Windows Programs: I write only a small amount of Windows and PIC software these days and will post programmes as they become sufficiently complete to be useable - updates will be posted as time allows.

The first one is a simple 32bit engineering workbench containing some basic time saving calculation routines and written in Harbour Minigui Extended. No installation is required so just download it into a convenient folder and put a short cut to it on your desktop. Please familiarise yourself with how the component value multipliers work - some are case sensitive. There are help forms that explain the operation.

Click here to download the Workshop programme - size is 1.723MB and it has been scanned for viruses with Zone Alarm. Free for use in non-commercial applications. Some formatting errors have been corrected and the default number of decimal points set to 2 (user selectable).

The second program is an Excel spreadsheet that analyses the operation of a Vackar tunable oscillator - see here for more information.

Feedback, comments or information on errors is always appreciated to g3oou(at)aol.com

Database Thoughts

When designing a database that will feature regular deletions and new additions a useful technique is to create a cache of records that are no longer required i.e. marked as deleted and hidden from the user with an index key that places them above the highest record in the current record set. When a new record is required, the software simply searches the cache for a previously deleted record and changes the index key to make it visible. An overnight process can check the cache size against the database configuration table and make whatever changes are deemed necessary. In one database application I set the cache configuration number to 10% and the overnight processing would ensure that the cache size was at least 10% of the count of valid (non deleted) records.

Software - Applications

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