Re: [pbmserv-dev] Invalid moves and undo and such

[Lyman Hurd <lhurd@yahoo.com>]

It would be good if we could put our heads together
and come up with some general purpose parsing classes
to help on move input.  Parsers are a well understood
and non-trivial thing to write and every game tends to
have a limited set of variations!  That being said,
yes I think that the parsing should not be considered
"done" if there are extraneous characters left, but I
cannot guarantee that the games I have written behave
themselves.

On point two I support the notion that an "undo"
request should require a conscious "yes" or "no".  I
have also been in the same position of having to undo
multiple moves because one side or the other missed
the request.  This is especially true because the undo
request doesn't have a distinguished subject line.  I
would suggest that as an additional feature all moves
requesting an undo show up with the subject line "UNDO
Requested".

Cheers,

Lyman

PS I am happy to try helping rather than just
suggesting!  In particular I am happy to start looking
at parsing code if anyone else thinks it would be
helpful.

--- Randall Bart <barticus@att.net> wrote:
> I'm playing Antipod with Cameron.  We're discussing
> how the board should be 
> numbered, and Cameron decided to change the
> numbering to eliminate the left 
> and right designation.  Unfortunately, I moved using
> the old syntax when 
> the program was already looking for new syntax.  I
> moved "d2r", which the 
> program took as "d2".
> 
> Q1:  What should a program do when there is an
> extraneous character after 
> an otherwise valid move?  I think it should always
> be rejected, because the 
> chance that there is a typo is high.
> 
> So I immediately issued an undo.  A few hours later,
> Cameron checked his 
> email.  He read his email sequentially, and replied
> to the move before he 
> read the undo request.  The program discarded the
> undo and accepted his move.
> 
> Q2:  Should a program accept a move when there is an
> undo pending?  I think 
> not, because it will normally happen just this way. 
> The player will always 
> see the original move before seeing the undo, and
> may send a move 
> immediately.  I know that some games reject moves
> when an undo is pending 
> because it has happened to me.
> --
> RB |\  Randall Bart
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> 
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