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Re: [pbmserv-dev] queued moves

'Twas 09:40 AM -0400 on Wednesday 9/21/2005 when Richard Rognlie wrote:
usability query for the assembled masses...

would it be better to make queuing a move a separate action from a
normal "move"?

mostly to prevent accidentally queuing a move when your mail server sends
the same move in twice... or something.

I was thinking that for a game where a duplicated move is not a problem, this is unnecessary. For Quoridor, a duplicated N command can destroy your game. In Go it will be an illegal move 99% of the time. In Chess or Hearts or Stymie it will always be illegal.

But now I realize that even for a game where a duplicate move is never legal, there is a potential problem. Suppose I send a move and the email gets lost in cyberspace. The next day I see I haven't moved, so I move again, but I forget my former move and make a different move. Then the wayward email arrives. Definitely bad pizza.

IMO, queuing must be explicit. However, just changing "move" to "queue" is clearly inadequate. If I send a "queue" command and it gets lost in cyberspace, I am then at risk of that move arriving. The only protection is to include the move number in the command, eg

<game> move <board number> #<turn number> <user> <pass> <move>

I am using "move" for the command, since the presence of turn number makes queuing obvious.

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