Author: Dann Corbit
Date: 19:00:29 09/02/05
Go up one level in this thread
On September 02, 2005 at 21:45:42, Uri Blass wrote: >On September 02, 2005 at 21:03:08, Uri Blass wrote: > >>On September 02, 2005 at 19:35:21, Dann Corbit wrote: >> >>>On September 02, 2005 at 13:29:11, Uri Blass wrote: >>> >>>>On September 01, 2005 at 22:00:52, David Mitchell wrote: >>>> >>>>>On September 01, 2005 at 19:57:26, Uri Blass wrote: >>>>> >>>>>>On September 01, 2005 at 16:50:38, David Mitchell wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>Note that I am one of the members of the Israeli >>>>>>chess rating committee(the committe is not only about rating but rating is one >>>>>>of the subjects that they deal with it). >>>>>>Members are all volunteers and we do not get money for it but it is important >>>>>>for me to have a better rating system and it is clear that without a new >program it will not be easy to make changes in the rating system. >>>>>> >>>>>>I also have part of the data because GM Ram Sofer(the person who is resposible >>>>>>for using the software that they have in the last months) sent me some access >>>>>>files. >>>>>> >>>>>>Personally I know almost nothing about access so I simply translated the >columns to text files by copy and paste and wrote some program in C to >calculate statistics about the text files. >>>>>> >>>>>>I think that it is even better if the Israeli chess organization get rid of all >>>>>>the access and simply save the results in text files and use some C program to >>>>>>read text files and analyze them. >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>>Trust me, Uri. You don't want to do that. You need a spreadsheet or a database >>>>>program, or both. Too many benefits to list them all, but having different >>>>>people work in diverse locations, with "some C program", is not what you want. >>>>> >>>>>Use Excel for a day, and you'll never want to go back to anything like this. You >>>>>should be able to pick up an older (but perfectly good), version of Excel, by >>>>>some company that has decided to upgrade to the latest version. >>>>> >>>>>Should be able to get it for very little money. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>>>In that case if there is a mistake people only need to edit the text files. >>>>> >>>>>Oh yeah, there will be mistakes, count on it! >>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>>Note that I already have a program to analyze text files but the format of my >>>>>>text file today is not good for editing because of the way that I copied the >>>>>>data. >>>>> >>>>>There you go! No "homegrown" program will have half the features you will really >>>>>want, or be half as easy to train others to use. >>>>>> >>>>>>I copied the data from the access file by copy and paste so I copied long >>>>>>columns that is clearly easier than copying small lines that have only details >>>>>>about a single game. >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>>You should just use the Export data function. You can export your data in >>>>>several formats, including ascii (text). >>>> >>>>Thanks for your advice >>>> >>>>Note that only now I am near a computer that can read the access files because >>>>access is not installed in other computers but using the export data function is >>>>very good idea. >>>> >>>>It is a different format but I get all the table as a text in few seconds >>>>instead of getting it in few hours. >>>> >>>>If I understand correctly you say that using Excel is better than using access. >>>>I did not know that it is so easy to translate access files to excel files. >>> >>>Export from Access. It will take you two minutes. >> >>I already found it and translated the data both to text files and to excel files >>and sent the data to myself by gmail so I can read it from every computer. >> >>> >>>I do not think Excel will be easier than Access. >>> >>>Leaving the data in MS Access will be better because you can apply rules to a >>>database and you cannot apply rules to a spreadsheet. >>> >>>I have seen multi-million dollar disasters caused by using spreadsheets where a >>>database should have been used. >> >>What was the problem? >> >> A spreadsheet is easier to use than a text >>>editor but it is not safer. >> >>What is unsafe in a text editor? >>Note that it is possible to save a backup of the data if there is a risk to lose >>information. >> >>I also think that it may be possible to do everything by C program that read >>text files and I think that it may be better solution than the situation today >>because it may be possible to change data simply by editing text files when I >>read that the situation today is that in case that there is a mistake people >>need to delete everything and enter the data again instead of simply fixing the >>mistakes. >> >>Uri > >Note that the problem is of course with the software that is used with access >and I guess that it is possible to write something better. MS Access is pretty much a toy database that lacks many serious database features. On the other hand, I guess that it is still better than just using a spreadsheet. >I read in the israeli forum that the program that is used is ugly and has a lot >of queries that people did for many purposes and nobody knows if they are really >needed. > >Note that today I have not the software that is used but only part of the >database(not including names of the players and probably not including other >data that the israeli chess organization has). I think it will be difficult for someone who does not speak Hebrew to work on it because the characters all look like bits of a core dump to those of use who are ignorant. But that bit is not insurmountable. You could probably move the data to PostgreSQL or some other relational database but that is not going to be useful unless you have a DBA to babysit the data. I suggest the the most important step is to have someone who really understands the data model of what you have to document it. Then, I think it will be possible to do things like cleans the data or transform it to another database with relative ease.
This page took 0 seconds to execute
Last modified: Thu, 15 Apr 21 08:11:13 -0700
Current Computer Chess Club Forums at Talkchess. This site by Sean Mintz.