[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":304},["ShallowReactive",2],{"project-8711621":3},{"id":4,"name":5,"line":6,"line_source":7,"title":8,"url":9,"domain":10,"maker":11,"posted_at":12,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rank_in_year":16,"shown_in_year":17,"top":18,"tier":19,"category":20,"subcategory":21,"format":22,"keywords":23,"reception":28,"sentiment":29,"stance_mix":30,"scored_comments":35,"aspects":36,"strip":41,"post_text":44,"what":45,"said":76,"maker_in_thread":157,"shape":168,"grid":172,"attempts":263,"same_week":268,"maker_shows":43,"maker_hidden":297,"reader_version":298,"card":299},"8711621","Rant","A procedural text generation language","title","Show HN: Rant, a procedural text generation language","https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002FTheBerkin\u002FRant","github.com","atlantique",1417939314,2014,155,36,161,2272,8,"notable","languages","procedural text generation language","library",[24,25,26,27],"procedural text generation","spintax alternative","random text generator","template language","mixed",0,{"positive":31,"neutral":32,"mixed":33,"critical":34},4,12,2,7,25,{"idea":37,"docs":39,"execution":40},{"positive":38,"critical":38},3,{"positive":29,"critical":29},{"positive":29,"critical":31},[29,42,29,38,29,38,29,29,38,29,43,38,38,38,29,38,29,43,43,38,38,43,29,29,43,38,43,38,43,38,38,29,42,42,38,42],5,1,null,{"problem":46,"audience":44,"pricing":44,"motivation":44,"time_to_build":44,"stack":62,"openness":75,"stage":75,"team_size":75},{"value":47,"source":48,"evidence":49},"Generating procedural or random text from grammar-like templates","inferred",[50,54,58],{"id":51,"by":52,"text":53},"8712371","troels","Looks like an advanced version of \"spintax\"[0], which is popular amongst seo blackhatters. I could certainly see this as a replacement. [0] http:\u002F\u002Fumstrategies.com\u002Fwhat-is-spintax\u002F",{"id":55,"by":56,"text":57},"8712154","aton","What are some real world applications which use this approach of text generation?",{"id":59,"by":60,"text":61},"8712824","webwarrior","Procedural content generation in computer games.",[63],{"value":64,"source":65,"evidence":66},"C#","commenter",[67,71],{"id":68,"by":69,"text":70},"8711769","dandelany","Very cool! I attempted a very primitive version of this for generating band names[1]. Now I'm tempted to port it to Rant :) One bit of advice though - the \"getting started\"…",{"id":72,"by":73,"text":74},"8716205","listic","Thanks. I asked because it's written in C#.","unknown",{"praise":77,"objections":100,"requests":120,"questions":125,"alternatives":138},[78,93],{"value":79,"source":65,"evidence":80},"Cool and fun to play with",[81,85,89],{"id":82,"by":83,"text":84},"8712022","drcomputer","This is really cool, I had been working on something similar. I do think it's a little 'pejorative' to try to computationally define creativity, though. Creativity seems to…",{"id":86,"by":87,"text":88},"8711794","chillzilla","Very fun!",{"id":90,"by":91,"text":92},"8711714","dsplatonov","Very nice tool, thanks. Where can i find a documentation or a list of commands?",{"value":94,"source":65,"evidence":95},"Useful for generating test fixtures and data",[96],{"id":97,"by":98,"text":99},"8716028","kagia","One place I can see this really shining is as part of a script that generates fixtures for Django apps.",[101,116],{"value":102,"source":65,"evidence":103},"Unclear practical use cases beyond SEO spam",[104,108,112],{"id":105,"by":106,"text":107},"8711853","krick","Maybe not bad, definitely has few very cool features (rhymes impressed me), but I'm struggling to imagine when I'd actually need to use it. Sometimes I do need some random…",{"id":109,"by":110,"text":111},"8714268","azinman2","I'm seeing a lot of people in comments talking about how they wrote something similar or other tools exist. Can someone explain their use cases that don't involce SEO or some…",{"id":113,"by":114,"text":115},"8711901","cstross","Very cool. I just wish I wasn't so certain that the developers of spamming tools will rip this off with shrieks of glee and use it to stuff our inboxes with yet more junk.",{"value":117,"source":65,"evidence":118},"Docs for new users could be clearer",[119],{"id":68,"by":69,"text":70},[121],{"value":122,"source":65,"evidence":123},"Clearer getting started documentation",[124],{"id":68,"by":69,"text":70},[126,131],{"value":127,"source":65,"evidence":128},"Does it work on Linux?",[129],{"id":130,"by":73,"text":127},"8712437",{"value":132,"source":65,"evidence":133},"How to keep a reference to a generated term",[134],{"id":135,"by":136,"text":137},"8711699","personjerry","Sorry, newbie here. Is there some sort of way to keep a reference to a generated term? For example if I generated the name \"Mike\" and wanted to use that same name several times.",[139,143,150],{"value":140,"source":65,"evidence":141},"Spintax",[142],{"id":51,"by":52,"text":53},{"value":144,"source":65,"evidence":145},"Polygen",[146],{"id":147,"by":148,"text":149},"8711898","e12e","This reminds me of polygen[1,2] that I discovered among the many programs packaged for Debian... but looks at least in some ways friendlier. Is it very…",{"value":151,"source":65,"evidence":152},"Protodata",[153],{"id":154,"by":155,"text":156},"8713556","jdp","I think these languages for generating data are really useful. There is one called Protodata (https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002Fevincarofautumn\u002Fprotodata) for generating binary data. From the…",{"comments":31,"answered":38,"key":158},[159,162,165],{"id":160,"text":161},"8711705","Absolutely! Try this out: \u003Cname::=a>, \u003Cname::=b>, \u003Cname::=a>, \u003Cname::=b> This is called a match carrier. https:\u002F\u002Fgithub.com\u002FTheBerkin\u002FRant\u002Fwiki\u002FQuery-carriers",{"id":163,"text":164},"8711819","Hey! Your comment was a little vague in what you wanted, but we wrote a little extra documentation. Let us know if it's not what you needed.…",{"id":166,"text":167},"8713281","Yes!",{"commenters":169,"max_depth":31,"maker_replies":31,"first_comment_mins":170,"lifespan_hours":171},28,51,281,[173,177,179,181,183,185,187,188,190,192,194,196,198,201,202,204,205,208,211,214,218,222,224,227,231,234,237,239,242,244,246,248,250,252,256,260],[174,29,29,175,176,29],"8711832","other\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","sloanesturz",[51,43,42,178,52,29],"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fidea",[82,33,29,180,83,29],"other\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[135,38,38,182,136,29],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fdocs",[160,38,29,184,11,43],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fdocs",[68,31,38,186,69,29],"project\u002Fmixed\u002Fdocs",[163,31,29,184,11,43],[189,31,29,175,148,29],"8711902",[130,31,38,191,73,29],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution",[166,31,29,193,11,43],"maker\u002Fneutral\u002Fexecution",[72,31,43,195,73,29],"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fexecution",[55,42,38,197,56,29],"project\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[199,42,38,197,200,29],"8712207","untothebreach",[59,42,38,197,60,29],[154,203,29,180,155,29],6,[147,34,38,197,148,29],[206,18,29,180,207,29],"8711942","fdb",[113,209,43,210,114,29],9,"project\u002Fcritical\u002Fidea",[212,209,43,210,213,29],"8712607","aaronem",[215,209,38,216,217,29],"8713547","project\u002Fmixed\u002Fidea","ssully",[219,220,38,197,221,29],"8711998",10,"RexRollman",[105,223,43,210,106,29],11,[225,223,29,226,83,29],"8712049","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fidea",[228,223,29,229,230,29],"8714007","commenter\u002Fneutral\u002Fnone","doorhammer",[232,32,43,195,233,29],"8713701","Pinn2",[235,32,38,191,236,29],"8714156","djur",[238,32,43,195,233,29],"8770685",[240,32,38,191,241,29],"8717627","scott_karana",[243,32,43,195,233,29],"8770687",[109,245,38,197,110,29],13,[90,247,38,182,91,29],14,[249,247,29,184,11,43],"8711730",[97,251,42,178,98,29],15,[253,254,42,178,255,29],"8712837",16,"sambeau",[257,258,38,197,259,29],"8713787",17,"Houshalter",[86,261,42,262,87,29],18,"project\u002Fpositive\u002Fnone",[264,265],{"id":4,"t":12,"points":14,"comments":15},{"id":266,"t":267,"points":203,"comments":29},"14148806",1492618189,[269,274,279,284,289,293],{"id":270,"name":271,"points":272,"category":273},"8699167","Flakes",438,"dev_tools",{"id":275,"name":276,"points":277,"category":278},"8723120","artfulmac.com",229,"creative",{"id":280,"name":281,"points":282,"category":283},"8707583","Code Words",181,"learning_science",{"id":285,"name":286,"points":287,"category":288},"8699339","Piste.io",164,"consumer_social",{"id":290,"name":291,"points":292,"category":288},"8706496","Collapse HN Comments",141,{"id":294,"name":295,"points":296,"category":283},"8704472","SWAPI",79,false,"v2",{"id":300,"name":5,"line":6,"ai":297,"cat":20,"year":13,"points":14,"comments":15,"rec":28,"s":29,"top":18,"kw":301,"maker":11,"domain":10,"tier":19,"attempts":33,"strip":302,"url":9,"mix":303,"praise":79,"objection":102,"sub":21},8711621,[24,25,26,27],"050303003013330301133100131313305535",[31,32,33,34],1794036525815]