Lorin Thwaits

# re: *WOW* -- People are excited about Desert Code Camp!

How many sessions run at the same time? Do you take a look at who's registered for what sessions and then run a really clever algorithm against it to schedule the best fit for everyone to attend? 7/11/2007 2:18 AM | Guy Ellis

# 10 hours later we've got 32 sessions!!!

Hi Guy!

In the past DCC has been a one-day event with 10 time slots the first time 'round (just 50 minutes each), and 8 the second time (65 minutes each). We may have to make this a 2-day event this time.

For scheduling I made an algorithm that does this, in order of priority:

* Makes sure that presenters delivering multiple sessions don't have conflicts in what they're delivering
* Puts the most popular sessions in the more preferred timeframes, during the middle of the day
* Makes sure presenters have the least number of conflicts in the sessions they've signed up to attend (they get first dibs basically)
* Makes sure attendees have the least number of conflicts in their schedule

It's all bundled into a really long SQL query. All of the source code for the site is available on CodePlex:

http://CodePlex.com/unconference 7/11/2007 7:37 AM | Lorin Thwaits

# re: *WOW* -- People are excited about Desert Code Camp!

As a nitpick suggestion, I would recommend using nvarchar's in your SQL query. Also checking it the tables existed before dropping them (to recreate new ones) might help with re-installation issues.

But otherwise hope you have a great time. I'm in Australia, so I can't really make it! =P
7/11/2007 5:33 PM | David

# re: *WOW* -- People are excited about Desert Code Camp!

Lorin: Thanks - great effort.

David: That's no excuse. 7/11/2007 5:48 PM | Guy Ellis