Re: [Bug-gnubg] GNU notes

[Joern Thyssen]

Hi Albert,

Thx for your comments. I'll comment some of them below.

On Sun, Sep 15, 2002 at 11:35:13PM -0300, Albert Silver wrote

> 2)                   I constantly see the word "chequer" written. Is
> that British or something? I have never know it that way and usually see
> it written as "checker"

It's British. Just like "analyse" vs. "analyze" etc.

> 3)                   The statistics do not take into account changes in
> evaluation on moves made after a match analysis. On a few occasions I
> have asked GNU to roll out a move to confirm its criticism and have seen
> it change the evaluation. Soemtimes for the better, and sometimes to
> tell me I am a bigger bonehead than it had initially thought. The
> statistics window (and the Game Record where the punctuation commentary
> is) do not update to take these changes into account. They should of
> course IMHO.

It's on my TODO list.

> 4)                   Jeff's e-mail to the list repeats a problem I had
> with a top player I was helping. The official GNU BG page does not show
> a clear way to get the downloadable Windows file, and neither does it
> link to the right page. That makes GNU all but impossible to get.
> Furthermore, I would like to suggest that to simplify the task of
> downloading, it be made extremely clear that there is only ONE file to
> download and what that file is, *unless* the propective users enjoy
> compiling these files not to mention even know what compiling is.

A new combined web-site gnubg.org is in the horison. 

> 5)                   Perhaps a letter could be added to the Game Record
> to indicate what kind of error was made, whether a cube decision or a
> checker move. I had in mind something basic such as 13/8? (D). Though
> perhaps that makes the space required for a move too big. Perhaps
> underlining it otherwise.

It has been suggested before, and should be on the TODO list.

> 6)                   Account Manager!  This would be a great addition to
> GNU. It is something that is truly excellent in Snowie and that is the
> ability to tally the results and see your average performance. It would
> keep track of checker play errors, cube decision errors, and luck, and
> allow users to see how they have done rceently. I'd also include a
> possibility to see how a player did by increments. Ex: it has kept track
> of the results/stats of 1000 games. Not only could I ask it to show me
> how I've done for the last 100 (just as Snowie), but I could ask it to
> show the average results for every 100 games. Another idea would be to
> have it keep track of how a player did in DMP or 1-point game
> situations.

I think it's on the TODO list. If not, I'll add it.


> 7)                   Save the different board profiles/styles. I have a
> few preferred combinations of colors, but right now have been keeping
> track of them in separate directories I created for the settings files.
> It would be nice if a user had some presets, not to mention the
> possibility to create and save their own.

I have some rudimentary code for that:
(1) read board styles from an XML file
(2) a screen shot file must be provided (no drawing on the fly)
(3) no saving of styles yet (you must manually edit the XML file)

> 8)                   The "skins" for GNU are nice, and my favourite by
> far so far is "mac". Unfortunately, I think this feature will be used by
> very very few users. If it were possible to change the skins from within
> the GUI, this would be appreciated as a full-fledged feature.

It's been discussed before. In the GNOME unix desktop environment there
is such a tool, and we do not want to reinvent that wheel. We await
someone to port that tool to windows. Until that the users will have to
manually copy or edit the gnubg.gtkrc file. I've suggested that we add
instructions to the FAW or manual.

> 9)                   I would have the program create a Saved Games
> directory and automatically propose to save games and positions in it.
> Right now it saves it in the main directory which is less than idea IMO.

There are some undocument commands (enter via Edit->Enter Command)

set path sgf "C:\My gnubg Files\Saved Games"

(I'm a bit uncertain if "C:\My gnubg Files..." works. Perhaps some of
the wnidows users can help me here).

Remember to save settings and create the directory. From now on gnubg
will suggest the sgf files are saved in the directory. There are a
number of other "set path" commands related to sgg, mat, etc files.


> 10)               Speaking of saving and loading. When importing a file
> format such as .sgg, it should propose to filter the files so that the
> user isn't forced to filter through a long ist of irrelevant files.

This is only a issue onthe windows platform where the extension means
something special.

> 11)               BTW, I was surprised to see that that Jellyfish
> position format isn't supported yet. It would be a nice feature as it
> would allow users to easily export their positions to either Snowie or
> Jellyfish. Right now they cannot. If I set up a new match and then edit
> it to create a test position, I cannot save it into the JF game or match
> formats. Furthermore, a complete decription of the Jellyfish position
> format (.pos) can be found at their site:
> http://effect.webbie.net/fspec.htm

You can import .pos, but not export. I think it's on Øystein's TODO list :-)

Jørn

-- 
Joern Thyssen, PhD
Vendsysselgade 3, 3., DK-9000 Aalborg, Denmark
+45 9813 2791 (private) / +45 2818 0183 (mobile) / +45 9633 7036 (work)
Note: new mobile number!