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[REBOL] Re: Temporal data [was is REBOL OO]

From: gerardcote:sympatico:ca at: 12-Jan-2004 20:51

Hi Sunanda, you wrote this : ==========
> The other thing that is vital with this sort of application is not just > availability checking (have we got what they've asked for?) but also the automatic > offering of alternatives. > > In your example, the system should automatically offer these sorts of > alternatives (assuming they are available) and sequence them in a blend of the > customer's priorities (wednesdays are nice, but evenings are essential) and the > company's yield management goals (we gotta take some afternoon bookings soon!) > -- 11 consecutive weds plus 1 after a gap over Thanksgiving weekend. > -- 12 consecutive thursdays starting 3 weeks after their desired date > -- 10 consecutive wednesdays late afternoons > -- 6 weeks here and 6 weeks at our sister site ten blocks away. >
I'm glad someone here on the ML has already had sufficient experience in th epast with that kind of reservation system so that he is able to complete what was coming before I had to complete myself the example. In fact you are absolutely right when you say that the next step is to offer some alternatives to the customer that are based upon his own priorities (which are generally not known before the CALL had been placed to the clerk. This is exactly what the reality is for this system too. Sometime a client prefer to keep one tuesday p.m. while on another time he will prefer to advance all the reservations one hour sooner or he will prefer to move all wednesdays for thursdays but keep them at 8 p.m. It's similar in all points to what you exposed above and this is why I really thiunk that the humain brain is really enjoying many advantages over a computer system when it comes to express and analyse in real-time what these constraints are. a simple exchange with the clerk by phone and the 2 can agree with some proposed adjustment without having to bother with keyboarding the alternatives or priorities. And the best part is no more training costs and delays for such a manual system - everybody has used some pencil and paper in the past. But I would have liked to try it even though if it is not manageable at all - for fun and learning.
> If that doesn't scare you off, then I do have in my head a design for such a > system (though not so high performance) using REBOL and (if we have to -- but > I'd rather not) a standard SQL database for the raw user data. It's been on > the backburner for the past year or so, as the people who want it are nothing > like ready. There is a chance it might be a goer later this year. > > But I'm still fairly agnostic about whether REBOL is a great tool for this. >
I'm interested to look at this beast if I really get an eye on it but it will also take much time before I would be ready to analyse the way it is really functioning I think. Nevertheless my needs will never be those of the Flights reservation system since a skating is opened only between 6:00 and 23:59 at one hour interval and there is only very few other apps running on this computer at a given time - the most demanding being Excel or Word during tests and after it would be ported on a dedicated computer for enabling this job. At least it is what that was planned until the manager decided that the proposed system would not scale either ;-) and kept the paper and pencil. He simply posts his entries in a deferred manner into the agenda after the verbal exchange took place with his client. And it will be so until I can prove him that is not the best way to do. Never I will try to prove anything like that because I know the real "complexity" inherent with the fact that this task must be accomplished in real-time even during the exchange with the customer and this is not what the computer is good for at this moment. I really appreciate your comment and if you feel like you could let me see the state of your work I would be grateful for too. But I will not either be furious against you if you don't because I know what sum of work it represents. In all cases, Thank you for listening and posting. Regards, Gerard