Sometimes paranoia can actually be healthy!

I am in Melbourne by the way .
One thing puzzels me but? Why would you trust someone face to face and not via the net? keeping in mind, that a dishonest human being is just that, he will make no allowances for being there in person or not?

Going back to the suggestion of hiring a programmer thru that site and the aspect of distrust and dishonesty

When you hire these people you are under a contract and so are they. They cannot divulge the contents of your program to anyone. You generally do not have to pay until the contract is fulfilled and you have your program right. If a programmer was to release information regarding your particular computer program/system, he is infringing your intellectual copyrights. Something people should be familiar with in this forum. If he did that then there are actions you can take.

Programmers do not necessarily need to be 'Horse Racing Literate they are programmers, it's up to you to tell them what you want your program to do and they will write it for you. A little bit of back and forth and you end up with a result.

pebbles

One of the problems with writing programs for punters is that their ideas have not always been fully researched so when it is found that the program does not produce the results they expect they want the programmer to make modifications. After they find the modifications are not doing the trick they then want further modifications. And on it goes. Of course this is coming out of the punters pocket.

I think the suggestion that a punter team up with a programmer for mutual benefit is a good idea. The trick is finding the punter with a properly researched system and a programmer willing to put in the time.

The only other alternative is for the punter to learn to program.

Come on guys...what sort of program are you wanting...as i have said before i can duplicate most programs in excel....if you don't know anything about excel it is not hard to use....what i can't duplicate i am sure i can find a work around for it.

Hi tailwag,
My access database has 5 tables, the main table has about 80,000 records (about 4 years of results). I have no problem with searches or queries, they return in a flash. Some of my screens have access VB programs running multiple queries and there's no problem at all with response time.

yep ok...fair point, but I do have a very good sense of humour at times...

I'll try and lighten up a little !

pebbles...

Thanks for that info, that is good to know. I have started collecting data and placing into a database of my own design (very basic at this stage), and it is growing rapidly, I achieved 27,811 records in one month. So naturally I am worried that it will grow too fast and exceed my computers ability to process data quickly.

If I can also address a few other points of other posters in this one reply. The face to face issue for me is simply because of this. I am a programmer of different languages, actually I am a fairly good ColdFusion programmer which in the scheme of things is way above simple DB programming (some may argue but not many).

Whilst I took 6 years to come up to speed with CF it did nothing for me in respect of good DB design. So I am no dummy with a keyboard but smart enough to know that a brilliant DB design will take several years part-time to learn or a good few months full time.

So, I believe I have something unique in terms of a system, and I naturally want to protect that, but the reason for the face-to-face, is so that I can fast track my learning. I have always thought that watching others is a better way to learn than reading it from a book.

So, the honesty issue aside, its more to say next year that I fully understand every aspect of my system, and will not have to reply on someone else to make even the smallest modification. I have held clients to ransom for years with web site changes (before the advent of CMS's), with simple things like a price change for example. I don't want that to happen to me.

Finally the data I have that is unique, is not along the traditional lines, i.e. has very little if no bearing on the result of previous races, jockeys, trainers, race conditions or any other factor except one. That factor without going into it too deeply (a free taste here to drag someone out of lurk mode), comes from the very essence of what makes the world go round :-)

Think about it, the race industry is no different than any other industry, you have your good guys, your bad guys, your best and worst and the greater middle, you have records, ingredients and so forth and so on. You have many things that seem like they are unique to different industries, but the one universal thing that is at the heart of every industry, the heart of ever endeavour by mankind itself, is the thing that I have yet to see in any system.

Well, I can't give you any more clues, that would be telling, but the astute ones amongst you should have worked out by now that the core ingredient is both the question and the answer. Or to put it a little clearer, it is both the punishment and the reward.

If nothing else from all the other programming I ever learned, the kiss principle does work and will always work best, every time!!! So, whilst searching for a vast number of factors and co-factors that may or may not influence the outcome of a race, there is none that stands shoulder to shoulder with the KING of them all. That is what I am going to build my system around, the KING of data, the core of, or the essence of the very game itself. With that I hope that someone will take the challenge and e-mail me privately at tailwag@hotmail.com Please remember you must live in or near Sydney and be prepared to travel to my offices.

Thanks for you time and sorry for the length of the reply.

Tailwag