how do i implement this?

[topnode]

i'm designing software for a school project which will take account of the number of vehicles leaving and entering a parking lot. does anyone have an idea how i can implement this i.e what equipment do i need besides a computer with my program running?

thanks

[topnode]

actually i'm just coming up with a concept. the programming language of choice is C++. i'm starting to see how difficult it's going to actually be (the program has to determine whether what's passing thru the entrance and exit are automobiles and not humans or dogs...) unless there is some kind of control at those points which makes sure only automobiles pass thru them (i.e. security guards)... this means just using motion detection equipment (the stuff that makes your lawn lights turn on when something passes in its line of sight) won't cut it. wait a minute what about metal detectors and motion detectors working in tandem?

[Dreamscape]

Usually gates and stop lights have capacitive plates or pressure plates for detecting the crap loads of metal called cars. Or, you can use the wammy sticks that cops use for speed traps. That would give you a very easy digital signal to use.

I would stay away from the visible spectrum (even simple pattern recognition programs are difficult) and think more about infrared spectrum. But, even that would be harder than using whatever stop lights and gates use.

I would not rely on the software to determine if a moving object is a car or human.

For coding I would implement it using

void increaseCount()
{
count++
}

I mean what else do you need?