PADI Dive Calculator

I just finished working on a Dive Calculator based on the PADI dive tables.

You can use it to calculate your letter groups for up to 5 repetitive dives. Curenty is has support for Air and 32% Nitrox. I will be adding 46% Nitrox in the next few days, as well as some other features. Check it out and let me know if you find anything wrong or have any suggestions.

Welcome to Bryan's Dive Calc

A bit of feedback.

Generally speaking you have a lot of work to do on boundary checking and sanity checking. Here are a few examples:

If you enter a single dive (or the last dive in a series of dives) that results in a deco obligation it displays group XX. What you would want it to do instead is to tell you that the dive isn't possible and display the maximum allowable dive time for the given dive. For liability purposes I think it would be best if it refused to calculate a dive that required deco.

If you enter a series of dives where one of the dives (but not the last one) results in a deco obligation (your group XX) then it crashes. What you would want it to do instead is to tell you that the series of dives isn't possible and display the maximum allowable dive time(s) for dives that were too long.

If you don't enter a surface interval it crashes. What you would expect it to do is display the minimum surface interval needed between two dives.

If you enter a surface interval and a depth but no dive time then it crashes. What you would expect is for it to give you the maximum dive time for that dive.

If you enter any value that is longer than the numeric type you're using then it crashes.

If you enter an out of range depth it strangely doesn't crash but it's nonsense to calculate the dive at depths that are not represented on the table. Same goes for surface intervals and dive times.

If you make any entry that is not numeric it crashes. If you decide to add metric to it then you'll need to account for the possibility that someone will try entering a "." and/or a "," on the depth field.

The program does not enforce the WXYZ rules for the PADI tables.

It does not indicate dives with mandatory stops, which is also information the table provides to users.

If your last dive in the series contains a surface interval but no dive information then the group after the SI is not displayed on the output.

I could probably keep digging but I think you get the picture.

As for features wish list:

- It would be nice if you could choose between imperial and metric.
- It would be nice if it displayed the maximum dive time for a given dive based on the depth you put in. For example, if you enter 100 for your depth then as soon as you press tab or change the focus to another field then the maximum dive time for the given dive should be automatically entered in the time field.
- likewise if you don't enter the surface interval, it should calculated it as soon as you enter your depth and dive times and display it in the field.
- it would be nice, visually if you used a different colour text for values the program calculated so the user can distinguish between what they have entered and what the computer suggested.

Other than that, the output is nice. Easy to read etc etc.

I hope you don't find this discouraging. Proper boundary and sanity checking is obviously important but often overlooked.

R..

Thanks for the feedback Diver0001. That exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for!! Most of those items where already on my "To Do" list, but some I had over looked. Hopefully I will be able to get some of these changes implemented over the weekend.

orionnt:

i will be adding 46% nitrox in the next few days, as well as some other features.

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ean46?

Always on my wish list is a total gas (air) consumption figure based on the time/depth. I'd suggest either just plugging in a default 0.75ft3/minute (sorry no metric here) number OR allowing people to plug in their own numbers (or have a drop down of 0.4; 0.5; up to 1.0 or some such).

This is why when the 1st computers came out in the '80's, I said sign me up - I had an "Edge", as well as a "Skinneydipper" (great computers, BTW).

Not to in ANY way take away from your hard work and calculations, but if you are doing that may repetetive dives, are you not better off w/ a computer - today the cost is really so low vs 20 years ago.

When I was in college, callculators were just becoming popular; it was a srtuggle, but they finally let us use them and it made math classes so much easier.

The problem I get with tables vs computers is that the tables tend to crap out and put me WAAAY into deco where the computer tells me everything is perfectly fine. Thats a possible challenge for this web calculator to handle if people just want to use it to quickly calc groups for their logs after taking the data from their computers..

Docc:

ean46?

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obvious typo

Come on, stop with the pre-historic scales, already! You planning something metric and not based on witchcraft?

ean46?

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Yes, that was a Typo.

You planning something metric and not based on witchcraft?

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Its on the to-do list. I kinda like my witchcraft though. :-D

if you are doing that may repetitive dives, are you not better off w/ a computer

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Yes, you probably are. I don't even dive with tables if I can avoid it, but those times when I have a buddy w/o a computer, its nice to have a calculator to do the table stuff for me. I imagine new divers that are still learning the tables will find it pretty handy as well. Wish I had this when i did my OW course!


Things on the To-do List:
- Imperial/Metric
- 36% Nitrox
- Compute SI Needed between dives
- Max Dive time based on Depth and Previous Dives
- Deco Stop Warning
- WXYZ Rule Enforcement
- Better Error Handling/Warnings