Minor Update to VMSS Debate Matcher

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  Here's a logo. Our club has a new one now.

Inspiration

Vincent Massey's debate club is still running this year, despite COVID-19 and virtual learning being a thing. In order to maintain as much normality as possible in the club, we wanted to make sure that debate practices could still be held. One major component of doing so is getting a matchmaking program that can pair up equally skilled teams and quickly create matchups. To get this kind of program, we slightly modified last year's debate matching algorithm, developed entirely by Arsalaan Ali.

What it does

Match up equally skilled teams, update rankings, record previous matchups to prevent the same things from facing off multiple times.

How we built it

By creating a new Google Form and a linked Google Sheet, we were able to get the program to work online, streamlining the matchup process.

Challenges we ran into

I think both members ran into the challenge of navigating the Google Sheets API. This was probably our first time working with an API, so we were unfamiliar with most of the documentation. Also, connecting our code to Google Cloud Services was difficult because, again, it was our first time doing so. Finally, Yang Li had to work through some difficulties on account of him using a Mac and downloading outdated versions of Python 2 modules instead of Python 3 ones. Even so, we, even Yang Li, worked though all these difficulties and have come up with a finished product that will hopefully be handy to our school's debate club.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Working through our difficulties and gaining insight into how to use Google APIs and get Python code linked to the internet. We were absolutely elated when our code first worked, even though only relatively small changes were made. Yang Li was happy about finally overcoming his Mac and being able to code actually useful, non-competitive code on it for once. He also learned a few neat tips to fully utilize his Mac.

What we learned

How to link to Google APIs and Cloud Services, how do edit Python module code to keep it up to date, and how to stay patient and persevere, even when it feels like absolutely zero progress is being made. After all, sometimes you are closer to the end than you realize. Applies to good and bad alike, haha.

What's next for Minor Update to VMSS Debate Matcher

Well, perhaps a few more minor updates? If the club sticks with using this software, we will definitely make additions to further streamline the process and maybe make the code less demanding on the user. Currently, it requires users to enter their names in an exact format in order to work. We would like to add an edit distance feature that allows slight user input errors to be ignored.

Built With

• google-spreadsheets
• python