Microsoft is developing an update to its Bot framework which will enable support for Java and Python.
The developers currently use v3 of Bot Builder SDK (software development kit), which supports .NET, and JavaScript options, to develop several chat bot plots. These chat bots are hosted on Azure Bot Service, which Microsoft made generally available in December last year.
Azure Bot Service helps developers to build chat bot platforms on a variety of channels, like Facebook, web chat, Skype, Slack, etc.
As noted by Gary Pretty, Technical Strategist at Mando and Microsoft AI, the v4 of Bot Builder SDK is under active development on GitHub. The bot framework teams are working on adding development options for Python and Java options, which will allow more developers to explore the benefits of Bot Builder SDK.
“I should say at this point, the team are very clear that v4 of the SDK is under active development and is therefore in a heavy state of flux and as such should only be used for experimentation purposes right now,” wrote Gary Pretty in a blog post.
The SDK v3 supports both C# and Node.js, but there are some features which are not available for both platforms. For example, FormFlow within C# SDK, but not within Node.js. Microsoft is working on closing such parities, so that it can help developers who need to use both.
Additionally, Microsoft will introduce a new middleware system in the v4 SDK, which will enable developers to create rich plugins for bots, as well as more generic middleware. Such middleware can be used in multiple bots.
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