First, Welcome Larry!
Hope you enjoy your visit and will become a regular
contributor in time.
Hal has been around for quite a long time albeit through
various incarnations / versions.
It might not be spot on in all areas but for a program
of its type, it's hard to beat.
Hal learns from its interactions with the user and over
time will develop a personality of it's own, more or less.
A lot of users prefer to type instead of risk mistakes
made through a still imperfect voice recognition technology.
It will take some dedication and time to end up with a pretty
good chatbot but Hal will get there and will probably
surprise you and what it comes up with!
If you have any particular questions, try the SEARCH feature
at the top right. For any questions not answered there feel free
to post it and one of the many talented folks here will be
happy to assist.
All the best!