[Bug-gnubg] Feature Request: Differential reporting of rollout results

[Ian Shaw]

I would like to see a more space-efficient report of rollout results.
Currently, when you see web pages with gnubg rollout results included
(typically gamnonu or bgonline), an awful lot of space is taken up with
repeated rollout settings. This entails a lot of scrolling and makes it
difficult to read the actual results. 

I suggest only printing a parameter when it differs from the next trial
DOWN the list, or is the last one on the list.

The result will be that if all rollout parameters are identical, they
will only be printed once. If for example, two moves were rolled out
1296 times but the third and fourth were dropped after 324 trials, the
fourth move would contain all the parameters that we have now. The third
move would contain no parameters, because they match the fourth. The
second move would say 1296 trials, but nothing else because all the
other parameters are identical. The first move would again contain no
parameters, because they match the second.

I think this would make printed rollouts much easier to read.

In fact, I wouldn't be sad to see the Mersenne Twister reference
disappear. I've never seen anyone post a rollout using anything else. In
the early days of gnubg, having lots of RNG's was a good idea in the
interest of transparency. Nowadays, no serious user (one likely to read
a rollout) doubts that gnubg is honest, so there is not really a need to
provide the choice.

-- Ian