[Cs5500] Improved UI design

Fri Dec 2 14:03:37 EST 2011

Hi Professor,

I can take up this task. I need some more time to analyze and see what has
to be done. I will send you the plan before Monday's class.

Thanks,
Srinivas

On Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 10:26 AM, Karl Lieberherr <lieber at ccs.neu.edu> wrote:

> Hello class.
>
> Our user acceptance testing is over. We have failed in one aspect of our
> user interface design as described below.
>
> In the remaining week we need to improve this interface to make it very
> simple.
> I propose that we implement option A described below.
>
> I would like to make Srinivas the designer and implementor of this
> interface change.
> Is this ok with you? It involves writing scripts that automate the
> registration process.
> Maybe Karan can assign someone from team navi to help.
>
> Send me a plan today.
>
> -- Karl
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Karl Lieberherr <lieber at ccs.neu.edu>
> Date: Fri, Dec 2, 2011 at 10:16 AM
> Subject: Re: [Cs4800] Error continued:
> To: Tom Fiset <tmfset at gmail.com>
> Cc: cs4800 at lists.ccs.neu.edu
>
>
> Hi Tom:
>
> thank you for your message. I think you have spoken for many in the class.
> I agree with your assessment that "I should have to run a single command
> to run my avatar."
>
> There are two parts to the interface design for our system to test and
> evaluate algorithms and claims made about them:
>
> 1. An avatar needs only 4 methods: propose, oppose, provide and solve.
> Those    methods need access to the configuration information of the
> playground.
> 2. There is a procedure to insert an avatar into a tournament of a
> playground and give it access to the configuration information.
>
> Those interfaces should be as simple as possible. I think we have
> succeeded with 1.
> Or can you simplify it further? Remember, the approach is general and
> should work with any kind of algorithmic problem.
>
> We have failed with 2 and apologize for that. There are various options
> for 2.
>
> A. Liz and others suggested that the only activity for 2 should be to
> submit the
> a jar file to an svn server. And then it will be inserted automatically
> into a
> playground. This works well when we require all avatars to be written in
> Java.
>
> B. The option you describe: one command in a specific directory without any
> additional requirements after download of the playground.
>
> ====
> You indicate, maybe I misunderstood, that winning a tournament has nothing
> to do with "my own ability to code the correct algorithm correctly or
> efficiently".
> If you meant that, I disagree with it. I make the following claim and I
> look forward to see any refutations: All those winning avatars who tied at
> the top are bug-free.
> The refutation protocol is: Show me a bug in one of the winning avatars
> who tied at the top.
>
> My claim is a bit dangerous and my confidence in it is only 90%. But I
> think those
> tournaments do a very good job in testing the kind of algorithms we
> developed.
>
> Again, thank you for your effort to bring out the weak points of our
> system explicitly and for describing what you want.
>
> -- Karl
>
>
> On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 11:11 PM, Tom Fiset <tmfset at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Ok.
>>
>> I have tried everything you guys said and it still produces the same
>> error.
>> I'm trying not to freak out about this, but this SCG thing is really
>> starting to piss me off. Why is it even possible for me to get this error?
>> It just seems lazy to me.
>>
>> TO WHOEVER IS DEVELOPING THIS:
>>
>> The users of this software SHOULD NOT have to be held accountable for so
>> many different and arbitrary setup steps. It's completely ridiculous that I
>> should have to do anything other than run a single command to run my avatar.
>>
>> By putting so many of the configuration steps in the hands of the user
>> you open the door for ridiculous errors like this. Every additional step
>> that is required (and often not reported to the users in any consistent
>> way) makes it that much easier for us to fail at using your software.
>>
>> Normally I would understand letting people figure it out on their own,
>> but we are being graded on this. The success of my avatar has AT NO POINT
>> in any of these tournaments had anything to do with my own ability to code
>> the correct algorithm correctly or efficiently, which is what this was
>> supposed to be a metric for.
>>
>> So here's my proposition: include a shell script in the build to do
>> everything currently required of the user:
>>
>> ./scgScript build
>> ./scgScript runServer root
>> ./scgScript runAvatar tvtennis.ccs.neu.edu user password 1
>> (uses a random port)
>>
>> This does not mean I have to change to the bin directory. This does not
>> mean I still have to manually copy something. These are literally the only
>> three commands I will ever use or need in order to run your software.
>>
>> Also, it is important to document it all in the same place *consistently*and where everyone can find it (not that the steps will ever change). This
>> means I don't have to search through email archives to find out what the
>> new run command is (again, not that it should ever change).
>>
>> If these are the only three steps that anyone ever has to do, there will
>> no longer be confusion over what step was missed and ruined everything.
>> This also has the benefit that it can be modified for different versions
>> and the user will not need no need to learn a new way to get it working.
>>
>> Please excuse my tone, but this is pretty fundamental concept in UI
>> design.
>>
>> - Tom Fiset
>>
>>
>> On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 6:18 PM, James Antonius <antonius.j at husky.neu.edu>wrote:
>>
>>> Yes, I just tried it too (using r70) and it worked fine. I think you
>>> just need to copy the demeterf jar, hamcrest jar, and Playgroundconfig
>>> folder from the GenericSCG folder to the bin folder..
>>>
>>>
>>> ~James Antonius
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 6:13 PM, Adam P Belcher <belcher.ad at husky.neu.edu
>>> > wrote:
>>>
>>>> I think you just need to copy the Playgroundconfig folder from the
>>>> GenericSCG folder to the bin folder.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On Thu, Dec 1, 2011 at 5:49 PM, Tom Fiset <tmfset at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Can someone verify that I'm not insane? I've been trying to just run
>>>>> two Baby avatars against each other but I get the same error every single
>>>>> time:
>>>>>
>>>>> Error:
>>>>>  ** Type 'exit' to shutdown: GET REQUEST11111
>>>>> Exception thrown while parsing: csp.CSPConfig cannot be cast to
>>>>> hsr.HSRConfig
>>>>>  !! Exception: null
>>>>>  !! StackTrace:
>>>>>  -- scg.net.avatar.PlayerServer.createResponse(Unknown Source)
>>>>>  -- scg.net.avatar.PlayerServer.playerResponse(Unknown Source)
>>>>>  -- sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
>>>>>  --
>>>>> sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:57)
>>>>>  --
>>>>> sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:43)
>>>>>  -- java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:616)
>>>>>  --
>>>>> edu.neu.ccs.demeterf.http.server.ServerDispatch.handle(ServerDispatch.java:75)
>>>>>  --
>>>>> edu.neu.ccs.demeterf.http.server.ServerThread$DispatchThread.run(ServerThread.java:130)
>>>>>
>>>>> STEPS TO REPRODUCE:
>>>>> svn checkout svn://svn.code.sf.net/p/generic-scg/code-0/GenericSCGGenericSCG0 -r 70
>>>>> svn checkout svn://svn.code.sf.net/p/generic-scg/code-0/GenericSCGGenericSCG1 -r 70
>>>>>
>>>>> In each directory run:
>>>>> java -cp .:demeterf.jar:hamcrest-all-1.3.0RC2.jar demeterf
>>>>> src/hsr/BabyAvatar/hsrAvatar.cd src/hsr/BabyAvatar/hsrAvatar.beh ./gen
>>>>> ant
>>>>>
>>>>> and copy the demeter and hamcrest into the bin folder
>>>>>
>>>>> Start the server:
>>>>> java -cp .:demeterf.jar:hamcrest-all-1.3.0RC2.jar scg.admin.Admin root
>>>>>
>>>>> connect each avatar:
>>>>> java -cp .:demeterf.jar:hamcrest-all-1.3.0RC2.jar
>>>>> scg.net.avatar.PlayerMainHSR $1 $2 $3 $4 $5
>>>>> ./Playgroundconfig/scgConfig_hsr.txt ./Playgroundconfig/hsrDomain.txt
>>>>>
>>>>> where $1 is port# $2 is astroblaster.ccs.neu.edu $3 is username $4 is
>>>>> password $5 is tournament id
>>>>>
>>>>> It's really starting to get to me, is anyone else even *using* r70 of
>>>>> the scg? If so can you recreate this or tell me what, if anything, I'm
>>>>> doing wrong here?
>>>>>
>>>>> - Tom Fiset
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Cs4800 mailing list
>>>>> Cs4800 at lists.ccs.neu.edu
>>>>> https://lists.ccs.neu.edu/bin/listinfo/cs4800
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
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>>
>
>
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>

-- 
***Race A Race Where You Are The Goal For Every Opponent! - *N Jay****

Srinivas *N Jay*
srinivasnjay at gmail.com
+1(617)-817-0913
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