Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

So You Think You Can Program an Elevator

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 118 posts

Re: So You Think You Can Program an Elevator

#5

Post by phibit »

This is great! Many times I've thought it would be cool to develop a programming logic harness for elevator logic, but I've never come close to starting.

I think many developers have been waiting for an elevator thinking "Damn this thing is DUMB! I could do a way better job coding the logic for this..." Can finally test it out.

Re: So You Think You Can Program an Elevator

#6

Post by exelius »

No, I never did really. Programming an elevator sounds very tedious, but it never sounded very hard. Elevators are heavy equipment, and there are edge cases around safety near heavy equipment: I'd rather not have to learn those first-hand.

However, I do think this is a great exercise for people new to programming. It's a common enough scenario that most people can recite 80% of the requirements of an elevator from memory.

Re: So You Think You Can Program an Elevator

#8

Post by Zikes »

n0us wrote: post #2

Then there is the alternative system where you do not request UP or DOWN but you request the floor, otherwise known as destination dispatch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destination_dispatch which introduces a whole new set of complexity.

I think I read once that when elevators still had operators, larger buildings would have one or more dispatch agents in the lobby that would line people up at the appropriate elevator for the range of floors they intended to visit.
Post reply on HN