You asked the question, so here's the answer – automation *chuckle* (more)

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Subject: You asked the question, so here's the answer – automation *chuckle* (more)
Posted by Hans M Guy - HMG in MAss on August 10, 2002 at 5:05 AM:

In Reply to: No, I think you're getting everything... posted by CMgeorger on August 9, 2002 at 6:10 PM:

: how much automation are we looking for?

Total Automation *laugh* Especially when I have much more bills entered (say +10,000)

Here's my hypothetical scenario.
I have some 10,000 hits and I want to track and display the following information:
Shortest & longest sleeper
Shortest & longest distance hop
Shortest & Longest time hop
Initial State hit (50 State Bingo)
Initial State Capital hit (50 State Capital Bingo)
Initial Wild George State hit
Initial Wild George State Capital hit
.
.
.

O.K. Lets' look at Initial Wild George State Capital hit event.
Each time I get a hit I have to manually sort my data by state and city to see if I already received a hit in that state capital. If I do, than no further processing is required. If I don't, then I manually enter the entry into my display table.

Hans' automation:
Let's say I only do a data dump once a month. At that time all the 'Your Bills' data is exported from WG and is imported into my database on my pc. I simply run the ' Initial Wild George State Capital hit' program (taking only seconds to run). The display is then exported to my html page and is displayed on my website.

The majority of my time spent would be in creating different queries to display my data, not on manually moving information around. Perhaps, another user could create a neat query that I like. No sense in reinventing the wheel. He/she could share that program with me to use.

: Right now I could get what I’m looking for by doing a Search,…

Why wouldn't you search 'Your Bills / All Bills with Hits --- Sort by Denomination"?

: Of course, doing so many huge searches seems like a pretty rough way to treat wheresgeorge, when you consider how gently it treats me most of the time. I probably don’t want to do it.

More than likely I (and others) would search the WG database less and search our databases on our PCs more. This could make WG response time quicker for other users, who do not take advantage of the data dump. *smile*

: Speaking of subthreads: in the one *immediately* below this one, Shiva gives us a glowing endorsement of the dump idea. Do you agree with her? If we get a data dump utility, will that bring on an episode of Hank-worship?

Yes, I would agree. We may be worshipping demigods for the programming skills. Those that come immediately to mind are: DrASK, Single A, and Stayfloopy.

Here's my pipe dream – Absolute Total Automation. We would have barcodes on bills. This would be done at the time of printing (yeah right?). I have a bill from Belgium, where they place a bar code on it. Unfortunately, I could not find it to scan. Or we could have little stickers printed with bar codes to be applied to the bill's margin. Now, each time the bill enters and exits our possession, the bill will be scanned and the GPS location will be documented. This would be a nice little handheld model. All information is entered automatically into WG. *smile*

You had posted in the 'Dude Forum' something to the affect: depending on our reference point (occupation) people view WG events differently. As a programmer, I see an event (process) and wonder how I can make it run quicker and/or use less disk space. I look at procedures and wonder how I can automate those time consuming, repetitive manual steps. Now, WG will still be a fun hobby. But I will concentrate on how to dissect the numbers, instead of entering data or manually moving data around.
Blah… Blah.. Blah… Blah… Blahhhhh *smile* thanks for reading.

Good Luck & Happy Georgering!
HMG in MAss,
H_M_G___ P_r_o_f_i_l_e

: I think it’s just a question of degree: how much automation are we looking for?

: Right now I could get what I’m looking for by doing a Search, with every field but Denomination left blank. I would do one search for $1s, another for $2s, another for $5s, etc., until I had found *all* my bills (even the ones without hits), and copied the information from them that I wanted. A URL-only dump would just be a simpler way to get to the same result.

: Simpler still would be a data dump, with the sorts of basic information that Roger was talking about in the subthread-but-one below this one. That’s more automated than I really need, but it would be great if someone volunteers to do it for me!

: Of course, doing so many huge searches seems like a pretty rough way to treat wheresgeorge, when you consider how gently it treats me most of the time. I probably don’t want to do it.

: For me, it will come pretty darn close.

: CM

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: : : how much automation are we looking for? : Total Automation *laugh* Especially when I have much more bills entered (say +10,000) : Here's my hypothetical scenario. : I have some 10,000 hits and I want to track and display the following information: : Shortest & longest sleeper : Shortest & longest distance hop : Shortest & Longest time hop : Initial State hit (50 State Bingo) : Initial State Capital hit (50 State Capital Bingo) : Initial Wild George State hit : Initial Wild George State Capital hit : . : . : . : O.K. Lets' look at Initial Wild George State Capital hit event. : Each time I get a hit I have to manually sort my data by state and city to see if I already received a hit in that state capital. If I do, than no further processing is required. If I don't, then I manually enter the entry into my display table. : Hans' automation: : Let's say I only do a data dump once a month. At that time all the 'Your Bills' data is exported from WG and is imported into my database on my pc. I simply run the ' Initial Wild George State Capital hit' program (taking only seconds to run). The display is then exported to my html page and is displayed on my website. : The majority of my time spent would be in creating different queries to display my data, not on manually moving information around. Perhaps, another user could create a neat query that I like. No sense in reinventing the wheel. He/she could share that program with me to use. : : : Right now I could get what I’m looking for by doing a Search,… : Why wouldn't you search 'Your Bills / All Bills with Hits --- Sort by Denomination"? : : : Of course, doing so many huge searches seems like a pretty rough way to treat wheresgeorge, when you consider how gently it treats me most of the time. I probably don’t want to do it. : More than likely I (and others) would search the WG database less and search our databases on our PCs more. This could make WG response time quicker for other users, who do not take advantage of the data dump. *smile* : : : Speaking of subthreads: in the one *immediately* below this one, Shiva gives us a glowing endorsement of the dump idea. Do you agree with her? If we get a data dump utility, will that bring on an episode of Hank-worship? : Yes, I would agree. We may be worshipping demigods for the programming skills. Those that come immediately to mind are: DrASK, Single A, and Stayfloopy. : : Here's my pipe dream – Absolute Total Automation. We would have barcodes on bills. This would be done at the time of printing (yeah right?). I have a bill from Belgium, where they place a bar code on it. Unfortunately, I could not find it to scan. Or we could have little stickers printed with bar codes to be applied to the bill's margin. Now, each time the bill enters and exits our possession, the bill will be scanned and the GPS location will be documented. This would be a nice little handheld model. All information is entered automatically into WG. *smile* : You had posted in the 'Dude Forum' something to the affect: depending on our reference point (occupation) people view WG events differently. As a programmer, I see an event (process) and wonder how I can make it run quicker and/or use less disk space. I look at procedures and wonder how I can automate those time consuming, repetitive manual steps. Now, WG will still be a fun hobby. But I will concentrate on how to dissect the numbers, instead of entering data or manually moving data around. : Blah… Blah.. Blah… Blah… Blahhhhh *smile* thanks for reading. : Good Luck & Happy Georgering! : HMG in MAss, : <marquee behavior="right" width=14% scrollamount=2><a href="http://www.wheresgeorge.com/user_profile_popup.php3?ukey=WGs6sacxF9L/w" target="_blank"><font color="#FF0099">H_M_G___ P_r_o_f_i_l_e</font></a></marquee> : : : I think it’s just a question of degree: how much automation are we looking for? : : Right now I could get what I’m looking for by doing a Search, with every field but Denomination left blank. I would do one search for $1s, another for $2s, another for $5s, etc., until I had found *all* my bills (even the ones without hits), and copied the information from them that I wanted. A URL-only dump would just be a simpler way to get to the same result. : : Simpler still would be a data dump, with the sorts of basic information that Roger was talking about in the subthread-but-one below this one. That’s more automated than I really need, but it would be great if someone volunteers to do it for me! : : Of course, doing so many huge searches seems like a pretty rough way to treat wheresgeorge, when you consider how gently it treats me most of the time. I probably don’t want to do it. : : Speaking of subthreads: in the one *immediately* below this one, Shiva gives us a glowing endorsement of the dump idea. Do you agree with her? If we get a data dump utility, will that bring on an episode of Hank-worship? : : For me, it will come pretty darn close. : : CM

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