Final Distance Tour Guide

Patrick Shyu Founder/Programmer Age: Unknown Location: Mercava Crater HP: Unknown MP: Unknown After being defeated in the Crystal War eight years ago, Patrick reappeared in his true Demoncore form only to be hurled off the coast of Africa. Patrick was burned in the Mercava Crater BC 208. "Retreat!! They're too strong!" Projects: Final Distance, UCB: Hot or Not, UCB Live Home: website Email: pshyu@uclink.berkeley.edu

PUBLICITY: Article in Daily Cal Article in California Magazine Article in UC Berkeley News (cover story) Article in Engineering News (cover story) Article in World Journal "A Site to See" at BioENews.com Quoted as "The coolest thing EVER!!!" by the UCB Regents Chancellor and Scholars Assoc. Quoted as "The gold standard in schedule management" by the CalStuff Linked to from Office of Academic Affairs Part of a INFOSYS 213 course in-depth study. INTRODUCTION: Created in Spring 2002 by Patrick Shyu, Final Distance's sole programmer. (pshyu@uclink.berkeley.edu, website) Sponsored by CSBA (webspace and promotion) beginning Fall 2002. Coded in JAVA, PERL/CGI, HTML. Final Distance borrows its name from the JPOP(Japanese popular music) song Utada Hikaru - Final Distance, which was on constant repeat during development. Oddly, the song reflected the themes of Final Distance, namely closing schedule gaps. This is a piece of the translation just for fun: And again, I'm a little farther now.... Closing the distasnce If we begin now, we will still make it. We can start over We won't be a single piece, but... Someday the distance will become shorter.

THE PROBLEM:

• If an average schedule contains 4 classes with 7 possible times, that's 7^4 or 2401 combinations to filter through. That means each student must draw 2401 graphs every semester for 4 years.
• After days of planning, the schedule still may not be perfect. Schedule gaps won't go away for the next 15 weeks.
• Multiple backups are needed if waitlists don't fall through or if classes are cancelled.
• Visualization and comparation of schedules is difficult on paper.
• Plotting the final weekly schedule and labeling location and CCN wastes even more time.
• How can one show friends his/her schedule online?
• How can one choose between several courses?

FEATURES (Final Distance solves all of the above):

• Minimize schedule gaps by filtering every schedule combination possible. Gap-times are also listed.
• Class conflicts are handled.
• Top 10 schedules are presented in easy-access fashion. They can be compared easily by switching one set with another.
• Color-coded visual display.
• Active schedule-generation: Schedule-generation completion percentage is actively listed. The best schedule generated so far is dynamically shown. Schedule-generation may also be halted at any moment.
• Trans Final Distance: Provides printable schedules with location and CCN. They are completely editable online (no more Excel!). Allows quick URL-access to schedules for quick-online-sharing. ie., /schedule.cgi?ID=ID+NUMBER
• Final Exam conflicts handled: Trans Final Distance will check for final exam conflicts.
• Save state/Load state: Input/generate a schedule only once.
• Bindable LAB/DIS: LAB and DIS sections may be binded.
• 100% Customizability: Final Distance's unique interface makes it very flexible. One can limit classes from 9-4pm if desired. Or set lunch to always be from 12-1pm. Or even factor into the class-conflict handler events such as jobs or research.
• Ultimatum: Final Distance can choose between multiple courses for you. ie., "OR: RESEARCH, INTEL JOB, MICROSOFT JOB" will select only one of the three.
• The ONLY resource necessary for Telebears. You don't need to buy that silly Schcedule of Classes book. You don't need Excel. You don't need paper or pens. And you don't need time.

PUBLIC RESPONSE:

• With the first wide-release, Final Distance received upwards of 700 hits a day, totaling 15,000 hits in ~2 weeks.
• Received requests from both undergraduate and graduate students wishing to work on the program.
• As the cover story for Engineering News, the issues went very fast. (I had to carry copies from Soda Hall to Bechtel several times to restock).
• Numerous positive feedback (comments section).
  • "It gave me exacctly the same schedule that I have, but I spent days to figure it out. This is cool, I'm gonna use it for next semester"
  • "Very nice, coolest"
  • "thank you so much man."
  • "Nice program, never even thought like something like this could exist. Best web tool..."

FUTURE:

• We used to crawl through mazes of dead-ends and far schcedule gaps. The Final Distance was unreachable. And we could only dream.
  But the distance is closing, and a day's travel has now become that of an instant's. Take flight, from dreams to reality, we have finally begun to reach the Final Distance.