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Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Apr 15, 2011
You obviously have spent little or no time compiling lottery data.
The time depends on the amount of data you have and the amount of information you want the computer to generate. For example I have 2243 drawings in my RC5 file and it take about .3 sec. to compare one drawing with the other 2242 but if I want to compare all 2243 with the other 2243, that's 750 secs. or about 10 minutes. That's very fast compared to doing the same thing with paper and pencil but a super computer using a program designed by a super programmer using machine language could do the whole job in less than 10 secs. It takes about 25 secs for my program to check all 2243 drawing combinations for length, range, sums and etc., but once I have all that information it has to be sorted several different ways to make sense of it which could take another 5-10 minutes each time sorted. Five and ten minutes here and there add up after a while and I may have spent almost an hour and that's more time than most folks are willing to spend generating data to play a game.
Keep in mind that my programs are written using a high level computer language and them complied which doesn't make the speediest computer programs.
RJOh
I wrote my first lottery program on a tandy computer. It had two external 5.25 360K floppy drives and was
the envy of everyone. I remember that I had to put in the first disk and turn it on then after it read that disk I
would need to put in a second disk before it would boot to a A:\ prompt. I later got a 20mb HDD for it that was
mounted on a ISA card. I think it was called a winchester drive. I remember thinking that it would take the rest
of my life to fill a 20mb drive. I know what you mean about the time it takes to run that much data and a few
10 minuet runs can add up. Add to this writting some small bit of code to test some new idea and it can very
United States
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Quote: Originally posted by RL-RANDOMLOGIC on Apr 15, 2011
RJOh
I wrote my first lottery program on a tandy computer. It had two external 5.25 360K floppy drives and was
the envy of everyone. I remember that I had to put in the first disk and turn it on then after it read that disk I
would need to put in a second disk before it would boot to a A:\ prompt. I later got a 20mb HDD for it that was
mounted on a ISA card. I think it was called a winchester drive. I remember thinking that it would take the rest
of my life to fill a 20mb drive. I know what you mean about the time it takes to run that much data and a few
10 minuet runs can add up. Add to this writting some small bit of code to test some new idea and it can very
easy turn into a couple hours.
RL
That was me with my first 1GB HD and then a few years later a "bargain" on some 9GB drives. In both cases I was all "I'll never use this much space." Remember the prices paid for those things? Seemed like good deals at the time, anyway.
................
With regard to pairs, triplets, etc., these can be kept as static lists (no real need to create them every time you run your code, but not much "cost" either) 40 choose 2 or 40 choose 3 will always produce the same two groups. 780 & 9,880.
Eg: Taking 40C2 gives 780 pairs, set an (extra) array of that depth [780x1], fill it with zeroes. That's where you'll keep score. Decide you only want to use the same pair 15 times (just an example) for a given run.
Run a combo through every other filter (to see if you'd otherwise keep it) then compare it with the "pairs" list. If the current "score" on one of the ten pairs that subset the combo is equal to your limit, then drop that combo. If you get to the end of the list and the combo is still good, then keep it ... and update the relevant ten pairs scores (a tracking array will save you the trouble of having to run through the list twice).
There's no loop to get trapped in [aside from occasional problems between the keyboard and chair], once you run out of 40 choose 5 unique combos, the code ends. If you generate your combos randomly, there is more than one way to avoid getting stuck. Usually you will reach your play limit before you start reselecting the same combos over and over.
In neo-conned Amerika, bank robs you. Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms should be the name of a convenience store, not a govnoment agency.
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January 29, 2011
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Quote: Originally posted by time*treat on Apr 15, 2011
That was me with my first 1GB HD and then a few years later a "bargain" on some 9GB drives. In both cases I was all "I'll never use this much space." Remember the prices paid for those things? Seemed like good deals at the time, anyway.
................
With regard to pairs, triplets, etc., these can be kept as static lists (no real need to create them every time you run your code, but not much "cost" either) 40 choose 2 or 40 choose 3 will always produce the same two groups. 780 & 9,880.
Eg: Taking 40C2 gives 780 pairs, set an (extra) array of that depth [780x1], fill it with zeroes. That's where you'll keep score. Decide you only want to use the same pair 15 times (just an example) for a given run.
Run a combo through every other filter (to see if you'd otherwise keep it) then compare it with the "pairs" list. If the current "score" on one of the ten pairs that subset the combo is equal to your limit, then drop that combo. If you get to the end of the list and the combo is still good, then keep it ... and update the relevant ten pairs scores (a tracking array will save you the trouble of having to run through the list twice).
There's no loop to get trapped in [aside from occasional problems between the keyboard and chair], once you run out of 40 choose 5 unique combos, the code ends. If you generate your combos randomly, there is more than one way to avoid getting stuck. Usually you will reach your play limit before you start reselecting the same combos over and over.
You guys picked the right time to learn how to program computers. When I got my old Kaypro with its CPM operating system, 198K gloppies and 32k ram it came with a word processor that did everything I could imagine a computer doing, a spreadsheet so much better than a Friedan mechanical calculator, and a small db system it seemed to me someone had already done all the heavy lifting and there wasn't much point learning how to program it. I never did.
Now, 30+ years later every time I go to town I check out the bulletin board at the college there in hopes of finding some young hotshot willing to hire out cheaply to write a program to do what I'd like it to do. Meanwhile I'm stuck with my windows/EXCEL memory hog and all the limitations they carry as baggage.
Texas United States
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May 2, 2004
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Quote: Originally posted by RL-RANDOMLOGIC on Apr 15, 2011
RJOh
I wrote my first lottery program on a tandy computer. It had two external 5.25 360K floppy drives and was
the envy of everyone. I remember that I had to put in the first disk and turn it on then after it read that disk I
would need to put in a second disk before it would boot to a A:\ prompt. I later got a 20mb HDD for it that was
mounted on a ISA card. I think it was called a winchester drive. I remember thinking that it would take the rest
of my life to fill a 20mb drive. I know what you mean about the time it takes to run that much data and a few
10 minuet runs can add up. Add to this writting some small bit of code to test some new idea and it can very
easy turn into a couple hours.
RL
RL, RJOH,
You two are telling the story of Christmas, 1987.
Our oldest son, Jeremy, wanted to take a spring course on computer basics, which was just beginning to be taught in high school. So we decided to get him a Tandy 256 with a 5 1/4, 360K, floppy drive. When I saw the guy demonstrating it, and heard the assurance that Tandy was not going out of business because it had Radio Shack's backing. I decided I had to have one to see what this monster was all about.
Wrote my first program on it too. Made my first $25 bucks programming by selling an addition/subtraction program to one of those magazine that used to include a disk. It wasn't much but I also got a years subscription to the magazine so I thought it was cool.
Added a 300 baud modem which took 2 minutes for a page to load! And a dot matrix printer with tractor feed paper. Some days I'd like to have that printer back. Those ribbons lasted a lot longer than an ink cartridge does today too.
Kentucky United States
Member #32,651
February 14, 2006
10,302 Posts Online
Quote: Originally posted by RL-RANDOMLOGIC on Apr 15, 2011
RJOh
I wrote my first lottery program on a tandy computer. It had two external 5.25 360K floppy drives and was
the envy of everyone. I remember that I had to put in the first disk and turn it on then after it read that disk I
would need to put in a second disk before it would boot to a A:\ prompt. I later got a 20mb HDD for it that was
mounted on a ISA card. I think it was called a winchester drive. I remember thinking that it would take the rest
of my life to fill a 20mb drive. I know what you mean about the time it takes to run that much data and a few
10 minuet runs can add up. Add to this writting some small bit of code to test some new idea and it can very
easy turn into a couple hours.
RL
Mine was the Tandy Color Computer that used a tape recorder or one external 5.25 360K floppy drive. I had to copy each component on another floppy disk to use Microsoft's Desk Mate program. Tandy also made a pocket computer that used a docking station to download programs off cassettes.
Fort Worth, TX United States
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Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Apr 15, 2011
You obviously have spent little or no time compiling lottery data.
The time depends on the amount of data you have and the amount of information you want the computer to generate. For example I have 2243 drawings in my RC5 file and it take about .3 sec. to compare one drawing with the other 2242 but if I want to compare all 2243 with the other 2243, that's 750 secs. or about 10 minutes. That's very fast compared to doing the same thing with paper and pencil but a super computer using a program designed by a super programmer using machine language could do the whole job in less than 10 secs. It takes about 25 secs for my program to check all 2243 drawing combinations for length, range, sums and etc., but once I have all that information it has to be sorted several different ways to make sense of it which could take another 5-10 minutes each time sorted. Five and ten minutes here and there add up after a while and I may have spent almost an hour and that's more time than most folks are willing to spend generating data to play a game.
Keep in mind that my programs are written using a high level computer language and them complied which doesn't make the speediest computer programs.
Thank you for taking the time to explain that RJOh. I actually have spent quite a bit of time compiling data. In fact the computer only takes a few minutes at most analyzing the data but when I step into the process, well that is easily days of work. But then again, I'm a newbie and very inefficient. I just wanted to know what part of the process the seasoned professionals were taking so long at so I know what to look forward to in the future and make sure I don't waste too much time.
Side note: People act like we don't have time machines. Yet we do. Just asking questions to those that came before you and observing where there at now. Good enough for me.
mid-Ohio United States
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March 24, 2001
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Quote: Originally posted by RL-RANDOMLOGIC on Apr 15, 2011
RJOh
I wrote my first lottery program on a tandy computer. It had two external 5.25 360K floppy drives and was
the envy of everyone. I remember that I had to put in the first disk and turn it on then after it read that disk I
would need to put in a second disk before it would boot to a A:\ prompt. I later got a 20mb HDD for it that was
mounted on a ISA card. I think it was called a winchester drive. I remember thinking that it would take the rest
of my life to fill a 20mb drive. I know what you mean about the time it takes to run that much data and a few
10 minuet runs can add up. Add to this writting some small bit of code to test some new idea and it can very
easy turn into a couple hours.
RL
Sounds like we both traveled similar paths but mine started out with a TI computer and then to a Commode 64 before I bought a Tandy1000. Both the TI and Commode had a console Basic that were similar to Tandy RS Basic which was GWBasic with a few extra features.
Some of the routines I used on my Tandy computer I still use in my GWBasic programs today. I fear Window7 will end my use of GWBasic but for right now I still have a couple of computers with WindowXP that still have a few years left so I have time to learn a new version of Basic and rewrite my programs to work with Window7 or higher.
I'm just lucky that the last XP computer I bought was a HP which has lasted longer than PackardBell and E-machine computers I bought earlier. After a couple of years their power supplies couldn't support the extras I added and a bigger power supply wouldn't fit in them. My old 8088 Tandy1000 never did quit, time past it by with VGA and faster processors. I was sorry to see Radio Shack give up the Tandy brand, they made computers that lasted and didn't over heat after a couple of years and quit. My old Commode has a similar problem which quicken my purchase of the Tandy1000.
* you don't need to buy every combination, just the winning ones *
mid-Ohio United States
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March 24, 2001
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Quote: Originally posted by mayhem on Apr 15, 2011
Thank you for taking the time to explain that RJOh. I actually have spent quite a bit of time compiling data. In fact the computer only takes a few minutes at most analyzing the data but when I step into the process, well that is easily days of work. But then again, I'm a newbie and very inefficient. I just wanted to know what part of the process the seasoned professionals were taking so long at so I know what to look forward to in the future and make sure I don't waste too much time.
Side note: People act like we don't have time machines. Yet we do. Just asking questions to those that came before you and observing where there at now. Good enough for me.
I just wanted to know what part of the process the seasoned professionals were taking so long at so I know what to look forward to in the future and make sure I don't waste too much time.
Self-taught rather than seasoned professionals might be a better description. If you learned to program from a professional at a school then you probably avoided some of the bad habits one can develop when self-taught that make a computer program very inefficient. Also some of the latest versions of the high level languages have routines which took several lines of code to duplicate in their older versions.
* you don't need to buy every combination, just the winning ones *
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March 13, 2008
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Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Apr 15, 2011
Mine was the Tandy Color Computer that used a tape recorder or one external 5.25 360K floppy drive. I had to copy each component on another floppy disk to use Microsoft's Desk Mate program. Tandy also made a pocket computer that used a docking station to download programs off cassettes.
Stack
I think I still have a box of those old tapes, they looked like a cassette tape. I also had a old colorado tape drive
I used as a backup, don't remember the year. I still have a tandy dot matrix printer that I use with a data logger
from time to time. That stuff was so cool back then. 300kb modem LMAO my first modem was a 9600.
United States
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Quote: Originally posted by RJOh on Apr 15, 2011
Sounds like we both traveled similar paths but mine started out with a TI computer and then to a Commode 64 before I bought a Tandy1000. Both the TI and Commode had a console Basic that were similar to Tandy RS Basic which was GWBasic with a few extra features.
Some of the routines I used on my Tandy computer I still use in my GWBasic programs today. I fear Window7 will end my use of GWBasic but for right now I still have a couple of computers with WindowXP that still have a few years left so I have time to learn a new version of Basic and rewrite my programs to work with Window7 or higher.
I'm just lucky that the last XP computer I bought was a HP which has lasted longer than PackardBell and E-machine computers I bought earlier. After a couple of years their power supplies couldn't support the extras I added and a bigger power supply wouldn't fit in them. My old 8088 Tandy1000 never did quit, time past it by with VGA and faster processors. I was sorry to see Radio Shack give up the Tandy brand, they made computers that lasted and didn't over heat after a couple of years and quit. My old Commode has a similar problem which quicken my purchase of the Tandy1000.
RJOh
I think that much of your code will run in QB64 which will be around for a long time. Those that want to
do some basic programming should try it out. About anything needed for lottery can be done in basic.