
Written by Ion Saliu on April 7, 2002.
• Doin' the taxes is a harshly taxing process, right? There is the other side of the story, for Almighty Number only allows unities of two opposites.
The tax preparation software has a feature named 'find errors'. That feature made me think of software to find errors in lottery data (draws) files. There must have been tons of errors in the lottery files! I have received many error reports from LotWon users. I've seen some of the data files in question. But there was no need to go too far. My own lottery data files were bugged, each and every one of them! I didn't expect that many errors! The horseracing files, especially, were extremely erroneous. Some results were typed at the scene: the off-track wagering facility.
The errors in my lottery and gambling data files were the result of typing. It was WEB: Web Era, Before. I used to get the lottery results from leaflets published by the lottery commissions, from newspapers, live TV lotto drawings, over the telephone, etc. The more sources, the higher the risk to mistype. The Internet makes it a lot easier to get the lottery results and create/update the data files. Long live copy-and-paste! I showed on the 'Help' page one way of using the Internet to update the lottery data files. Another method is described in my message “Dynamic vs. Static - The real data files”.
PARSEL.exe is the first program that corrects most errors in lottery draw files. It handles lotto-5, lotto-6, lotto-7, PowerBall '5+1', PowerBall '6+1', and horseracing. The program makes sure that the lottery draws files comply with the LotWon requirements. For example, a lotto 6/49 data file must have exactly 6 unique numbers per line; every number must be in the range 1 to 49; the file must not have any blank lines. The program does not change the data files; rather, it creates a log file listing all erroneous lines and the specific problems. One type of problem cannot be trapped by the software: typos within the correct range. For example, the user typed 13 when the 'real' number was 23. Only an attentive human can correct that!
The program will show only the first problem encountered in a line. Some lines can have several problems. You'll load the log file and the corresponding data file. You'll check the erroneous lines one by one and make the corrections. I had situations when I ran PARSEL.exe several times for the same data file. It is very important not to let errors slip to SORTING.EXE. Disaster strikes if one of your data files has EXTRA numbers in one line. The entire file gets corrupted. Do not run SORTING.EXE before PARSEL.exe displays the message “No errors found”!
Version 1.0, April 2002 (2 WE), 32-bit DOS software.
You may also want to download the program SPACE34.exe to LotWon-correct the pick-3 and pick-4 draws listed at PA Lottery web site and other sites. The pick draws are listed as integers: 123, instead of 1,2,3 or 1 2 3.
Perhaps other sites list the pick draws the same way.
Version 1.0, April 2002 (2 WE), 32-bit DOS software.
I've been recreating my data files from the ground up. I only use the Internet databases. I recommend everybody do the same. When the newly reborn files are filled up, parse them with PARSEL.exe. If no errors were found, use SORTING.EXE to sort the draws in ascending order.
For perfection and error are equivocally present in Almighty Number. May Its Almighty Parse our frivolous perfectionism so that is always pointing to our incredulous errors.
Ion Saliu

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