[fpc-pascal] best method: multiple three state options in a decision tree

[Lukasz Sokol]

On 24/01/14 16:20, waldo kitty wrote:
> On 1/23/2014 5:01 AM, Lukasz Sokol wrote:
> 
>> Maybe Something like: (but this is with type TOptionMinMax =
>> [mmNone, mmMin,mmMinMax, mmMax])
> 
> i wanted to thank you, lukasz, for your input... it has made me take
> another look while rewriting to implement your ideas...
> 
> during this process i had an epiphany... that being that i don't need
> three individual states for each option since one of those states is
> ANDing two of those states... since i'm ANDing all valid
> possibilities anyway, this will free up 5 'bits' or 'scores' leaving
> room for more options if needed in the future... it will also lessen
> the complexity of the CASE "decision tree" but not by very much...
> 
> with the above epiphany and some other information i have acquired,
> i'm now in the process of rewriting the app... i suspect it will take
> me a day or two to get to the point i was at previously with the
> operational and in-use code but i still wanted to say thanks to you
> and others who provided ideas, insights and information ;) :)
> 

Glad to hear that not all I thought of is a brain fart ;)

However I'm still curious : why use bits directly, when you can have a set/'enum' of 
possible choice(s), guaranteed to be distinct - so you can't physically set OptionA twice, by definition,
 and then make the Options be an array of the options? 
Yes it may be using Sizeof(set) x num options (1 byte per option?) but then it's not for you 
to worry any more about the bits - the compiler will care for that and you can go rethink the logic ;)
and also readability and maintainability +100 ;) 
But IMHO of course and YMMV ;)

Kind Regards,
-L. ;)