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  • Which tips helped you learn touch-typing? [closed]

    - by julien
    I've been learning touch-typing for about two weeks now, and I'm really commited to mastering this skill. Eventhough I'm doing ok with prose already, I'm struggling with programming syntax and even more with keybindings. Those stray you away from the home row more than regular words, and aren't as easy to practice. So I often hunt and peck in order to just get it out, but when reverting to old habits like this, I find it hard to get back into the touch-typing mindframe quickly. One little trick that has helped me so far when getting lost is to reposition every finger on its home row key, and mentally visualize the layout bias of the keyboard, ie the backslash kind of alignment of key columns. It's hard to describe though and probably a bit weird... Hope you guys have better tips !

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  • How You Helped Shape Java EE 7...

    - by reza_rahman
    For many of us working with the JCP for years, the commitment to transparency and openness is very clear. For others, perhaps the most visible sign to date of this high regard for grassroots level input is a survey on Java EE 7 gathered a few months ago. The survey was designed to get open feedback on a number of critical issues central to the Java EE 7 umbrella specification including what APIs to include in the standard. The survey was highly successful with a large number of high quality responses. With Java EE 7 under our belt and the horizons for Java EE 8 emerging, this is a good time to thank everyone that took the survey once again for their thoughts and let you know what the impact of your voice actually was. I've posted the details on my personal blog. I hope you are encouraged by how your input to the survey helped shape Java EE 7 and continues to shape Java EE 8. Maybe now is the time for you to get more involved :-)?

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  • What helped YOU learn C++? [on hold]

    - by Tips48
    So here's my attempt to not get this question closed for too subjective :P I'm a young programmer, specifically interested in Game Development. I've written my first couple games in Java, which I would consider my self intermediate-Advanced in. As I start to prepare myself for college and (hopefully) internships, I've noticed that learning C/C++ is essential to the industry. I've decided to start with C++, and so I read a couple of books that I saw were suggested. Anyway, now I have a decent understanding of the basics, but I really want to enhance my language knowledge. Instead of just asking for things to do, I was wondering what were some exercises that you did that really helped you understand the language? Preferably they would be near the beginner level. I understand that they obviously won't be directly related to Game Development, but it be nice if there were some things that I could transfer over eventually. (Specifically, I struggle with memory (pointers, etc) since there is no such concept in Java) Thanks! - Tips P.S.: Here's to hoping this isn't to subjective :P

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  • How You Helped Shape Java EE 7...

    - by reza_rahman
    I have been working with the JCP in various roles since EJB 3/Java EE 5 (much of it on my own time), eventually culminating in my decision to accept my current role at Oracle (despite it's inevitable set of unique challenges, a role I find by and large positive and fulfilling). During these years, it has always been clear to me that pretty much everyone in the JCP genuinely cares about openness, feedback and developer participation. Perhaps the most visible sign to date of this high regard for grassroots level input is a survey on Java EE 7 gathered a few months ago. The survey was designed to get open feedback on a number of critical issues central to the Java EE 7 umbrella specification including what APIs to include in the standard. When we started the survey, I don't think anyone was certain what the level of participation from developers would really be. I also think everyone was pleasantly surprised that a large number of developers (around 1100) took the time out to vote on these very important issues that could impact their own professional life. And it wasn't just a matter of the quantity of responses. I was particularly impressed with the quality of the comments made through the survey (some of which I'll try to do justice to below). With Java EE 7 under our belt and the horizons for Java EE 8 emerging, this is a good time to thank everyone that took the survey once again for their thoughts and let you know what the impact of your voice actually was. As an aside, you may be happy to know that we are working hard behind the scenes to try to put together a similar survey to help kick off the agenda for Java EE 8 (although this is by no means certain). I'll break things down by the questions asked in the survey, the responses and the resulting change in the specification. APIs to Add to Java EE 7 Full/Web Profile The first question in the survey asked which of four new candidate APIs (WebSocket, JSON-P, JBatch and JCache) should be added to the Java EE 7 Full and Web profile respectively. Developers by and large wanted all the new APIs added to the full platform. The comments expressed particularly strong support for WebSocket and JCache. Others expressed dissatisfaction over the lack of a JSON binding (as opposed to JSON processing) API. WebSocket, JSON-P and JBatch are now part of Java EE 7. In addition, the long-awaited Java EE Concurrency Utilities API was also included in the Full Profile. Unfortunately, JCache was not finalized in time for Java EE 7 and the decision was made not to hold up the Java EE release any longer. JCache continues to move forward strongly and will very likely be included in Java EE 8 (it will be available much sooner than Java EE 8 to boot). An emergent standard for JSON-B is also a strong possibility for Java EE 8. When it came to the Web Profile, developers were supportive of adding WebSocket and JSON-P, but not JBatch and JCache. Both WebSocket and JSON-P are now part of the Web Profile, now also including the already popular JAX-RS API. Enabling CDI by Default The second question asked whether CDI should be enabled in Java EE by default. The overwhelming majority of developers supported the default enablement of CDI. In addition, developers expressed a desire for better CDI/Java EE alignment (with regards to EJB and JSF in particular). Some developers expressed legitimate concerns over the performance implications of enabling CDI globally as well as the potential conflict with other JSR 330 implementations like Spring and Guice. CDI is enabled by default in Java EE 7. Respecting the legitimate concerns, CDI 1.1 was very careful to add additional controls around component scanning. While a lot of work was done in Java EE 6 and Java EE 7 around CDI alignment, further alignment is under serious consideration for Java EE 8. Consistent Usage of @Inject The third question was around using CDI/JSR 330 @Inject consistently vs. allowing JSRs to create their own injection annotations (e.g. @BatchContext). A majority of developers wanted consistent usage of @Inject. The comments again reflected a strong desire for CDI/Java EE alignment. A lot of emphasis in Java EE 7 was put into using @Inject consistently. For example, the JBatch specification is focused on using @Inject wherever possible. JAX-RS remains an exception with it's existing custom injection annotations. However, the JAX-RS specification leads understand the importance of eventual convergence, hopefully in Java EE 8. Expanding the Use of @Stereotype The fourth question was about expanding CDI @Stereotype to cover annotations across Java EE beyond just CDI. A solid majority of developers supported the idea of making @Stereotype more universal in Java EE. The comments maintained the general theme of strong support for CDI/Java EE alignment Unfortunately, there was not enough time and resources in Java EE 7 to implement this fairly pervasive feature. However, it remains a serious consideration for Java EE 8. Expanding Interceptor Use The final set of questions was about expanding interceptors further across Java EE. Developers strongly supported the concept. Along with injection, interceptors are now supported across all Java EE 7 components including Servlets, Filters, Listeners, JAX-WS endpoints, JAX-RS resources, WebSocket endpoints and so on. I hope you are encouraged by how your input to the survey helped shape Java EE 7 and continues to shape Java EE 8. Participating in these sorts of surveys is of course just one way of contributing to Java EE. Another great way to stay involved is the Adopt-A-JSR Program. A large number of developers are already participating through their local JUGs. You could of course become a Java EE JSR expert group member or observer. You should stay tuned to The Aquarium for the progress of Java EE 8 JSRs if that's something you want to look into...

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  • White Paper: How the Security Development Lifecycle Helped Improve the Security of the 2007 Microsof

    The 2007 Office system was the first Microsoft Office release to include the standardized Security Development Lifecycle (SDL) process throughout the product development life cycle. Read this paper to understand how the SDL contributed to improving the security of the 2007 Microsoft Office System....Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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  • Last (I think and hope) problems configuring SSL certificate with Apache and VirtualHosts

    - by user65567
    Finally I set apache2 to get a single certificate for all subdomains. [...] # Go ahead and accept connections for these vhosts # from non-SNI clients SSLStrictSNIVHostCheck off # Apache setup which will listen for and accept SSL connections on port 443. Listen 443 # Listen for virtual host requests on all IP addresses NameVirtualHost *:443 # Because this virtual host is defined first, it will # be used as the default if the hostname is not received # in the SSL handshake, e.g. if the browser doesn't support # SNI. <VirtualHost *:443> ServerName domain.localhost DocumentRoot "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/domain/public" <Directory "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/domain/public"> Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> # SSL Configuration SSLEngine on ... </VirtualHost> <VirtualHost *:443> ServerName subdomain1.domain.localhost DocumentRoot "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/subdomain1/public" <Directory "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/subdomain1/public"> Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> # SSL Configuration SSLEngine on ... </VirtualHost> <VirtualHost *:443> ServerName subdomain2.domain.localhost DocumentRoot "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/subdomain2/public" <Directory "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/subdomain2/public"> Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> # SSL Configuration SSLEngine on ... </VirtualHost> So, for example, I can correctly access https://subdomain1.domain.localhost https://subdomain2.domain.localhost ... Now, anyway, I have problems on accessing http://subdomain1.domain.localhost http://subdomain2.domain.localhost ... Since I use a Mac Os, on accessing the "http: version", I get a default page "Your website." (instead of a error). Why does it happen?

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  • T-SQL Tuesday #34: Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, You're My Only Hope!

    - by AllenMWhite
    This T-SQL Tuesday is about a person that helped you understand SQL Server. It's not a stretch to say that it's people that help you get to where you are in life, and Rob Volk ( @sql_r ) is sponsoring this month's T-SQL Tuesday asking who is that person that helped you get there. Over the years, there've been a number of people who've helped me, but one person stands out above the rest, who was patient, kind and always explained the details in a way that just made sense. I first met Don Vilen at...(read more)

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  • Simple (I hope) Excel question about

    - by Princess
    I am doing a directory for my neighborhood. We had most of the information from a previous directory. The information was entered: A1 name, B1 address and C1 phone number; B1 name, B2 address, C2 phone number etc. The publisher wants the information in a different format A1 name, A2 address, A3 phone number, A4 blank; A5 name, A6 address, A7 phone number, A8 blank etc... Is there an easy (or heck - a not so easy) way to have Excel change the format of the information without me having to hand type 1300 households information? I will also need to reformat the information a second time into a crisscross. The format for that one is: A1 Street name, A2 Address Number, B2 Resident Name and C2 Phone number.

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  • Last (I think and hope) problems configuring SSL certificate with Apache and VirtualHosts

    - by user65567
    Finally I set apache2 to get a single certificate for all subdomains. [...] # Go ahead and accept connections for these vhosts # from non-SNI clients SSLStrictSNIVHostCheck off # Apache setup which will listen for and accept SSL connections on port 443. Listen 443 # Listen for virtual host requests on all IP addresses NameVirtualHost *:443 # Because this virtual host is defined first, it will # be used as the default if the hostname is not received # in the SSL handshake, e.g. if the browser doesn't support # SNI. <VirtualHost *:443> ServerName domain.localhost DocumentRoot "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/domain/public" <Directory "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/domain/public"> Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> # SSL Configuration SSLEngine on ... </VirtualHost> <VirtualHost *:443> ServerName subdomain1.domain.localhost DocumentRoot "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/subdomain1/public" <Directory "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/subdomain1/public"> Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> # SSL Configuration SSLEngine on ... </VirtualHost> <VirtualHost *:443> ServerName subdomain2.domain.localhost DocumentRoot "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/subdomain2/public" <Directory "/Users/<my_user_name>/Sites/subdomain2/public"> Order allow,deny Allow from all </Directory> # SSL Configuration SSLEngine on ... </VirtualHost> So, for example, I can correctly access https://subdomain1.domain.localhost https://subdomain2.domain.localhost ... Now, anyway, I have problems on accessing http://subdomain1.domain.localhost http://subdomain2.domain.localhost ... Since I use a Mac Os, on accessing the "http: version", I get a default page "Your website." (instead of a error). Why does it happen?

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  • Dumb IE6 resize behaviour - hope it rings some bells with someone

    - by Ollie2893
    Hi, I'm having no end of fun (sic) with jQuery.tabs. The widget is quite crafty in that it turns basic HTML like so <div> <ul> <li>Tab #1</li> ... </ul> <div for panel #1> </div> <div for panel #2> </div> ... </div> into a cute tabbed dialogue. (It does so by restyling the UL and then toggling the "display" attribute for the panel DIVs to show/not show whatever panel is selected.) Now I found that I can spare myself a lot of trouble in my JS project if I insert a scrollable IFRAME into each panel. One usability problem I'm trying to ameliorate is that when the tabbed panel becomes larger than the browser's window, then the user ends up with too many scrollbars. I am trying to avoid this situation by linking the size of the tabbed panel to that of $(window). That is, I trap and process the resize event on $(window). To make my life bearable, all components are relatively sized. This is also true, in particular, of the IFRAMEs (100% width, 100% height). The only exception are the panel DIVs, which are of fixed height (in px). And this is the only dimension css attribute that I manipulate during my resize action. All of this works a treat in FF and Chrome, but IE6 is doing something rather cute: So long as I do not affect the width of the browser window (but only change its height), only the panel DIV changes in height; the IFRAME contained will not change. As a result of this behaviour, it is not possible to shorten the tabbed panel below the height of the IFRAME. I can lengthen the DIV, yes. But the IFRAME will not fill the panel in that case. All becomes good the moment I make the slightest change to the width of the browser window. In that moment, the IFRAME expands to catch up with the extended DIV or DIV and IFRAME contract in tandem. Bizarre. I inserted useless CSS instructions like "position: relative" and "zoom: 1". Also nudged the display with "display: block". No joy so far. Any ideas? Thanks.

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  • What software analogies have helped you?

    - by Galwegian
    I have often enjoyed the use of analogies in understanding a software scenario or problem. For example, to understand the concept of public key encryption, the 'locked mailbox' analogy or similar is often used as an aid: An analogy for public-key encryption is that of a locked mailbox with a mail slot. The mail slot is exposed and accessible to the public; its location (the street address) is in essence the public key. Anyone knowing the street address can go to the door and drop a written message through the slot; however, only the person who possesses the key can open the mailbox and read the message. My question is: What analogies have you used or heard of in your career that have given you that "Eureka" moment with a complex concept? EDIT: If you have a good one, don't just state the name, please share with the group!

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  • Special thanks to everyone that helped me in 2010.

    - by mbcrump
    2010 has been a very good year for me and I wanted to create a list and thank everyone for what they have done for me.  I also wanted to thank everyone for reading and subscribing to my blog. It is hard to believe that people actually want to read what I write. I feel like I owe a huge thanks to everyone listed below. Looking back upon 2010, I feel that I’ve grown as a developer and you are part of that reason. Sometimes we get caught up in day to day work and forget to give thanks to those that helped us along the way. The list below is mine, it includes people and companies. This list is obviously not going to include everyone that has helped, just those that have stood out in my mind. When I think back upon 2010, their names keep popping up in my head. So here goes, in no particular order.  People Dave Campbell – For everything he has done for the Silverlight Community with his Silverlight Cream blog. I can’t think of a better person to get recognition at the Silverlight FireStarter event. I also wanted to thank him for spending several hours of his time helping me track down a bug in my feedburner account. Victor Gaudioso – For his large collection of video tutorials on his blog and the passion and enthusiasm he has for Silverlight. We have talked on the phone and I’ve never met anyone so fired up for Silverlight. Kunal Chowdhury – Kunal has always been available for me to bounce ideas off of. Kunal has also answered a lot of questions that stumped me. His blog and CodeProject article have green a great help to me and the Silverlight Community. Glen Gordon – I was looking frantically for a Windows Phone 7 several months before release and Glen found one for me. This allowed me to start a blog series on the Windows Phone 7 hardware and developing an application from start to finish that Scott Guthrie retweeted.  Jeff Blankenburg – For listening to my complaints in the early stages of Windows Phone 7. Jeff was always very polite and gave me his cell phone number to talk it over. He also walked me through several problems that I was having early on. Pete Brown – For writing Silverlight 4 in Action. This book is definitely a labor of love. I followed Pete on Twitter as he was writing it and he spent a lot of late nights and weekends working on it. I felt a lot smarter after reading it the first time. The second time was even better. John Papa – For all of his work on the Silverlight Firestarter and the Silverlight community in general. He has also helped me on a personal level with several things. Daniel Heisler – For putting up with me the past year while we worked on many .NET projects together in 2010. Alvin Ashcraft – For publishing a daily blog post on the best of .NET links. He has linked to my site many times and I really appreciate what he does for the community. Chris Alcock – For publishing the Morning Brew every weekday. I remember when I first appeared on his site, I started getting hundreds of hits on my site and wondered if I was getting a DOS attack or something. It was great to find out that Chris had linked to one of my articles. Joel Cochran – For spending a week teaching “Blend-O-Rama”. This was my one of my favorite sessions of this year. I learned a lot about Expression Blend from it and the best part was that it was free and during lunchtime. Jeremy Likness – Jeremy is smart – very smart. I have learned a lot from Jeremy over the past year. He is also involved in the Silverlight community in every way possible, from forums to blog post to screencast to open source. It goes on and on. The people that I met at VSLive Orlando 2010. I had a great time chatting with Walt Ritscher, Wallace McClure, Tim Huckabee and David Platt. Also a special thanks to all of my friends on Twitter like @wilhil, @DBVaughan, @DataArtist, @wbm, @DirkStrauss and @rsringeri and many many more. Software Companies / Events / May of gave me FREE stuff. =) Microsoft (3) – I was sent a free coupon code by Microsoft to take the Silverlight 4 Beta Exam. I jumped on the offer and took the exam. It was great being selected to try out the exam before it goes public even though Microsoft eventually published a universal coupon code for everyone. I am still waiting to find out if I passed the exam. My fingers are crossed. Microsoft reaching out to me with some questions regarding the .NET Community. I’ve never had a company contact me with such interest in the community. Having a contest where 75 people could win a $100 gift certificate and a T-Shirt for submitting a Windows Phone 7 app. I submitted my app and won. All of the free launch events this year (Windows Phone 7, Visual Studio 2010, ASP.NET MVC). Wintellect – For providing an awesome day of free technical training called T.E.N. Where else can you get free training from some of the best programmers in the world? I also won a contest from them that included a NETAdvantage Ultimate License from Infragistics. VSLive – I attended the Orlando 2010 Conference and it was the best developer’s conference that I have ever attended. I got to know a lot of people at this conference and hang out with many wonderful speakers. I live tweeted the event and while it may have annoyed some, the organizers of VSLive loved it. I won the contest on Twitter and they invited me back to the 2011 session of my choice. This is a very nice gift and I really appreciate the generosity. BarcodeLib.com – For providing free barcode generating tools for a Non-Profit ASP.NET project that I was working on. Their third party controls really made this a breeze compared to my existing solution. NDepend – It is absolutely the best tool to improve code quality. The product is extremely large and I would recommend heading over to their site to check it out. Silverlight Spy – I was writing a blog post on Silverlight Spy and Koen Zwikstra provided a FREE license to me. If you ever wanted to peek inside of a Silverlight Application then this is the tool for you. He is also working on a version that will support OOB and Windows Phone 7. I would recommend checking out his site. Birmingham .NET Users Group / Silverlight Nights User Group – It takes a lot of time to put together a user group meeting every month yet it always seems to happen. I don’t want to name names for fear of leaving someone out but both of these User Groups are excellent if you live in the Birmingham, Alabama area. Publishing Companies Manning Publishing – For giving me early access to Silverlight 4 in Action by Pete Brown. It was really nice to be able to read this awesome book while Pete was writing it. I was also one of the first people to publish a review of the book. Sams Publishing and DZone – For providing a copy of Silverlight 4 Unleashed by Laurent Bugnion for me to review for their site. The review is coming in January 2011. Special Shoutout to the following 3rd Party Silverlight Controls It has been a great pleasure to work with the following companies on 3rd Party Control Giveaways every month. It always amazes me how every 3rd Party Control company is so eager to help out the community. I’ve never been turned down by any of these companies! These giveaways have sparked a lot of interest in Silverlight and hopefully I can continue giving away a new set every month. If you are a 3rd Party Control company and are interested in participating in these giveaways then please email me at mbcrump29[at]gmail[d0t].com. The companies below have already participated in my giveaways: Infragistics (December 2010) - Win a set of Infragistics Silverlight Controls with Data Visualization!  Mindscape (November 2010) - Mindscape Silverlight Controls + Free Mega Pack Contest Telerik (October 2010) - Win Telerik RadControls for Silverlight! ($799 Value) Again, I just wanted to say Thanks to everyone for helping me grow as a developer.  Subscribe to my feed

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  • What features of old computers helped you learn to be a better programmer?

    - by David Cary
    What features of old computers helped you learn to be a better programmer -- but don't seem to be available on new computers? I imagine that, while educational, you are really glad some features are gone, such as programs ran so slowly that I could almost see each pixel being plotted, so I got a visceral feel for the effect of various optimizations. I imagine other features you may be a little nostalgic for, such as I could turn on the computer, and write a short program that printed "Hello, World" on the printer, before ever "booting" a "disk". (I'm hoping that this is constructive enough to avoid the fate of the " What have we lost from computers 20 years ago ?" question).

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  • Hardware from Oracle, Pricing for Education (HOPE) Program: New version now available!

    - by Cinzia Mascanzoni
    With HOPE Version 5, Oracle offers education institutions even more unmatched savings on its award-winning systems products making it more affordable for educational institutions to create scalable, high-performing, and low TCO teaching and learning environments. With special discounts for you, on selected Sun products from Oracle, the net result is that you can assist your Resellers in reducing the impact on their customers' budget in two ways: • Lower the total cost for technology acquisition of systems and hardware, for the end user • Reduce the environmental impact of the educational institutions served by your Resellers, by running and maintaining a lower cost, more efficient infrastructure Start today to take advantage of the new release of this exciting program from Oracle. Check the EMEA VAD Resource Center for a description of the products and discounts offered to you and to find links to more detailed information about these Sun products.

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  • HOPE Programm bis 31. Dezember 2012 verlängert!

    - by A&C Redaktion
    Hochperformante IT zu bezahlbaren Preisen ist für Kunden aus Forschung und Lehre eine ganz besondere Herausforderung. Den speziellen Anforderungen und Bedürfnissen dieses hauptsächlich durch Partner bedienten Segments kommt Oracle gerne entgegen: Wir haben unser F&L-Programm "Hardware from Oracle - Pricing for Education" (HOPE) bis zum 31.12.2012 verlängert, das folgende Hardware-Produkte zu stark vergünstigten Konditionen beinhaltet: Oracle SPARC T4 Server – bis zu 5x schneller als ihre Vorgängersysteme, dabei 100% kompatibel zu allen SPARC/Solaris Applikationen Oracle x86 Server – Linux und Solaris, Virtualisierung und Systems Management inklusive Oracle ZFS Storage Appliances – Enterprise NAS mit führender Leistung, Kosteneffizienz und Benutzerfreundlichkeit Oracle Tape Systeme – Bewährte StorageTek Band- und Bibliothekslösungen Oracle Database Appliance – Hochverfügbare und einfach zu verwaltende Appliance für die Oracle Datenbank 11gR2, mit „Pay-As-You-Grow“-Lizenzmodell Mehr Details und Ihre Ansprechpartner bei Oracle finden Sie in unserem aktuellen deutschsprachigen Flyer.

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  • MVP Summit 2011 summary and thoughts: The &ldquo;I hope I don&rsquo;t cross a line and lose my MVP status&rdquo; post

    - by George Clingerman
    I've been wanting to write this post summarizing my thoughts about the MVP summit but have been dragging my feet since it's a very difficult one to write. However seeing Andy (http://forums.create.msdn.com/forums/t/77625.aspx) and Catalin (http://www.catalinzima.com/2011/03/mvp-summit-2011/) and Chris (http://geekswithblogs.net/cwilliams/archive/2011/03/07/144229.aspx) post about it has encouraged me to finally take the plunge. I'm going to have to write carefully though because I'm going to be dancing around a ton of NDA mine fields as well as having to walk the tight-rope of not sending the wrong message or having people read too much into what I'm saying. I want to note that most of what I'm about to say is just based on my observations, they're not thoughts that Microsoft has asked me to pass along and they're not things I heard Microsoft say. It's just me sharing what I think after going to the MVP summit. Let's start off with a short imaginary question and answer session.     Has the App Hub forums and XBLIG management been rather poor by Microsoft? Yes.     Do I think we're going to see changes to that overnight? No.     Will it continue to look bad from the outside? Somewhat. Confusing right? Well that's kind of how things are right now. Lots of confusion. XNA is doing AWESOME. Like, really, really awesome. As a result of that awesomeness, XNA is on three major platforms: Xbox 360, WP7 and PC. This means that internally Microsoft is really excited and invested in the technology. That's fantastic for XNA and really should show you the future the framework has. It's here to stay. So why are Xbox LIVE Indie Game developers feeling so much pain? The ironic thing is that pain is being caused by the success of XNA. When XNA was just a small thing, there was more freedom and more focus. It was just us and them. We were an only child. Now our family has grown and everyone has and wants some time with XNA. This gets XNA pulled in all directions and as it moves onto new platforms, it plays catch up trying to get those platforms up to speed to where Xbox LIVE Indie Games has grown. Forums, documentation, educational content. They all need to be there because Xbox LIVE Indie Games has all of that and more. Along with the catch up in features/documentation/awesomeness there's the catch up that the people on the team have to play. New platforms and new areas of development mean new players and those new guys don't have the history of being around from the beginning. This leads to a lack of understanding at times just how important some things are because they seem so small and insignificant (Rich Text defaulting for new forum profiles would be one things that jumps to mind). If you're not aware that the forums have become more than just a basic Q&A, if you're not aware that they're a central hub to a very active community, then you don't understand why that small change should be prioritized over something else. New people have to get caught up and figure out how to make a framework and central forum site work for everyone it's now serving. So yeah, a lot of our pain this last year has been simply that XNA is doing well and XBLIG is doing well so the focus was shifted to catch other things up. It hurts when a parent seems to not have any time for you and they're spending some much time with your new baby brother. Growing pains. All families and in our case our product family experience it to some degree. I think as WP7 matures we'll see the team figuring out how to give everyone the right amount of attention. While we're talking about some of our growing pains, it is also important to note (although not really an excuse) that the Xbox LIVE Arcade developers complain about many of the same things that we do. If you paid attention to talks and information coming out of GDC 2011, most of the the XBLA guys were saying things that sounded eerily similar to what the XBLIG developers are saying (Scott Nichols from GayGamer.net noticed http://twitter.com/#!/NaviFairyGG/status/43540379206811650). Does this mean we should just accept the status quo since we're being treated exactly the same? No way. However it DOES show that the way we're being treated is no indication of the stability and future of the platform, it's just Microsoft dropping the communication ball on two playing fields. We're not alone and we're not even being treated worse. Not great, but also in a weird way a very good sign. Now on to a few tidbits I think I CAN share from the summit (I'm really crossing my fingers I'm not stepping over some NDA line I shouldn't be). First, I discovered that the XBLIG user base is bigger than I personally had originally estimated. I won't give the exact numbers (although we did beg Microsoft to release some of these numbers so maybe someday?) but it was much larger than my original guestimates and I was pleasantly surprised. Maybe some of you guys had the right number when you were guessing, but I know that mine was much too low. And even MORE importantly the number of users/shoppers is growing at a steady pace as well. Our market is growing! That was fantastic news and really something that I had to share. On to the community manager discussion. It was mentioned. I was mentioned. I blushed. Nothing more to report there than the blush in my cheeks was a light crimson color. If I ever see a job description posted for that position I have a resume waiting in the wings. I can't deny that I think that would be my dream job... ...so after I finished blushing, the MVPs did make it very, very clear that the communication has to improve. Community manager or not the single biggest pain point with the Xbox LIVE Indie Game community has been a lack of communication. I have seen dramatic improvement in the team responding to MVPs and I'm even seeing more communication from them on the forums so I'm hoping that's a long term change. I really think they understood the issue, the problem remains how to open that communication channel in a way that was sustainable. I think they'll get it figured out and hopefully that's sooner rather than later. During the summit, you may have seen me tweeting about how I was "that guy" (http://twitter.com/#!/clingermangw/status/42740432471470081). You also may have noticed that Andy and Catalin both mentioned me in their summit write ups. I may have come on a bit strong while I was there...went a little out of character for myself. I've been agitated for a while with the way things have been and I've been listening to you guys and hearing you guys be agitated. I'm also watching some really awesome indie game developers looking elsewhere and leaving the platform. Some of them we might not have been able to keep even with changes, but others are only leaving because of perceptions and lack of communication from Microsoft. And that pisses me off. And I let Microsoft know that I was pissed off. You made your list and I took that list and verbalized it. I verbalized the hell out of it. [It was actually mentioned that I'm a lot nicer on the forums and in email than I am in person...I felt bad about that, but I couldn't stay silent]. Hopefully it did something guys, I really did try hard to get the message across. Along with my agitation, I also brought some pride. I mentioned several things in person to the team that I was particularly proud of. From people in the community that are doing an awesome job, to the re-launch of XboxIndies that was going on that week and even gamers like Steven Hurdle (http://writingsofmassdeduction.com/) who have purchased one XBLIG every day for over 100 days now. The community is freaking rocking it and I made sure to highlight that. So in conclusion, I'd just like to say hang in there (you know, like that picture of the cat). If you've been worried about investing in Xbox LIVE Indie Games because you think it's on shaky ground. It's not. Dream Build Play being about the Xbox 360 should have helped a little to point that out. The team is really scrambling around trying to figure things out and make improvements all around. There’s quite a few new gals and guys and it's going to take them time to catch up and there are a lot of constantly shifting priorities. We all have one toy, one team and we're fighting for time with it. It's also time for the community to continue spreading our wings and going out on our own more often. The Indie Game Winter Uprising was a fantastic example of that. We took things into our own hands and it got noticed and Microsoft got behind it. They do every time we stand up and do something (look at how many Microsoft employees tweeted, wrote about the re-launch of XboxIndies.com or the support I've gotten from them for my weekly XNA Notes). XNA is here to stay, it's time for us to stop being scared of that and figure out how to make our own games the successes they should be. There's definitely a list of things that need to be fixed, things that should be improved and I think we should definitely keep vocal about that with Microsoft. Keep it short, focused and prioritized. There's also a lot of things we can do ourselves while we're waiting on them to fix and change things. Lots of ways we can compensate for particular weaknesses in the channel. The kind of stuff that we can step up and do ourselves. Do it on our own, you know, the way Indies always do. And I'm really looking forward to watching us do just that.

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  • What should I quote for a project I hope to get a job at the end of?

    - by thesunneversets
    Long story short: I applied for a (CakePHP, MySQL, etc) development job in London, UK. I grew up in Britain but am currently based quite a few thousand miles away in Canada, so I wasn't really expecting success. But quite a few emails and phone interviews later it seems that they really like me. At least to a point. Because such a major relocation would be a horrible thing to go wrong, they've sensibly suggested a trial run of getting me to build a website at a distance. I have the spec for this and it's quite a substantial amount of work. My problem is that I now need to suggest both a fee and a timescale for the job, and I haven't got any significant experience of working as a contractor. Looking at the spec, which is 1500 words of many concisely stated features, some fairly trivial and some moderately involved, I can easily imagine there being 2 weeks of intensive work there. (If everything went really well it might be closer to one week, but even though I want to impress, I definitely don't want to fall into the inexperienced-contractor trap of massively underestimating the amount of time a project will run to.) As an extra complication, there is no expectation that I should give up my day job to get this trial project done, so the hours will have to be clawed from evenings and weekends. I don't want to overcommit to a quick delivery date, only to find myself swiftly burning out due to an unrealistic workload. So, any advice for me? My main question is, what is a realistic hourly figure to demand of a stable but not excessively wealthy London-based company in the current market, bearing in mind that I'd like them to hire me afterwards? But any more general recommendations based on my circumstances above would be much appreciated too. Many thanks!

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