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  • Is -1 a magic number? An anti-pattern? A code smell? Quotes and guidelines from authorities

    - by polygenelubricants
    I've seen -1 used in various APIs, most commonly when searching into a "collection" with zero-based indices, usually to indicate the "not found" index. This "works" because -1 is never a legal index to begin with. It seems that any negative number should work, but I think -1 is almost always used, as some sort of (unwritten?) convention. I would like to limit the scope to Java at least for now. My questions are: What are the official words from Sun regarding using -1 as a "special" return value like this? What quotes are there regarding this issue, from e.g. James Gosling, Josh Bloch, or even other authoritative figures outside of Java? What were some of the notable discussions regarding this issue in the past?

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  • Practical rules for premature optimization

    - by DougW
    It seems that the phrase "Premature Optimization" is the buzz-word of the day. For some reason, iphone programmers in particular seem to think of avoiding premature optimization as a pro-active goal, rather than the natural result of simply avoiding distraction. The problem is, the term is beginning to be applied more and more to cases that are completely inappropriate. For example, I've seen a growing number of people say not to worry about the complexity of an algorithm, because that's premature optimization (eg http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2190275/help-sorting-an-nsarray-across-two-properties-with-nssortdescriptor/2191720#2191720). Frankly, I think this is just laziness, and appalling to disciplined computer science. But it has occurred to me that maybe considering the complexity and performance of algorithms is going the way of assembly loop unrolling, and other optimization techniques that are now considered unnecessary. What do you think? Are we at the point now where deciding between an O(n^n) and O(n!) complexity algorithm is irrelevant? What about O(n) vs O(n*n)? What do you consider "premature optimization"? What practical rules do you use to consciously or unconsciously avoid it? This is a bit vague, but I'm curious to hear other peoples' opinions on the topic.

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  • Another answer to the CAPTCHA problem?

    - by Xeoncross
    Most sites at least employ server access log checking and banning along with some kind of bot prevention measure like a CAPTCHA (those messed-up text images). The problem with CAPTCHAs is that they poss a threat to the user experience. Luckily they now come with user friendly features like refresh and audio versions. Anyway, like linux vs windows, it isn't worth the time of a spammer to customize and/or build a script to handle a custom CAPTCHA example that only pertains to one site. Therefore, I was wondering if there might be better ways to handle the whole CAPTCHA thing. In A Better CAPTCHA Peter Bromberg mentions that one way would be to convert the image to HTML and display it embedded in the page. On http://shiflett.org/ Chris simply asks users to type his name into an input. Examples like this are ways to simplifying the CAPTCHA experience while decreasing the value for spammers. Does anyone know of more good examples I could use or see any problem with the embedded image idea?

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  • How can a new hire/intern make a good impression?

    - by Tristan
    In a week I start at my first real programming internship for a multinational company, I want to know, aside from "hard work" what can I do to prepare for this? How do I be a good new employee? (FYI, my first assignment is to help the team with "enhancements to our test driver to automate our regression testing" on an air traffic control system written in ADA)

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  • are there any negative implications of sourcing a javascript file that does not actually exist?

    - by dreftymac
    If you do script src="/path/to/nonexistent/file.js" in an HTML file and call that in a browser, and there are no dependencies or resources anywhere else in the HTML file that expect the file or code therein to actually exist, is there anything inherently bad-practice about doing this? Yes, it is an odd question. The rationale is the developer is dealing with a CMS that allows custom (self-contained) javascript files to be provided in certain circumstances. The problem is the CMS is not very flexible when it comes to creating conditional includes for javascript. Therefore it is easier to just make references to the self-contained js files regardless of whether they are actually at the specified path. Since no errors are displayed to the user, should this practice be considered a viable option?

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  • In JSF - What is the correct way to do this? Two dropdown lists with dependency.

    - by Ben
    Hi, I'm making two dropdown lists in JSF which are dependent. Specifically, one list has all the languages and the second list contains values that are displayed in the currently selected language. I've implemented this by having the second list use information from a Hash and rebuilding that Hash in the setter of the currently selected language. JSF Code Bit: <rich:dropDownMenu value="#{bean.currentlySelectedLanguage}" id="languageSelector"> ... (binding to languages hash) ... <rich:dropDownMenu value="#{bean.currentlySelectedScript}" id="ScriptPullDown"> ... (binding to scripts hash) ... Backing Bean Code Bit: setCurrentlySelectedLanguage(String lang){ this.currentlySelectedLanguage = lang; rebuildScriptNames(lang); } I'm wondering if that's a good way of doing this or if theres a better method that I am not aware of. Thank you! EDIT - Adding info.. I used a a4j:support that with event="onchange" and ReRender="ScriptPullDown" to rerender the script pull down. I could probably add an action expression to run a method when the value changes. But is there a benefit to doing this over using code in the setter function?

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  • Design patterns to avoid

    - by Brian Rasmussen
    A lot of people seem to agree, that the Singleton pattern has a number of drawbacks and some even suggest to avoid the pattern all together. There's an excellent discussion here. Please direct any comments about the Singleton pattern to that question. Are there other design patterns, that should be avoided or used with great care?

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  • Double associative array or indexed + associative array

    - by clover
    I'm undecided what's the best-practice approach for what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to enter data into an array where the data will look like this: apple color: red price: 2 orange color: orange price: 3 banana color: yellow price: 2 pineapple color: yellow price: 5 When I get input, let's say green apple (notice it's a combo of color + name of fruit), I'm going to check if the name of fruit part exists in the array and display its data (if it exists). What's the right way to compose those arrays? How would I do an indexed array containing an associative array? (or would this be better as 2 nested associative arrays, I'm guessing not)

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  • C#: What would you name an IEnumerable class?

    - by Svish
    When reading this question I started to wonder a bit. Say you have these two: class ProductCollection : ICollection<Product> class ProductList : IList<Product> What would you call one that were an IEnumerable<Product>? class Product--- : IEnumerable<Product> Before I read that other question I might have called it a ProductCollection actually, but taking the new info into account, that would have been a bit misleading since it does not implement ICollection<Product>. Could you call it Products? var products = new Products(); // products is/are products Almost works but sounds a bit strange... What would you call it?

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  • How to design a class for managing file path ?

    - by remi bourgarel
    Hi All In my app, I generate some xml file for instance : "/xml/product/123.xml" where 123 is the product's id and 123.xml contains informations about this product. I also have "/xml/customer/123.xml" where 123.xml contains informations about the client ... 123 How can I manage these file paths : 1/ - I create the file path directly in the seralization method ? 2/ I create 2 static class : CustomerSerializationPathManager and ProductSerializationPathManager with 1 method : getPath(int customerID) and getPath(int productID) 3/ I create one static class : SerializationPathManager with 2 method : getCustomerPath(int customerID) and getProductPath(int productID) 4/ something else I'd prefer the solution 3 cause if I think there's only one reason to change this class : I change the root directory. So I'd like to have your thoughts about it... thx

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  • Which of these is better practice?

    - by Fletcher Moore
    You have a sequence of functions to execute. Case A: They do not depend on each other. Which of these is better? function main() { a(); b(); c(); } or function main() { a(); } function a() { ... b(); } function b() { ... c(); } Case B: They do depend on successful completion of the previous. function main() { if (a()) if (b()) c(); } or function main() { if (!a()) return false; if (!b()) return false; c(); } or function main() { a(); } function a() { ... // maybe return false b(); } funtion b() { ... // maybe return false c(); } Better, of course, means more maintainable and easier to follow.

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  • Should a Unit-test replicate functionality or Test output?

    - by Daniel Beardsley
    I've run into this dilemma several times. Should my unit-tests duplicate the functionality of the method they are testing to verify it's integrity? OR Should unit tests strive to test the method with numerous manually created instances of inputs and expected outputs? I'm mainly asking the question for situations where the method you are testing is reasonably simple and it's proper operation can be verified by glancing at the code for a minute. Simplified example (in ruby): def concat_strings(str1, str2) return str1 + " AND " + str2 end Simplified functionality-replicating test for the above method: def test_concat_strings 10.times do str1 = random_string_generator str2 = random_string_generator assert_equal (str1 + " AND " + str2), concat_strings(str1, str2) end end I understand that most times the method you are testing won't be simple enough to justify doing it this way. But my question remains; is this a valid methodology in some circumstances (why or why not)?

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  • Popup Dialog Box Manager using PureMVC

    - by webwise
    I am developing a a game in Flash using the PureMVC framework. From time to time I need to show dialog pop-up window to get a user response back (e.g. "Cancel", "OK" and other kinds of asynchronous user feedback) while "locking" the background for interactivity. I need some management for my pop-ups: all pop-up notifications should be stacked up, so that if two (or more) pop-up messages are initiated at the same time I show them one by one. What's the best practice here? Should I employ a proxy to manage my pop-ups (sounds unreasonable). How do I get feedback back from my dialog? using notifications?

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  • What is the best way in assigning foreign key when using entity framework & LINQ to Entities?

    - by Abdel Olakara
    Hi all, I need to know the best practice of creating an entity object and assigning the foreign key. Here is my scenario. I have a Product table with pid,name,unit_price etc.. I also have a Rating table with pid (foregin key),rate,votes etc... Currently i am doing the following to create the rating object: var prod = entities.Product.First(p => p.product_id == pid); prod.Rating.Load(); if (prod.Rating != null) { log.Info("Rating already exists!"); // set values and Calcuate the score } else { log.Info("New Rating!!!"); Rating rating = new Rating(); // set values and do inital calculation prod.Rating = rating; } entities.SaveChanges(); Even though this works fine, i would like to know the best practice in doing these kind of assignment. Thanks for your suggestions and info. Best Regards, Abdel Olakara

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  • Separation of interfaces and implementation

    - by bonefisher
    From assembly(or module) perspective, what do you think of separation of Interface (1.assembly) and its Implementation (2.assembly)? In this way we can use some IoC container to develop more decoupling desing.. Say we have an assembly 'A', which contains interfaces only. Then we have an assembly 'B' which references 'A' and implements those interfaces..It is dependent only on 'A'. In assembly 'C' then we can use the IoC container to create objects of 'A' using dependency injection of objects from 'B'. This way 'B' and 'C' are completely unaware (not dependent) of themselves..

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  • SVN Best practice for a "branch" of your main product ?

    - by Steffen
    At my job we develop websites - however now we're going to make a "whitelabelled" version of a site, which basically means it's the same site, however with a different logo and hosted on a different domain. Also it'll have minor graphical differences, but overall the engine is the same. My initial thought for keeping this in SVN, was to just make a branch for it - however I'm not quite certain if this could give me trouble later on. Normally I keep my branches somewhat short lived - mainly used for developing a new feature, without disturbing trunk. We need to be able to merge trunk changes into this "whitelabel" version, which I why I thought about branching it in the first place. So what's the best way to archive this ?

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  • Using pointers in PHP.

    - by Babiker
    I ask this question because i learned that in programming and designing, you must have a good reason for decisions. I am php learner and i am at a crossroad here, i am using simple incrementation to try to get what im askin across. I am certainly not here to start a debate about the pros/cons of pointers but when it comes to php, which is the better programming practice: function increment(&$param) { $param++; } Or function increment($param){ return $param++; } $param = increment($param);

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  • How sophisticated should be DAL?

    - by Andrew Florko
    Basically, DAL (Data Access Layer) should provide simple CRUD (Create/Read/Update/Delete) methods but I always have a temptation to create more sophisticated methods in order to minimize database access roundtrips from Business Logic Layer. What do you think about following extensions to CRUD (most of them are OK I suppose): Read: GetById, GetByName, GetPaged, GetByFilter... e.t.c. methods Create: GetOrCreate methods (model entity is returned from DB or created if not found and returned), Create(lots-of-relations) instead of Create and multiple AssignTo methods calls Update: Merge methods (entities list are updated, created and deleted in one call) Delete: Delete(bool children) - optional children delete, Cleanup methods Where do you usually implement Entity Cache capabilities? DAL or BLL? (My choice is BLL, but I have seen DAL implementations also) Where is the boundary when you decide: this operation is too specific so I should implement it in Business Logic Layer as DAL multiple calls? I often found insufficient BLL operations that were implemented in dozen database roundtrips because developer was afraid to create a bit more sophisticated DAL. Thank you in advance!

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  • How should I handle incomplete packet buffers?

    - by Benjamin Manns
    I am writing a client for a server that typically sends data as strings in 500 or less bytes. However, the data will occasionally exceed that, and a single set of data could contain 200,000 bytes, for all the client knows (on initialization or significant events). However, I would like to not have to have each client running with a 50 MB socket buffer (if it's even possible). Each set of data is delimited by a null \0 character. What kind of structure should I look at for storing partially sent data sets? For example, the server may send ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV\0WXYZ\0123!\0. I would want to process ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUV, WXYZ, and 123! independently. Also, the server could send ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890LOL123HAHATHISISREALLYLONG without the terminating character. I would want that data set stored somewhere for later appending and processing. Also, I'm using asynchronous socket methods (BeginSend, EndSend, BeginReceive, EndReceive) if that matters.

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