User talk:Netzhack

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Revision as of 16:23, 10 August 2018 by Netzhack (talk | contribs) (Terrain selections on des-file format page)
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"chance to" = opportunity; "chance of" = probability

I've started checking pages systematically for misuse of "chance to", and correcting them.

I realize the expression "chance to hit" is a regular part of D&D jargon, but nothing is lost by changing it to standard English ("chance of hitting" works just fine even on the page To-hit) along with the rest of the occurrences, most of which look like the product of simple (understandable) ignorance on the part of non-native English speakers, many of whom show a preference for infinitives where English idioms use gerunds. —Netzhack (talk) 14:11, 28 December 2016 (UTC)

Ten months later and no one has reverted a single one of those many corrections! Thanks for your acceptance of this little bit of pedantry, gang. Netzhack (talk) 12:31, 19 October 2017 (UTC)

"due to the fact that" -> "because"

I just changed every instance of "due to the fact that" in this wiki to "because". I bet no one notices. Netzhack (talk) 15:15, 4 May 2018 (UTC)

Terrain selections on des-file format page

Noticed you're also taking a look at this page. A persistent semi-erroneous holdover from 3.4.3 goes like:

place is either a coordinate, a RANDOM_PLACES place, or random

This is technically true, but incomplete: in fact what the level parser is using there is a ter_selection_x, which can be a single coordinate, a line, a bunch of different types of shapes, a floodfill from a point, a bunch of other types of things (see lev_comp.y for a full list), or any combination thereof. Experimenting with this a bit, it seems that it's valid to do weird things like

$mySelection = selection:line(02,02),(10,02)
SINK: $mySelection

and get a line of sinks. Do you have any ideas for the best way to convey this much more versatile way of specifying the location(s) for something on that page? --Phol ende wodan (talk) 22:32, 8 August 2018 (UTC)

Sorry -- I don't understand the new system. My editing has been merely semantic. I'm changing the wording to reflect the fact that (x,y) is not "a coordinate", but a coordinate pair, consisting of an x coordinate and a y coordinate. Netzhack (talk) 06:52, 10 August 2018 (UTC)
Decided to just bite the bullet and define every possible way one can declare a selection. Then at some point I'll go through the page and update the ones that use selections to say that. On the subject of coordinates, it's probably ok to leave "coordinate" or at least "coord", since that's what the level parser calls the data type. --Phol ende wodan (talk) 12:32, 10 August 2018 (UTC)
The level parser speaks (okay, reads) Levelparserish; this wiki is in English. Netzhack (talk) 13:34, 10 August 2018 (UTC)