Re: [Bug-gnubg] Suggestions wanted

[Jim Segrave]

On Wed 26 Feb 2003 (10:11 -0000), Ian Shaw wrote:
> 
> > From: Jim Segrave
> > 
> > Does anyone have any opinions for/against using XML and a document
> > description to save this data. I'm tempted, because I wouldn't mind
> > getting some experience with XML, but that's not necessarily a good
> > reason. 
> > 
> I'm wondering why we don't save the data in an SGF file, and display the
> data in the annotation window. There can't be that much additional data
> to store: rollout progress, seed & counter spring to mind.

You need the rollout configuration settings (if you're going to make
any reasonable extension to a rollout), you need the cumulative
figures so you can generate the standard deviations. Then there are
the rollout statistics.

This can all be stuffed into an .sgf file, but it ties us to a very
fixed format - if we ever decided to change what statistics were kept
for example or add/subtract things from the rollout context, it might
get truly messy. A self-describing format like XML seems like it might
be better suited to this. 

XML is a standard that's meant to allow a very wide variety of data to
be stored and made available for processing. Because it's extensible,
it should be a SMOP (Simple Matter of Programming) to add comments,
allow users to add categories so they can have collections of
positions which they describe as "backgame with a crashed board",
"bearoff against an ace point anchor" or whatever strikes their fancy.

Processing these (indexing, reviewing, displaying as html, searching)
are all functions which don't belong in gnubg themselves. To the
extent that tools already exist for doing this, we gain by using an
existing standard. An example:

Assume we have an XML Document Type Definition for a saved and
analysed position. Then anyone can write an XSS (XML Style Sheet?)
file which tells a browser how to read the XML file and display
it. Now you can point your Netscape/Opera/IE6 at your saved positions
directory and flip through the stored files in your browser, seeing
the board position, any comments you've added, the Evaluation or
Rollout results, etc.

> It's always bugged me that that once you click OK on a rollout the
> information is gone; you can't export it or anything. At present, if you
> want to keep rollout results you have to kick them off from the
> annotation window. This is too easy to forget about.

Me too. It's also annoying that if you want the std's, you need to do
a screen capture.

-- 
Jim Segrave           address@hidden