To the OP: As others have said, this problem is HARD! You can't really tackle this without AI knowledge, I don't care what "this guy" thinks. In fact, there is probably a Turing award out there if you can solve NLP of English idioms and cliches and such -- especially when coupled with voice recoginition and translation systems. However, I don't think you or "this guy" are going to get it any time soon. Pick up a copy of Russell & Norvig, or equivalent, and begin to learn what "hard problems" in AI mean versus what most other folks consider "hard problems". AI is a whole 'nother animal. And it's still a very loose science (overhyped too -- in that few understand what it actually is), with a lot of room for ground-breaking. Perl (due to functional constructs, etc) isn't a bad language for it at all, however.

To Moose and Abigail

Well I can tell you that 'the guy' is definitely far less mysterious or nefarious than some term-paper plagiarist or something equally unethical like that. The thread gives hint as to the who, what and why.

However, I will say it seems the particular writing style and nature of the question, combined with the insight of the responses has generated far more fascinating feedback than I coulda ever anticipated. There is much to chew on here. For that, I say hats off to all of you.

Oh, by the way, the paraphrase engine offers the following tidbit ...

The term "AI" is defined as 'anything that hasn't yet been demonstrated as feasible for a computer programmer'

;-)

The thread gives hint as to the who, what and why.

If it's just a "flash card" thing, why are you so mysterious? Is it that you want to profit from something you are not ready to reveal? If so, you are being dishonest in getting others to do work for you under the guise of something else. I don't understand why you are concealing your aims. If you really want help, ask for what you want, and tell what you are doing. If you are trying to get help for a professional application, well, you need to be upfront with that.

Information (especially knowledge on complex AI problems) deserves to be free, especially when others are seeking help. Your silly alluding to "this guy" and "this guy's arbitrary requirements" does not help your cause. Sounds like you want some sample code or direction to generate some "flash card software" as i read it now, and "this guy" doesn't have very competent employees to do it.

The guy wishes to avoid esoteric concepts beyond the grasp".

That's like telling me to wash your car without using any water. And, by any chance, is ... "this guy", in fact, you? And you don't understand "esoteric concepts". We can't spoonfeed "this guy". Some of those esoteric concepts are domain knowledge, and are very much a part of the problem space.

The term "AI" is defined as 'anything that hasn't yet been demonstrated as feasible for a computer programmer'

Totally bogus. You're (I mean, "this guy is") just unwilling to read the source material and read up on NLP, expert systems, neural nets, genetic algorithms, and the varoius advanced areas of computer science. Quit being a "what can I pick up off the shelf" drone, buy some books, and start learning for a change. It will do you a world of good.