From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: ** X-Spam-Status: No, score=2.4 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_50,REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,1ebbccbc114d641e X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-10-22 17:53:06 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news1.google.com!sn-xit-02!supernews.com!newsfeed.direct.ca!look.ca!newshub2.rdc1.sfba.home.com!news.home.com!news1.rdc1.tn.home.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Message-ID: <3BD4DC6D.9124B91D@home.com> From: Bruce or Tracy Jacobs Reply-To: bruce.tracy@the-jacobs.org X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en] (WinNT; U) X-Accept-Language: en MIME-Version: 1.0 Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Subject: Re: Genealogy Software References: <3BD498DF.27E8B66C@otelco.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 00:53:06 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.248.253.133 X-Complaints-To: abuse@home.net X-Trace: news1.rdc1.tn.home.com 1003798386 24.248.253.133 (Mon, 22 Oct 2001 17:53:06 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 17:53:06 PDT Organization: Excite@Home - The Leader in Broadband http://home.com/faster Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.ada:15055 Date: 2001-10-23T00:53:06+00:00 List-Id: I wrote some that would convert Gedcom into a book format in HTML. It is a royal headache. Lots of stuff to consider and interpret and keep up with. Cross-ref'ing is probably the most difficult part. Larry Kilgallen wrote: > > In article <3BD498DF.27E8B66C@otelco.net>, Larry Hazel writes: > > Does anyone know of any genealogy software written in Ada? With source > > available? I thought I might attempt to write some. Any suggestions for data > > representation will be appreciated. I haven't done much Ada 95, but a lot of > > Ada 83. Will need some way to represent dates going back hundreds of years > > (maybe just a fixed length string since some of them will be of the form "ca. > > 1784"). Will need a person object (maybe abstract with separate child types for > > male and female). Will link to other person objects which represent spouses, > > children, and probably backward to parents. An event object (marriage, birth, > > death, buying or selling property, ...). Bibliographical text will also be > > needed. Storage of scanned pictures and documents. > > > > Maybe this is too complicated for a 1 man home project. > > It is complicated, but in this problem domain I do not think that > means it is better suited to a larger development organization. > Discipline is the main requirement, and to some extent that may > be better achieved by an individual (who is properly motivated). > > There are a lot of details to consider: > > You need to be able to express _multiple_ birth dates, > when there are conflicting data from various sources. > There must be a capability to tie each data element > back to a source document. There must be an ability > to specify not only January 11-16, 1896 but also > January 11 _or_ 16, 1896 for cases where the source > document clearly is one or the other but which of > the two is not clear. > > For marriages, some people marry each other multiple > times (that is, the same partners changing their minds). > > I had a great uncle whose wife died, after which > he married her sister. There were children from both > marriages. That sort of arrangement formerly was quite > common in the US. Obviously you can get that correct > in the computer -- the challenge is making the user > interface clear to the humans. > > I would strongly urge you not to consider writing such software > until you have tried some that already exists. PAF was only $ 35 > the last time I checked, but it really is not necessary to buy > such software for a peek. Just find friendly genealogy fans to > "show you" their family records and you will get to see the > existing software in action. > > Hang around the genealogy newsgroups/chat boards to learn areas of > satisfaction and dissatisfaction with existing software. > > The last I knew, GEDCOM was still the standard interface format. > It has a real specification, available from the Church of Latter > Day Saints (Mormons) in the US. As part of their theology that > church has done lots of genealogy work worldwide, and my wife has > found they are quite open to sharing that information with any > non-believers who are interested. The only hitch is that film > must be viewed on their property, since that is a condition of > the agreements under which various town clerks let them film the > records (before there were computers).