Turn Time Program

[Handle]

Folks,
Given the recent discussion on Turn Times and all, I figured I'd make available the program I wrote the last time (that I recall) we had this discussion. This was back in the days of the old board.

The program is just something I threw together -- it's not beautiful, but it won't destroy your hard drive either.

It does this:
* Opens BRIS/TSN data files, single file format.
* Displays all races, horses, and pace lines
* Lets you toggle between 3 formulas for deriving a "turn time" given as a pace figure from the fractional times and the pace figures.
* Also lets you display the fractional times as split times.

If you'd like to play around with this, you can download the program at this web site. A more detailed description of the formulas it uses can be found there as well:

http://www.golganooza.com/TurnTime/

Again, it's just a toy that I put together about a year ago.

Handle

[Some_One]

Are any of those calc's the same as outline by Brohammer? (1Fr/2Fr/3Fr)

[Handle]

I don't believe so -- one of them I created for my software program and the other two were suggested in our discussion of the topic. Doesn't Brohammer deal with fractions and not pace figures? These calculations are more geared toward pace figures (although a couple of the formulas use fractional times).

Originally posted by Some_One
Are any of those calc's the same as outline by Brohammer? (1Fr/2Fr/3Fr)

[anotherdave]

Originally posted by Handle
Folks,
Given the recent discussion on Turn Times and all, I figured I'd make available the program I wrote the last time (that I recall) we had this discussion.

Thanks for the program. It is quite nicely set up. Makes me more and more want to learn how to set up my own!

[FortuneHunter]

Handle,

Very nicely done.

I recommend this program to anyone doing pace figures by hand.

I assume that it would be very easy for you to stick in new formulas?

I think there a bunch of guys using the DRF, figuring internal fractions and performing caculations on them by hand, Jim Lehane style.

I would think that you could whip up those formulas (it appears you have all the raw already sucked in) in no time.

It would save these poor fellows a few hours a day.

Thanks again for offering this fine piece of work.

Best Regards, FH

P.S. What is EquiSim ?? Do you have more goodies out there somewhere?

[Handle]

FortuneHunter,

Thanks for the compliment -- but don't beef up this little app too much -- it's just something I threw together a year ago for the benefit of a friend. I forgot about it and then, when he saw the new thread, he reminded me of it.


EquiSim is a handicapping program that I wrote (but its not
free). It does internal fractions and individual horse fractions (and it does <b>not</b> use 1 length == 1/5 of a second -- it dynamically calculates them based on the speed of each portion of the race (the free tool does this as well, if memory serves)). There's a new version of ES on the way. There was a bit of discussion on it recently in the Handicapping Software section of PA.

Originally posted by FortuneHunter
Very nicely done.

I recommend this program to anyone doing pace figures by hand.
[...]
P.S. What is EquiSim ?? Do you have more goodies out there somewhere?

[FortuneHunter]

Don't sell this little app short. Sometimes (most times) simple is the best.

Time is money. And if there really is people out there that sit down with the DRF, a calculator, a pencil, and paper and figure that stuff out by hand for 9 Races, then you just gave them back a few hours a day of there life.

If I am right, 95% of the work is done, customizing it for other peoples formula for them is trivial.

The question is there a market for this?

Good Luck with EquiSim.

FH

[anotherdave]

Originally posted by FortuneHunter
Don't sell this little app short. Sometimes (most times) simple is the best.


If I am right, 95% of the work is done, customizing it for other peoples formula for them is trivial.

The question is there a market for this?

Good Luck with EquiSim.

FH

That little program looks really useful to me. I'd guess there would be a market for it if
some customization was possible. I think that a program which read drf files and allowed personal customization (but in a way that you didn't have to be a computer programmer to do it) would have a market. Like I might want Average Pace calculations and trip lines and kill some of the other stuff. Allow the user to customize what columns they are interested in and it would be cool. Just a thought.

[FortuneHunter]

Once you have the front end to suck in the data and a basic form (screen layout) designed, the formulas and simple logic is not too bad. If a good programmer could do 1 or 2 requests a day at $50/hr thats, between $200 to $300 a custom job. Now how's the market?

P.S. Still got to pay a buck for the racecard.

[Handle]

This thread is starting to turn toward the "software section" -- sorry about that.

FH -- you're right -- simple is often best. The problem I have with my little "Turn Time" app isn't its simplicity -- it's just kind of ugly
and the readability could be improved dramatically.

You're also right in that the modifications for using new formulas
would be very easy to incorporate -- the application was very easy to write because it is based on the code library I wrote for EquiSim. It knows how to load card files, etc. (ES also knows how
to unzip them, which the "Turn Time" tool doesn't).

Is their a market for smaller (and cheaper) useful applications?
I don't know -- I'm very bad at the whole marketing thing. When I get this next version of EquiSim out (down to the documentation now, ugh), I'm thinking of creating 4 or 5 of them rather than attaching more features to EquiSim immediately. One is a terrific little "key race" program that I started a while ago. I'd also like to finish a program that shows 3D replays of races based on the charts. We'll see if I can find the time and muster the energies.


AnotherDave -- You bring up two features that I've been thinking
of including in ES for a while. One is the ability to customize what is displayed on your racing form. You could add to this what formula you'd like to use to display the "E1E2" time that started this thread. For my software, this feature is a rather hefty undertaking. ES gives you a "WYSIWYG" interface (not just columns of data). So the software would have to figure out the layout of each piece of information dynamically rather than simply include or exclude columns of data as in a spreadsheet. It would be nice to be able to do this, but there's a lot of work.

The other is the ability to tell the software to export any piece of information you want. If you could do this, then you could customize what fields you were interested in, export them to a comma delimited format, and pop them open in a tool such as Excel or into your own software program. This is easier to accomplish than the above, but something I haven't gotten to yet.


-Handle

[bobsbet]

Handle:

Back in 2003, you offered a Turn Time Program.
Is it still available and if so where would I find it??

Thanks

[Figman]

http://tinyurl.com/9wyyw