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United Kingdom Election Forecaster
Release 2.0
*** Release History ***
Release 2.0 February 1994
--------------------------
Summary:
Release 2.0 includes the results of the 1984 and 1989 UK
elections to the European Parliament. It includes a new file
structure, designed to allow users to easily add in their own
sets of election results. As an example of this, is also includes
some local council results. It also includes election summaries,
for example of the London Borough Councils.
There are a large number of other improvements.
Release 1.61 October 1993
--------------------------
Summary:
Release 1.61 is a registered-user only version. It includes
live maps for all of the UK, plus live graphical displays for
marginal seats, and seats and votes. It also includes a number of
other enhancements affecting map, view, and output criteria. The
online help has also been enhanced. Extra utilities have been
added.
Release 1.60c October 1993
----------------------------
Summary:
Release 1.60 includes "live" maps, result sorting, more
flexible output options, improved local election support, storage
of the names of MPs and councillors for the election-before-last,
minor GUI enhancements, and other changes.
Release 1.60a introduced a number of minor enhancements and a
"marginal seats" graphical summary.
Release 1.60b added the "Votes and Seats" graphic. It also
corrected a minor bug affecting map display (of Wales), and a
mistype affecting Vauxhall constituency Liberal Democrat votes.
Release 1.60c included additional minor tidying-up of the main
program and some of the accompanying files.
Enhancements over 1.50 include:
a) Live maps, which can display constituencies matching user-
specified criteria
b) Results can be sorted and displayed/output in sorted order
c) Many more output formats
d) Old local election results
e) Old MP names and Old Councillor names
f) Two-Round PR method is now standard
g) Message boxes can be moved around screen using cursor-keys
h) User can choose to forecast only national or local results
i) Constituencies can be selected and analysed as a group
Changes:
The registered version now includes maps for all UK
constituencies, and a number of additional live graphics.
The shareware version map selection has been altered slightly
(and has been slightly different in different versions).
The abbreviation for the main Unionist party in Northern
Ireland has been changed from OUP to UUP.
Bugs fixed:
Several minor bugs and inaccuracies were fixed.
Release 1.51 - September 1993
------------------------------
Issued to selected registered users for test purposes.
Release 1.50 - June 1993
---------------------------
Summary:
Release 1.50 includes much greater support for local elections,
new maps, and a "match seats" reverse forecast feature.
Please note: because of the increase in functionality, UK-Elect
may no longer run on machines with only 512Kb memory. A minimum
of 640Kb is strongly recommended.
Enhancements include :
a) Storage and forecasting of local election results
b) Three new maps (South-Central England, By-elections, and
English and Welsh County Council results 1989/1993).
c) "Match Seats" facility. This can be used to answer questions
such as "what national vote percentage would the Liberal
Democrats require in order to win an absolute majority?"
d) increased user forecasting configurability (users can
control the weighting giving to factors such as voter loyalty to
sitting MPs).
Bugs fixed (since 1.40b Issue 1) :
a) Several minor bugs were fixed which affected forecasting and
map display.
b) Due to "Gorton" being mis-located in Liverpool rather than
Manchester a number of MPs names were attached to the wrong
constituencies. Apologies to Gerald Kaufman and co.
Release 1.41a - March/April 1993
--------------------------------
Issued to selected registered users for test purposes, and for
use in forecasting/analysing the May county council elections.
Release 1.40b - February 1st 1993
---------------------------------
Summary:
Release 1.40b includes an additional map and some other
minor enhancements.
Enhancements (over Release 1.40a) include :
a) New map: Midlands West
b) Additional Analysis graph: Votes/Constituency
c) Enhanced help text / README.EXE
Bugs fixed:
None.
Issues:
1.40b. Original.
Release 1.40a - December 8th 1992
---------------------------------
Summary:
Release 1.40 includes many user-interface enhancements.
Enhancements (over Release 1.31) include :
a) New menu system.
b) Bar-chart graphics.
c) VGA Maps.
d) The 1987 and 1992 results are now included in all versions.
e) Display of Northern Ireland constituencies.
f) More detailed analysis of results and predictions.
g) Increased differentiation between minor parties.
h) Dozens of other, minor and medium, improvements.
Bugs fixed:
None.
Issues:
1.40a. Original.
Release 1.31R - July 25th 1992
------------------------------
Limited distribution.
Release 1.30e - July 7th 1992
-----------------------------
Summary:
Release 1.30 is the first full shareware version.
Enhancements (over Release 1.21):
a) MPs names added to constituency view information.
b) Constituency search text now also applies to MPs names.
c) Simulation added for extra electoral methods:
i) Additional Member
ii) Alternative Vote
iii) Party List
d) Export of data in spreadsheet (comma separated) format
e) Many minor changes; for example, information menu redesigned
f) Documentation revised again (Manual issue 1.02)
Bugs fixed:
a) ELECTRES.TXT contained a few mistyped minor-places votes.
Issues:
1.30 Original. Issued June 23rd 1992.
1.30a Now copes with read-only help and configuration files.
1.30b Percentages entry routine - missing final "0" bug
removed.
1.30c Fixes for newly reported bugs:
i) Information window was sometimes untidy (garbage
text).
ii) Main forecast window totals did not always
immediately include a newly entered election result.
iii) Over-use of backspace key could sometimes cause a
crash!
iv) Any errors during data-read could cause an untidy
exit.
v) Nulls should not have been allowed for dates and MPs
names (this was one factor in cause of bug iv).
1.30d "Printer missing" was mishandled.
1.30e If the number of candidates for a by-election was less
than that for the preceding general election (rather
unlikely) then a floating point error could sometimes
occur the next time that a prediction was made.
Release 1.21 - June 7th 1992
----------------------------
Not generally issued.
Release 1.20 - May 31st 1992
----------------------------
Summary:
Major enhancements.
Enhancements:
a) Users now offered choice of 3 built-in forecasting methods
and 2 user defined methods.
b) By-election and general election forecasting menus and sub-
menus added, together with all associated facilities,
such as forecasting on the basis of actual election
results.
c) more criteria controls added to constituency viewing
d) format of ELECTRES.TXT changed to allow variable number of
constituencies
e) increase in the size of the output destination text field,
allowing more space for drive and path information
f) many other minor enhancements
g) documentation completely revised
Bugs fixed:
a) menus sometimes overlapped in the wrong order
b) forecasting sometimes halted before target percentages
were achieved
Other Changes:
a) Names of some input files changed:
ELECTIN.TXT becomes ELECTRES.TXT
ELECTCON.TXT becomes USERCONF.TXT
Issues:
1.20A : Original.
Issued 1st June 1992. Distribution via CIX.
Release 1.10 - April 2nd 1992
-----------------------------
Not generally issued.
Release 1.01 - March 21st 1992
------------------------------
Not generally issued.
Release 1.0 - January 1992
--------------------------
Summary:
This was the first PC version to be officially released. It was
distributed as lead coverdisk program in the April 1992 issue of
PC-PLUS magazine.
PRE-RELEASE HISTORY (Brief summary)
-----------------------------------
Internal Release 0.9 - Late 1991
--------------------------------
The first complete PC version. A simple ratio-based predictor, it
lacked most menu-system and analysis facilities.
Amstrad CPC Version (1985-1987)
-------------------------------
The first version to include data for all British constituencies,
it used a simple ratio method to forecast the 1987 election
surprisingly (in retrospect) accurately.
Tandy TRS80 (and Video-Genie) Version (1981-1983)
-------------------------------------------------
Only included data for around about one third of British
constituencies. This was the first version for which the
programming was actually completed.