Updates for the US, WDC, and other Indeces

[Tryg Helseth]

On Mon, 21 Feb 1994 09:37:04 +0100, Harry Fluks wrote:

>David:
>	I downloaded the file "us" -- the index of US 1-83 -- onto my

>Tryg: 
> Wow!  That was fast!  I don't know about others, but I would like to see it.

Harry:
>But sorting is a simple thing if you have a computer... I added the
>Gladstone-Disney information to your WDC list. I'll send it to you
>in private mail.
>
>This is what I meant when I said "adding that information should be easy".

Yes it is!  After I sent that sent that message to David, I looked at the 
master Gladstone index and saw that it would be easy to update the WDC list 
also.  I sorted the Gladstone index by original source and extracted the 
WDC lines to update the WDC index only to find that you had already done 
it!  Now I won't have to merge it...  Thanks.

I guess when I was thinking about the work required to update the index, I 
wasn't thinking about the Gladstone index you folks had already prepared 
and how easy it that is to retrieve info from.  Duh!  (My only excuse is 
that I just got back from a weekend of showshoeing at the Mississippi 
headwaters, and hadn't readjusted to civilization yet... <g> )

>But it is getting a problem when new information has to be added. We already
>have (several) lists that list basically the same. I am seriously thinking
>of a computer program to generate the various lists from one master database.
>We discussed this before here. Fredrik, Per and others had the same idea then,
>and the same amount of spare time (which means NONE). I do have some time now,
>and I think I'll start programming and finding out the right format of the
>"master database".

With all this redundant (and possibly conflicting) information, a database 
certainly seems like the way to go.  Were you guys contemplating "growing 
your own" database system, or using a commercially available one?  (It 
sounds like you are building your own.)  If you keep your database in a
text format (like the Gladstone index) then anyone can download it and use 
various tools to retrieve info.  I had thought of restructuring the info 
into several tables and loading them into a Paradox database.  (But then, I 
don't have any more free time than you do...)

Tryg Helseth  <trygve at maroon.tc.umn.edu>   Minneapolis, MN, USA
          or  <tryg.helseth at tstation.mn.org>

"I wish they all could be Calisota Ducks!" -The Beach Drakes