std_bot

What does the bot do?

std_bot searches in r/cpp_questions for STL related functions or types (everything "std::*", calling this "token" from now on) and tries to link them with the reference page from cppreference.com

If this bot made a reply to your comment with links, the reply is not supposed to help you. It's supposed to help OP because you introduced new tokens OP probably doesn't know about. So the links provided by this bot are for OP to have a quick look at what you're talking about. I'm fully aware that everyone who uses a token knows about it and doesn't need a link.

Be aware that the bot is still in development. Every behaviour is subject to change

If the feedback is mostly negative and I can't get it to work without annoying the users in the sub, I will deactivate it

I also beg to consider that this is the first program I've ever written in Python. If you think it sucks, give me feedback.

What comments does it respond to and how?

A simplified flow control:

How does the bot get it's results?

The bot uses https://en.cppreference.com/w/cpp/symbol_index to look for the symbols. Nested symbols like std::chrono::Monday result in multiple requests:

If the bot can't find the token in the symbol index, the built-in search is used. As for now cppreference.com decided to use DuckDuckGo for their public search engine. The old built-in search is still available if you use the correct URL tough (https://en.cppreference.com/mwiki/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&search=XXXX)

How can I give feedback or suggestions?

I'm very grateful for every form of feedback, positive or negative.

You can give feedback under every comment std_bot makes or write private messages.

I don't want the bot to respond to my comments

Just reply with "!std ignore_me" to any bot comment and it will ignore your comments from now on

Type "!std follow_me" to let it follow you again

Even if ignored you can still use "!std" to manually invoke the bot

Please do not use any markdown symbols. The commands are only recognized if there is nothing else in the specific line

I'm still annoyed by the bot

I'm sorry to hear that. Best you can do is to give me some feedback and ignore the bot via Reddit

Patchnotes

0.3:
- Using symbol index instead of built-in search to find links for tokens
  - More and better results
- Tokens used by OP in code or text will be marked as "linked"
  - OP probably knows about tokens they use
- Added built-in search as backup for missing symbols
  - It seems like the symbol index is not that consistent
- Added message if someone messages the bot without usage of a command
  - There are a lot of people replying to the bot instead of the one they intended to
0.2:
- No longer using "best match" to find a link for a token
  - Uncertain results are not helpful
- Only responding to top level comments from now on
  - To reduce spam
- Added commands to interact with bot
  - !std ignore_me makes me ignore you
  - !std follow_me makes me follow you again
  - !std forces linking of your comment even if not top comment or already fully linked
0.1:
- Starting the bot

ToDo

~~Adding other popular frameworks (like boost::)~~
- Probably not possible due to missing search function and symbol index
Recognizing used links even if they're not bound to the token
Tokens used by OP should be added to index as OP probably knows about them
- This should also work if OP uses the 'using namespace std;' expression (as "std::" normally indicates STL tokens)

TL:DR commands

Command	Result
!std	Enforce link creation
!std ignore_me	The bot will ignore you ("!std" will works)
!std follow_me	The bot will follow you again

bstaletic / std_bot