n/a scores discussion

[ihsaan-ullah]

We have several issues that report n/a scores on the leaderboard. n/a is a replacement of score shown for a task not found. The problem is that the scores and tasks are separate and are sent to the frontend where they are matched and then scores are shown for a task or several tasks. This opens room for inconsistencies.

I propose to make the leaderboard on the backend and just send it to be displayed without any extraction or computation. This way we will never have n/a scores.

Issues reporting n/a scores:

• Issues when migrating to a new phase with fact sheet answers/different tasks that outputs identical data #1472
• Feature Request: Support for Separate Leaderboards per Task #1392
• Display bug (n/a) when force submission to the leaderboard #1275
• Migration with "Force Last" setting gives n/a scores #1174
• n/a scores on leaderboard if Submission Rule is Force Last #1055
• Score n/a for one of the subtasks when submitting for both subtasks at once. #1570

Issues with leaderboard ordering:

• n/a scores are ranked higher than numerical values #1284
• Leaderboard not well ordered #1171

[Didayolo]

How much work does this change represent?

[ihsaan-ullah]

I guess quite amount of work. It may also disclose some hidden bugs. But it seems important because this problem is hanging there from a long time.

This is just the start of the discussion. We may want to discuss in detail how things are done now in the code and what we want to do change there and discuss the benefits.

One thing I insist on is to move the logic to the backend. Frontend should not have logic (unless really needed). This simplifies the front-end and less buggy and makes the backend strong. Additionally, backend should be written in a clear way so that in this effort we don't make it buggy.