Re: [Bug-gnubg] Good beta release! (Suggestions)

[Jim Segrave]

On Sun 16 May 2004 (22:12 +0200), ?ystein Johansen wrote:
> >===== Original Message From "Richard Anderson" <address@hidden>
> =====
> >The Gnu Backgammon for Windows is really good for a beta release with lots
> >of neat features.  I find the most useful aspect is for self-training:
> >playing against the program with tutorial mode on and analyzing my errors.
> 
> Thanks. Yes the tutorial mode can really teach you something. At least this
> feature tought me a lot.
> 
> >Some suggestions and bugs, in no particular order, based on the 0.14-devel
> >release:
> 
> >1. Add two buttons to the Game Record window that act like the two
> >arrow-question mark buttons, except that they take you forward/back to the
> >nearest move where your move was not the same as the best rated move.  (The
> >arrow-question mark buttons skip past moves that were not best but with an
> >equity / MWC difference below the tutorial threshold).
> 
> There is a work-around. If you set the analysis doubtful threshold to 0.0001,
> The "next marked move" button will stop at any move that's not top ranked.
> You can set this threshold at the menu item "Settings->Analysis"
> 
> (Is it necesarry to re-analyse after changing the doubltful threshold?
> Anyone?)

Yes - the buttons are using the skill result in the analysis, not the
equities, so changing thresholds requires re-analysing

Adding extra buttons is mostly an interface problem - there isn't
really room for a lot more buttons. There may be a case for a drop
down menu for going through the game records with things like:

   Radio button:
Only errors player 0   Only errors player 1   Errors both player

   Radio button:
Only chequer errors    Only cube errors       Cube & chequer errors

> >2. There should be a pop-up display of a progress bar and estimated time
> >left when the program is doing rollouts or any analysis that take more than
> >a few seconds on a modern desktop computer.
> 
> I think it already is.

It's been added to rollouts, I don't know about analysis though

> >3. Currently, the Game Record window only shows the analysis for the user's
> >moves if tutorial mode is on, which prompts the user when he makes a
> >mistake.  There should be an option to show the user move analysis without
> >the prompting.
> 
> Try to analyse the whole match: "Analyse->Analyse match". That will analyse
> the match for both players.

A note for the original poster. Gnubg does not normally analyse
player's moves during a game (it has no need to do so). Tutor mode
does require that it do an analysis at game time, so it can decide if
you've made a mistake or not. 

I suppose we could have a feature which does what tutor mode does, but
doesn't raise the window. That would give the desired effect.

> >5.  A nice feature would be to have a simple way to select any move/position
> >in the Game Record window and compare rollouts for various alternative
> >moves.
> 
> This can be done with the anaylsis functionality. Open the game record and the
> analysis panel. "Windows->Game record" and "Windows->Analysis". Make sure both
> these are checked in the menu. You should then be able to see the the analysis
> of each move when you select a move in the game record.
> 
> If you you see the text "No analysis available", you can go to the analysis
> menu and analyse the match, game or move. I recommend that you analyse the
> whole match. "Analyse->Match"

Note that to compare rollouts, you need to select the moves of
interest in the analysis window, then click the rollout button


> >8. There should be more fine-grained control of the threshold the tutorial
> >mode uses for flagging bad moves. Instead of discrete levels, how about a
> >floating-point threshold based on the equity difference / MWC difference and
> >related to the annotation symbols:
> >
> >Tiny (any move that is not the same as the highest ranked)
> >Minor (?!)
> >Moderate (?)
> >Major (??)
> >Insane (???)
> 
> Hmmmm....maybe.

In effect it is there - tutor mode can be set to trigger on
doubtful/bad/very bad and the thresholds for each of these levels can
be set in the analysis general window.


-- 
Jim Segrave           address@hidden