refactor!: typed discriminators for InferenceError

Six of fifteen variants carried a `&'static str` discriminator, about
thirty magic strings between them, and the only thing a caller could do
with one was print it. Four new enums replace them:

    Parameter        13 variants, replacing 9 strings in InvalidParameter
    Shape             4 variants, replacing 10 in MismatchedShape
    OutcomeKind       2 variants, replacing WrongOutcomeKind's three fields
    CompetitorField   2 variants, replacing ConflictingCompetitorConfig's

`InvalidProbability` folds into `InvalidParameter` as
`Parameter::PDraw`. It was a bespoke variant for one scalar while every
other scalar shared `InvalidParameter`, and it omitted the parameter
name — so the same parameter had two mechanisms.

`JointUnavailable { reason: &'static str }` splits into `EmptyHistory`,
`JointRequiresScoredEvents` and `NotPositiveDefinite`. The three are
conditions a caller branches on differently — add events, use
`predict_win_probabilities`, or reconsider the priors — and telling them
apart used to mean string-matching English. One test already proved the
distinction was load-bearing: the blanket conversion mapped the
empty-history case onto the ranked one and `an_empty_history_has_no_joint`
caught it immediately.

`NonFiniteResult` splits into `NonFiniteStep { context, step }` and
`NonFiniteSkill { mu, sigma }`. One `step: (f64, f64)` field was
carrying a sweep step from `converge` and a skill's own moments from a
prediction — two situations in one variant, and a field name that could
only be right for one of them.

`InvalidParameter { name: "beta with point-mass skills" }` becomes
`NoPerformanceVariance`. It was never a parameter out of range: both
values are individually valid and it is their combination that leaves
nothing varying.

Three `Display` impls did not meet the standard the others set, and the
typed data is what makes fixing them possible:

    before  drift variance is invalid: NaN
    after   drift variance must be finite and non-negative (got NaN)

    before  kinds: expected length 3, got 2
    after   the outcome describes a different number of teams than the
            event has: expected 3, got 2

    before  Game::ranked: expected Outcome::Ranked, got Outcome::Scored
    after   expected Outcome::Ranked, got Outcome::Scored; call
            Game::scored for a scored outcome

`Parameter::range()` states each parameter's actual bounds, which no
`&'static str` name could have. `error::message_tests` renders every one
and asserts each is a sentence rather than a label, and that the three
above now carry a range or a next step.

The four internal `MismatchedShape` kinds — `results`, `times`, `kinds`,
and the weights array — collapse to `Shape::Internal`, whose `Display`
says plainly that reaching it is a bug in this crate. They are checks on
`add_events_with_prior`'s own parallel arrays and are unreachable
through the public API; they stay checked rather than becoming
`debug_assert!`s, because release is where this crate's defects hide.

Closes #74.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_011hcFjNDmHXZF8URGLku5zZ
This commit is contained in:
2026-09-10 07:31:31 +02:00
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent 0b9997354d
commit 061c481aad
22 changed files with 528 additions and 183 deletions
+1 -1
View File
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ for everything that accumulates.
## `converge` is strict
`converge` returns `Err(NotConverged)` if the sweep hits `max_iter` with the
step still above `epsilon`, and `Err(NonFiniteResult)` if a sweep produces NaN.
step still above `epsilon`, and `Err(NonFiniteStep)` if a sweep produces NaN.
It used to return `Ok` with `converged: false`, which was the worst available
shape. A fit that stops short is *wrong by a little*: every posterior is finite,