VMs: Re: Would it be possible to summarize it for the list?

["JH" <haleyj@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Ben Preece wrote on 03 March 2005 16:05

> 
> The app is pretty straightforward.  It runs a text through a
> probablistic FSM and measures the average information rate of the text.
> Presumably, the lower the information rate, the better the FSM fits the
> text.  It then makes random changes and compares results.  If the
> modified FSM fits better, it throws out the old FSM and uses the new
> one.  Lather, rinse, repeat.
> 
> It's been a while since I've had time to work with it, so I'll need to
> go back and find my papers.  I think I remember that on a Latin text, a
> 20-state FSM generated by the app produces text which is recognizably
> trying to imitate latin, while a 50-state FSM actually starts to be a
> decent imitation.  On English text, I think 20 states weren't enough to
> be very recognizable.  On Hawaiian text, two states did a pretty good
> superficial imitation.  I've tried it on a Romanized Chinese, but don't
> have the skills to know whether the result is any good or not.
> 
> The problems with the app are the ones you expect with evolutionary
> programming, like getting stuck in local minimums, or knowing how fast
> to converge and how long to run.
> 
> I'll try to find my stuff on the VMs and write something up about it.
> One interesting thing I remember is that some letters, like 'a' and 'o',
> tend to end up with their own states;  no matter what came before the
> 'a', the 'a' will always take you to the same next state.  This means
> that what comes next after the 'a' depends only on the fact that it
> comes after the 'a', and not on anything that came before the 'a'.  The
> letters 'a' and 'o' have different states, and these are not the same
> state that indicates the start of a word.  So how would one interpret
> all that linguistically?
> 

Verbose cipher perhaps? With a and o as fillers?

The VMS fairy


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