Coding progress for 0.3.5

Version 0.3.5 is the foundation for the non-hex based transition. It involves doing three things to the current code:

1: Getting all the code to some form of standard (close to PEP-Eight)
This has arisen because development has been spread over a few years, and I've changed my style.

2: Replacing the GUI with the updated version
One of the best parts of the game was the GUI; so good that I've updated it a few times in the last 2 years to use in other projects. Now I can put it back into SPQR.

3: Stripping away all the current movement and hex based code
Because we're not hex-based any more!

4: Adding some simple region checking code
To replace that which we will lose by doing #3

5: Place into the sourceforge repository and release as a new version
Easy

I started today with doing number 1, since it means I have a chance to familiarize with the code base again. #2 should be pretty easy. #3 will be the best part because I feel *that* code is the worst part of the current SPQR. #4 I'll keep simple, and #5 should just take an hour or so.

I'm aiming for 2 or 3 weeks of work, i.e. a first new release in early-mid March 2010

After 2 days work, I'm 50% of the way through task #1.

The 'bad' points of the code that I'm seeing mainly relate to:

• The code to handle game data
  
• Quite a few defined numbers for widget placement
  
• The pyconsole code isn't integrated very well

Most of the first part will re replaced anyway, I think the trickiest code will be the second, since the original game didn't really stress-test across many resolutions (if at all, really).

Ok, so now the code is almost standard compliant (and I'll post the standard here soon, as well).

The last part has to be converting the pyconsole code. I think I'm going to end up merging the spqr_console and pyconsole code, and also implement a flashing cursor.

I remember some time ago that the pyconsole code was a source of some major crashing in SPQR, so now is as good a time as any to look into this and really see what the code is doing.

Whatever state the code is in, I will update the sourceforge page at the latest, by Saturday evening.

I have uploaded the latest version to sourceforge.

Most of the code is now standards compliant; I didn't go through the code that I intend to either throw away or replace with the updated GUI code.

There is both a tarball available at sourceforge and you can grab it from svn from here.

I have updated the SPQR widgets and menu system, so I only have the window code (the smallest of them all) to convert before goal 2 is done. Goal 1 is also 95% complete because of this. Goal 5 is done to the extent that the best version is now best grabbed from svn.

I should start goal 3 in the next few days; in fact, I'm looking forward to cutting away some of the cruft

Finally, the code has been updated and been through for coding standards. This means that goals 1,2 and 5 are complete and I can start to now cut out the older hex based code parts.

All code and assets are accounted for under a license (I had to replace the music though).

The code has been much tidied up, the final part being the main spqr.py.

After much thought, hexes are going to stay after all, but I've rotated them around and cleaned them up a lot, so the code for them needs a lot of little adjustments.

Despite that, I'm hoping that essentially all of the above criteria should be completed by the end of next week

It's half-way 'next week' and the current progress is looking good. I am to have all of this done by Saturday or Sunday night.

maximinus wrote:1: Getting all the code to some form of standard (close to PEP-Eight)
This has arisen because development has been spread over a few years, and I've changed my style.

2: Replacing the GUI with the updated version
One of the best parts of the game was the GUI; so good that I've updated it a few times in the last 2 years to use in other projects. Now I can put it back into SPQR.

3: Stripping away all the current movement and hex based code
Because we're not hex-based any more!

4: Adding some simple region checking code
To replace that which we will lose by doing #3

5: Place into the sourceforge repository and release as a new version
Easy

SVN revision 29 has all of this, plus the hex map has been turned around by 90o (most of the work actually).

I stripped out a lot of stuff to test and get this all working, so it will be a couple more days before I'm REALLY back to the code I started with.