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NS Basic/Palm Programming Contest 2007 Results
December 31, 2007
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Here are the results of NS Basic/Palm Programming Contest 2007. Many entries show new ideas, neat tricks and high quality of design. We congratulate the winner and thank all participants for making this contest successful. You don't need to be a licensed user of NS Basic/Palm to try these out. Unless otherwise noted, they will run on any Palm OS device. Some of the best entries do not appear at all. These projects are usually commercial, developed for a specific user. While they could quite easily win an award, the owners of the program prefer not to publicize the product. In these cases, we have no choice but to leave them out of this listing. It's a pity: there are some remarkable business apps out there. |
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Test Match Cricket by Alan Simpson A test match cricket simulator. Re-play the classic international series or pitch your fantasy teams against each other. Features career statistics on 640 players from 1876 to 2006, 56 grounds around the world and realistic weather, ball and pitch conditions. "In the development of my Test Match Cricket game for the Palm OS, I needed to balance power with simplicity. The "tap-and-play" control interface provides an easy learning curve for the user, yet at the same time the game incorporates sufficient depth and realism to engross the hard-core cricket fan. NS Basic provided the perfect toolkit for this type of application." Judge's Comments: We were bowled over by this one. Would the Australia 1876 team beat Bangladesh 2006? (We don't know - the match was rained out late on the 5th day for a draw.) Amazing graphics, organization and attention to detail - you can play against the Palm's AI strategy, or, if you're lazy, make it play against itself. The program is supported by an excellent blog.
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Ainsatz by Thomas Dornscheidt The application is for entering work orders of field service technicians. The fields are fully individually editable. The output of the work orders can be made to the standard calendar (incl. category), memo pad, mail (on Treo devices), on SD-Card (HTML, CSV). Judge's Comments: Well done and nicely implemented. Good screen design.
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Capture by Tan Thoo Song A player clicks on a box to see if it is a general or soldier. You need 1 general and 5 soldiers to win. Judge's Comments: Not much here yet - looks like a simple proof of concept.
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CCUGuide by Steve Anisman The program is meant to be a clinical handbook at the point of care for rapid access of important (but occasionally esoteric) cardiology information, as would be used by cardiologists, cardiology fellows, etc. Judge's Comments: There is a wealth of information in this app: it's like carrying several reference volumes in your pocket. Improved use of color and graphics would make the program appear more impressive.
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CodeMaster by Tan Thoo Song A version of MasterMind, a simple code-breaking board game for two players. Judge's Comments: Game works well. Graphics are simple.
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ConfigNTime by Jim Paul This utility generates the config word for 16f628a PIC processors. It can also calculate the Pic Time Delay. Judge's Comments: This is a good example of a simple calculation that was easy to put together using NS Basic/Palm. It was Jim's first NSB program.
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EM Rules by Michael Ward This program makes a wide variety of reference information and calculations available for emergency room doctors. Judge's Comments: Lots of information presented in a simple, straightforward fashion.
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enLARGE by Andrew Wittner enLARGE lets you instantly and accurately compute the exposure time needed for an enlargement of any size - from a given negative and within the range of 1 to 20 magnifications - once the exposure time is known for an enlargement of any one size within this range. Judge's Comments: Sure to be handy for serious darkroom workers, this program is straightforward to use. Some work on the details of the UI would make this better.
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Machinist's Toolbox by Tim Markowski This program contains all the reference material a machinist will need - plus, it can help them quickly do the complex calculations that are needed to get the job done. "I've used several different development tools for the various handheld platforms. When it comes to bang for the buck and ease of use, NSBasic was the natural choice. Without it, our Machinist ToolBox PDA software wouldn't be the popular shop utility it has become." Judge's Comments: This easy to use commercial grade application should be a big help to machinists. Forms are attractive and well laid out. There are versions for Windows Mobile, Windows CE and Palm OS.
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NSB4PalmOSHandyBook by Michael Verive A demo of a version of the book, stripped of graphics and formatting, but with a grid-based error code list. This demo only contains the introduction and first 5 chapters, and was written to demonstrate the efficiency of simple NSBasic database and grid functions (the entire application only contains 19 lines of code!). Judge's Comments: More of a proof of concept than a real app, the source code is included.
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PalmBrite by Michael Verive The traditional kid's toy brought to Palm OS devices. Judge's Comments: Simple and easy to use - if you have young children, you can give them this activity to play. Source code included.
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PCTime! by Carmine Castiglia PCTime! makes it easy to calculate production time and costs for the parts you make. On the plant floor, you can accurately estimate actual production rates and costs and for performing what-if analysis. Judge's Comments: Well thought through program is easy to use and has nice layout and graphics. Also runs on Windows Mobile devices using StyleTap.
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pTa by Pablo Saborio The purpose of the program is to detect in which blood pressure percentile is the systolic and diastolic blood pressure of a child. Additionally, the program can classify the degree of hypertension if exist and enumerate hypertension causes according to the child age. Judge's Comments: Straightforward calculation - nothing fancy, but certainly useful.
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QikList by Ron Slater An easy to use To Do list/organizer. QikList's user interface is what makes it unique. QikList is designed so that the user can interact with it without using the stylus, i.e. single-handedly. Judge's Comments: This isn't a completed app, but shows promise. The author invites you to download it, try it out and tell him if he should complete it.
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SepsisEGDT by Michael Ward The program assists in the diagnosis and treatment of Sepsis. (For non doctors, Sepsis is a serious medical condition characterized by a whole-body inflammatory state caused by infection. Judge's Comments: A handy tool for doctors. Straightforward, nothing fancy.
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SIG by Pable Saborio The Strong Ion Gap calculator is used to identify and classify acid base disorders in the organism using Dr. Stewart's (Canadian scientist) acid base method. Judge's Comments: Straightforward calculation has nice graph feature.
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TaskPlan by Toshiyuki Mounai This program allows you to organise a set of tasks and processes, with lead times and priorities. Once done, hit the Export button to send it all to the built in ToDo list. Judge's Comments: Well done - nicely laid out and easy to use.
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TV by Mike Featherstone TV is designed to present BBCTV program schedule data tothe user in a number of different ways, including channel, time and grid. Information on individual programs can be displayed. Requires a regularly updated database from the author. Judge's Comments: With the basic engine working, this app could be developed in a number of ways to be quite interesting.
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YAIBA by mizuno-ami Cut enemies by your KATANA!, because you are a SAMURAI in this game. Judge's Comments: Use your stylus as a samurai sword in the little time waster. Could use some sound effects and more graphics, but the underlying principle works. mizuno-ami can be counted on to have an interesting entry!
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