RE: [Newbies] conceptual design help
Hi Joe, Depending on how many different structures you have you may want to consider having some external configuration object. My first thought when reading your description was that there are only so many ways to parse, and so many different types of data. Having a collection of parser objects that handle specific translations seems clean. Once you have an idea of what types of translations you need you could trigger those operations by building your collection of parser objects from an external config file. In that way you read the parameters in (could be a file in the JPMorgan directory) conf.xml or parse.conf something like that, and then use that to set up your parser. The parser is then written to be generic and reusable. It would allow you to write methods once and then reuse them for files you haven't seen yet by creating a new config file for your format. You could even have a config file generator that asks you questions and shows you the results from a current sample data file. :) fieldSeperator: #comma. fieldDelimited: #doubleQuote. nameSeperator: #comma. nameFormat: 'title, first, [mi], last, [suffix]'. balance: #USD. fieldOrder: 'id, name, balance'. ... One other thought is if there is a way for the system to determine what format to use (this is a JPMorgan file) then instead of an external config file you could just store the different configs internally and match for the right config collection and error if one doesn't exist (asking the user to create one using your config builder method). if you can't match then having a file in a JPMorgan directory seems simple enough. In general thinking of the setup step as a collection of generic parser configuration objects instead of a different parsing method for each file, simplifies everything. Of course back to my original point, writing 3 parser methods will go faster if there are not that many formats. There is always a trade off when you consider building a framework or just hacking some code that works :). All the best, Ron Teitelbaum > From: Joseph Alotta > Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2016 6:15 PM > > Greetings, > > I am writing a program to consolidate all my personal finances for tax time > next year. (This is not a school project.) > > There are transaction files from several banks and credit card companies. > Each has a similar format, CSV, but they vary in many ways, order of items, > extra notes, pipe delimited or tabs, etc. I want to read them and load them > into a collection of transaction objects. > > 1. Should I have a FileReader object? > > 2. Should it have subclasses like FileReaderAmericanExpress, > FileReaderJPMorgan ? > > 3. Or should it have different methods like loadAmericanExpresFile, > loadJPMorganFile ? > > 4. Is a Collection of Transaction objects, the structure that you would load > the files into? > > The rest of the project would be to do data checking on the files, to make > sure there are no duplicates or missing dates. Then write reports that I can > give to my accountant. > > I would appreciate some design help? > > Sincerely, > > Joe.___ > Beginners mailing list > Beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org > http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners ___ Beginners mailing list Beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners
[Newbies] conceptual design help
Hi Joe, I agree with Kirt's suggestions in general. See more below. On Thu, 28 Apr 2016 17:15:05 -0500, Joseph Alotta wrote: >Greetings, >I am writing a program to consolidate all my personal finances for tax time >next year. (This is not a school project.) >There are transaction files from several banks and credit card companies. >Each has a similar format, CSV, but they vary in many ways, order of items, >extra notes, pipe delimited or tabs, etc. I want to read them and load them >into a collection of transaction objects. >1. Should I have a FileReader object? >2. Should it have subclasses like FileReaderAmericanExpress, >FileReaderJPMorgan ? No. I would with the object you want to hold the information and work out from there. An object or your main program object should read the files and instantiate the objects (same class) that gets the data. >3. Or should it have different methods like loadAmericanExpresFile, >loadJPMorganFile ? Yes. Use different methods to read and parse the files and instantiate the objects. Depending upon how close (similar) the files are you could have a method with a few parameters (three or four at most) that handles more than one file. >4. Is a Collection of Transaction objects, the structure that you would load >the files into? Yes. An ordered or sorted collection would be good so you could sort by date/time if that is helpful. >The rest of the project would be to do data checking on the files, to make >sure there are no duplicates or missing dates. Then write reports that I can >give to my accountant. Sounds good. >I would appreciate some design help? >Sincerely, >Joe. Lou -- Louis LaBrunda Keystone Software Corp. SkypeMe callto://PhotonDemon ___ Beginners mailing list Beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners
Re: [Newbies] conceptual design help
Joe, My suggestion is to use fewer object classes and more methods. Play with it until you know what you are doing, then objects, instance variables, and methods come more naturally without as much need for prior design. You can refactor or reorganize fairly quickly once you master the application and tools available. Sometimes it is necessary to write new versions of an application as you learn more about what you need. Included in this advice is a suggestion to keep working your software over and over in Smalltalk and not abstract it on paper too much which can waste time. A design embedded in software is a lot closer to working than a design on paper (or CRC cards). But occasionally a few notes on paper can help when going from one version to a new one. Kirk On Thu, Apr 28, 2016 at 3:15 PM, Joseph Alotta wrote: > Greetings, > > I am writing a program to consolidate all my personal finances for tax > time next year. (This is not a school project.) > > There are transaction files from several banks and credit card companies. > Each has a similar format, CSV, but they vary in many ways, order of items, > extra notes, pipe delimited or tabs, etc. I want to read them and load > them into a collection of transaction objects. > > 1. Should I have a FileReader object? > > 2. Should it have subclasses like FileReaderAmericanExpress, > FileReaderJPMorgan ? > > 3. Or should it have different methods like loadAmericanExpresFile, > loadJPMorganFile ? > > 4. Is a Collection of Transaction objects, the structure that you would > load the files into? > > The rest of the project would be to do data checking on the files, to make > sure there are no duplicates or missing dates. Then write reports that I > can give to my accountant. > > I would appreciate some design help? > > Sincerely, > > Joe.___ > Beginners mailing list > Beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org > http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners > ___ Beginners mailing list Beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners
[Newbies] conceptual design help
Greetings, I am writing a program to consolidate all my personal finances for tax time next year. (This is not a school project.) There are transaction files from several banks and credit card companies. Each has a similar format, CSV, but they vary in many ways, order of items, extra notes, pipe delimited or tabs, etc. I want to read them and load them into a collection of transaction objects. 1. Should I have a FileReader object? 2. Should it have subclasses like FileReaderAmericanExpress, FileReaderJPMorgan ? 3. Or should it have different methods like loadAmericanExpresFile, loadJPMorganFile ? 4. Is a Collection of Transaction objects, the structure that you would load the files into? The rest of the project would be to do data checking on the files, to make sure there are no duplicates or missing dates. Then write reports that I can give to my accountant. I would appreciate some design help? Sincerely, Joe.___ Beginners mailing list Beginners@lists.squeakfoundation.org http://lists.squeakfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/beginners
