CD School House 9

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ CD School House 9 / CD School House 9.0 - Wayzata Technology (1994).iso / pc / dos / misc / schop11 / schedop.doc < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1993-04-09 | 24.8 KB | 615 lines

----------------------------------------- SCHEDULE OPTIMIZER v1.1 by Noel Llopis ----------------------------------------- (c) NLL SOFT - 1993 INTRODUCTION. So what's this SCHEDULE OPTIMIZER all about? Is it going to solve all your problems and give you your long dreamed schedule? No, it is not. It is going to help you a great deal if you are debating about what classes to take or how to make them fit in your schedule the best way possible. Instead of spending hours and hours trying different combinations hoping to get that other class to fit (as I certainly did!), just enter them in SCHEDULE OPTIMIZER and let the program show you all possibilities, and then pick the best schedule exactly the way you would want it. How is that possible that a "dumb" machine is going to make a "smart" choice for you? Just... read the book, OK? A couple things on this version of the program, the second release. As it is right now I have concentrated all my efforts in the inner workings of the program: the algorithms to calculate all possible combinations, to pick the best schedule, etc. The user interface and the presentation on the screen could have been better, but I needed to have a working version of this program to put my Spring '93 schedule together. Now that I have it I will start working on a "windowed" environment (possibly with Turbo Vision) with mouse support and all that neat stuff. So I'd say that version 2.00 of this program should be ready in a couple months or so. Versions 1.XX are just in case there are any bugs that need correction... and talking about bugs, to make the debugging process faster I will offer a free registered version of this program to the first person that reports any bug in the program (that is, a bug that hasn't been reported before). So if you find any, contact me as soon as possible. This program was designed with the UMASS class scheduling system in mind, but I left if general enough so it can be used for any other university... or almost for any other thing with a schedule involved in it. Maybe there are some options that would come very helpfull for other class systems. If so, please, don't hesitate to send some feedback so I will be able to improve it for future versions. And finally a word about Shareware (is there really anybody that still doesn't know what Shareware is?). This program is Shareware. You can copy and give this program freely (we are talking about the UNREGISTERED version) and try it for as long as you want, but if you want the REGISTERED version (=fully working version) you will have to pay a small fee and I will send it to you. Both versions are almost identical, the only differences being that in the unregistered version you can't save the classes and you can't compute the best schedule. So if after what you see here you think you might seriously want to use this program, I would urge you to register it. By registering it you will not only get the fully functional version, but you will have the right to technical support, you will be included in our mailing list and you will periodically receive the new releases from NLL SOFT. By the way, that REGISTERED version will NOT be Shareware, and any copies you make of it will be illegal (and they will have you name and address in it... so you have interest as not to let anybody "accidentally" get a copy of it |) But enough of that, just make sure to read the FORM.DOC if you are interested in getting the full version of the program. That's about all I had to say for the introduction. The rest of this file will be a quick description of all the options in the program and tips on how to get most out of SCHEDULE OPTIMIZER v1.1. This manual, again, might be a bit short, but time is pressing. I will try to improve all this by the second version. In the meantime, for any comments, questions, or suggestions you can contact me at any of the addresses below. I really hope you find this program as usefull as I did. Thanks to Holly Ordway for testing the program and helping me solve some 'technical difficulties'. NLL SOFT 606-B Brown. UMASS Amherst, MA 01003 (413) 546 1143 or on the internet (I check my mail several times a day!): nllopis@umass.ecs.edu Noel Llopis NLL SOFT - 1993 MAIN MENU. This is almost just like any plain old database. The actual number of classes in memory is displayed just above the main menu. The options you have are: [1]. Enter a new class. Simply asks you for the data for a new class entry. The format of any entry is best described with an example: Departament and number : CHEM112 Class description : General Chemistry II Number of credits : 4 Class this one must go with : Is this a class you must include in your final schedule (Y/N)? Y 1. Section : 1 Starting time : 9:05AM Ending time : 9:55AM Days of the week : MWF Schedule # : 114374 2. . . . Whenever you are done entering the different times a class is offered at, simply leave the section number blank. That will return you to the main menu and will add the class to the database. When you are asked for the "class this one must go with", you have to enter the class department and number the way you did before, if this class must be taken together with some other. The reason for this option is in case you have two classes (say a lecture and a lab) that must be taken together or not at all. If you simply put them both down and they are optional, the program might choose either one of them, not necesserely both at the time. Remember that you only refer to a class you entered before, not at some class you are going to add later. The question "Is this a class you must include in your final schedule?" is made to distinguish between the classes you have to take and the optional classes; this way you might include 4 classes you must take and 5 classes you would like to take, and the computer will find for you which ones of those 5 classes will make a better schedule... but more of that later, in the section on CALCULATE BEST SCHEDULE and HOW TO GET MOST OF SCHEDOP v1.1. [2]. Modify a class. The first thing this will show you is a list of all the classes in memory at the moment, and will allow you to enter the number of the class you want to edit (you can press + or - to see more pages of classes... but if you have that many you are really going to have fun when you try to get the best schedule!). Once you have chosen which class you want to edit, you will be asked to edit each one of the fields of the class entry. It will be the same as when you enter a new class, but this time the previous values of the class you are editing will show as the default values, so if you don't want to change most of them simply press RETURN and nothing will change. It is important to note that if you set the section number of a certain time blank and press return, that section and all the ones following will be deleted. Again, as soon as you enter a blank section number the editing will be done and you will be back to the list of all the classes. [3]. Delete a class. You will be shown the already falmiliar list of all the classes in memory at the moment. To delete one simply enter its number. Use this feature with caution since there is no recovery option (unless you saved it before). [4]. List all classes. Again the list of all classes will appear on the screen. To get more information on any of the classes just enter its number and all the data you previously entered will be displayed (description, credits, times offered, etc). [5]. Files. This will bring up the directory of the classes previously saved and a menu with options. The directory consists of the description of 10 files. If some of the files have not been yet saved, a line with dots will appear instead. The options in this file menu are very straight forward: [1]. Restore. This will restore the data saved in one of the 10 files. You will be asked which one you wish to restore. If you leave it blank or enter an incorrect number the operation will be cancelled. [2]. Save. With this you will be able to save any changes or new classes you have entered. You can use any of the 10 slots to save it. You will be asked for a description of the information you are saving (that will show up in the directory for future reference). If you save it on top of an already used slot, the actual description will be the default. Again, a blank description or ESC will cancel the operation. ** NOTE ** : This option is only available in the REGISTERED VERSION. [0]. Back to main menu. Need an explanation for this? [*]. Process schedule. This is what SCHEDULE OPTIMIZER really is. Read the next section for full explanation. [0]. Exit program. It will exit to DOS. If you have made any changes since save/restore you will be prompted if you really want to quit the program. Note that here, as it will be the tendency all throughout the program, 0 will always get you back to the previous menu (or, in this case exit to DOS). SCHEDULE PROCESSING CENTER. This is the hard core of the program. So far it has been like a simple database; this is where the real power of SCHEDOP starts. Now it will follow a description of all the options in this part. It is intenteded to be most of a reference manual than a tutorial on how to use it. For an explanation on how to optimize your schedule (in the case you can't figure it out yourself from the menus), read the next section. [1]. Show all possible compatible schedules. It's exactly what it says. With the classes actually loaded in memory, the computer will try to make all possible combinations of the classes (trying all the different times). All combinations with no conflicts will be reported. If you have some classes marked as optional, all combinations with and WITHOUT them will also be reported. All those schedule combinations will be the ones to evaluate later to find the best schedule of all. Once the calculation is done it will report how many possible schedules where found and it will display them in the output device (could be on the screen, printer or a text file). It can show them in text or "graphic" representation, but more of this under [4]. Settings. Since calculating all the schedules is a time consuming process (depends a lot on how many classes you have), it will only be calculated once, displaying the classes inmediately the second time you try this option. Obviously, the preferences you defined will not affect this at all. All schedules that do not have a time conflict will be reported. [2]. Show best possbile schedule. Also doesn't need much explanation, it will calculate the best schedule based on your preferences. Once it has found the best schedules (is quite possible that several schedules scored the same), they will be shown on the output device in the same way as before. This is even a slower process than calculating all combinations, and the more possible schedules, the longer it will take. Don't think the computer "froze up" or anything, if there are still little dots being printed on the screen... you are all set, just be a little patient. Again, as with the previous option, it will only need to calculate it once (luckyly!), showing the best schedules right away after the first time. It will have to recalculate everything if you change the preferences or exit to the main menu, though. ** NOTE **: This option will only be available in the REGISTERED VERSION. [3]. Define schedule characteristics. From here you will be able to "tell" the computer how your ideal schedule would be. For this you will be shown the actual preferences and given the options to modify them, restore or save them. Whenever you save the preferences, they will be the default next time you run the program. The different characteristics you can change to fit your likes are: - Optimum number of credits. - Importance of having that exact number of credits.* - Importance of having less credits.* - Importance of having more credits.* - Importance of having a compact schedule (with not many "wholes" in between classes that is).* - Importance of an evenly distribution of classes - having the same number of hours every day.* - Preferred days to have more hours. - Preferred days to have less hours. - Optimum time to start classes. - Importance of starting at that time.* - Importance of starting before that time.* - Importance of starting after.* - End classes as soon as possible. - Optimum time to end classes. - Importance of ending classes at that time.* - Importance of ending before that time.* - Importance of ending after that time.* - Take weekends into account when doing calculations. - Times at which you prefer not to have classes and importance of each of those times. If you decide to modify the current preferences you will be asked every single one of these questions. The current values will be shown as the default ones. The characteristics marked with an asterisk (*) above are rating characteristics. That is, it's not an amount, a time or a day they are asking you, but a rating. By that you have to answer "how much would you like...?" And give it a rating from 0 to 10. The rating scale could be something like: 10 - YES! I would love that. 9 - Yes, it would be very good. 8 - That'd be cool. 7 - I guess that'd be OK. 6 - Hmmm.. I guess so. 5 - I really don't give a damn about that. 4 - Naaahh, why bother with that. 3 - I think I rather not. 2 - Nope, I don't like that much. 1 - No, that's really bad. 0 - NO WAY I'M GOING TO DO THAT!!! For the rest of the questions just answer whatever they ask you to as trully as you can. Then those preferences you have entered will be taken into account to decide which one of all the possible schedules is most likely to fit all your needs. [4]. Settings. This will bring another menu from which you can decide how you want the output to be, and where you want it outputted to. [1]. Mode: Normal/Graphic/Both. Pressing this key you will switch between the three representation modes. The one selected at the moment is the one with the square brakets around. - In normal mode the list of the possible or best schedules will be shown as the list of the classes with the time, days and section number. - In graphic mode the list will be a graphical representation of the schedules as it would be drawn in a piece of paper, with the days of the week, the times, and the classes in the little boxes. If a class occupies more than one box its name will appear in the following box (that doesn't mean you have the same class twice in a row, but that the class is two boxes long!). - In "both" mode, both representations will be shown, one after the other for every schedule. [2]. Output: Screen/Printer/File. Again, pressing that key will switch between the three options. This is the output device the schedules are going to be sent to (in any mode). If the screen is selected... (hmm.. I wonder what is going to happen!). If "file" is selected, after the computer is done computing the schedules you will be asked for a file name to output the information to. A word of caution about the printer: it will detect if the printer is on line whenever it is going to START printing the output. Once it is started, if you turn the printer off it might give a runtime error (yes, remember, it was written in Pascal). So just be a little carefull. Also... I think it might only do LPT1 for the printer port, that will be something to work on for version 2.xx. [3]. Screen mode: BW80x25/80x25/80x43/80x50. This is the screen mode when the graphical representation of the schedule is shown on the screen. Usually the mode 80x50 will give you the best results - you can see the most hours and more clearly spaced -, but it requires an EGA or VGA card. If you don't have one you won't even be able to select the two last options, being your best mode the second one, (default) 80x25. The first mode, BW80x25, is the same as 80x25 but in black and white only. Is not that it makes much difference right now, but it might in later versions. [4]. Graphic schedule start and end. Those are the times to start and end drawing the graphical representation of the schedule. The ideal would be to have all the hours there, but what are all the hours? The 24 hours? Somebody might only want to have it from 9AM to 5PM for instance, or other people with night classes might prefer to have it go from 4PM to 10PM. Once you have selected those times the schedule will be scaled to occupy the most screen as possible to show all the details. [0]. Back, back. 0 will always get you back! [0]. Back to main menu. Here remember that whenver you go back to the main menu and then return to the processing center, all calculations of possible and best schedules will have to be computed again. And that's all for the description of the options of the program. Now I would urge you to read the next section, possibly the most important one, before making your final decision on the schedule for next semester. HOW TO GET MOST OUT OF SCHEDOP v1.1. To make good use out of SCHEDULE OPTIMIZER v1.1 is very important to realize a few things. Don't simply enter in all the classes you want and ask for the best schedule, it might turn out there's one you like better. I guess a section on frequently asked questions would be the best thing to do now, but since this is the first release I haven't had any "real" questions yet (keep them coming though, OK?). So I will point out a few tips that might be handy to keep in mind while you are using SCHEDOP. - The "best" computer generated schedule might not be the "best" (!!). If this is true, why all this program? I should explain that in a little more detail. What I mean is that the computer will blindly take the preferences you defined, take each one of the possible schedules and give them a score accordingly. The one(s) with the best score will be reported as the "best" ones. And that will always be true. Why then shouldn't we trust it right off hand? Because of.. human error - as our friend Hal 9000 would say. When you entered a 7 in the rating for a compact schedule it was translated as "multiply the compactness score by 0.5", while you might have meant to give this score a little more importance than that. What to do then? First go ahead, fill the preferences as well as you can, thinking them over and making sure that's what you really want. Then get the best schedule. If you like it a lot, hey, great, that's what you were looking for. If you don't like that much, there might be still a better one. Go back over the preferenes and give a little more importance to that factor that you didn't quite get in this last schedule (if there were lots of "holes", give a little more to the compact schedule score). Then try again and see if you get anything different. In other words, experiment with it a bit. If still that fails you can always go through all the possible schedules and see if you like one of them better. Sometimes it is impossible to make things fit the way you like them! If you only have a few classes this might look like a good solution, but as soon as you have a few more, offered quite a few different times and especially if they are optional, then you are going to have a really fun time going through the thousands of possible combinations. Use this as last ressource! - Keep several different classes saved. It has proven to me very usefull to have like 3 different files saved and work with them. In one you might include the classes you have to take, and in the others those classes plus groups of classes you would like to take. That's much easier than going through the old files adding and deleting classes. - Is it too slow? It might be quite slow, specially if you are using an old 8088-86. If you have a 386 or more... just skit this section, you don't need it. What slows this program the most is having lots of data to process. This happens when there are lots of classes (although people usually take no more than 10 at a time), lots of different times the classes are offered at or having lots of alternative classes. A class with a lot of different alternative times is a real slow down for the program. Just have a look at this semester's schedule book (for the UMMies that is) and look at ENGLWP112. 68 different lectures!! That would take almost as long to process as to type it into the database. The way around that is to simply not include that class in the calculations, and once you have a good schedule worked out, since it is offered that many times, you should be able to easily fit it in just by looking at the times offered. Just remember, when you answer the question "optimum number of credits", to subtract the number of credits of the class you will add later on. What about lots of optional classes? That really slows it down too. To give you an idea, the classes I planned to have resulted in 72 different possible schedules. When I changed two of the classes to optional and added a couple more optional, the possible schedules skyrocketed up to 576! Moral: keep the number of optional classes down. No, seriously, what you might do instead is to have several different files, each one containing all non-optional classes and then comparing the best schedule of each among each other and decide which one is best. If there are enough requests I might include an executable file in the next version with 286 code which would make it run even faster on 286 machines or higher. For the moment I would like to keep compatible with all PC's (I will still include an executable for the 8088 out there... don't worry!). And this should do it. If you have read this manual you should be able to use SCHEDULE OPTIMIZER v1.1 to its full capacity. Enjoy the program and send your comments to make better future releases. (c) NLL SOFT - 1993