Help me name a program I'm writing

[ean5533]

UPDATE: The name "Spotter" has been chosen. Thank you everyone!

A while ago I tried to find a program to help me record my workouts and analyze the results (graphs, suggestions, etc). I found almost nothing, so I've decided to write my own.

I've got a fair amount done, but before I get too deep into it I'd like to come up with a good name for the program. So far I'm just referring to it was "Exercise Manager", but that's incredibly boring. On the other hand, calling it some clever but obscure made-up name won't help people find it or know what it is (for example, the mail client "Thunderbird" has a cool name, but it does absolutely nothing to tell the user that it's an email client). I think the best solution is to name it "_______ Exercise Manager", but I'm drawing a blank for that first part.

So, got any good ideas? I'm making it with Qt if that helps get your creative juices flowing.

[sydbat]

Fred.

[aG93IGRvIGkgdWJ1bnR1Pw==]

EEM Exercise Manager.

Recursive acronyms are the way to go.

[wormyblackburny]

How about: Tux-Fit, Tux-Fitness, Tux-Fitting << I like that one because it has a double meaning. Sure it might be a lil lame, but hey it's all I got off the top of my head :)

[dh04000]

The "Serious" exercise manager
The "Performance" exercise manager
The "Fitness" exercise manager
The "Open" exercise manager <---- Stallman's vote for sure
The "Tracker" exercise manager
The "Thor" exercise manager <---- I like this one :)
The "Ares" exercise manager
The "Zeus" exercise manager
The "Titan" exercise manager
The "Atlas" exercise manager
The "Almighty" exercise manager
The "Athletic" exercise manager
The "Strategic" exercise manager
The "Super" exercise manager
The "Hulk" exercise manager <---- might be too copyrighted

That's all for now. Does the winner name suggester get a prop in the credits of your application?


PS: If you add diet tracking functions, then the Diet and Exercise Manager, would be a good name.

[ean5533]

Fred.
No thanks.


EEM Exercise Manager.
Recursive acronyms are the way to go.
Not a bad idea, but recursive acronym names usually work best when the acronym is a word. "REM Exercise Manager" sounds alright, but it still doesn't strike me as amazing.


How about: Tux-Fit, Tux-Fitness, Tux-Fitting << I like that one because it has a double meaning. Sure it might be a lil lame, but hey it's all I got off the top of my head :)
I'd like to stay away from Linux-specific names. Though I'm writing the program for my Linux box, I do plan on making the program cross-platform.


The "Serious" exercise manager
The "Performance" exercise manager
The "Fitness" exercise manager
The "Open" exercise manager <---- Stallman's vote for sure
The "Tracker" exercise manager
The "Thor" exercise manager <---- I like this one :)
The "Ares" exercise manager
The "Zeus" exercise manager
The "Titan" exercise manager
The "Atlas" exercise manager
The "Almighty" exercise manager
The "Athletic" exercise manager
The "Strategic" exercise manager
The "Super" exercise manager
The "Hulk" exercise manager <---- might be too copyrighted
Wow that's a lot of suggestions. I like the Greek god names (except for Ares -- for being the god of war, he's actually a big wimp). Atlas Exercise Manager is my favorite so far.


That's all for now. Does the winner name suggester get a prop in the credits of your application?
Absolutely!

[Canime]

Top of the list,

"Serious" Exercise manager

Perhaps a little better could be something with very few letters, but workable as an acronym for something, such as the DOOM exercise manager, (even though that's not a n acronym for anything yet...)

[Canime]

Further more I own a YORK equipment bench that I use to press up regularly as I am building my pectoral muscles. Ever notice that short words are better than long ones? Strange that York would be better than the 'Obi Wan Kenobi' bench, or a much longer word I can't think of right now.

I suggest 'World Gym' fitness center.

[Ozor Mox]

Call it "Average Joe's" :D

[Canime]

Or, "Trusty" something.

[kn0w-b1nary]

Fitness Assistant.
Strength Predictor.
Fat Terminator.
Workout Witness.
Fitness Witness.
Fitness at a Glance.
Muscle Manager.
Workout Dashboard.

Hope this helps!

[ean5533]

Hearing these names has made me realize that the name of the program should not only describe what it does (manage your exercise data), but also what its goal is: to help someone get stronger. Maybe that first word should be something that reminds the user why they're using the program:


Grow Exercise Manager
Improve Exercise Manager


Then again, maybe that first word should tell the user HOW it plans to help (by giving the user suggestions via graphs and such):


Path Exercise Manager
Coach Exercise Manager


Or maybe I'm just thinking about this way too hard?

[kn0w-b1nary]

Hearing these names has made me realize that the name of the program should not only describe what it does (manage your exercise data), but also what its goal is: to help someone get stronger. Maybe that first word should be something that reminds the user why they're using the program:


Grow Exercise Manager
Improve Exercise Manager


Then again, maybe that first word should tell the user HOW it plans to help (by giving the user suggestions via graphs and such):


Path Exercise Manager
Coach Exercise Manager


Or maybe I'm just thinking about this way too hard?

Names that describe like that are good, but not catchy.

Of course it's up to you, but IMHO, catchy names are nice for everyday use programs. Note: Try to choose a name that won't backfire, like "broken" Windows 7.

[ean5533]

Names that describe like that are good, but not catchy.
I agree completely. That's why I'm trying to come up with a name that is both descriptive but easily shortened to something simple (e.g. "Improve Exercise Manager" would probably just be called "Improve" by most people).

I think an acronym-able name would be best, but I can't think of any good ones. I've tried a few acronym generators but they aren't really that helpful.

[Simian Man]

Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!

[dh04000]

Hercules! Hercules! Hercules!

I had forgotten about Hercules. Thats another good greek god.

I'd like to put down this as well:

The "Achilles" exercise manager

And if the OP likes Hercules for the name, then let me suggest this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_beetle

The Hercules beetle could be your mascot. The Dynastes Hercules is it's scientific classification. Instead of going with the direct; "The Hercules Exercise Manager", I'd suggest the indirect; "The Dynastes Exercise Manager". Its an original and interesting name and it would allow you to use the Hercules beetle as your mascot, so indirectly getting the powerful Hercules associated with your software.

How do you like OP?

[ean5533]

I had forgotten about Hercules. Thats another good greek god.

I'd like to put down this as well:

The "Achilles" exercise manager

And if the OP likes Hercules for the name, then let me suggest this, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hercules_beetle

The Hercules beetle could be your mascot. The Dynastes Hercules is it's scientific classification. Instead of going with the direct; "The Hercules Exercise Manager", I'd suggest the indirect; "The Dynastes Exercise Manager". Its an original and interesting name and it would allow you to use the Hercules beetle as your mascot, so indirectly getting the powerful Hercules associated with your software.

How do you like OP?
Well you certainly did you research. I like the entire idea, and I like that you were even able to come up with a mascot based on the name. Very clever! The only reason I'm leaning away from it Dynastes is an entire beetle genus and doesn't necessarily refer to the Hercules Beetle. It could also refer to Dynastes tityus, the Unicorn Beetle. Not exactly my goal :-)

However, for whatever reason when you mentioned Achilles it reminded me of my favorite fictional Roman hero: Maximus, from the movie Gladiator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiator_(2000_film)). If you haven't seen it, Maximus is a roman general who is betrayed by the emperor and forced into slavery. As a gladiator he battles his way up through the ranks, beating impossible opponents and crushing every obstacle in his way.

Maximus is a symbol to never give up, even when the world stands in your way. I could use a gladiator as my mascot -- easy to associate with fitness. Plus, Maximus is just a cool name.

If I call the program "Maximus ____________", people would generally just refer to it as "Maximus", which is simple and easy to remember, but the full name would clearly indicate what the program does. Now the question is: what goes in that second spot? A few ideas...


Maximus Exercise Manager
Maximus Fitness Assistant
Maximus Workout Journal
etc


...but none of those ideas sound too great. Maybe the name should just be Maximus and I should stop complaining. Thoughts?

[dh04000]

Well you certainly did you research. I like the entire idea, and I like that you were even able to come up with a mascot based on the name. Very clever! The only reason I'm leaning away from it Dynastes is an entire beetle genus and doesn't necessarily refer to the Hercules Beetle. It could also refer to Dynastes tityus, the Unicorn Beetle. Not exactly my goal :-)

However, for whatever reason when you mentioned Achilles it reminded me of my favorite fictional Roman hero: Maximus, from the movie Gladiator (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladiator_(2000_film)). If you haven't seen it, Maximus is a roman general who is betrayed by the emperor and forced into slavery. As a gladiator he battles his way up through the ranks, beating impossible opponents and crushing every obstacle in his way.

Maximus is a symbol to never give up, even when the world stands in your way. I could use a gladiator as my mascot -- easy to associate with fitness. Plus, Maximus is just a cool name.

If I call the program "Maximus ____________", people would generally just refer to it as "Maximus", which is simple and easy to remember, but the full name would clearly indicate what the program does. Now the question is: what goes in that second spot? A few ideas...


Maximus Exercise Manager
Maximus Fitness Assistant
Maximus Workout Journal
etc


...but none of those ideas sound too great. Maybe the name should just be Maximus and I should stop complaining. Thoughts?


I think you hit a winner with Maximus! :)

Title: Maximus (stand-alone title)

Sub Title: Exercise Manager (in smaller word underneath the first title)

Description/Catch Phrase: Maximize your work out with Maximus!

Mascot: Your gladiator idea sounds great, but if you wanted an animal, heres some. Some are species listed on the bottom of this wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximus

Or a non-character mascot could be along the lines of a sword and shield. Think a Sword crossing over a shield. Instead, put a sword and dumbbell crossing over each other. That way the idea of a gladiator is more indirect, while getting the exercise part across too.

[cgroza]

eWorkout?

[PatrickMoore]

What about " Spotter, Personal Trainer" I think its to the point and seems good to me

[ean5533]

What about " Spotter, Personal Trainer" I think its to the point and seems good to me

"Spotter" -- That's an extremely clever idea, and I think I like it even better than Maximus. The only disadvantage is that it's harder for me to think of theme-related stuff (icons, logos, etc).

I'll have to ponder this one.

[kn0w-b1nary]

Maximus Muscle Manager
Spotter Exercise Manager/Watcher (SEM/SEW)

[Little Bones]

As a kin student, and avid gym-goer, this is a really good idea to see. I mean there's a handful of great websites for tracking things like this, but what if there's no internet available? I feel a lot better having the stats on my hard drive anyway.

What about something like PC Trainer? Muscle Monitor?

If you want any help brainstorming features I'd gladly lend a hand, I'm completely useless at programming however. :P

[Warpnow]

Demon
Digital Exercise Management for Open-Source Networks

Foreman
Free and Open-Source Real-Time Exercise Management and Analysis Network

Golem
Gnu/Open-Source/Linux Exercisement Managment

Some ideas that are imperfect. Maybe someone here has better words to replace some of mine...

[juancarlospaco]

Wait a minute...

Wheres the Source Code ???

[ean5533]

Wait a minute...

Wheres the Source Code ???

Sitting on my hard drive. I haven't done enough to make it worth posting up, yet.

[ki4jgt]

A while ago I tried to find a program to help me record my workouts and analyze the results (graphs, suggestions, etc). I found almost nothing, so I've decided to write my own.

I've got a fair amount done, but before I get too deep into it I'd like to come up with a good name for the program. So far I'm just referring to it was "Exercise Manager", but that's incredibly boring. On the other hand, calling it some clever but obscure made-up name won't help people find it or know what it is (for example, the mail client "Thunderbird" has a cool name, but it does absolutely nothing to tell the user that it's an email client). I think the best solution is to name it "_______ Exercise Manager", but I'm drawing a blank for that first part.

So, got any good ideas? I'm making it with Qt if that helps get your creative juices flowing.

I always follow one simple pattern. . . Emotion I associate with the program, such as Endurance for yours and then the discription of the program. Endurance Trainer.

***EDIT: or simply Endurance. Also, it's kind of cool when you tag a slogan onto the end of it.

[Austin25]

Sitting on my hard drive. I haven't done enough to make it worth posting up, yet.

Well, git your repository going!
Pun fully intended.

[Aquix]

Emima

Exercise manager is managing exercise :)

[MrPok]

BUFF <-- sounds like a platoon sergeant, a nice little antromorphism to motivate you.. ;)

[ean5533]

Well, git your repository going!
Pun fully intended.
:) It'll be up when it's ready. And yes, I know, "Release early, release often". I'm just making sure I'll have the time to manage the project before I start getting anyone's hopes up. I just got a new 6-month project assigned to me at work, but so far it looks like it won't be stealing too many weekends from me.

Also I'm still researching hosting options. Since I'm one of the few Linux programmers in the world who doesn't have his own server running, I'll have to put it up on Google Code or Sourceforge or something similar. Right now I'm leaning toward GC just because I don't really need all the features that SF will give me.

[dh04000]

So...... how's the naming going? Or are you going to wait until its more feature complete to name it.

I'm actually really excited for your program. I need something to help me keep track of my exercise, especially with my wedding coming up in 2012.

PS: Make sure to be portable so you can spin a android/IPhone/Blackberry port, that way people can use it touch screen style in the actual gym.

Double PS: DON'T MAKE A WINDOWS 7 PHONE PORT!

[Blutkoete]

It's late, but may I throw in


X-Man

as a name suggestion. That's just short for eXcercise MANager and illustrates what becomes of you if you use the program regulary.

[ean5533]

So...... how's the naming going? Or are you going to wait until its more feature complete to name it.
I've decided to name it either Maximus or Spotter, but I can't decide which one for sure. Spotter is a very clever, non-intimidating, straight-to-the-point name; on the other hand, Maximus is more "themeable". Like you guessed, I'm going to wait until the program is more feature complete and hopefully the name will choose itself.


I'm actually really excited for your program. I need something to help me keep track of my exercise, especially with my wedding coming up in 2012.

Glad to hear I've already got a fan :-). Progress has been up and down. I wasted about 6 hours over the weekend trying to upgrade to a new version of Qwt (http://qwt.sourceforge.net/) just to find out that it had a fatal null reference bug in it. I kept running in circles trying to figure out what I was doing wrong without ever guessing that the library itself was just broken.

But other than that giant time-waster, progress has been pretty decent. You can create, edit, and view weightlifting logs, see basic stats about all the exercises you've done, and view a graph of your 1-rep max over time for any exercise (the program automatically converts every exercise into a 1-rep max regardless of how many reps you did by using a simple conversion formula).

There's still a lot more work to be done to really make it a usable program, but I'm planning on putting the source up soon -- possibly even this weekend. Currently my goal is to get a couple more graph types ready to go as well as making the graphs printable and exportable. (I believe Qwt handles those last two things for me, so I don't think it'll be hard)

While we're talking about it, got any good ideas for things that can be graphed? 1-rep max over time is the only thing I've considered graphing; nothing else jumps out at me.

Also, congrats on the wedding! I just got married last year myself, though honestly it didn't take up much time because neither of us wanted a big ceremony. My wife is one of the few practical women in the world :-)


PS: Make sure to be portable so you can spin a android/IPhone/Blackberry port, that way people can use it touch screen style in the actual gym.

I've considered it, but I'm not sure how likely a phone port really is, for several reasons:


I have almost zero experience with mobile device programming. I've done trivial hello world apps with android's SDK, but that barely qualifies as experience. Also, I don't own an android/iPhone/Blackberry, so I'd have no real way to test anything.
The program I'm writing relies on a local sqlite database to store its data; nothing is stored online. If you did all your work on your home computer, the data wouldn't be available on your phone unless you manually moved over the db file. I don't know of any easy ways to make that file-moving process seamless for the user.
The interface I've designed for the desktop really wouldn't translate to a phone, so the phone port would have to be designed from the ground up and maintained separately. I just don't think I have the time to devote to maintaining two projects like that.



Double PS: DON'T MAKE A WINDOWS 7 PHONE PORT!

Don't sell my soul to the devil, got it.

[ean5533]

It's late, but may I throw in


X-Man

as a name suggestion. That's just short for eXcercise MANager and illustrates what becomes of you if you use the program regulary.

That's a pretty clever name too, though I'd worry about trademark infringement of some kind.

[dh04000]

You can create, edit, and view weightlifting logs, see basic stats about all the exercises you've done, and view a graph of your 1-rep max over time for any exercise (the program automatically converts every exercise into a 1-rep max regardless of how many reps you did by using a simple conversion formula).

There's still a lot more work to be done to really make it a usable program, but I'm planning on putting the source up soon -- possibly even this weekend. Currently my goal is to get a couple more graph types ready to go as well as making the graphs printable and exportable. (I believe Qwt handles those last two things for me, so I don't think it'll be hard)

While we're talking about it, got any good ideas for things that can be graphed? 1-rep max over time is the only thing I've considered graphing; nothing else jumps out at me.

*Note; /time would mean how long since you started exercising/going to the gym. Since most of us aren't long term gym goers, only heading in once they are fat or have a wedding, or bikini season is coming.

*Number of Reps/time
*Weight/time
*Speed of Trend mill/time (assuming you always do a 20min, 30 min, 40min run each time; just increase speed as you get in better shape)
*Length of time on trend mill/time (assuming you stay at same speed; but do more time as you get in better shape)
*Speed of swimming/time (if they time speed)
*#laps swimming/time (if they increase #laps as they improve)
*Calories/time (assuming trend mill, or similar machine keeps calorie counts)
*body weight/time
*bike difficulty setting/time (assuming same amount of time each time on bike)
*amount of time on bike/time (assuming same difficulty, but more time as you improve)

PS: Ability to create columns for different machines, and enter the weight and # of reps would be much loved. A ability to record the speed and amount of time on trend mill is needed. Swimming should have the option for # of laps, and speed (if they timed it). Bikes need difficulty settings and time on bike. Other cardo machines need difficulty/speed and time.


Hope this helps.





Also, congrats on the wedding! I just got married last year myself, though honestly it didn't take up much time because neither of us wanted a big ceremony. My wife is one of the few practical women in the world :-)

So is mine! :)

She wanted to do a $5000 maximum wedding, including the dress, but her dad has helped me talk her into allowing for a bit more cash. Unless you want to eat velvetta and sit on the ground, we need more money than that put into it, lol.

She is DIY'ing everything she can. Her veil is done already, cost 6 dollars to make. :)

[ean5533]

PS: Ability to create columns for different machines, and enter the weight and # of reps would be much loved.
Done. Currently you pick an exercise, pick a weight type (e.g. "Barbell", "Dumbbell", "Machine", "Cable", "Other"), and enter reps. There's also a misc notes column.


A ability to record the speed and amount of time on trend mill is needed. Swimming should have the option for # of laps, and speed (if they timed it). Bikes need difficulty settings and time on bike. Other cardo machines need difficulty/speed and time.
The Endurance section of the program is empty, and probably will remain empty until I feel comfortable with the weightlifting section. I'd rather make all my mistakes once (in the weightlifting section) and then use all that knowledge to make the endurance section in one fell swoop. Anyway, once I do the endurance section I plan to let the user pick speed, time, distance, or any other unit of measure that they want.


*Number of Reps/time
*Weight/time
The trouble with these two ideas is that they only make sense under very limited conditions. For example, number of reps/time only makes sense when all data points are for the same weight. So it's possible to show, but you'd either have to pick only one weight to use, or you'd have to show a line for each weight (which could get ugly). Weight/time has the same restrictions but reversed. I'll try implementing it, but I've got a feel it won't be a very useful graph once you actually see it.


*Speed of Trend mill/time (assuming you always do a 20min, 30 min, 40min run each time; just increase speed as you get in better shape)
*Length of time on trend mill/time (assuming you stay at same speed; but do more time as you get in better shape)
*Speed of swimming/time (if they time speed)
*#laps swimming/time (if they increase #laps as they improve)
*Calories/time (assuming trend mill, or similar machine keeps calorie counts)
...
*bike difficulty setting/time (assuming same amount of time each time on bike)
*amount of time on bike/time (assuming same difficulty, but more time as you improve)
These are all great ideas but I won't be able to use them until I've written the Endurance section of the program.



*body weight/time
This is a great idea but I won't be able to use it until I've written the Body Stats section of the program.

[dh04000]

Sounds like you got some work to do then. Get all of the information columns and sections in control first, then you can figure out what does and does not make sense.

Once the basic columns are done, make up a .deb, or even better a self contained portable app, so we can test it for you and give you feedback.

Don't worry about the GUI at first, get something simple up, and then we can tell you how it would be better set up.

http://portablelinuxapps.org/

[ean5533]

Sounds like you got some work to do then. Get all of the information columns and sections in control first, then you can figure out what does and does not make sense.
Oh, the columns are all there. I've had the database structure done for a long time now. Of course, as I actually start to use the program I realize that little things don't make sense, so the structure gets updated as I continue writing code.

That's another reason I don't want to put the code out too early; I don't want people using it, storing their data in it, and then finding it to be incompatible every time I do an update. I could write data conversion tools, but then every update is just that much more work.


Once the basic columns are done, make up a .deb, or even better a self contained portable app, so we can test it for you and give you feedback.

Don't worry about the GUI at first, get something simple up, and then we can tell you how it would be better set up.
Normally I'd agree with you, but in this case the GUI is the program. Without a decent GUI this program would be nothing more than a sqlite database. I don't want to put up a crap interface because getting feedback on a crap interface wouldn't do me any good.

But don't worry, I'm well beyond crap interface already. I just need to clean up a few more things before I let the code see the light of day; in particular I want to decide on a good file structure for the code before I put it up. If I wait to make those file structure changes until after the code is up, the git tree will become a tangled mess.

Like I said, I don't expect it will take much more work to get the whole thing in a manageable state.

[juancarlospaco]

sitting on my hard drive.

ಠ_ಠ
Ask for Help to community but dont sharing with the community, not good...

[ean5533]

ಠ_ಠ
Ask for Help to community but dont sharing with the community, not good...

Calm down. I'm going to put it up soon, as I've mentioned several times in this thread.

[ean5533]

Alright kids, I've got the source code up online. The project is stored on Google Code (http://code.google.com/p/spotter-exercise-manager/) using mercurial. Basic build instructions are included in the README file -- make sure you pay attention to the part about needing the Qwt library.

Obviously this code is far, far from being done, but people were getting antsy about me releasing something, so there it is.

[dh04000]

How's the progress on the app going? Are you heading towards a binary worthy test release?

[ean5533]

Ah, someone DOES still care about it? After no one responded to me putting the code up I started to wonder :-)

I've been exceptionally busy lately so I haven't added many new features, but I should be able to put together a simple deb. I've never actually tried making a deb for this program, but I don't expect there will be any difficulties. I'll try and put one up tomorrow.

I hope you're running x64, because that's all I have access to compile on at the moment. If you're on an x86 machine you'll have to compile it yourself.

[GabrielYYZ]

Q.U.E.S.T.

Qt Universal Exercise Scheduler (Tm)

i don't know... now i'm thinking my suggestion''s kinda dumb :P

[dh04000]

I hope you're running x64, because that's all I have access to compile on at the moment. If you're on an x86 machine you'll have to compile it yourself.

Boooooo!

[ean5533]

Boooooo!

Sorry dude, that's all I can do at the moment. I just don't have the time to install a 32 bit distro and get the dev environment set up to so I can build a 32 bit binary.

Compiling it shouldn't be that hard, though. Install the Qt 4.7 libs and Qwt libs (available in the repositories) and then just follow the compilation instructions in the README.

[dh04000]

I'm a GUI guy to be honest. Conpiling and using development software is WAY beyond what I can do..... which is point and click.

Can someone with the proper software already installed spin me and other 32bit users a binary of the current development branch?

[ean5533]

You know, I used to wonder why people didn't provide .deb files for their programs more often. Now I know the answer: it's a fscking nightmare. Building an incredibly simple deb (just a single binary file) takes a good 20 minutes to set up even if you already know what you're doing. If you're like me and have never created a deb file, it takes over 3 hours trying to wade through outdated wikis and help forums providing conflicting advice. And I still haven't got one. Christ, what a waste of valuable time.

If I'm not still seething with anger tomorrow I might take another stab at it. In the mean time, I've just put up a binary executable. People can deal with it.

[Timmer1240]

Open Fitness

[juancarlospaco]

Sorry dude, that's all I can do at the moment. I just don't have the time to install a 32 bit distro and get the dev environment set up to so I can build a 32 bit binary.

Compiling it shouldn't be that hard, though. Install the Qt 4.7 libs and Qwt libs (available in the repositories) and then just follow the compilation instructions in the README.

the architecture names are wrong.
x86_64 you mean i think.

[ean5533]

the architecture names are wrong.
x86_64 you mean i think.

Semantics. Sometimes it's called x86_64, sometimes it's called x64, sometimes it's called amd64, sometimes it's called other things. x86-64 is the original name of the instruction set developed by AMD, before they renamed it amd64. Sun and Microsoft typically refer to it as x64. They all effectively mean the same thing: x86 with 64-bit extensions.

[ean5533]

Ok, so here's the deal: the reason I couldn't get a deb to build last night is because there is a broken package upstream. Specifically, the package libqwt5-qt4-dev has a problem -- see this bug report (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libqwt/+bug/141587) for more details. The maintainer doesn't seem to be paying attention to our comments, so this may not get fixed any time soon.

As a result, I can't provide a deb for the program. You're going to have to be satisfied with binary files or compiling from source yourself.

[dh04000]

Ok, so here's the deal: the reason I couldn't get a deb to build last night is because there is a broken package upstream. Specifically, the package libqwt5-qt4-dev has a problem -- see this bug report (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/libqwt/+bug/141587) for more details. The maintainer doesn't seem to be paying attention to our comments, so this may not get fixed any time soon.

As a result, I can't provide a deb for the program. You're going to have to be satisfied with binary files or compiling from source yourself.

Binary's still start up and allow for testing right? That'll do I'm sure.

Still need to find someone willing to make a 32bit binary though. Any takers out there?

[ean5533]

Binary's still start up and allow for testing right? That'll do I'm sure.
Oh yes, definitely. And it takes me about 8 seconds to produce a binary as opposed to a deb. You just won't get pretty menu entries and all the jazz that comes along with "properly" installing an application (not that I've made icons for the program yet anyway).


Still need to find someone willing to make a 32bit binary though. Any takers out there?
I'll try to find time this weekend to install 32-bit Ubuntu and build a binary. I can't make any promises, but I've installed Ubuntu about 800 times so I've gotten pretty efficient at it.

[dh04000]

Oh yes, definitely. And it takes me about 8 seconds to produce a binary as opposed to a deb. You just won't get pretty menu entries and all the jazz that comes along with "properly" installing an application (not that I've made icons for the program yet anyway).


I'll try to find time this weekend to install 32-bit Ubuntu and build a binary. I can't make any promises, but I've installed Ubuntu about 800 times so I've gotten pretty efficient at it.


Do it in a VM. I'd hate for you to go through the trouble of partitioning your drive for me.

[ean5533]

Do it in a VM. I'd hate for you to go through the trouble of partitioning your drive for me.

It's already partitioned :-)

At any given time I typically have 3-4 different partitions on my two drives. One is my primary Ubuntu partition, one is the latest stable Fedora, one is Windows, and one is just some random OS that I felt like trying out (usually the latest Ubuntu alpha/beta, or sometimes Kubuntu). I'll just overwrite Fedora since I haven't loaded it up in months anyway.

[luceerose]

Exocizor

[ean5533]

32-bit binary is up. In the file description I included an apt-get command to install the necessary dependencies, but I may have forgotten some. Let me know if the program won't run after running that apt-get command -- especially if the graphs won't load properly.

http://code.google.com/p/spotter-exercise-manager/downloads/list

[dh04000]

32-bit binary is up. In the file description I included an apt-get command to install the necessary dependencies, but I may have forgotten some. Let me know if the program won't run after running that apt-get command -- especially if the graphs won't load properly.

http://code.google.com/p/spotter-exercise-manager/downloads/list

OK, I just took a look at it, and here's my constructive criticism. I'll avoid putting saying anything about non-implemented features.

All right, the biggest problem I see is making this program FEEL like something you set up easily and can keep updated and tracked over time.

The average gym going person has a gym plan. They do cardio of some form, and a certain 10-15 weight related exercises.

SO, the first thing a user should see if a window that says "Let's build your exercise program"

At which point the weight section should appear. It should ask for the names of all of the different weight exercises. The user should be able to fill that in easier. Doesn't feel easy at the moment, more overwhelming. Maybe provide examples of what kind of machines count as each combinations? Your set up feel too complicated. The it should ask for what kind of cardio you are doing and the user should fill that in. Finally, it should ask the user to enter their weight into the body stats section.

Then after it is done. A "standard form of their workout style" will have been created, and each time the program is turn-on from that point, the user should be greeted with their standard form all ready set up for them and they should be asked to fill it in with their most recent exercise weights, reps, time, or whatever applies, and the date of the exercising.

Hope you understand what I'm picturing. Good luck. :)

[ean5533]

OK, I just took a look at it, and here's my constructive criticism. I'll avoid putting saying anything about non-implemented features.

[snip]

Your proposed model for entering data is valid but I do have a couple concerns.

My first concern is that it's too specific; it would only work for people that follow the same basic routine every time they go to the gym. My workout routine is very dynamic and wouldn't work under your model, hence the reason I made the input form so generic. However, I still like your model a lot. I think it should be offered in addition to the current model, rather than in place of the current model. Your method, the "create a standard routine" method, would be the default way. Then, the current method, which is more generic but requires more work, would be the backup method if the standard routine thing is too restrictive.

My other concern is that you're proposing that I help people design their workouts: suggesting lifts, combinations, etc. I'm not sure that's a road I want to go down. My goal for this project was simply to be able to log exercise data and then analyze/graph it; I wasn't planning on having the program give people lifting advice other than perhaps suggesting alternative lifts (and even that I'm having second thoughts about). There's so many pitfalls associated with giving detailed fitness advice -- such as everyone in the world disagreeing about what "the right" routine is -- legal issues notwithstanding.

I'll start thinking about ways to implement your model. I'm also still waiting to hear back from a friend of mine who's a UI/UX expert; I'm sure he's going to have plenty to say as well.

[ean5533]

I just thought of something that builds on your idea. Actually, this may have been precisely what you were suggesting but I just didn't get it.

I think the way to solve everyone's problems is to create a sort of "template" system. You have can multiple templates; as a trivial example, I might have one called "upper body" which includes a sets of chest/shoulders stuff, and then one called "lower body" which includes sets of legs/lower back stuff. Then when I want to create a new log, I pick a template to start from and fill in data from there.

[dh04000]

I just thought of something that builds on your idea. Actually, this may have been precisely what you were suggesting but I just didn't get it.

I think the way to solve everyone's problems is to create a sort of "template" system. You have can multiple templates; as a trivial example, I might have one called "upper body" which includes a sets of chest/shoulders stuff, and then one called "lower body" which includes sets of legs/lower back stuff. Then when I want to create a new log, I pick a template to start from and fill in data from there.


BINGO! I think we have a winner!

[MooPi]

Sweat Log...............

[dh04000]

Sweat Log...............


Sweat Lodge!

[ean5533]

BINGO! I think we have a winner!

I've put up a new 32-bit version which adds basic template capabilities to the weightlifting section.

It's certainly better than before, but I'm still not happy with it. This weekend I'm going to think about how to revamp the exercise input form. It's just too much of a pain in the *** in its current form.

Edit: I never knew Ubuntu forums censored cuss words. Go figure.

[dh04000]

I've put up a new 32-bit version which adds basic template capabilities to the weightlifting section.

It's certainly better than before, but I'm still not happy with it. This weekend I'm going to think about how to revamp the exercise input form. It's just too much of a pain in the *** in its current form.

I'll wait for a post-weekend release to take a look at it again. Or when you create a major point release. I don't want to get TOO involved in the development, or I'll be blind to providing a true first-impression like analysis.

Making it easy to use should be your main focus, but don't feel too rushed to finish the GUI. I'm not impatient, just give me a heads up at major point releases. :)

Once it gets in good shape, I'll start trying to use it to record my actual gym sessions and provide real use reports.

[ean5533]

Making it easy to use should be your main focus, but don't feel too rushed to finish the GUI. I'm not impatient, just give me a heads up at major point releases. :)

You might be waiting a while. I don't typically mark a program as 1.0 until it's really, really usable. It'll be several weeks, if not months, before I release 1.0 of this program.

That said, I'll let you know once I've hit a milestone worthy of looking at. Thanks for all the help.

[dh04000]

You might be waiting a while. I don't typically mark a program as 1.0 until it's really, really usable. It'll be several weeks, if not months, before I release 1.0 of this program.

That said, I'll let you know once I've hit a milestone worthy of looking at. Thanks for all the help.

No worries. :) I need a exercise manager, and you need a tester.

[dh04000]

Still working on it?

[ean5533]

Still working on it?

Unfortunately I haven't had any time to work on this project. I've been dealing with some serious health issues for the last couple weeks and my life has been pretty crazy as a result. I've also been working 45-50 hour work weeks lately because of a new "emergency" client issue, which combined with my visits to the hospital means that I've had just enough time to sleep and work. It's been quite hectic.

Anyway, the project isn't dead, I just haven't had any time at all to work on it. I'm going on vacation next week (as long as I don't get stuck in the hospital again) and hopefully when I get back things will have calmed down and I'll have a little more free time. Sorry I haven't been able to produce anything usable yet.

[dh04000]

Unfortunately I haven't had any time to work on this project. I've been dealing with some serious health issues for the last couple weeks and my life has been pretty crazy as a result. I've also been working 45-50 hour work weeks lately because of a new "emergency" client issue, which combined with my visits to the hospital means that I've had just enough time to sleep and work. It's been quite hectic.

Anyway, the project isn't dead, I just haven't had any time at all to work on it. I'm going on vacation next week (as long as I don't get stuck in the hospital again) and hopefully when I get back things will have calmed down and I'll have a little more free time. Sorry I haven't been able to produce anything usable yet.

No worries mate. Life come first.

[dh04000]

Dead project?

[Bandit]

Fred.

Barney

[jhonan]

Dead project?
Judging by his last post, I'd be more worried about 'dead programmer' :o

[ean5533]

Judging by his last post, I'd be more worried about 'dead programmer' :o

Your concern is touching :)

Not dead. I have been having seizures though; it turns out I have epilepsy. That's the bad news. The good news is I have frontal lobe epilepsy, which means that I'm only ever going to have seizures while I'm asleep (interesting, from a medical perspective). Plus, the medicine I'm taking seems to be working and it has had zero side effects. As serious health issues go, this one is pretty mild. It's taking up more time and money than anything else.

The other bad news is that the NY state DMV has an extremely rigid policy regarding seizures. Their policy is, "If you have a seizure, even while you were asleep, then you can't drive for one year minimum, no exceptions." It doesn't matter that the only way I'd have a seizure is when I'm SLEEPING AT THE WHEEL, they're rigid in the matter. Even my neurologist can't overrule them. As a result, I'm stuck riding a bike to work.

Anyway, it's funny you should post now, because I just opened the project up last night to start re-acquainting myself with the code. I'm planning on putting some hours into it this weekend.

I've also spent a bit of time researching alternative toolkits and languages. Qt has been very good to me, but I hate writing in C++. It takes too long to write anything. I was hoping to find a toolkit and language that allows for more rapid application development (since time is now a valuable commodity for me).

Unfortunately, most of the other toolkits suck. Gtk is a pain in the *** to work with, and Mono really isn't complete enough. (Plus, the FOSS community would **** on me if I used Mono). Qt really is the best toolkit for my needs... I just hate being stuck with C++. I know there's bindings for other languages to Qt, but then you lose the super-duper easy GUI builder. Plus, I'm using a third-party C++ library to build my graphs for me, so I'd have to write a wrapper around that library in whatever language I chose, and I have no idea how hard that would be (it could be way above my skill level). Anyway, I've decided to just stop complaining and stick with Qt/C++.

So that's my status. Will post here when something interesting happens.