[Mad] Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 A fan (Ian Lucas) has worked on the peoplenames.xml. I'll post it here together with his comments for review. If this is as good as I think it is, I would suggest putting it on the SVN. I have looked at the code and as far as I can tell all it does is to select a first name and last name completely at random from the file. I have therefore not spent much time on the continent/country part of the database as I guess this will (or might) be something for the future. Having said this I have added a few more 'probabilities'and would suggest that if it is used in future the number format should be a percentage 0-100 as opposed to a fraction (easier to understand & less characters). I have added a lot more names in a lot more sections but it is still 'work in progress'. At some stage I feel the code will need to be looked at/altered if only to take account of the soldiers sex (even for v1.0). At this stage whoeverlooks at it might consider including 'origin' and using firstname/lastnamecombinations from the same origin.I notice from the code that where the expected 'tree like' data structure isshown there is no mention of the 'sex' group!? So this was possibly changed/addedas an afterthought. It seems to me that at some stage the question 'Where is this soldier from?'will need to be considered. . .There are several possibile answers:-1) (V.Simple) Who cares? Just use a random first & lastname from the DB(almost as is, will still need to consider sex). (V1.0?)2) (Straightforward) Country of origin = 'origin' from first part ofpeoplenames file. 'Origin' in file will need to be updated to be = 'country' instead of origin. i.e 'Germany'instead of 'German', 'U.K' instead of 'English'. 'Continents' part of file becomes redundant.3) (Complex) Country = 'country' from 'Continents' part of peoplenames file.This will then need to be tied back to 'origin' using 'probabilities' to determine name. This ispresumably what was originally conceived by the files creator. Once again hope this has helped.I will continue trying to get my head around C#2.0 and XMA and will hopefully be able to help more in future. peopleNames.xml Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kafros Posted June 5, 2008 Report Share Posted June 5, 2008 Very nice ideas Ian!I've checked the posted .xml file and saw some changes, they seem practical, very good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[dteviot] Posted June 6, 2008 Report Share Posted June 6, 2008 OK, I've looked at peopleNames.xml and can see that Ian has done a lot of work.And, while he has added a significant number of names, he's also deleted a lot as well.For example, the Afrikaans group is missing 'Aba', 'Abate', 'Abay', and approximately 100 more. And the Arabic names sections have been removed completely.I need Ian to explain explain why this has been done, before I can accept his changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[Mad] Posted June 6, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 6, 2008 Namely there were some duplicated sections (Arabic &Arabian) which I have consolidated plus at least one other duplication whichI deleted. I have also deleted names that seemed odd or peculiar (lot's thatdid not fit with, I guess, our 'western' concept of what a name should be)and some that seemed to actually have odd characters that were throwing thetext out (mostly Polish).I have also added a lot in various sections (Dutch, Danish, French, Chinese,English, etc.) and added an 'American' section. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSargeant Posted June 6, 2008 Report Share Posted June 6, 2008 I just checked in a patch to make names fully constructed from one origin (so first name and last name have the same origin). Tested with old and new xml files. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Azrael Strife Posted June 6, 2008 Report Share Posted June 6, 2008 (edited) Names that just "look peculiar" should not be deleted, but maybe corroborated? In any case, the spanish section is disastrous, I'll take a look when I get some time and we have a more final version edit: country names also need checking... on this Earth there is no "Belize" on South America, nor is there a "Venezuala" Edited June 6, 2008 by Azrael Strife Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[Mad] Posted June 8, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 8, 2008 "Just to explain further the 'deletions' which seems to be the main concernas far as I can see (I have also messaged Azreal separately and hopefullyappeased him). When I first looked at build 0.4.1835 I got a list of soldier names thatlooked like a who's who from Abu Dhabi along with quite a few other 'names'that just looked plain weird (to me). This is what prompted me to startlooking at the file in the first place. I initially noticed several things,namely the duplication of theArabic section (Arabian) and that there were a lot of similar names (Did wereally need 6 variations of the name Chie***? etc.), plus the unusual charsin a couple of places (mostly Polish) that was completely throwing the text.So a couple of thoughts: Ultimately what we want (surely) is arepresentative selection of names from around the world, not a completedictionary of every name and every variation of every name that everexisted. Do we actually need 7 variations of the name 'Jamelia' and if so,for balance do we then add in 7 variations of 'John', 'Cheng', 'Jane' and'Isabella' (e.g)??While the selection from the DB is random, to get a balance we need abalanced number of names from each country (Which if anything should favournames from the 'contributing' countries to X-com?). To conclude, if I nowtest 0.4.1835 with the new names file I now get a selection of names whichlooks random and reasonable which presumably is what we want.Obviously there is still some way to go but if people are happy for me tocontinue adding names (esp. for those countries with none at present) then Iam happy to continue. If anyone has any names they want added (orre-instated) then just send me a list. Send me a list for some of thecountries anyway (esp lastnames), I can look up a lot on the net but anyhelp getting that 'representative' selection is appreciated.Regards (and keep up the good work),Ian (DarthLuca)" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[dteviot] Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 I apologize, I've been neglecting my duties as head of Prog.I'll accept what Ian has done, and check it in the next day or two. Unless StaffSargeant or Darkhomb beat me to it.Mad, please thank Ian for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StaffSargeant Posted June 17, 2008 Report Share Posted June 17, 2008 I apologize, I've been neglecting my duties as head of Prog.I'll accept what Ian has done, and check it in the next day or two. Unless StaffSargeant or Darkhomb beat me to it.Mad, please thank Ian for me. Happy to beat you to it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[Mad] Posted June 18, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 18, 2008 I apologize, I've been neglecting my duties as head of Prog.I'll accept what Ian has done, and check it in the next day or two. Unless StaffSargeant or Darkhomb beat me to it.Mad, please thank Ian for me.Wonderful! I'm writing an email right now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darkhomb Posted June 21, 2008 Report Share Posted June 21, 2008 I've been busy as well, Working on 2 jobs at the moment. But hopefully I'll get a routine going and jump back in from time to time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kafros Posted June 22, 2008 Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Good luck friend Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
[Mad] Posted June 22, 2008 Author Report Share Posted June 22, 2008 Thx to all,I will take this as a green light to carry on and will add some more namesover the next few weeks.Regards,Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts