>
> Surely the core item is the hive, a collection of which is a 'yard' or an
> apiary.
>

While database theory seems so boring one must understand that the design
of the database schema will be the limiting factor in what the system can
and cannot do. The amount of code that is required to perform any function
will be dependent on how well the database fits the model.

What is a hive? The wood? The bees? The queen? Go into a yard made up of
50 hives, two deeps each with 100 new queens. Now split each hive into
two with new queens going in each box (killing the old queens).

Now I want to check my database to see which hives have been treated for
AFB in the last six months. What answer should I get?

> And should we not have a system which allows us to record in plain English,
> what transpires every time we visit a hive. If we attempt to categorise all
> of the possible events which can occur when we visit a beehive, I really
> feel that we will get ourselves into a data overload situation in which it
> will be nearly impossible to figure out what actually happened when we went
> to the hive.
>
"Plain english" has advantages as it is free form and allows all kinds of
data to be entered without constraints. But to use such a system to try
and calculate how much one has spent on medication for a 500 hive operation
would not be a simple task (which one may want to do for example when
calculating expenses for taxes). Any good system should have the ability
to include notations of both specific and general information. Key word
serches will help access such things.


> I suppose that we could get involved in computerised stock control, as I
> tried to do in attempting to have a stock control system of supers etc.
> Perhaps in a big operation, that may pay dividends, but in your normal small
> operation, the best system of stock control as I have been told many times,
> is count the number of items on the shelves.
>
Small operations that are not trying to generate income would find a simple
book the way to go. Outside of the beekeeping world I have found that organizations
that do not keep good records can end up wasting a lot of money.

This does not mean that a simple ledger is not good records! Computers do things
faster, not always better. If you find you are spending more time looking for
information than using it, a computer may help.
>
> Just my views for what they are worth.
>
They are worth quite a bit.
--
|
There is no doubt we need government in our lives. There is also no doubt
that we need salt in our diet. Watch out for too much of either one.
AA4YU http://www.beekeeper.org http://www.q7.net