Accurate vs. Ideal

[Anaminus]

Roblox has no official specification defining each format, so their implementation is the only source to look to. However, parts of their implementation could be better.

Should specifications defined in testfiles strive to reflect Roblox's implementation exactly, or should they serve as an ideal source?

• Accuracy requires thorough and regular testing to find subtle changes.
• Ideal is easier to keep up to date.
• Ideal requires careful attention to compatibility.
• Roblox is more likely to trend towards ideal; if a change is made that already matches the ideal spec, then nothing needs to be updated.
• Ideal is more useful; a specification being perfectly accurate doesn't have much additional benefit.

[Anaminus]

Case: XML spacing

When Roblox decodes a bool property value in the XML format, it will fail silently if the true or false token has whitespace next to it. On the other hand, due to how it's formatted, the NumberSequence type handles whitespace just fine.

[Anaminus]

Case: Incomplete values

Roblox tends to discard an entire value if even a single component cannot be parsed. For example, when Roblox decodes a Color3 in the XML format, it will fail if any component is missing. An alternative is to preserve the successful components and use the zero value for any failed components.