Re: [XBoard-devel] Variation Trees

[h.g. muller]

At 09:28 13-10-2010 -0700, Arun Persaud wrote:
> Hi
>
> I have to say that I never use variations either, but I don't understand
> why creating more variations leads into memory problems...
>
> Shouldn't we just have the whole game including variations in a
> tree-like structure and then a linked list without any branches that
> points to the current/active variation? Going back and forth would just
> move along the current list and whenever you add a new variation you add
> it to the tree and update the current list and when you move back and
> forth and there are multiple branches in the tree they should be shown
> somewhere in a windows, so that you can select the branch you like or
> you just show the whole tree in a window and people can click on any
> leave in it to select the branch they want to be on.
This would be one way to do it, but it is not the way it currently works.
But this is mostly an implementation detail; the basic problems stay the same:
if you only add branches, and never delete them, at some point your memory will
fill up. And if you delete them, the question will arise upto where you 
want to
delete a branch. To the branching point furthest from the root? Or to the 
branch
point that was last created? The whole sub-tree after the current position?
And the choice when a newly entered move should start a new branch,
or replace an old one, still has to be made.

> Perhaps it would be good to rewrite this part if there are problems with it?
>
> Arun