I came here tonight to post that VERY thing. I love the builders and the Admins and everyone involved with its existence (and I'm not even drunk).
She didn't even touch her pumpkin. It's a freak with no face.
Willow ,'Help'
Buffistas Building a Better Board
Do you have problems, concerns or recommendations about the technical side of the Phoenix? Air them here. Compliments also welcome.
msbelle - Nov 13, 2002 8:20:57 pm PST #1453 of 10000
I remember the crazy days. 500 posts an hour. Nubmer! Natgbsb
John H - Nov 14, 2002 1:21:38 am PST #1454 of 10000
Hey is it still Hil's birthday? Here's something mathy anyway.
I found this calculation lying around in an old Perl script:
$season_number = int(($episode_number + 9)/22) +1;
where "int" means "convert to integer". It's the calculation to tell you what season of Buffy an episode is from.
I've forgotten how I arrived at it but it appears to work... it might be of use when we're working on the DB?
Hil R. - Nov 14, 2002 7:55:34 am PST #1455 of 10000
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
You can also figure out what episode number it was within the season by adding 10 and then taking it mod 22. (This won't work for season 1).
Jessica - Nov 14, 2002 7:56:49 am PST #1456 of 10000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
I'm confused -- how are the episodes numbered?
§ ita § - Nov 14, 2002 8:07:54 am PST #1457 of 10000
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
The table currently stores both season and episode, so we won't actually need it.
John H - Nov 14, 2002 1:40:36 pm PST #1458 of 10000
This won't work for season 1
I'm confused -- how are the episodes numbered?
Well there were only 12 in the first season and 22 in all subsequent seasons, so that's why it's fiddly.
The table currently stores both season and episode, so we won't actually need it.
Mine just had numbers, but I used the formula to go back and populate the fields automatically based on the number. One of those things where figuring out a formula took longer than just typing the info in, but, cooler.
Shall we make some kind of more public announcement about the database idea, like the call for adoptions thing? Should we wait for some date when things quiet down in Christmas-celebrating countries? Should it have its own thread? Are we short of coders?
Jessica - Nov 14, 2002 2:02:45 pm PST #1459 of 10000
And then Ortus came and said "It's Ortin' time" and they all Orted off into the sunset
Well there were only 12 in the first season and 22 in all subsequent seasons, so that's why it's fiddly.
No, I mean, aren't they numbered 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc? Why would there need to be a formula at all?
John H - Nov 14, 2002 2:17:02 pm PST #1460 of 10000
Well if you've got a list of them all in some database, then they're going to be listed from one to whatever.
aren't they numbered 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, etc?
I'd assume that officially, they have some kind of boring number like ME:1:6598213 or whatever.
What you need for a fan database is something more interesting anyway, you need "Episode X over all, which is Episode Y of Season Z", and you also need to note Final Episodes too, in case someone can't remember that The Gift, ep 100 (ep 22 of season 5), is also the Final Ep of that season.
[Edit: this is one of the new features I added to Mister Pointy]
katefate - Nov 14, 2002 2:18:43 pm PST #1461 of 10000
Frail my heart apart and play me a little Shady Grove
There should be more math. This could be mathier.
John H - Nov 14, 2002 2:28:44 pm PST #1462 of 10000
How do you express, in math, the idea of "if"?
I mean, the formula is more easily expressed in programming as "if x less than thirteen, season = 1; if x more than 12, season equals whatever" the thing Hil said earlier about modulus. But can you do that in maths? I'm incredibly ignorant.