RE: [Bug-gnubg] GNU notes

[Albert Silver]

> I see Joern's already replied, just adding my comments.
> 
> > 1)                   So I'll start with the bug. I set up a position
and
> > saved it, yet every single time I load it, it shows up with 17 (!)
> > pieces with an extra one on the bar and another taken off. If I
enter
> > Edit and click on either piece they disappear, but it still shows
when I
> > load it. I can zip this, but should I send it to this mailing list
or
> > someone specific?
> 
> I'd say zip it and send it to the mailing list. I'd certainly like to
> see it.

Ok, I included it here. It is called Bug.zip. It is one of the positions
taken from Kit Woolsey's article "When God is Wrong". In the article,
Woolsey shared 21 positions where Snowie 3-ply (its highest setting)
told him he was badly mistaken, but where a rollout vindicated his
decision. If you have the article or know it, be warned that the 13th
position is wrong and Snowie did not get it wrong (nor GNU). FYI, GNU
got some 8-9 correct. 
:-)

This brings up another issue, two actually, that would be of interest
toward the development of the engine. 

a) I have been having quite a bit of fun playing against GNU (WC++ as
the ego would allow no less) and then analyzing my match with it. I have
also saved it in the Jellyfish format so that I could also analyze it in
Snowie 3 (S4 is on the way) and compare notes. There are times when
Snowie earmarks one of GNU's move as a mistake. Sometimes it is dead
wrong as rollouts show, which is Snowie's problem, and sometimes it is
GNU that is wrong. Is there some place to send such positions so that
furture versions of GNU might avoid repeating the same mistakes?

b) I like to keep a folder of interesting positions, whether they be
problems for me, or for GNU. The problem is that many of these positions
originate in games, and I don't want to save the entire game or match
just for one position. Not just for reasons of space (hardly a problem),
but because accessing the position means going through the entire game
or match until I find the right moment. There should be a way to save
just the position at any given moment.

c) I would also like to be able to save cube decision problems. Right
now I can't exactly. I can start a match, set up a position, and save it
with no dice played, but when I open it the dice are always played even
if both players are human. Even if it is because the dice are set
automatically, it should only roll them when I ask it, as I might easily
want to consider turning the cube.

> 
> > 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"
> 
> A Joern says - it's the UK English version. You write cheques on your
> bank account and paly backgammon with chequers. There might be I18N
> setups for American vs. UK English, but I'd guess it's not too
important.

No, it's not. I was just curious.

> 
> > 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.
> 
> Yes - I've noticed this. Of course running Analyze Game again is very
> quick and does update things, but this is sub-optimal. But I see Joern
> has already flagged it as a mis-feature.

Won't that just give the same results? After all, the changes are made
by examining only a few select moves at a greater depth (3-ply or
rollout for example). If I analyze the whole match at 2-ply, won't it
just show the same results?

> > 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.
> 
> What about different symbols:  say -!, -, -- for one type of error and
the
> current ?!, ?, ?? for the other?

Yes, I proposed D or C so as to be extra clear to users. I already
learned Snowie's codes for their explorer, but I doubt most users have,
and would like to keep it as obvious as possible.

> 
> > 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.
> 
> > 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.
> 
> Joern has mentioned some things in particular porting the gtk theme
> selector, but an idea does occur to me.
> 
> I get the impression that people mostly want to change the look of the
> board, which means they want to load a specific subset of the commands
> which can occur in the .gnubgautorc file. (I will ignore issues like
> wanting to change fonts, which is a deeper one).

Speaking of which, I am including a zipped file of 3 board styles I
created and use regularly. In order to not have to reconfigure them, I
setup separate directories for each style and their corresponding
.gnubgautorc files.

                                                Albert Silver

Bug.zip
Description: Zip compressed data

Boards.zip
Description: Zip compressed data