`Member::with_prior` and `with_drift_scale` were consumed only on the
branch that *creates* a competitor — `priors.remove` sat inside
`if !self.agents.contains(..)`. Supplying either for a key the history
already knew did nothing at all: no error, no warning, and output
computed from the default prior. A prior applied on a competitor's very
first event and was silently discarded ever after.
Configuration now applies whenever supplied. Two details this forced:
Configuration is tracked per *field* rather than as a merged `Rating`.
A member setting only `drift_scale` must not also assert the default
prior, or it would silently undo a prior seeded on an earlier event.
Slice state has to be refreshed. `drift_scale` is re-derived on every
forward pass, but a prior is written into the competitor's earliest
slice once, at ingestion, and `iteration` refreshes only slices after
the first. Without the refresh a late prior would reach the drift terms
and nothing else — a subtler version of the drop being fixed. This was
caught by a test, not by reading the code.
Conflicting values for one competitor within a single batch are now
`ConflictingCompetitorConfig` rather than resolved by iteration order.
Events in a batch are unordered, so "last one wins" would make the
result depend on traversal — and `tests/ingestion_equivalence.rs` exists
to rule exactly that out. Repeating the same value stays inert, which is
the shape callers get when configuration is a property of the domain.
That invariant turned out to be tested only for *unconfigured*
competitors: every helper in that file built members with `Member::new`.
Extended to cover configured ones, including a check that configuration
changes the fit at all, so the order tests cannot pass vacuously.
`with_prior` had no coverage under `tests/` whatsoever, which is how
this survived. Adds `tests/competitor_config.rs`.
`drift_scale_is_ignored_after_first_appearance` asserted the old
behaviour and now asserts the new one. It was written as a deliberate
change-detector — "moving the capture would be a visible break, not a
silent one" — so it inverted rather than being deleted.
Also removes `InferenceError::ConvergenceFailed` and `NegativePrecision`,
which no code path ever constructed: public variants advertising failure
modes no caller could observe. Partial #20 — its other items were
already resolved, except `Outcome::winner` still panicking.
BREAKING CHANGE: `prior` and `drift_scale` now take effect for
competitors the history already knows, where they were previously
ignored; a batch supplying conflicting values for one competitor is now
an error. `InferenceError::ConvergenceFailed` and
`InferenceError::NegativePrecision` are removed.
Closes#10. Refs #20.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
Claude-Session: https://claude.ai/code/session_011hcFjNDmHXZF8URGLku5zZ
