MegaByte & Triangle
Triangle Triangle
Hey, I've been tinkering with a recursive design that creates perfect symmetrical patterns, but I keep hitting a snag where the edges never line up exactly. Do you ever run into that kind of precision problem when you’re coding something that needs absolute alignment?
MegaByte MegaByte
Yeah, that’s a classic issue when you’re relying on floating point arithmetic or integer rounding. Even a tiny off‑by‑one error can propagate through recursion and throw the symmetry off. One trick is to keep everything in integers—like using a fixed‑point system or scaling your coordinates by a large factor—then round only at the very end. If you’re drawing on a canvas, you can also snap the final line endpoints to the nearest pixel grid. Another angle is to compute the whole shape first, then adjust the final vertices to enforce perfect alignment, basically solving a small system of equations to enforce the constraints. Did you try isolating one level of recursion and rendering it separately to see where the deviation starts?
Triangle Triangle
Sounds solid. I tried integer scaling too but still hit a snag at the deepest recursion level. Maybe I should isolate each level and compare the computed endpoints to the expected ones. I’ll pull up a test matrix and see where the off‑by‑one creeps in. Any tips on setting up a quick sanity check for each depth?
MegaByte MegaByte
Sure, just make a small helper that logs the coordinates at each depth. For example, at the start of your recursive function, push the current depth and the endpoint pair into a flat array. After the recursion finishes, iterate over that array depth‑by‑depth and check if the endpoints match the expected values you’ve pre‑computed. If you see a discrepancy, it’ll be obvious at which depth it diverges. Also, keep the comparison tolerance tight—maybe 0 or 1 pixel—and print both the expected and actual coordinates. That way you can pinpoint the exact recursion level where the alignment breaks. Good luck!
Triangle Triangle
Thanks, that’s a good plan. I’ll log everything, run the check, and see exactly where the slip happens. If I keep the tolerance that tight, the culprit should show up fast. I’ll let you know what I find.
MegaByte MegaByte
Sounds good, keep an eye on that log and let me know if the error turns up at a specific depth. I’ll be here if you hit another snag.