IBM wants to make it easy to code bots

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IBM has developed a bot exchange to help developers create chatbots that can be easily deployed to speed up the implementation of Watson functions as part of its IBM Developer Way initiative.

The IBM Bot Asset Exchange pools together a variety of ready-to-use, domain-specific conversation logic to make it faster for businesses to integrate IBM Watson Conversation to any platform.

Developers can use it as a shared, open-source marketplace, allowing them to contribute to the chatbot community and learn from others involved in the sharing community. Developers can find new chatbots suited to their application and take it directly from the repository, tweaking it as they need and then adding it for others to use in future.

One of the key missions of the IBM Bot Asset Exchange is to make it much easier for less experienced developers to integrate IBM Watson bots into their applications.

"The Bot Asset Exchange was really easy to use. I was able to upload my chatbot to the Exchange and deploy it with no issues," he said.

"I'm new to machine learning and AI, but I found the Watson Conversation API simple to build with. Also, having access to code was incredibly helpful. Even those with little programming experience could easily create their own bots with the Exchange."

IBM has also announced it's released more than 120 code patterns to simplify the development process. They're packages of code, one-click GitHub repositories, documentation and resources that help developers a wide range of real-world problems including AI, Blockchain, Containers and IoT.

IBM Developer Way was created to help solve problems using collaboration, working together to make apps better and more fit for purpose. It also focuses on learning, with developers teaching others skills they may not have otherwise uncovered.

Clare Hopping
Freelance writer

Clare is the founder of Blue Cactus Digital, a digital marketing company that helps ethical and sustainability-focused businesses grow their customer base.

Prior to becoming a marketer, Clare was a journalist, working at a range of mobile device-focused outlets including Know Your Mobile before moving into freelance life.

As a freelance writer, she drew on her expertise in mobility to write features and guides for ITPro, as well as regularly writing news stories on a wide range of topics.