Stuart Richie
About Stuart Richie:In 1982 Stuart Richie was student at the University of Melbourne doing a dual degree in linguistics and computer science. He was hired by Alfred Milgrom to consult on the design of the parser for The Hobbit. Veronika Megler whilst applauding the sentiment recalls that Richie’s contribution was not really that significant and the Philip Mitchell was really the primary author of The Hobbit‘s impressive parser.
Megler explained to Jimmy Maher at the Digital Antiquarian that “Richie, who was employed by Melbourne House for only a few months, contributed no code, and his ideas ultimately had little influence on the system”. Reflecting that “Milgrom’s idea of hiring a linguistics expert to develop a parser is one of those that sounds better in theory than it works in reality.” Concluding that “developing a good adventure-game parser has more to do with common sense and careful diligence than elaborate theories about linguistics or natural-language processing”.
Maher, Jimmy “The Hobbit / The Hobbit Redux”, Digital Antiquarian, November 16, 2012 http://www.filfre.net/2012/11/the-hobbit/
