Re: [VANILLA-LIST:3194] continuous scoring

[Dave Ahn <ahn@vec.wfubmc.edu>]

On Tue, May 16, 2000 at 02:03:33AM -0400, Jeffrey Nowakowski wrote:
> 
> As far as commiting this code, why?  Isn't this what CVS branches are
> for?

In a production development environment, yes.  In Netrek, not worthwhile.

> There were a ton of proposals for continuous scoring.

Perhaps so.  But there will only be one version in the end if it is an
improvement over the current system.  Also, the consensus is that a
hypothetical system is less useful than an experimental system.  It
turned out to be true.  In last nights EE vs World game, the continuous
score showed very interesting trends and ended up with (I believe) a
final score that was more even than the planet count score.  Using
absolutes, EE would have won.  Using a 1.5 planet margin, EE had a
closer continuous score to an even tie.  I was very surprised at the
impact (on the score) of a good bomber, too.

On Tue, May 16, 2000 at 10:42:17AM -0400, Jeffrey Nowakowski wrote:
> 
> For one, I noticed that he mixed a minor bug fix with continuous
> scoring.  Not a big deal, but the fix could get lost when backing it
> out.

That is what ChangeLogs are for...to identify the contents of a commit
which often include several unrelated bug fixes.

> Second, if people make changes to the same files, how do you back
> out without losing their changes?  

In all these years, the only time I had such a conflict was when I
added LTD stat support which spanned dozens of source files.

> All this seems messy.  If he only commited to CVS just to get Swasey
> the code, he could have just sent him the diffs or the changed files,
> without creating a branch.

Actually, I committed it prematurely (i.e. without sysdef and without
README.scores) so that other people (including Swasey) could use it.

> Oh well, I've said my piece.  I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers,
> just concerned about development practices.

I'm sure if I'm messing up the CVS, James will revoke my access and force
me to submit patches!  :)

-- 
Dave Ahn <ahn@vec.wfubmc.edu>        |  "When you were born, you cried and the
                                     |  world rejoiced.  Try to live your life
Virtual Endoscopy Center             |  so that when you die, you will rejoice
Wake Forest Univ. School of Medicine |  and the world will cry."  -1/2 jj^2