[Loser]

Originally posted by atari_eric:

quote:

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Originally posted by deccan:
(True Fact: I was browsing around the MOO3 forums earlier today and one of the programmers was saying that they couldn't fix the part of the diplomacy system that generates the famously cryptic speeches made by AI controlled empires because it's a black box that nobody understood anymore.)

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This concept, to me, is just infathomable. I would think it better (junior as I am) to delete and rewrite from pseudocode rather than keep such a malfunctioning piece of code in a project.

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Oh yeah, I've been there.

Sitting in the University computer lab with my prof.

So we'll run the debugger, right?
Yes, please go ahead.
Okay. Here you can see the involved variables: their names should clearly indicate their function. The code is commented, I think...
Yes, yes. Go ahead
so I start stepping through the code at the troubled place
There. Did you see that. What happened there
Prof pauses for twenty seconds looking intently at the screen, then motions me out of the way.
Prof spends three minutes poking at the code and the debugger. Sits back and again stares at the screen, this time for a whole minute.
Um... well?
Delete it all. Start over. I'll give you one extra day. Have it in my office by midnight or take a zero.