10. The story of the user API
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Starting of Freecell Solver 1.0.0, FCS had a set of functions
entitled freecell_solver_user_ (after their prefix) which were meant
for integration into a larger software needing solving capabilities.
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When Stephan Kulow integrated Freecell Solver into kpat (a solitaire suite
for KDE), he did not use it, because it did not give him everything he
needed. Instead, he used the more basic internal functions.
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I told him that I "would sleep better at night" knowing that fcs_user_ will
be used, and asked him to implement the missing parts himself, and send
me the patch. He did.
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Markus Oberhumer (of PySol fame), created a Python interface for the
library, and again sent me some functions he wrote.
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Eventually, I converted the command line executable itself to use
fcs_user (while adding a lot of functions in the process) to make sure I
give the embedding application all of the functionality that I use.
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I also ended up creating an API to analyze a command line and configure a
solver instance accordingly.
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Sometimes later, I found it encouraging that Dave Wilkinson, an engineer
who worked on Freecell 3D, was able to integrate fcs_user_ without my help,
and just informed me of its release.
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The importance of the "Eating your own Dog-Food" concept cannot be stressed enough.