Re: hacking on same-gnome

["Callum McKenzie" <callum physics otago ac nz>]

> Most of the work could be done without any knowledge of how it would
> actually be used, but I'd still like to have some idea. The
> possibilities I've thought of are by session (this is probably not
> good because I expect to write the game save to a file), manual (with
> actual file>>save, file>>open ui--I'm not sure about this because a
> corrupt save in aisleriot interacting with the game rules could cause
> a crash or worse, though it could be made safe by saving a list of
> moves instead of an undo/redo history), automatic (i.e. games just
> starting where they left off), and automatic with a separate save per
> game (freecell has a separate menu shortcut, so it might not make much
> sense if playing freecell makes you lose another game save, then again
> maybe it's not important).
I am against the explicit save/load semantics. Originally this was because
the GNOME file selection dialog was a complete dog, but I've come to the
conclusion that it just isn't necessary. Especially for the sort of game
which we deal with: no one is interested in compiling a huge selection of
half-played games of patience, they have no value in bulk. The game that
you are halfway through when you had to go do something constructive has a
lot of value - so that is what should be saved.

In the end session saving is just a specialised way of doing automatic
saving. Doing automatic saving properly is difficult but highly desirable.
You don't have to treat each sub-game separately, but you do have to treat
each instance of the program separately. Although as you point out there
would have to be queues based on game name (or somethng else hidden in the
.desktop file) so that the same program called in different ways does the
right thing.

> I know the automatic stuff would make quitting a bit easier for me
> (since I wouldn't have to worry about it recording a loss--btw, if I
> start a new game and then quit, does that count as a loss?).
If you haven't made any moves it doesn't count as a loss. The moment you
touch a card you are deemed to have started playing and you can loose.
Watch the timer if you want to see whether it thinks the game is underway.

 - Callum