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On Thursday 16 March 2006 11:00 pm, Ben wrote: > I think it'd likely be obscenely difficult to programme, The programming isn't the hard part. Obtaining and updating the data is the hard part. There's no updated source for all this stuff and you can't rely on the user typing in every single listing. Plus, what about take-aways and restaurants? IMHO you are trying to micro-manage the situation. Take a wider view. > but I would > like to construct a program which is capable of making > recommendations/instructions on how to change one's diet based on the > exact diet input, Biological variation alone makes this unlikely. Add in specialised diets and medical conditions and it becomes even more difficult. > even down to the brand the user buys. It might also be > able to tell them how to save money simultaneously. Now you're adding a requirement for constant price updates - where's all this data going to come from? Who updates it? Special offers? Geographic variation? (Many companies 'band' their prices according to the prevailing competition in the immediate area. Stores a few miles apart can vary in price by as much as 5-15%.) > It'd need a > user-maintained list of products worldwide for proper use, A truly massive undertaking - the rate of change alone makes this difficult. It's hard enough tracking the currency markets, at least there we have some form of centralised reporting mechanisms that update reasonably frequently. > but would > have an easy interface for the creation of such items. It would take the > inputs - products eaten - calculate a person's health rating, estimated > future BMI, etc... Health is far, far more than just diet. You'd have to build in activity profiles, medical history, ethnicity, family history, social environment, smoking, alcohol, lifestyle, mental outlook, support networks etc... > Any encouragement, dejection-provoking cynicism and/or help with > designing such a monster would be lovely. Eyes bigger than your tummy? -- Neil Williams ============= http://www.data-freedom.org/ http://www.nosoftwarepatents.com/ http://www.linux.codehelp.co.uk/
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