Interested in writing a Datamining App - advice needed

[Surfbullet]

heya Software forum,

I'm a regular in HUSH - I'd like to code my own datamining app for Party + affiliates. I just graduated from college with a degree in computer science, i've worked with Java, Perl, C++/C, Lisp, and i've had experience with algorithms and large school-based projects, but I haven't really worked on something *practical* like this for my own use.

Any recommendations for what language to use, and any programs that might assist me? I really don't even know where to start in terms of writing a program that is able to interface with Party's software.

Thanks!

Surf

[OrcaDK]

Uhm, you've got a degree in computer science, but you don't know where to start when it comes to developing a program?

You can use any language you want to practically. C(++), Java, .NET, whatever. Win32 API calls is probably the way you want to look at.

[waffle]

if you're gonna use perl, win32::guitest is the way to go.

[Surfbullet]

[ QUOTE ]
Uhm, you've got a degree in computer science, but you don't know where to start when it comes to developing a program?


[/ QUOTE ]

Well, we'd do stuff like "go home and write a B-tree" or "write a multithreaded client-server tic-tac-toe game in java." Theoretical crap. We didn't do useful stuff like writing a program so a don't have to manually open 16 tables every time I want to datamine /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Surf

[OrcaDK]

Don't worry, soon writing distributed automated data-mining apps will be standard examination requirements /images/graemlins/smile.gif

Anyways, i'll always recommend .NET, it's fast and easy to work with, if you can live with the requirements and limits it has.

[handsome]

This is difficult if you've never handled Windows API, but if you ever get around to it, tell me which messages I have to send to retrieve items from the systreelist and systreeview. kthx

[JoshuaD]

I'd do it in C if I was serious about doing it.

That said, I'd write it up in perl first to get all the design issues out of the way, trying to design while coding something in C is hell.

[ckessel]

I write software for a living and I can tell you the most work is going to be persistence. Find a good database and spend a lot of up front time figuring out your table structure.

I'm not normally DB centric in my design, but a data mining app is obviously data-centric.

[OrcaDK]

Since we're most likely going to be using PT for the actual import, a database won't be necessary. It's just a matter of opening and closing tables automatically.

[AliasMrJones]

[ QUOTE ]
Since we're most likely going to be using PT for the actual import, a database won't be necessary. It's just a matter of opening and closing tables automatically.

[/ QUOTE ]

If you're serious about datamining, I don't think this is a very good idea. Access as a database wouldn't be my first recommendation for a datamining app.

[KJ o]

The new PT version will supposedly not use Access anymore. Besides, once you have the hands in Access, it's a small matter to move the info to a real database.

Compare that to the actual amount of work needed to recreate the PT functionality, and I would think going the PT route is an obvious choice.

[OrcaDK]

The new PT version is in fact using a PostgreSQL database, and it works wonder for speed. Datamining will be a breeze.

[beatua]

I wrote a datamining script with autoit in a few hours. It works on every party affil.. autoit v3 is highly recommended for little windows apps (it even has gui support and the scripts can be compiled into a .exe).

-runstop

[RedManPlus]

Download Winspector...
And run it concurrently with the Party Client.

This will give info...
About all the List Boxes, etc.

Winspector is Here (http://www.windows-spy.com/)

Download AutoIt...
And run the AU3Info utility...
Concurrently with the Party client.

This will give you similar info as Winspector.

Get AutoIt Here (http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/index.php)

You can go a long way in this type of app with AutoIt...
But I'm doing a data mining app in VB...
To have complete control...
And I'm gonna try to read SysListView321 tonite.

If I get it working...
Maybe I'll send you some starter code.

I can relate to your situation exactly...
Because I once graduated with a shiny new Computer Science degree...
But getting 5000 hours of programming under your belt...
Will make all the difference.

Persevere in this... It will be worth it.

rm+

/images/graemlins/cool.gif /images/graemlins/cool.gif /images/graemlins/cool.gif

[Eratosthenes]

If you are talking about writing an app to parse the hand history files and load the info into a database, then perl is the way to go. Perl was designed for parsing and reporting on text files--that's all you're doing here. The problem is that party hasn't published the hh file spec. So you write your parser and then run it to find those darn special cases that break it.

Perl is plenty fast enough. A single thread of perl will parse and store as many hand histories as you can generate. As far as I'm concerned, writing this in C or C++ would be sheer torture. Perl's reg exp handling makes this more fun than work.

[Surfbullet]

[ QUOTE ]
Perl's reg exp handling makes this more fun than work.

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree with this. I'm looking to use pokertracker for the actual imports, because I'm happy with how fast it's been running queries with the advent of the new patch... I was just doing something along the lines of what rm+ and others said, basically running an automated program to open up new tables etc.

If I were doing it whe way you described I'd def go with perl.

Thanks,

Surf

[BradleyT]

[ QUOTE ]
Download Winspector...
And run it concurrently with the Party Client.

This will give info...
About all the List Boxes, etc.

Winspector is Here (http://www.windows-spy.com/)


[/ QUOTE ]

Sweet. I removed visual studio 2002 (which had spy++) and am using 2005 beta which didn't come with spy++ and was looking for an alternative.

Thank you!

[YoureToast]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Download Winspector...
And run it concurrently with the Party Client.

This will give info...
About all the List Boxes, etc.

Winspector is Here (http://www.windows-spy.com/)


[/ QUOTE ]

Sweet. I removed visual studio 2002 (which had spy++) and am using 2005 beta which didn't come with spy++ and was looking for an alternative.

Thank you!

[/ QUOTE ]

how does 2005 look? Im using 2003 still.

[Prod1gy]

Good luck, I wrote PartyMine and interfacing with Party's software is a pain in the butt, I have been a programmer for 10 years and had problems with alot of their stuff. They have alot of custom controls that aren't easy to figure out.

[Mig]

We heard of partypoker a while back but it has never really been released /images/graemlins/blush.gif. Hopefully somone will release something like that soon so we can use it !! Really nice piece of software.

[GrunchCan]

[ QUOTE ]
Good luck, I wrote PartyMine and interfacing with Party's software is a pain in the butt, I have been a programmer for 10 years and had problems with alot of their stuff. They have alot of custom controls that aren't easy to figure out.

[/ QUOTE ]

I imagine this wasn't accidental.

[BradleyT]

[ QUOTE ]
how does 2005 look? Im using 2003 still.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like it a lot. If you design windows forms it puts up blue guidelines for aligning controls. So lets say you're moving a button onto a form that has a textbox. Once you get near the vertical or horizontal edge of the textbox a guideline shows up and the control will "snap" to the edge and line up with the other element.

Also when you code if you declare a variable but never use it VS underlines it in green. Or if you try and use a variable before it has any type of value it will underline it (Dimming it as ... Dim myVar as String = ""...will get rid of the line).

And intellisense is improved in that it offers a tab that has "common" properties or "all" properties. Makes figuring out what property to try when using an unamiliar control pretty easy by looking at the "common" list.

And when you compile and get errors, if VS knows what the proper code should look like it will have a link to click that shows you what the code should be and it will correct it for you.

The debugger is nicer too.

Of course there's probably 100 other features I haven't discovered yet that will come with time. If you have an MSDN subscription and can get it, I'd definitely recommend it.

[KJ o]

Thanks for the review.

I have the beta on a DVD at home. How stable is it? I don't mind if VS crashes, but if it takes anything else with it in the fall, the wife will be rightly upset. It's her computer, after all...

[BradleyT]

Installing can be a pain if you have any previous 2005 beta products (SQLExpress, or any of the visual IDE's) installed. But they tell you what you have to remove so anyone smart enough to use VS will be smart enough to un-install all the items on the list pretty easily.

I haven't had it crash or lock up yet.