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| Temporary Site Closure | |
| Posted On: July 9, 2001 | 10:52 P.M. CDT |
| Yeah, so you are probably wondering why when you tried to go to the site yesterday evening and today you were told that the site was temporary closed. Well, basically it was because more than one problem occured at one time. You see, usually the hits counter would mess up or something else, but just by itself. This time, the hits counter was reset, the last 15 members were deleted from the database, the downloads weren't being recorded correctly, and some other minor things. Basically, the whole reason why these problems occured was because the codes that I was using to accomplish these tasks wasn't the best that it could be. If a lot of people were trying to do the same thing (like entering the site or downloading programs) the CGI script would get "overloaded" and pretty much erase whatever database it is reading from. However, now, I think I have fixed the problem and hopefully (fingers crossed) nothing like this will ever happen again. I don't want to ever have to close the site down again. If you are one of the members whose information was lost, it has been replaced if you've resent me your member info. The profiles of all the members who have not sent me their info are pretty messed up because there is no information to put in there. Besides that, everything else should be like it was before. I basically wrote this news item to inform you guys of what happened and also to let you know that the site is once again running. I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you. If you have any comments or concerns just click on the "Discuss" link below and voice your opinions. On a side note, I have received one submission to this month's Programming Challenge. I think I have received word that there will be about 5 or so entries. Anyway, if you're planning on submitting an entry you have 6 more days. There will not be an extension! :) |
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| Program Submissions | |
| Posted On: June 29, 2001 | 11:44 P.M. CDT |
| Well, two news items in one week. That is definitely an improvement. I can't believe it was only a little over two weeks ago that BASIC Guru Online moved to the new site. It seems like more than a month, but maybe it's becuase of all the new things and new programs that I've added. But anyway, what I really want to talk about...the reason why I'm writing this news item in the first place. There are just a couple of things that I need to tell you guys just so we are all on the same page. My main big beef, is for instance submitting a v2.0 of a program already in the Archives and not calling this new version and update of the previous one. Instead some people want to have both the old and the new program on the site, and that's not what I want. From now on, if you submit a program that is a latest version of a program already in the Archives, it will be counted as an update whether you indicate that or not. It does not matter if the new program is totally different from the old one, it will still be counted as an update because it is still basically the same program. I know that this does not hold true for some programs already in the Archives, but it will in the future. There are a couple of reasons why I'm making a big deal of this. I don't want the Archives cluttered with a bunch of old versions of programs when newer versions are present (like with ticalc.org). I want it to be so that if someone goes to the TI-83 Plus BASIC Games category, they will only see the most updated version of each game, and will not have to waste their time downloading older versions. You wouldn't play an old version of your game, so why should someone else? Please understand, however, if you're submitting programs for two (or more) different calculator platforms, then it's alright to send two of the same program. You can send two versions of the same program, as long as their aren't for the same calculator. That was really my big problem, but I have another issue that needs to also be addressed. Well, this is going to be kind of a warning also. I'm not going to be sending emails back to people who have submitted the program information, but have not submitted the actual program (the second step). The whole purpose of that email you recieve after sending a program is basically to remind you to send the program. So from now on, I won't be sending little reminders, and if you don't send the actual program within a day, I will no longer keep the new program information and you will have to submit the information all over again. I know it may seem a little harsh or whatever, but I have to manage what little time I have so that I can get done everythings that needs to get done. I'm sure most of you guys wouldn't like it if the POM and SOM were started on the 3rd or the results for them didn't come out until the 18th. Okay, one last thing. This really isn't a big deal, but when you do actually submit the program can you make the actual zip file name, match the file name that you put in the form? I can change it, but it would make things easier. So if you put "games" as your file name, please send me games.zip and not GAMES.zip or something like that. I guess that is about it. I would love to see what you have to say on this topic, so you can reply to it at the General Message Board, which you can get to by clicking the "Discuss" link below. |
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| New Site!!! | |
| Posted On: June 13, 2001 | 2:18 A.M. CDT |
| Wow, it's been a really long time since I've written a news item, but I think this definitely warrants one. BASIC Guru Online has moved to a new location: http://bgo.netfirms.com/. You may be wondering, "What was wrong with the old one?" Well there wasn't really anything wrong with it, it's just that it didn't let me do some things that I wanted to do. First of all, with the old site, I had to do EVERYTHING manually. I had to update the poll results and downloads. I had to accept new members, add new links, and a whole lot of other stuff, when piled all together took a lot of time. This all prevented me from creating new tutorials, the whole purpose of this site. Now, with the new features, members are automatically accepted, links are automatically added, downloads are automatically counted, and the poll results update themselves. All that I'll have to do now is add in new programs, and that's just a matter of adding and modifying a few lines in the database instead of having to create new web pages. Now, I should have lots more free time to finish up the tutorials. Please don't forget to change your bookmarks to the new website address. Because I moved everything to the new site and changed some things around, it may happen that you come across a link that doesn't work. I tried my best to correct all the links (even got a service to do a links check on the site), but the probability that there are broken links still exists. So, if you run across a broken link, please let me now at links@basicguruonline.com. Please include the page where you found the link and around which part of the page the link was. I would really appreciate this. Of course with this huge change, I would like some feedback from you guys, so please vote in the new weekly poll. Also, if you would like to make some comments, send them to me at ben@basicguruonline.com. I would love to hear what you have to say. |
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| Program downloads pass 3,000 | |
| Posted On: April 4, 2001 | 8:55 P.M. CDT |
| The Program Archives is growing at an astounding rate. It has 134 programs, which have been downloaded an amazing 3,243 times. There are only 22 members who have submitted programs, so 134 total programs is a fairly large number. As of right now, there are 9 members with at least 100 downloads, 6 members with at least 200 downloads, 4 members with at least 300 downloads, 3 members with at least 400 downloads, 2 members with at least 500 downloads, and just one member (me) with at least 600 downloads. There are 2 members just 10 downloads away from having 200 downloads too. The basic feature of this site is obviously the Tutorials, with the Program Archives being just a side note, but the Program Archives is becoming a main feature itself. The two right now are running neck and neck. I think the tutorials are the main feature for those visitors and members who are just learning TI-BASIC, but for those well established members who have already made programs before coming to the site, the Program Archives is definitely the main deal. As for the tutorials, I plan to make the next one covering fractions and decimals not this weekened, but most likely the next one. We get 5 days off for Easter break so I should have pretty of free time on my hands. |
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| Tutorial 28 completed | |
| Posted On: March 13, 2001 | 6:24 P.M. CDT |
| Cool, my last news item was written exactly one month ago. But anyway...the news. Tutorial 28: Matrices is finally finished. Suprisingly, it only took me about three days to make it. It took two days to actually make the tutorial (in the help file), and then another day to convert it to web page format. It covers doing various tasks with matrices, including the basic math operations like adding, subtracting, and multiplying. The main focus of the tutorial, however, is using matrices in games. Now let me tell you ahead of time that the tutorial is kinda long, but it isn't the codes that are long. The thorough explanations of the code (especially the last one) take up more than half the space probably. I just wanted to make sure that I covered everything in each code. I didn't want to leave anything hanging. There is also some color in some of the screen shots to aid you in seeing just how matrices work. I think you will like it. I might even go ahead and start on the next tutorial about using fractions and decimals. I don't think it will take that long to do, so maybe I'll be able to get it done before Spring Break ends. There is something that has just come up, which I really did not think would be a problem again. Recently, somebody has been excessively rating a certain program (I won't disclose the name). I mean, it is kind of obvious when a program is rated 20 times all with 5 stars by the same person. I think that is very unnecessary. It is very annoying to receive that many ratings or POM nominations. It could happen that one may actually be real, but goes uncounted just because of the actions of somebody else. I'm not going to even say who I think it is, but if it is you, please stop. Thanks. Where are all the Programming Challenge submissions??!!! I was so sure that this challenge would be far more successful than the first one because it is math related and there aren't any guidelines to hold you back. I have not even received one submission!! I did not think it would be too hard. It is a programming challenge. Well, anyway, you still have about a week left to submit your program. Please participate! |
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| Hits reach 5,000 | |
| Posted On: February 13, 2001 | 10:07 P.M. CDT |
| BASIC Guru Online has been "hit" by visitors more than 5,000 times (5,097 as of now). The site actually surpassed the 5,000-hit mark two days ago, but I'm just now getting the chance to write this news item. So, that is about 5,000 hits in six months. Hopefully, the site will reach the next 5,000 quicker due to the fact that more people visit. Maybe the new Programming Challenge and Download Statistics will attract and keep more visitors. Well, this is probably the shortest news item of written, but there wasn't much to say. | |
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| BASIC Guru Online is six months old | |
| Posted On: February 3, 2001 | 11:18 P.M. CDT |
| BASIC Guru Online, which was created on August 3, 2000, has made gigantic strides in only six months. As you might know before the site even began, there was a help file version called BASIC 83 Guru. All it contains are the tutorials, and not all the extra features you see here at BASIC Guru Online. At first, the site progressed fairly slowly as I spent most of the time getting the already made tutorials on the site and making new ones. After I was at a stopping point, I created the members section, which was really the runway for the site. With members and the archives, there were reasons to come to the site. In addition, the program archives, there was a place for the members to post the programs that they might have made using the knowledge that they learned from the tutorials. From then on, many new ideas have popped into my head (or where suggested by others), and I've implemented most of them. The SOM/POM polls and the newly created Programming Challenge just to name a few. As of right now, the site has received a little of 4,700 votes, which is almost 5,000. I feel that that is pretty good for a TI site that is specifically for the TI-83 and TI-83+ calculators in BASIC. If you consider the entire realm of TI stuff, it's a very small portion. I think that the reason why the site has done as well as it has is probably mainly because of vigorous publicizing. I've spent entire days just getting my site out there, which has really helped. Also, the fact that the site grows on a daily basis and is always changing, may be why it has been so successful. I really do not know why it has been, but I am just glad that it is. Maybe you have some ideas that you'd like to discuss. Anyway, I just would like to say thanks to all the visitors of the site, especially the active members who really make the site go on because of their continued participation. |
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| Program Archives Overhaul Completed | |
| Posted On: January 7, 2001 | 4:08 P.M. CDT |
| The long, exhausting, Program Archives overhaul is finally completed. Now, the downloads for each program can accurately be counted, and you can also nominate a program to be in the next Program of the Month poll. Next Saturday, I will update the List of Members page with the new download stats and also post the new Top 10 All-Time Downloaded programs. This will give enough time for the visitors to download the programs, which will show the separation between the good programs that everyone likes and the not-so-good ones. Lastly, I have something rather important to say. I wish I did not have to say it, but if I don't I am afraid that somebody will do it. What I'm talking about deals with the new features just added to all the program's profile pages. Just like with ticalc.org, you can click the link that downloads your program many times, but not actually download the program in order to make it seem to have lots of downloads. Please do not do this. What's the point? The point of tracking downloads is to see what other people think of your program and not how many downloads you think it should receive. The second thing I want to address is the "NOMINATE ME" button. Please do not go and nominate all the programs you have here in the site. Let someone else, who thinks your program is worthy enough to be a nominee, nominate your program. Once again, the whole point is to see what other people think of your program. Nominating all your programs or nominating your program more than once defeats the whole purpose of it. I really don't want to have to go back to the old system of choosing nominees because I really want to let you guys choose. I feel really bad about having to say all of that, but I feel that it was necessary to say. If you have any comments...you know what to do. |
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| Program Downloads | |
| Posted On: January 1, 2001 | 1:53 P.M. CDT |
| If nobody has told you yet, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! This will be my first news item of 2001. Anyway, I'm back to ask for your input again on another update that I am considering implementing. As you might now, the statistics for the number of downloads a program has received is not very accurate. The stat is really based on how many times the program's profile page has been viewed. Initially, I thought that this would be accurate enough to show the program's popularity (which is mainly the whole point), but now with the ability to rate a program and leave comments, a program can receive 3 visits, when it really was only one. Also, someone might look at the program's profile page, read the description, and decide that they even want to download the program, but the counter still went up one as if that person did download the program. HOWEVER, I have found a solution to all of this. I have found away to make the count of downloads as accurate as I possibly can. The only problem is that I would have to start the whole count over. So, all the downloads that the programs may or may not receive won't count and everything will start all over, but accurate. The whole purpose of this news item to ask if that's what you want. The question is: Would you rather keep the way the downloads are calculated now and have the values that are currently listed on the List of Members page, OR would you rather have the downloads calculated accurately, but start the count all over? I'd say the good thing about starting all over is that we will really be able to see, which program really has the most downloads. When I asked for your input in the last news item, I received a lot of feedback. I hope the same will occur again. | |
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