pronouncements that the operator may need to take. For instance, "if A is bigger than B, and B is bigger than C, then A is bigger than B", or "if A is bigger than B, then B is smalller than A". This type of statement must be so basic and beyond question that everyone always has these statements brought into consideration. To begin issuing absolutely unquestionable statements, command ex progmatica. To resume speaking as a common person, command commoner.

Fact management

Remembering

Format 1:  list facts
Format 2:  list facts i control
Usage:  Each of these commands lists facts, one per line, numbered.

Forgetting

Format 1:  forget statement
Format 2:  forget fact number
Usage:  Each of these commands makes the system forget a fact. If format 1 is used, then the statement made here must exactly match a stored fact (which you must control) in content and form. If the second form is used, then that fact is simply forgotton, assuming you control it. If you're the operator, you control all facts. If not, you control the ones you entered.

Fact management at the operator level

Format 1:  forget what username said
Format 2:  trust what username said
Usage:  Format 1 forgets everything a given user said. Format 2 treats everything a given user said as having been ex progmatica. Be careful with either of them. Both require operator privileges.

Account management

Adding a user

Format 1:  add user username password password
Format 2:  add user
Usage:  Both versions add a user to your knowledge base. The first form requires a password to log in, while the second doesn't.

Naming a user

Format: name of username is "real name"
Usage: Let's say you establish an account named bobsmith. When that person says that he does something, JCB will store the fact that bobsmith did that thing. However, if you apply a name to the account, using (for instance) name of bobsmith is "bob smith", then JCB would (in this example) store the fact that Bob Smith did the specified things.

Dropping a user

Format: drop user username
Usage: This command removes a user's ability to log in. It does not forget what the user said. To do that, you would also have to use the forget command.