Date/time expression detection

If no specialized module is defined to detect date/time expressions, the default behaviour is to recognize only simple date expressions (such as DD/MM/YYYY).

If you want to recognize language dependent expressions (such as complex time expressions -e.g. ``wednesday, July 12th at half past nine''), you have to program a date_mylanguage class derived from abstract class dates_module. Those classes are finite automata that recognize word sequences. An abstract class automat controls the sequence advance, so your derived class has little work to do apart from defining states and transitions for the automaton.

A good idea to start with this issue is having a look at the dates_es, dates_en, and dates_ca classes. State/transition diagrams of those automata can be found in the directory doc/diagrams.



2008-01-24