(This page last updated 1/9/2002)
Since this project has just started and there isn't much going on, this will be a small page.
To download files and see other information about the project, go to http://sourceforge.net/projects/multi-fcompare.
Please post any comments, suggestions or problems at the site above! Your feedback is very important. Thanks!
[2002-01-01] Multi-File Compare version 1 beta 1 release.
Multi-File Compare is a program I decided to write because of files I've downloaded through various file sharing networks. Very often, I've downloaded media files that have similar names and even the same size, and I need to know if they are the same. In most cases they are, but sometimes they are not. I used Windiff to do the comparisons, but it does more than I need and is sometimes slow, and I've found that I just cannot stop the process in the middle. I also wanted to drag-and-drop the files I want to compare into the window.
Now I know there are programs out there that does similar things, but I wanted very specific things and the reason I'm making the program available to the public is because I cannot believe I'm the only one with this need. Sometimes, I would download the same file 4-5 times in different names but are basically the same file, and I need to know how they compare to each other. Remembering the comparison pairing is a pain and the process is very manual, and so Multi-File Compare was created from this need.
The number of comparisons automatically generated by the program for n files is n (n-1) / 2. So you can imagine that the number of comparisons can grow pretty rapidly, since it's on the order of O(n2)
Multi-File Compare does some very simple things. It's not the best at doing these things, and I have a fairly good idea of some of the things I want to accomplish with it, but these are currently the key features of the program.
Multi-File Compare is being developed in Microsoft Visual Basic 6. Why? Because it's easy for me. I am more productive in this environment and because it is also what I use at work.
I don't have CVS setup because it's just too complicated to do right now. Maybe in the future.
These are some of the things I have in mind for the future direction of the program. Of course these are not set in stone, and they may change at any time.
It may be a little premature to think about future versions, but I already have something ideas in mind, so I might as well share the information.