def string_list_to_float_list(x):
    """
    Convert a list of strings to a list of floats, where a string value of '-' is mapped to a
    floating point value of -1.0, and an empty input list produces a length-10 list of -1.0's.

    Parameters
    ----------
    x : list
        The list of strings to convert

    Returns
    -------
    res : list of floats
        The converted results.
    """
    npts = len(x)
    if npts == 0 or npts == 1 and x[0].strip() == '-':
        return [-1.0] * 10
    res = []
    for a in x:
        if a.strip() == '-':
            res.append(-1.0)
        else:
            res.append(float(a))
    return res
