BGonline.org Forums

Nactation: S/Z rehash, etc.

Posted By: Timothy Chow
Date: Wednesday, 30 November 2011, at 7:05 p.m.

In Response To: Nactation: S/Z rehash, etc. (Nack Ballard)

Nack, I don't really want to get into an extended argument with you over the nactation system, because I know I'm not going to change your mind, so there's not much point. I'll just try to address a couple of points you made that suggest that I may not have been clear. You wrote:

While I mean no disrespect I find it hard to believe that at the time you could (or can) see more clearly than myself and the combined pool of bgonliners whose S/Z opinions you solicited. Besides, even if (as you suggested) I were to remove the S/Z convenience clause (so that opening 41S no longer exists, only 41Z, etc.) today, it would have zero effect on the rest of Nactation.

I picked 41S/41Z synecdochically, as an illustration of how the philosophy of nactation is to take the way humans think about backgammon strategy and try to build it into the notational system. Given this philosophy, I'm not going to fault all the painstakingly considered choices you've made in developing the system. What I claim to have seen clearly is that this kind of philosophy is inevitably going to lead to the equivalent of spaghetti code if you carry out consistently to the bitter end, and come up with a way to nactate all 2226 legal ways to play snake eyes in Zare's position. It is going to confuse people, and turn nactation into a religion, where you'll get loyal disciples like Matt Ryder and sneering critics like Neil Robins.

Good backgammon strategy is complicated, and if you build it into your notation, then your notation is inevitably going to be complicated. I personally see no reason to develop excessively complicated solutions to a simple problem that already has a widespread and robust solution. Nactation is a great shorthand for opening sequences and I use it myself, of course. However, I don't think that the governing philosophy is appropriate for a comprehensive notational system. If there are 2226 legal plays in a position then I'm not going to use nactation for them, no matter how carefully you've thought through your rules.

Messages In This Thread

• 42P-51S-32
  Timothy Chow -- Friday, 25 November 2011, at 8:21 p.m.
  • 42P-51S-32
    Casper van der Tak -- Friday, 25 November 2011, at 8:34 p.m.
  • 42P-51S-32
    Stick -- Friday, 25 November 2011, at 9:14 p.m.
    • 42P-51S-32
      David Rockwell -- Friday, 25 November 2011, at 11:48 p.m.
      • Nactation questions
        Timothy Chow -- Saturday, 26 November 2011, at 12:07 a.m.
        • Nactation questions
          Stick -- Saturday, 26 November 2011, at 12:09 a.m.
        • Nactation questions
          Dmitriy Obukhov -- Saturday, 26 November 2011, at 2:07 a.m.
          • Nactation questions
            Taper_Mike -- Saturday, 26 November 2011, at 7:55 a.m.
            • Nactation questions — Correction
              Taper_Mike -- Saturday, 26 November 2011, at 8:07 a.m.
              • Higher-number-first corollary
                Nack Ballard -- Monday, 28 November 2011, at 9:12 p.m.
            • Nactation questions
              Timothy Chow -- Saturday, 26 November 2011, at 8:32 p.m.
              • Nactation questions
                Matt Ryder -- Sunday, 27 November 2011, at 6:52 a.m.
                • Nactation questions
                  Timothy Chow -- Sunday, 27 November 2011, at 6:44 p.m.
                  • Nactation questions
                    Matt Ryder -- Tuesday, 29 November 2011, at 4:40 a.m.
                • Nactation questions
                  Nack Ballard -- Monday, 28 November 2011, at 5:43 p.m.
                  • Nactation questions
                    Matt Ryder -- Tuesday, 29 November 2011, at 5:03 a.m.
              • Nactation: S/Z rehash, etc.
                Nack Ballard -- Monday, 28 November 2011, at 5:00 p.m.
                • Nactation: S/Z rehash, etc.
                  Timothy Chow -- Wednesday, 30 November 2011, at 7:05 p.m.
                  • Nactation and Zare's position
                    Nack Ballard -- Friday, 2 December 2011, at 12:43 a.m.
                    • Nactation and Zare's position
                      Timothy Chow -- Friday, 30 May 2014, at 3:37 p.m.
                      • Nactation and Zare's position
                        Nack Ballard -- Friday, 30 May 2014, at 8:53 p.m.
                  • Nactation: S/Z rehash, etc.
                    Matt Ryder -- Friday, 2 December 2011, at 7:19 a.m.
            • Nactation questions
              Nack Ballard -- Thursday, 1 December 2011, at 4:36 p.m.
            • Definition of T (sTack, Tower)
              Nack Ballard -- Thursday, 1 December 2011, at 5:21 p.m.
    • 42P-51S-32
      Taper_Mike -- Saturday, 26 November 2011, at 8:42 a.m.
      • 42P-51S-32
        Casper van der Tak -- Saturday, 26 November 2011, at 9:13 a.m.
  • 42P-51S-32
    Dmitriy Obukhov -- Friday, 25 November 2011, at 10:57 p.m.
    • 42P-51S-32
      Timothy Chow -- Friday, 25 November 2011, at 11:17 p.m.
  • 42P-51S-32
    neilkaz -- Sunday, 27 November 2011, at 7:04 p.m.
  • 42P-51S-32 GNU Rollout
    Stick -- Sunday, 27 November 2011, at 10:36 p.m.
  • 42P-51S-32 XG2 RO
    Dmitriy Obukhov -- Sunday, 27 November 2011, at 11:23 p.m.
    • 42P-51S-32 XG2 RO
      Timothy Chow -- Monday, 28 November 2011, at 3:21 p.m.
    • 42P-51S-32 and 31P-51S-32
      Nack Ballard -- Thursday, 1 December 2011, at 8:16 p.m.