SHRDLU

Original author(s)Terry Winograd
Initial release1968
Written inMicro Planner, Lisp programming language
Operating systemPDP-6
PlatformDEC
Typenatural-language understanding

SHRDLU is an early natural-language understanding computer program that was developed by Terry Winograd at MIT in 1968–1970. In the program, the user carries on a conversation with the computer, moving objects, naming collections and querying the state of a simplified "blocks world", essentially a virtual box filled with different blocks.[1]

SHRDLU was written in the Micro Planner and Lisp programming language on the DEC PDP-6 computer and a DEC graphics terminal. Later additions were made at the computer graphics labs at the University of Utah, adding a full 3D rendering of SHRDLU's "world".

The name SHRDLU was derived from ETAOIN SHRDLU, the arrangement of the letter keys on a Linotype machine, arranged in descending order of usage frequency in English.

  1. ^ Winograd, Terry (1971-01-01). "Procedures as a Representation for Data in a Computer Program for Understanding Natural Language". hdl:1721.1/7095. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)