Programming a Paper and Pencil Method

[trying2win]

I've seen a lot of paper and pencil methods over the years. Most of them were useless. But, I have run across 2 or 3 of them that had some merit. With a little tweaking of the rules, some of these better methods were not that bad. Problem was, even when I found the odd, good method, they were too time-consuming to figure out the contenders. Surely there must be some different ways to speed up this process. Since I'm not a computer programmer, here's where my questions come in...

--If a person wanted to program a commercial paper and pencil method for their own use, how would they go about it? Hire a programmer I guess, but...

--Are there copyright considerations to consider here as well, even if I only wanted to speed up the process by putting the method in EXCEL or have it programmed onto a software disk? Again, this would be only for my own personal use.

Thanks,

T2W

[Zaf]

In Equisim you can program many different angles into formula templates. You can then run the angles and test them out on present and past racing cards. If you have an .xrd file (exotic results file) for a particular race card you can see how your angle would of done on a particular race card instantly. There are almost no limits to the possibilities. The feature is called the FV (Formula View) in the Equisim program. There is a bunch of info on the Equisim board over at www.thorotech.com

ZAFONIC

[BillW]

Re. copyright: look at the paper included with the shipment of the method. Probably not a problem though.

As far as getting it programmed, look around for an aquaintance that knows a little about programming and have them look at it (probably knowlege of horse racing would help too). If you use data files such as Bris or TSN chances are it wouldn't be too hard in excel. I would say paying for it would be a last resort (my philosophy in all aspects of life :eek: ).

Bill

[trying2win]

ZAFONIC,

--I tried out the Equisim demo quite awhile ago. The program overall didn't appeal to me. But, if it's a good fit for you, that's great. It's the program to keep using then. Thanks for the suggestions anyway.

BILL,

--Hey, thanks. That's great news if I could program some of the rules of a method into EXCEL to speed things up. I have EXCEL on my computer, but I never learned how to use this program yet. A person's never too old to learn though, right? Can you recommend any good books on EXCEL that explain how to use it in easy-to-understand language?

T2W

[BillW]

BILL,

--Hey, thanks. That's great news if I could program some of the rules of a method into EXCEL to speed things up. I have EXCEL on my computer, but I never learned how to use this program yet. A person's never too old to learn though, right? Can you recommend any good books on EXCEL that explain how to use it in easy-to-understand language?

T2W

I don't use windows so I'm not much help with the specifics, but I'm sure some will be here on the site. I also think it has been discussed before (Excel books). Try a search and see what comes up.

Bill

[Hammerhead]

I have a excel book called "Excel 97 visual Basic Step by step" It will work with later versions ( I am using 2002). Easiest book I have used and I am a real dunce when it comes to understanding instructions. Author is Jacobson and Publisher is Microsoft. It can be found at BorderBooks or online.

[grahors]

I have a very limited understanding of Excell and or spreadsheets. I have the basic (comes with the computer) spreadsheet. I would be willing to pick up excell or acess (sp). BUT.....
Does anyone have a good step by step procedure for downloading Bris single or whatever into these programs to get a readable and useable format.
The bris website has some utility ptograms but who knows what to do with them?????
Grahors

[Jeff P]

posted by Grahors-Does anyone have a good step by step procedure for downloading Bris single or whatever into these programs to get a readable and useable format. The bris website has some utility ptograms but who knows what to do with them?????
I did a search on the software thread and found a post I made some time ago where I provided a VB code sample for importing a Bris comma delimited file into a VB program. The same strategy should work in either Excel or Access - both support VBA code. Here's a link:

http://www.paceadvantage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=15725

[Dave Schwartz]

This is the book you want:

Excel 2003 Power Programming with VBA
written by John Walkenbach

He is the absolute guru of Excel programming.


Regards,
Dave Schwartz

[NoDayJob]

http://www.itsdata.com

:) Contact Matt Thomas. He's does software engineering at very reasonable rates. No, I'm not connected with him, but he has helped friends of mine automate their handicapping, and they were very satisfied.

NDJ

[JustMissed]

I wouldn't waste my time trying to convert a pen & paper capping method to a computer program.

Two very foreign exercises that are not in the least comparable.

Although the pen & paper capper believes his conclusion are based upon the exercise of drawing lines, dots, dashes and adding this to that, I believe the conclusion is actually based upon pattern recognition or more specifically intuition.

My favorite track handicapper Mark Patterson uses the phrase "low tech, intuitive handicapping".

If you think about it, even if you use handicapping software, unless you bet like the program says to bet without reservation(a black box), you are using intuition.

Just something to think about.

JM

[michiken]

Gents,

You do not have to pay for excel or access if you are willing to download some free programs:

http://openoffice.org is a complete office suite including spreadsheet. It is somewhat slower than excel but still has similar functions and capabilities. To import bris data, you will have to rename the file to end in .csv (instead of .drf)

http://mysql.com has a free database. It is command line driven though.

http://php.net is a free scripting language. You can use this to perform all sorts of calcs, etc.

These are open source products and totally free. The only problem is that you may have to read some of their help manuals to learn how to use them.

If I had more time, I would offer to help writing the php scripts, but I will be tied up until May.

[Niko]

I'll vouch for Matt Thomas. He did some work for me. I didn't have the time or desire to learn programming. Reasonable price compared to other avenues I looked at and fast/accurate. Also very helpful if you have questions.

[trying2win]

Thanks to all for your suggestions. It gives me some ideas on where to take the next step.

T2W

[EQUIPACE]

Gents,

You do not have to pay for excel or access if you are willing to download some free programs:

http://openoffice.org is a complete office suite including spreadsheet. It is somewhat slower than excel but still has similar functions and capabilities. To import bris data, you will have to rename the file to end in .csv (instead of .drf)

Just For Info... This is my first post here at PA, and I just had to inject something here since I have been using Excell to handicap horses since the mid 80's. Renaming the .DRF file to .CSV would be useless... There are over 1000 comma separated fields in the .DRF file, and Excel is limited to 256 columns.

There are several good parsing programs on the market... Or you can do what I use to do. Install Microsoft Query (Part of the Office or Excel program CD.) Use the old Past Performance Generator (FREE!) From Bris.

Then Query the .DBF Files From Bris Past Performance Program Folder to Excel... This sounds much harder than it really is. But there are several files you can bring into Excel. I used HANDICP1.DBF, Through HANDICP6.DBF as well as others. First load the card into the Bris Past Performance Generator (Old Ver) not the latesest Custom PP Generator, Then close the program. Start Excel and select Data on the top of the menu bar... Select Import External Data, then New Database Inquiry. Select Dbasefiles* , select Browse and select the .DBF file in the Generatr directory. You can choose just the data fields you feel are important then following the prompts, after a few seconds the data will appear in the spreadsheet. Once you have it set up... Name It & Save It!

Lately, I have been using Equisim ver 5 FV for several months now, because it will export a .CSV comma delimited file with just the information I program it to retrieve and calculate or it can be cut & pasted to Excel. At that point, I can further manipulate the data anyway I choose. It's the biggest bang for the buck on the market bar none. And it can let you handicap the Bris .DRF info your way. And Nathan is always adding new changes to the program that are constantly aproaching limitless possibilities. ;)

BTW, Nathan did not pay me to add this last statement. It's just the facts.

Here is a link to one of the Excel spreadsheets I did awhile back, It is only a sample of the many reports I have created using ES and Excel...This was data exported to Excel from Equisim and then through a series of macros formated into something (a report) that worked for me.

http://www.members.aol.com/equipace/Ex2.xls

Hopefully this helps! Good Luck!
John
~¿o

[Zaf]

Welcome to PA, Equipace !!!

See you on the Equisim board :)

ZAFONIC

[EQUIPACE]

Welcome to PA, Equipace !!!

See you on the Equisim board :)

ZAFONIC

Z,
Thanks!
We should share email and thoughts sometime...
You have some thought provoking Q & A's at ES's board as well!

I had 3 of 10 Winners in Bris's contest this last Saturday, But the killer is I had 5 more winners as ALTERNATE selections. Surely some of the best capping I have done to date. To have the winner in my top 2 selections in 8 of 10 races was miraculous for me... And Guess What! Can you believe I didnt even invest in those contest races... $63 winner race 3... $30 Winner race 4... But, Then again close only counts in horseshoes!
See Ya At The ES Board!
John
~¿o