Dear readers of LTW,
First of all let me introduce myself. I'm Frank Koornstra, a 26 year-old Umpire who occasionaly does some Rule 42 Judging. Every event I'm amazed at how much time the rule 42 administration is taking, so I thought I'd try to make an application that could do this simple but hour devouring task.
Of course I know that there already are a ton of Excel/Access/whatever-kind of apps for this out there, created by the finest Judges in the field. The only thing about these apps is that they're not publicly downloadable (least of the troubles) but mostly that they're not multi-OS (linux, mac, windows, etc) compatible.
Therefore, I've created Java 42, a java application that will give a solution to the rule 42 administration of a regatta. Because it's a Java app it'll run on almost any OS, as long as you have Java installed (and you probably already have). It's a simple standalone (no install needed) application which (1) registers infringements and check them with a list of competitors if needed; (2) exports a notice for competitors; and (3) exports a notice for scoring. You can import the list of competitors from an Excel- or CSV-file.
Below you can find some screenshots of the app in action. If you like it, you can download it at http://java42.sourceforge.net for free.
Also, you can find links there to register bugs that you might encounter or leave a good idea for the next version of the app. I hope you enjoy it and saves you a lot of time to do more fun stuff!
Kind regards,
Frank Koornstra
If you are using this program, Frank would love to get some feedback and suggestions what to improve.
To my knowledge, Apple does not allow Java. Therefore hat excludes, IPads, IPhones, etc.
ReplyDeleteHTML5 is the way to go for universal use. Please pass this along.
And thanks for picking up the LTW blog again.
Sent from David's Apple iPad
@David: You're right that web apps are the way to go if you want to maximize compatibility. When building Java 42 I first looked at the current way of administrating yellow flags. In the future I might look into Android/iPhone apps.
ReplyDeleteThe problem with this is that you need a central place, a server of some kind, to keep all the data. When the apps can connect to this server through the internet, there's no problem. But as said before, many Officials abroad don't have a internet connection (on the water). Then you have to look at other ways of connecting to the server, like first storing everything on the mobile device and then somehow get that to the server later. For now, this overreaches my knowledge, because I'm not familiar with building apps for iPhone/Android. If however someone is really interested in this option and able to make the app, I'm certainly willing to find a way to get the data into Java 42.
Can you provide a summary somewhere of what this application does and how it works? I don't quite understand what you would need to "administer" about Rule 42 - clearly as a yacht sailor I don't understand the hoopla about this which seems to be focused on dinghies. Can you link to any background articles?
ReplyDelete@J.
ReplyDeleteAt the major and some minor 'dinghy' events Appendix P, special procedures for rule 42, is used. That means that there are on-the-water juryboats with jurymembers who watch the fleet for infringements of rule 42 i.e. pumping, rocking, ooching, sculling, etc. In short illegal kinetics.
After the races a list must be published of all boats penalized according to this Appendix P.
This program is designed to administrate that.
Have a look at the on-line notice board of Rolex Miami OCR: http://rmocr.ussailing.org/2011/onb.htm and click on the Rule 42 Notice Board.
What is considered illegal propulsion can be found at:
http://www.sailing.org/tools/documents/42interpretations2010final-[8881].pdf
on the ISAF Website.
Also J.