# Application Design Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Rails\ **Created:** [January 10, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/application-design-question/60688 "2006-01-10T04:48:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bplummer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/application-design-question/60688/1 "2006-01-10T04:48:30Z")
I am designing an application to run a fishing tournament I am hosting. Each fish entered will be given a point total based on the length of the fish and the species of fish. Each species has a point multiplier. For Example Trout have a multiplier of 10 so a 20 inch Trout would have a score of 200. My conundrum is in where and when do I calculate the points. The options I have come up with so far: 1. Calculate when the fish is entered into the system. This seems like the easiest but if I change the scoring recalculating the scores is a bit troublesome. 2. Calculate when displayed. Seems rather intensive CPU wise and makes doing “Top 10” list rather troublesome. I am leaning towards option 1 but I wanted to ping the community to see if anyone has any brilliant ideas. TIA - Bill ---
**Author:** ![bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bplummer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 6:21am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/application-design-question/60688/2 "2006-01-10T06:21:57Z")
On Monday 09 January 2006 10:46 pm, Bill P. wrote: > like the easiest but if I change the scoring recalculating the scores > is a bit troublesome. > > 1. Calculate when displayed. Seems rather intensive CPU wise and > makes doing “Top 10” list rather troublesome. > > I am leaning towards option 1 but I wanted to ping the community to > see if anyone has any brilliant ideas. I vote for #2 for the exact reason you stated as a disadvantage of #1. Also, #2 better complys with DRY, because you don’t have that extra column hanging around. That being said, if there are thousands of fish, and the web page is being hit alot, I vote for #1 for speed considerations (which is the rationale for most DRY violations). You could always make a procedure to update the point field based on the latest equation, and run it at midnight 🙂 SteveT Steve L. Author: - Universal Troubleshooting Process courseware - Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist - Rapid Learning: Secret Weapon of the Successful Technologist Webmaster - [Troubleshooters.Com](http://Troubleshooters.Com) - [http://www.troubleshooters.com](http://www.troubleshooters.com) ---
**Author:** ![bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bplummer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 6:34am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/application-design-question/60688/3 "2006-01-10T06:34:08Z")
Thanks Steve, for my “Top Ten” problem aka creating a sorted list would you suggest I do that in SQL space? I also need to do a leader board where each users points are totaled then the users are sorted. I am leaning towards #1 since I hopefully won’t be changing the points system and if I do a one time update should be fine. Thanks! On Jan 9, 2006, at 9:22 PM, Steve L. wrote: > > 1. Calculate when the fish is entered into the system. This seems > > #1. Also, > > based on the latest equation, and run it at midnight 🙂 > > - [http://www.troubleshooters.com](http://www.troubleshooters.com) > > * * * > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) - Bill ---
**Author:** ![bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bplummer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 7:17am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/application-design-question/60688/4 "2006-01-10T07:17:09Z")
Thanks Jesse that works great but doesn’t feel very DRY but I am probably just clueless about how to make it DRY 🙂 On Jan 9, 2006, at 9:34 PM, Jesse F. wrote: > > scores is a bit troublesome. > > to get a “Top 10” list. - Bill ---
**Author:** ![bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bplummer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 6:37am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/application-design-question/60688/5 "2006-01-10T06:37:20Z")
Bill P. wrote: > the easiest but if I change the scoring recalculating the scores is a > bit troublesome. > > 1. Calculate when displayed. Seems rather intensive CPU wise and makes > doing “Top 10” list rather troublesome. > > I am leaning towards option 1 but I wanted to ping the community to see > if anyone has any brilliant ideas. > > TIA ## You don’t need to do either. For example, your SQL query could look like select multiplier\*length as score from entries order by score desc limit 10 to get a “Top 10” list. Jesse F. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) University of Chicago - NSIT Web Services AIM: farmerje Jabber: removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid Phone: (773)363-1058 ---
**Author:** ![bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bplummer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 1:55pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/application-design-question/60688/6 "2006-01-10T13:55:34Z")
I’d do option 2. If in the future you are running a new tournament with new rules, then it’s easy to pull up the “classic” fish of yesteryear and calculate what their scores would be easily…so something of the lines of pulling up Jebb’s winners 10 years running would be a snap. I’d also do this in SQL space. I’d likely have a table or something VERY handy in my Ruby script to hold my score multipliers for each fish (I’d very much likely have this in a table of fishes or something more normalized). I’d cache my results. I’d have a beer and gloat. Hope this helps in the decision process. ---
**Author:** ![bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bplummer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 3:39pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/application-design-question/60688/7 "2006-01-10T15:39:30Z")
On Tuesday 10 January 2006 01:16 am, Bill P. wrote: > Thanks Jesse that works great but doesn’t feel very DRY but I am > probably just clueless about how to make it DRY 🙂 Hi Bill, I think Jesse’s solution is as DRY as it gets. He’s calculating on the fly, so he’s not storing an extra column. I hadn’t read your post carefully, so I wasn’t aware that you’re only displaying 10 rows. I can’t imagine the 10 rows would slow a web browser. Jesse has a great solution. He’s shifting the calculation from your controller to the DBMS itself. I’d imagine the DBMS is optimized to do that. I don’t know if there’s a Railsish way to do Jesse’s solution, but you can always use the find\_by\_sql method. SteveT > > > 1. Calculate when the fish is entered into the system. This seems > > > select multiplier\*length as score from entries order by score > > > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > > > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) > > - Bill > > * * * > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) – Steve L. Author: - Universal Troubleshooting Process courseware - Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful Technologist - Rapid Learning: Secret Weapon of the Successful Technologist Webmaster - [Troubleshooters.Com](http://Troubleshooters.Com) - [http://www.troubleshooters.com](http://www.troubleshooters.com) (Legal Disclaimer) Follow these suggestions at your own risk. ---
**Author:** ![bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/6de8d8/32.png) [@bplummer](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/bplummer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2006, 7:38am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/application-design-question/60688/8 "2006-01-10T07:38:18Z")
I vote for #2, but honestly, whether you do it in SQL or generate it from Rails, is it really going to be that bad? We’re talking multiplication of a few small numbers, not rotating 3D objects in real-time. Bill, you’re going to get a lot better at this as you go, and later on you’ll have the framework and knowledge to test it yourself. I know you want to do the right thing initially, but part of this is experimentation - Nic On 1/9/06, Bill P. [removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid](mailto:removed_email_address@domain.invalid) wrote: > > > 1. Calculate when the fish is entered into the system. This seems > > > #1. Also, > > > based on the latest equation, and run it at midnight 🙂 > > > > - [http://www.troubleshooters.com](http://www.troubleshooters.com) > > * * * > > Rails mailing list > removed\_email\_address@domain.invalid > [http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails](http://lists.rubyonrails.org/mailman/listinfo/rails) – - Nic