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Alphabet systems
Posted By: Nack Ballard In Response To: Introducing DASH - a new notation system (Chase)
Date: Tuesday, 23 March 2010, at 4:07 a.m.
I love your acronym "DASH." I will tend to remember it as Destination Alphabet Short Hand (instead of Destination-Oriented Annotative Short Hand), but that's just a detail.
I don't in any way mean to rain on your parade, but alphabet systems were a precursor to Nactation. The one that I first experimented with (live recording) I called "alpha" or later alphacap:
Z Y X W V U T S R P O N
A B C D E F G H J K L MA variant on this is "alphapure" -- consecutive lettering (A thru X), except that Z is the opponent's ace point for easy reference, and that I (similar-looking to J) and Q (similar-looking to O) are eliminated. (Either way, M falls on one of the midpoints.) I considered alphacap to be a slight improvement on alphapure (shown below, for reference), though it may just be a matter of preference.
Obviously, you don't need a letter for the roof/bar, because that is not a destination point. Lower-case "o" works for bearing off (though often not needed).
X W V U T S R Q P O N M
A B C D E F G H I J K LNext, I experimented with what I called alphadual:
a b c d e f g h j k l m
A B C D E F G H J K L MThe first twelve letters are in alphabetic order and the same on both sides, so the grid is easy to learn. I/i (similar to J/j) is eliminated and M/m lands on the midpoints.
A variant of alphadual, of course, is to include I/i and consecutively letter A/a through L/l.
I found alphadual to be easier than alphacap because the points are mirrored; only twelve letters (upper and lower) are used instead of twenty-four. So, I spent some time annotating with alphadual (and it has remained my favorite to this day of the alphabet systems).
Then I tried what I called alnum (short for alpha-numeric):
A B C D E F G H I J K L
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 N MThe far-side letters circle around on the far right, where the numeral 0 and the letter O become the same. M isn't used very often (you seldom put checkers on the opponent's midpoint, your twelve point). N is used often, and the two ways I remembered it were (1) the last letter in eleveN, and (2) the two vertical strokes of the N make it look like 11.
A slight variant of this that I called alnum2 is:
A B C D E F G H I J K M
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 L TL stands for 'Leven (eLeven), T for Twelve and M for Midpoint.
It should be noted that for alnum and alnum2, the "0" is unambiguous. It is impossible to have a move choice between bearing off (to the 0/zero point) and playing to the trad 10pt. (You can incorporate that into DASH as well, so instead of using T for Ten and D for Dozen, you can improve by using 0 for 10 and T for Twelve.)
Next, I came up with alnum3:
A B C D E F G H I J K L (or last four can be J K L M)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 = +Again, little difference. The substitution of = (sideways 11) for 11pt and + for (the seldom-used) 12pt might be more accommodating to non-English speakers (as I imagined it).
DASH seems most similar to the alnum systems. It uses mostly numbers on the near side and capital letters on the far side. You've found some clever designations for the far-side letters, but as I see it is that you're failing to make use of the benefit (one that can't be achieved with Nactation, for example) that so many people know the common alphabet used for Western languages, even those who don't speak English. Ten, Eleven, Dozen, Unlucky, Fourteen, V -> XV -> fifteen, Sixteen, Lucky, A-teen, Nineteen, Golden, etc. do not easily translate by word/mnemonic into other languages. Of course, once someone has imprinted the letters to the points it doesn't matter what they are, but I think the standard pedestrian order of the alphabet is known more universally, and would be more likely to catch on. (I acknowledge that DASH's Z Y X is the same.) OTOH, there is something positive to be said for wacky (i.e., memorable) numeral-word associations (at least for fluent English speakers). I'll quote Walter Trice, though, who once said, "I have to be careful not to fall in love with my own cleverness."
I admit that, although I've tried all the systems I created and mentioned in this e-mail, I shouldn't be judgmental specifically of DASH before I've tried using it. I hope you will take the same attitude towards, say, alphadual (my favorite) or one of the alnums (also easy to learn).
Finally, I toyed with digit:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 E T (or e t)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 E T (or last two in each row can be = +)This demonstrates the same idea as the alnum systems except it uses numbers (instead of capital letters) on the near side, and italic numbers (instead of lower case letters) on the far side. This works well if you are skilled at writing and reading italics and aren't planning to use it on computers (a big if, unfortunately).
Alphabet, alphanumeric and single-numeral systems (alphacap, alphadual, alnum1, alnum2, alnum3, DASH and digit), compared to traditional notation, save(a) One character for the points 11 through 24.
(b) A colon and/or space between the roll and the notation (though not necessarily).
(c) A space between two point numbers (when it might otherwise be ambiguous).Some of the shortcuts you seem to ascribe as an advantage to DASH (and the same can be said for the other systems covered in this e-mail) I don't really see as additional benefits over traditional notation. I'll clarify what I mean below.
First, just as with real words, it's sometimes convenient to use contractions when DASHing. For example, if both checkers are moved to the same point, there's no real need to list the point twice. Thus, while an opening 31 (31: 8/5 6/5) can be DASHed 3155, the simple 315 works just as well. Similarly, if an entire move is made with a single checker, it's often convenient to simply record the final destination point. Thus, 64: 24/18 18/14 can be DASHed 64AF, or simply shortened to 64F. Either form is acceptable, as long as the meaning remains clear. When in doubt, use the long form. DASH is concise by design, but clarity and simplicity always take precedence over brevity.
In your example where alphanumeric systems can contract to 315, trad (traditional notation) can also be 315. (Or 31 5 if it is thought best to always have a space between the roll and the notation, or 31: 5 if the colon is desired as well.) There is no ambiguity-avoidance reason that it has to be 31: 8/5 6/5 or even 31 5(2). It just happens to be tradition to write it out.
Contractions are particularly useful when dealing with doubles, because it's rarely necessary to record four individual moves. Most often, two or more checkers will be moved together to a single point. So we have 22: 13/11(2) 6/4(2), which can be DASHed simply as 22E4. Similarly, a move like 44: 24/16* 8/4(2) is easily understood when DASHed 44S4.
Your first example can be contracted to 22 11 4 in trad. Your second example can be contracted to 44 16 4 in trad.
(Note that hits aren't recorded in DASH because doing so would be redundant. If a checker lands on a point occupied by an opposing checker, it is clear that a hit has been made.)
Right. But the same holds true for trad.
Once in great a while you'll come across a play where recording doubles as described above is ambiguous. For example, let's say the play is 33: 24/21 13/10(3) but, because there are multiple checkers on each starting point, DASHing the play as 33BT may lead to confusion. The simple solution is to record all four parts of the move: 33BTTT. This rare 6-letter word is perfectly acceptable and very much in keeping with spirit of DASH, i.e. keeping things simple and clear. I have, however, adopted a simple convention, the underscore ("_"), to help maintain brevity without a loss of precision. This allows 33BTTT to be DASHed as 33BT, with the underscore adding "weight" to the 10pt, indicating that more checkers were involved in that leg of the move than the other. Similarly, a move like 44: 20/16 13/9 8/4(2) could be DASHed as 44S94, with the underscore indicating that more of the checkers were moved to the 4pt than 16 and 9 points.
Your first example can be similarly contracted to 33 21 0 in trad. Your second example can be contracted to 441694. It doesn't seem to me that these abbreviations demonstrate an additional benefit of savvy DASH over savvy trad.
Btw, I've used italics to indicate a third checker in such situations, but it seems no better than your underscore. (Tradeoff is slant-readability versus extra stroke.)
As far as formatting goes, DASH is presented in two-word pairs, separated by commas. Each word-pair represents one move by the player and one move by the opponent. This makes it easy to read and keep track of who is on roll.
That's nice, though I find it's a matter of taste. You can also pair Nactation moves, either by using a hyphen only after the second players move, or with similar comma-pairing.
For example, using storm's first game sequence you cited, the first line below is standard Nactation formatting. The second is alt-dash Nactation. The third is comma-pair Nactation. The fourth is (comma-pair) DASH.
52D-53P-65R-55P-F-54R-42P-32U-31P-42A-53F-61T-65B-61P-21P-F
52D53P-65R55P-F54R-42P32U-31P42A-53F61T-65B61P-21PF
52D53P, 65R55P, F54R, 42P32U, 31P42A, 53F61T, 65B61P, 21PF
528E 533, 65U 5581, 66 54V, 42BE 32BU, 315 4246, 53G5 616, 65F8 617, 214 66Note how short the second line is, while still keeping clear who rolls first and who rolls second. (If you care about what exact roll fanned, add in 66 before the F.)
As for the general concept, I think you're on the right track that it makes sense to use Nactation for annotating a game until you're out of your comfort zone. (This zone is different for different people.) Then mark a hash line on the page (for the changeover) and let an alphanumeric system take over. (Alternatives, in the approximate order in this e-mail, are listed below.)Personally, I abandoned my alphanumeric systems after reaching a certain level of proficiency at Nactation. (Even with a moderate level of skill, at worst you can just add a symbol in unfamiliar situations.) But I can certainly see the appeal of alphanumeric to those who want to notate games to the end and have no interest in learning Nactation beyond early game use, which, after all, is its primary intention.
Nack
Alphacap:
Z Y X W V U T S R P O N
A B C D E F G H J K L MAlphapure:
X W V U T S R Q P O N M
A B C D E F G H I J K LAlphadual (my favorite):
a b c d e f g h j k l m
A B C D E F G H J K L M (or last four can be I/i J/j K/k L/l)Alnum1:
A B C D E F G H I J K L
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 N MAlnum2:
A B C D E F G H I J K M
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 L TAlnum3:
A B C D E F G H I J K L (or last four can be J K L M)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 = +DASH (Chase's version):
Z Y X B G N A L S V F U
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 T E D (last three, IMO, can be improved to 0 E T)Digit:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 E T (or e t)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 E T (or last two in each row can be = +)
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