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  • Mysql loses its root password

    - by RubyDev
    I am having a strange problem, my mysql loses/resets the root password automatically. By which I mean that it resets it to none. It has happened twice this month. I am worried that it can be a security issue as data is open waiting only for someone trying no password! Here is the version: mysql --version mysql Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.1.56, for redhat-linux-gnu (i386) using readline 5.1 Any help would be appreciated. Update: Output of select user, host, password from mysql.user; how it looks after the password got reset | root | localhost | | root | 127.0.0.1 | | | localhost | | | admin | localhost | ################################# | (I have removed the actual output with #) So all the passwords are blank, except for for another user named 'admin'

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  • Chef: Load Attributes from encrypted databag in json role

    - by jcvj
    I'm want to use the postfix cookbook for chef. The sasl password is expected to be in an attribute. So usually you would do this: "default_attributes": { "postfix": { "sasl": { "smtp_sasl_passwd": "somepassword" } } } The thing is: I don't want to have the password in the repository in plain text. So I put it in an encrypted data bag. Now I want to access it. This can be done with this: Chef::EncryptedDataBagItem.load("passwords", "postfix")['password'] The problem: This only works in a .rb file, but my role is in json; all my roles are in json! I don't want to change that just for this purpose. Does anybody have an idea what to do here? Help is very appreciated.

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  • Spammers sending out from an inactive domain

    - by YesIWillFixYourEmailSigh
    We have a shared hosting service running QMail and Plesk. One of our inactive clients was left active in the system by mistake, and spammers found their very weak passwords and sent out a massive barrage of messages before we caught the problem and shut off the services for that domain. My question is this: How did they get access to that domain in the first place? The client is long-gone and the domain/DNS is not pointing at our server at all, and neither is the MX record. So how were they able to find that domain and exploit it when nothing on the "outside" was pointing to it?

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  • Mysql loses its root password

    - by RubyDev
    I am having a strange problem, my mysql loses/resets the root password automatically. By which I mean that it resets it to none. It has happened twice this month. I am worried that it can be a security issue as data is open waiting only for someone trying no password! Here is the version: mysql --version mysql Ver 14.14 Distrib 5.1.56, for redhat-linux-gnu (i386) using readline 5.1 Any help would be appreciated. Update: Output of select user, host, password from mysql.user; how it looks after the password got reset | root | localhost | | root | 127.0.0.1 | | | localhost | | | admin | localhost | ################################# | (I have removed the actual output with #) So all the passwords are blank, except for for another user named 'admin'

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  • Network Password Recovery

    - by sneakyV
    I am trying to recover a password for my network. It's set up like this: a network of computers, and a central server which authenticates login-passwords entered, and is also a network share. Username looks like administrator@abc. I tried to recover the password hashes from the individual CPUs, they gave this : FAFEA8FAF0D8D61FAAD3B435B51404EE. This decodes to GAGCAU and a null hash after. This password does not work for logging in to the network. Is there a way to recover the password for the network share from a non-admin network account? Thanks in advance.

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  • Forwarding sent mail through postfix

    - by D_f-r
    So I've successfully forwarded mail from my postfix server to remote Gmail accounts using /etc/aliases and newaliases. But now of course those Gmail accounts cannot send email originating from the original, aliased addresses without further configuration. I examined the Gmail configuration and found that it is indeed possible to forward sent emails via SMTP through the postfix server, but an account with a password is necessary. Even though those accounts are simply aliases, is it possible to give them passwords to facilitate replying to emails they forward? Or is an entirely different configuration set-up necessary?

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  • Preventing an Apache 2 Server from Logging Sensitive Data

    - by jstr
    Apache 2 by default logs the entire request URI including query string of every request. What is a straight forward way to prevent an Apache 2 web server from logging sensitive data, for example passwords, credit card numbers, etc., but still log the rest of the request? I would like to log all log-in attempts including the attempted username as Apache does by default, and prevent Apache from logging the password directly. I have looked through the Apache 2 documentation and there doesn't appear to be an easy way to do this other than completely preventing logging of these requests (using SetEnvIf). How can I accomplish this?

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  • Remote Linux system via Windows 7

    - by kaila
    I have a dual boot with Windows 7 and Fedora. Though I can long into both without any problems, I am trying to log in to the linux account via the Windows account. Is that possible? Or, is it possible to access my university's linux server via telnet from home? I did so and got an error, with cold not connect to port 23 message. Also, since most of my mail accounts are on Windows, the passwords to which I have forgotten, I would prefer working on a ;remote' connection.

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  • How do I make two different Google Chrome profiles?

    - by ldigas
    I have a laptop which I use for (the major part) of my work and private life, and would like to set those two apart starting with Google Chrome. So far, my Google Chrome contains my work bookmarks, logins/passwords and everything else ... which I use for work, which I use privately, which I use in my spare time (funny Youtube videos, what else :) Is it possible to define multiple Google Chrome profiles, let's say work and free-time, so one can quickly switch between them, where bookmarks, logins and so on, from one would be invisible in the other, and vice versa? Also, is it possible to put them into some directory different from the default, so one can easily backup them, when needed? If it is, could anyone describe it in simple terms, or his experiences if she/he has a better way of going about this?

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  • Error data: line 2 column 1 when using pycurl with gzip stream

    - by Sagar Hatekar
    Thanks for reading. Background: I am trying to read a streaming API feed that returns data in JSON format, and then storing this data to a pymongo collection. The streaming API requires a "Accept-Encoding" : "Gzip" header. What's happening: Code fails on json.loads and outputs - Extra data: line 2 column 1 - line 4 column 1 (char 1891 - 5597) (Refer Error Log below) This does NOT happen while parsing every JSON object - it happens at random. My guess is I am encountering some weird JSON object after every "x" proper JSON objects. I did reference how to use pycurl if requested data is sometimes gzipped, sometimes not? and Encoding error while deserializing a json object from Google but so far have been unsuccessful at resolving this error. Could someone please help me out here? Error Log: Note: The raw dump of the JSON object below is basically using the repr() method. '{"id":"tag:search.twitter.com,2005:207958320747782146","objectType":"activity","actor":{"objectType":"person","id":"id:twitter.com:493653150","link":"http://www.twitter.com/Deathnews_7_24","displayName":"Death News 7/24","postedTime":"2012-02-16T01:30:12.000Z","image":"http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1834408513/deathnewstwittersquare_normal.jpg","summary":"Crashes, Murders, Suicides, Accidents, Crime and Naturals Death News From All Around World","links":[{"href":"http://www.facebook.com/DeathNews724","rel":"me"}],"friendsCount":56,"followersCount":14,"listedCount":1,"statusesCount":1029,"twitterTimeZone":null,"utcOffset":null,"preferredUsername":"Deathnews_7_24","languages":["tr"]},"verb":"post","postedTime":"2012-05-30T22:15:02.000Z","generator":{"displayName":"web","link":"http://twitter.com"},"provider":{"objectType":"service","displayName":"Twitter","link":"http://www.twitter.com"},"link":"http://twitter.com/Deathnews_7_24/statuses/207958320747782146","body":"Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Writers\xe2\x80\x99 Catalyst, Dies at 63 http://t.co/WBsNlNtA","object":{"objectType":"note","id":"object:search.twitter.com,2005:207958320747782146","summary":"Kathi Kamen Goldmark, Writers\xe2\x80\x99 Catalyst, Dies at 63 http://t.co/WBsNlNtA","link":"http://twitter.com/Deathnews_7_24/statuses/207958320747782146","postedTime":"2012-05-30T22:15:02.000Z"},"twitter_entities":{"urls":[{"display_url":"nytimes.com/2012/05/30/boo\xe2\x80\xa6","indices":[52,72],"expanded_url":"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/books/kathi-kamen-goldmark-writers-catalyst-dies-at-63.html","url":"http://t.co/WBsNlNtA"}],"hashtags":[],"user_mentions":[]},"gnip":{"language":{"value":"en"},"matching_rules":[{"value":"url_contains: nytimes.com","tag":null}],"klout_score":11,"urls":[{"url":"http://t.co/WBsNlNtA","expanded_url":"http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/books/kathi-kamen-goldmark-writers-catalyst-dies-at-63.html?_r=1"}]}}\r\n{"id":"tag:search.twitter.com,2005:207958321003638785","objectType":"activity","actor":{"objectType":"person","id":"id:twitter.com:178760897","link":"http://www.twitter.com/Mobanu","displayName":"Donald Ochs","postedTime":"2010-08-15T16:33:56.000Z","image":"http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/1493224811/small_mobany_Logo_normal.jpg","summary":"","links":[{"href":"http://www.mobanuweightloss.com","rel":"me"}],"friendsCount":10272,"followersCount":9698,"listedCount":30,"statusesCount":725,"twitterTimeZone":"Mountain Time (US & Canada)","utcOffset":"-25200","preferredUsername":"Mobanu","languages":["en"],"location":{"objectType":"place","displayName":"Crested Butte, Colorado"}},"verb":"post","postedTime":"2012-05-30T22:15:02.000Z","generator":{"displayName":"twitterfeed","link":"http://twitterfeed.com"},"provider":{"objectType":"service","displayName":"Twitter","link":"http://www.twitter.com"},"link":"http://twitter.com/Mobanu/statuses/207958321003638785","body":"Mobanu: Can Exercise Be Bad for You?: Researchers have found evidence that some people who exercise do worse on ... http://t.co/mTsQlNQO","object":{"objectType":"note","id":"object:search.twitter.com,2005:207958321003638785","summary":"Mobanu: Can Exercise Be Bad for You?: Researchers have found evidence that some people who exercise do worse on ... http://t.co/mTsQlNQO","link":"http://twitter.com/Mobanu/statuses/207958321003638785","postedTime":"2012-05-30T22:15:02.000Z"},"twitter_entities":{"urls":[{"display_url":"nyti.ms/KUmmMa","indices":[116,136],"expanded_url":"http://nyti.ms/KUmmMa","url":"http://t.co/mTsQlNQO"}],"hashtags":[],"user_mentions":[]},"gnip":{"language":{"value":"en"},"matching_rules":[{"value":"url_contains: nytimes.com","tag":null}],"klout_score":12,"urls":[{"url":"http://t.co/mTsQlNQO","expanded_url":"http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/30/can-exercise-be-bad-for-you/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed"}]}}\r\n' json exception: Extra data: line 2 column 1 - line 4 column 1 (char 1891 - 5597) Header Output: HTTP/1.1 200 OK Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8 Vary: Accept-Encoding Date: Wed, 30 May 2012 22:14:48 UTC Connection: close Transfer-Encoding: chunked Content-Encoding: gzip get_stream.py: #!/usr/bin/env python import sys import pycurl import json import pymongo STREAM_URL = "https://stream.test.com:443/accounts/publishers/twitter/streams/track/Dev.json" AUTH = "userid:passwd" DB_HOST = "127.0.0.1" DB_NAME = "stream_test" class StreamReader: def __init__(self): try: self.count = 0 self.buff = "" self.mongo = pymongo.Connection(DB_HOST) self.db = self.mongo[DB_NAME] self.raw_tweets = self.db["raw_tweets_gnip"] self.conn = pycurl.Curl() self.conn.setopt(pycurl.ENCODING, 'gzip') self.conn.setopt(pycurl.URL, STREAM_URL) self.conn.setopt(pycurl.USERPWD, AUTH) self.conn.setopt(pycurl.WRITEFUNCTION, self.on_receive) self.conn.setopt(pycurl.HEADERFUNCTION, self.header_rcvd) while True: self.conn.perform() except Exception as ex: print "error ocurred : %s" % str(ex) def header_rcvd(self, header_data): print header_data def on_receive(self, data): temp_data = data self.buff += data if data.endswith("\r\n") and self.buff.strip(): try: tweet = json.loads(self.buff, encoding = 'UTF-8') self.buff = "" if tweet: try: self.raw_tweets.insert(tweet) except Exception as insert_ex: print "Error inserting tweet: %s" % str(insert_ex) self.count += 1 if self.count % 10 == 0: print "inserted "+str(self.count)+" tweets" except Exception as json_ex: print "json exception: %s" % str(json_ex) print repr(temp_data) stream = StreamReader()

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  • Opinions on Dual-Salt authentication for low sensitivity user accounts?

    - by Heleon
    EDIT - Might be useful for someone in the future... Looking around the bcrypt class in php a little more, I think I understand what's going on, and why bcrypt is secure. In essence, I create a random blowfish salt, which contains the number of crypt rounds to perform during the encryption step, which is then hashed using the crypt() function in php. There is no need for me to store the salt I used in the database, because it's not directly needed to decrypt, and the only way to gain a password match to an email address (without knowing the salt values or number of rounds) would be to brute force plain text passwords against the hash stored in the database using the crypt() function to verify, which, if you've got a strong password, would just be more effort than it's worth for the user information i'm storing... I am currently working on a web project requiring user accounts. The application is CodeIgniter on the server side, so I am using Ion Auth as the authentication library. I have written an authentication system before, where I used 2 salts to secure the passwords. One was a server-wide salt which sat as an environment variable in the .htaccess file, and the other was a randomly generated salt which was created at user signup. This was the method I used in that authentication system for hashing the password: $chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789"; //create a random string to be used as the random salt for the password hash $size = strlen($chars); for($i = 0; $i < 22; $i++) { $str .= $chars[rand(0, $size - 1)]; } //create the random salt to be used for the crypt $r_blowfish_salt = "$2a$12$" . $str . "$"; //grab the website salt $salt = getenv('WEBSITE_SALT'); //combine the website salt, and the password $password_to_hash = $pwd . $salt; //crypt the password string using blowfish $password = crypt($password_to_hash, $r_blowfish_salt); I have no idea whether this has holes in it or not, but regardless, I moved over to Ion Auth for a more complete set of functions to use with CI. I noticed that Ion only uses a single salt as part of its hashing mechanism (although does recommend that encryption_key is set in order to secure the database session.) The information that will be stored in my database is things like name, email address, location by country, some notes (which will be recommended that they do not contain sensitive information), and a link to a Facebook, Twitter or Flickr account. Based on this, i'm not convinced it's necessary for me to have an SSL connection on the secure pages of my site. My question is, is there a particular reason why only 1 salt is being used as part as the Ion Auth library? Is it implied that I write my own additional salting in front of the functionality it provides, or am I missing something? Furthermore, is it even worth using 2 salts, or once an attacker has the random salt and the hashed password, are all bets off anyway? (I assume not, but worth checking if i'm worrying about nothing...)

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  • Generate a Strong Password using Mac OS X Lion’s Built-in Utility

    - by Usman
    You might’ve heard of the LinkedIn and last.fm security breaches that took place recently. Not to mention the thousands of websites that have been hacked till now. Nothing is invulnerable to hacking. And when something like that happens, passwords are leaked. Choosing a good password is essential. A good password generator can give you the best blend of alphanumeric and symbolic characters, making up a strong password. There are a variety of password generators out there, but not many people know that there’s one built right into Mac OS X Lion. Read on to see how you can generate a strong password without any third party application. To do this, open System Preferences. Click “Users & Groups”. How to Make Your Laptop Choose a Wired Connection Instead of Wireless HTG Explains: What Is Two-Factor Authentication and Should I Be Using It? HTG Explains: What Is Windows RT and What Does It Mean To Me?

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  • How To Restore Firefox Options To Default Without Uninstalling

    - by Gopinath
    Firefox plugins are awesome and they are the pillars for the huge success of Firefox browser. Plugins vary from simple ones like changing color scheme of the browser to powerful ones likes changing the behavior of the browser itself. Recently I installed one of the powerful Firefox plugins and played around to tweak the behavior of the browser. At the end of my half an hour play, Firefox has completely become useless and stopped rending web pages properly. To continue using Firefox I had to restore it to default settings. But I don’t like to uninstall and then install it again as it’s a time consuming process and also I’ll loose all the plugins I’m using. How did I restore the default settings in a single click? Default Settings Restore Through Safe Mode Options It’s very easy to restore default settings of Firefox with the safe mode options. All we need to do is 1.  Close all the Firefox browser windows that are open 2. Launch Firefox in safe mode 3. Choose the option Reset all user preferences to Firefox defaults 4. Click on Make Changes and Restart button. Note: When Firefox restore the default settings, it erases all the stored passwords, browser history and other settings you have done. That’s all. This excellent feature of Firefox saved me from great pain and hope it’s going to help you too. Join us on Facebook to read all our stories right inside your Facebook news feed.

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  • How To Restore Firefox Options To Default Without Uninstalling

    - by Gopinath
    Firefox plugins are awesome and they are the pillars for the huge success of Firefox browser. Plugins vary from simple ones like changing color scheme of the browser to powerful ones likes changing the behavior of the browser itself. Recently I installed one of the powerful Firefox plugins and played around to tweak the behavior of the browser. At the end of my half an hour play, Firefox has completely become useless and stopped rending web pages properly. To continue using Firefox I had to restore it to default settings. But I don’t like to uninstall and then install it again as it’s a time consuming process and also I’ll loose all the plugins I’m using. How did I restore the default settings in a single click? Default Settings Restore Through Safe Mode Options It’s very easy to restore default settings of Firefox with the safe mode options. All we need to do is 1.  Close all the Firefox browser windows that are open 2. Launch Firefox in safe mode 3. Choose the option Reset all user preferences to Firefox defaults 4. Click on Make Changes and Restart button. Note: When Firefox restore the default settings, it erases all the stored passwords, browser history and other settings you have done. That’s all. This excellent feature of Firefox saved me from great pain and hope it’s going to help you too. Join us on Facebook to read all our stories right inside your Facebook news feed.

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  • How to Backup and Transfer Opera Settings, Profiles, and Browsing Sessions

    - by Lori Kaufman
    We’ve previously shown you how to backup Firefox profiles using an extension and third-party software and how to backup Google Chrome profiles. If you use Opera, there is a free tool that makes it easy to backup Opera profiles, settings, and even browsing sessions. Opera offers a sync service, called Opera Link, which allows you to sync your bookmarks, personal bar, history, Speed Dial, notes, and search engines with other computers. However, this service does not sync your current browsing sessions and passwords. We found a free tool, called Stu’s Opera Settings Import & Export tool, that allows you to export all your Opera settings, profiles, and browsing sessions to an archive and import it into Opera on the same or another computer. Stu’s Opera Settings Import & Export tool is portable and does not need to be installed. Simply download the .zip file using the link at the end of this article. Double-click the osie.exe file to run the program. 8 Deadly Commands You Should Never Run on Linux 14 Special Google Searches That Show Instant Answers How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates

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  • Day 2 - Game Design Documentation

    - by dapostolov
    So yesterday I didn't cut any code for my game but I was able to do a tiny bit of research on the XNA Game Development Technology and the communities out there and do you know what? I feel I'm a bit closer to my goal. The bad news is today I didn't cut code either. However, not all is lost because I wanted to get my ideas on paper and today I just did that.  Today, I began to jot down notes about the game and how I felt the visual elements would interact with each other. Unlike my workplace, my personal level of documentation is nothing more than a task list or a mind map of my ideas; it helps me streamline my solutions quiet effectively and circumvent the long process of articulating each thought to the n-th degree. I truly dislike documentation (because I have an extremely hard time articulating my thought and solutions); however, because I tend to do a really good job with documentation I tend to get stuck writing the buggers. But as a generalist remark: 'No Developer likes documentation.' For now let's stick with my basic notes and call this post a living document. Here are my notes, fresh, from after watching the new first episode of Merlin second season! Actually, a quick recommendation to anyone who is reading this (if anyone is): I truly recommend you envelope yourself in the medium or task you're trying to tackle. Be one with moment and feel it! For instance: Are you writing a fantasy script / game? What would the music of the genre sound like? For me the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack by Basil Poledouris is frackin awesome. There are many other good CD's out there, which I listen to (some who even use medival instruments, but Conan I keep returning to. It's a creative trigger for me. Ask yourself what would the imagery look like? Time to surf google for artist renditions of fantasy! What would the game feel like? Start playing some of your favorite games that inspire you, be wary though, have some self control and don't let it absorb your time. Anyhow, onto the documentation... Screens, Scenes, and Sprites. Oh My! (groan...) The first thing that came to mind were the screens, I thought the following would suffice: Menu Screen Character Customisation Screen Loading Screen? Battle Ground The Menu Screen Ok. So, the thought here is when the game loads a huge title is displayed: Wizard Wars. The player is prompted with 3 menu items: 1 Player Game, 2 Player Game, and Exit. Since I'm targetting the PC platform, as a non-networked game to start, I picture myself running my mouse over each menu option and the visual element of the menu item changes, along with a sound to indicate that I am over a curent menu item. And as I move my mouse away, it changes back, and possibly an exit mouse sound. Maybe on the screen somewhere is a brazier alit with a magical tome open right beside it, OR, maybe the tome is the menu! I hear the menu music as mellow, not obtrusive or piercing. On a menu item select, a confirmation sound bellows to indicate the players selection. The Esc key will always return me to the previous screens or desktop. The menu screen must feel...dark, like a really important ritual is about to happen and thus the music should build up. 1 Player Game - > Customize Character(s) 2 Player Game - > Customize Character(s) Exit - > Back to Windows Notes: So the first thing I pick up here are a couple things: First and foremost, my artistic abilities suck crap, so I may have to hire an artist (now that i've said that, lets get techy) graphical objects will be positioned within a scene on each screen / window. Menu items will be represented grapically, possibly animated, and have sound / animation effects triggered by user input or a time line. I have an animated scene involving a brazier or fire on a stick IF I was to move this game to the xbox, I'd have to track which menu item is currently selected (unless I do a mouse pointer type thing.) WindowObject has a scene A Scene has many GameObjects GameObject has a position graphic or animation MenuObject is a GameObject which has a mouse in, mouse out, and click event which either does something graphically (animation), does something with sound, or moves to another screen.  Character Customisation Screen With either the 1 or 2 player option selected, both selections will come to this screen; a wizard requires a name, powers, and vestements of course! Player one will configure his character first and then player two. I considered a split screen for PC but to have two people fighting over a keyboard would probably suck. For XBox, a split screen could work; maybe when I get into the networking portion (phase 2 blog?) of this game I will remove the 2 player option for PC and provide only multiplayer and I will leave 2 player for xbox...hmm... Anyhow...I picture the creation process as follows: Name: (textbox / keyboard entry) - for xbox, this would have to be different. Robe Color: (color box, or something) Stats: Speed, Oomph, and Health. (as sliders) 1 as minimum and 10 as maximum. Ok, Back, and Cancel buttons / options. Each stat has a benefit which are listed below. The idea is the player decides if he wants his wizard to run fast, be a tank and ... hit with a purse.Regardless, the player will have a pool of 12 points to use. Ideally, A balanced wizard will have 5 in each attribute. Spells? The only spell of choice is a ball of fire which comes without question. The music and screen should still feel like a ritual. The Character Speed Basically, how fast your character moves and casts. Oomph (Best Monster Truck Voice): PURE POWAH!!! The damage output of your fireball. Health How much damage you can take. Notes: I realise the game dynamics may sound uninteresting at the moment; but I think after a couple releases, we could have some other grand ideas such as: saved profiles, gold to upgrade arsenal of spells, talents, etc...but for now...a vanilla fireball thrower mage will suffice for this experiment. OK. So... a MenuObject  may need to be loosely coupled to allow future items such as networking? may be a button? a CharacterObject has a name speed oomph health and a funky robe color. cap on the three stats (1-10) an arsenal of 1 spell (possibly could expand this) The Loading Screen As is. The Battleground Screen For now, I'm keeping the screen as max resolution for the PC. The screen isn't going to move or even be a split screen. I'm not aiming high here because I want to see what level of change is involved when new features / concepts are added to game content. I'm interested to find out if we could apply techniques such as MVC or MVVM to this type of development or is it too tightly coupled? This reminds me when when my best friend and I were brainstorming our game idea (this is going back a while...1994, 6?) and he cringed at the thought of bringing business technology into games, especially when I suggested a database to store character information and COM / DCOM as the medium, but it seems I wasn't far off (reflecting); just like his implementation of a xml "config file" for dynamic direct-x menus back before .net in 1999...anyhow...i digress... The Battle One screen, two characters lobing balls of fire at each other...It doesn't get better than that. Every so often a scroll appears...and the fireballs bounce off walls, or the wizard has rapid fire, or even scrolls of healing! The scroll options are endless. Two bars at the top, each the color of the wizard (with their name beside the bar) indicate how much health they have. Possibly the appearance of the scrolls means the battle is taking too long? I'm thinking 1 player controls: up, down, left, right and space to fire the button. Or even possibly, mouse click and shift - mouse button to fire a spell in the direction they are facing. Two player controls: a, s, d, f and space AND arrows (up, down, left, right) and Del key or Crtl. The game ends when a player has 0 health and a dialog box appears asking for a rematch / reconfigure / exit. Health goes down when a fireball (friendly or not), connects with a wizard. When a wizard connects with a scroll, a countdown clock / icon appears near the health bar and the wizard begins to glow. For the most part, a wizard can have only scroll 1 effect on him at a time. Notes: Ok, there's alot to cover here. a CharacterObject is a GameObject it travels at a set velocity it travels in a direction it has sounds (walking, running, casting, impact, dying, laughing, whistling, other?) it has animations (walking, running, casting, impact, dying, laughing, idle, other?) it has a lifespan (determined by health) it is alive or dead it has a position a ScrollObject is a GameObject it carries a transferance of points "damage" (or healing, bad scroll effect?) (determinde by caster) it carries a transferance of "other" it is stationary it has a sound on impact it has a stationary animation it has an impact animation / or transfers an impact animation it has a fade animation? it has a lifespan (determined by game) it is alive or dead it has a position a WallObject is a GameObject it has a sound on fireball impact? it is a still image / stationary it has an impact animation / or transfers an impact animation it is dead it has a position A FireBall is a GameObject it carries a transferance of poinst "damage" (or healing, bad scroll effect?) (determinde by caster) it travels at a set velocity it travels in a direction it has a sound it has a travel animation it has an impact animation / or transfers an impact animation it has a fade animation? it has a lifespan (determined by caster) it is alive or dead it has a position As I look at this, I can see some common attributes in each object that I can carry up to the GameObject. I think I'm going to end the documentation here, it's taken me a bit of time to type this all out, tomorrow. I'll load up my IDE and my paint studio to get some good old fashioned cowboy hacking going!   D.

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  • links for 2010-12-20

    - by Bob Rhubart
    Oracle BI Applications - Security "I recently had to dig into the standard Oracle BI Applications Security Oracle delivers out of the box. The clients had two security requirements..." - Daan Bakboord (tags: oracle security businessintelligence) Changing DataSource Details Using WLST (Multiple Domains) Jay Sensharma shares a script that will make it "easy for WebLogic Administrator to change all the DataSource UserName and Passwords." (tags: weblogic oracle wlst) Richard Veryard on Architecture: Complexity and Power 2 "Power and complexity are higher-order examples of so-called non-functional requirements. Architects need to be able to reason about the composition and decomposition of non-functional requirements." - Richard Veryard (tags: entarch complexity enterprisearchitecture) Anti-Search patterns - SQL to look for what is NOT there - Part One Oracle ACE Director Lucas Jellema discusses a number of situations in which "you are looking for records that do not exist" and demonstrates several "anti-queries." (tags: oracle otn oracleace sql) SOA & Middleware: Canceling a running composite in SOA Suite 11g Niall Commiskey offers a simple scenario. (tags: oracle soa) SOA Design Patterns in the Cloud | SOA World Magazine Srinivasan Sundara Raja attempts to clear up the "confusion in the air about the applicability of SOA in a Cloud managed environment and whether Cloud is the next generation of SOA." (tags: oracle soa cloud) Mark Nelson: Using WebLogic as a Load Balancer "There are a number of good options available to set up a software load balancer in the test environment," says Mark Nelson. "In this post, we will explore one such option – using the HTTP Cluster Servlet that is included with WebLogic Server." (tags: weblogic oracle otn)

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  • Issue with gpg agent in Ubuntu 12.04 after installing gnome3 shell

    - by Jeroen
    I just did a fresh install of Ubuntu 12.04. Initially things were working. But after I installed some software, the 'gpg agent' is unresponsive. I suspect it has something to do with upgrades that I downloaded from the gnome 3 ppa. When I try to sign a package, it terminates with: gpg: problem with the agent - disabling agent use debsign: gpg error occurred! Aborting.... debuild: fatal error at line 1271: running debsign failed The GPG gui tool (called "Passwords and Keys" or seahorse) isn't starting anymore either. When I click it, it tries to start and then gives up and dies after a couple of seconds. I am not sure where to look for log files of gpg agent. The only thing that I see in /var/log is in auth.log that says: May 1 20:04:14 jeroen-ubuntu gnome-keyring-daemon[1997]: couldn't create prompt for gnupg passphrase: GDBus.Error:org.freedesktop.DBus.Error.ServiceUnknown: The name org.gnome.keyring.SystemPrompter was not provided by any .service files Not sure if it is related, but when I try to start seahorse from the command line, I get: jeroen@jeroen-ubuntu:~$ seahorse (seahorse:4828): GLib-GIO-ERROR **: Settings schema 'org.gnome.crypto.pgp' is not installed Edit: I fixed the seahorse GUI by manually downloading and reinstalling gnome-keyring version from precise instead of the ppa. However, I still cannot sign packages.

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  • Unity stuck in 2D mode, Nvidia Quadro graphics "unknown", Nvidia-Current active but not in use

    - by Jordan Lund
    I've seen this problem reported under several questions, but I haven't been able to resolve any of it so I thought I'd bring it all in under one umbrella. I started a new job and was given a Dell Precision M6400 laptop with Nvidia Quadro FX 2700M graphics card. It had a previous version of Ubuntu on it, but nobody had any passwords for it so I wiped the drive and did a fresh install of 11.10 from scratch. I didn't do any updates during installation, preferring to do them after boot. Updates ran fine and the system works... except Unity is in 2D mode. System Settings - Additional Drivers shows that Nvidia-Current is active but not in use. System Settings - System Info shows Graphics Driver Unknown, Experience Standard Nvidia X Server Settings is installed and working, re-writing the xorg.conf did nothing. /usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p OpenGL vendor string: NVIDIA Corporation OpenGL renderer string: Quadro FX 2700M/PCI/SSE2 OpenGL version string: 3.3.0 NVIDIA 285.05.09 Not software rendered: yes Not blacklisted: yes GLX fbconfig: yes GLX texture from pixmap: yes GL npot or rect textures: yes GL vertex program: yes GL fragment program: yes GL vertex buffer object: yes GL framebuffer object: yes GL version is 1.4+: yes Unity 3D supported: yes One suggestion was to do a sudo apt-get --purge remove nvidia* and that resulted in a scrambled screen on boot and a non-bootable installation. Pressing the Delete key on boot allowed me to access the recovery console and do a sudo apt-get install nvidia-current, which brought me back to a working, bootable system. Another suggestion was to edit /etc/default/grub and change the line reading "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash" to read "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash vmalloc=192MB" thus allocating more video RAM. I did that, followed by a sudo update-grub and a re-boot. No change. Created a brand new standard user and logged on with that account, no change.

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  • ODI 11g – Scripting Repository Creation

    - by David Allan
    Here’s a quick post on how to create both master and work repositories in one simple dialog, its using the groovy capabilities in ODI 11g and the groovy swing builder components. So if you want more/less take the groovy script and change, its easy stuff. The groovy script odi_create_repos.groovy is here, just open it in ODI before connecting and you will be able to create both master and work repositories with ease – or check the groovy out and script your own automation – you can construct the master, work and runtime repositories, so if you are embedding ODI as your DI engine this may be very useful. When you click ‘Create Repository’ you will see the following in the log as the master repository starts to be created; ====================================================== Repository Creation Started.... ====================================================== Master Repository Creation Started.... Then the completion message followed by the work repository creation and final completion message. Master Repository Creation Completed. Work Repository Creation Started. Work Repository Creation Completed. ====================================================== Repository Creation Completed Successfully ====================================================== Script exited. If any error is hit, the script just exits and prints any error to the log. For example if I enter no passwords, I will get this error; ====================================================== Repository Creation Started.... ====================================================== Master Repository Creation Started.... ====================================================== Repository Creation Complete in Error ====================================================== oracle.odi.setup.RepositorySetupException: oracle.odi.core.security.PasswordPolicyNotMatchedException: ODI-10189: Password policy MinPasswordLength is not matched. ====================================================== Script exited. This is another example of using the ODI 11g SDK showing how to automate the construction of your data integration environment. The main interfaces and classes used here are IMasterRepositorySetup / MasterRepositorySetupImpl and IWorkRepositorySetup / WorkRepositorySetupImpl.

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  • ODI 11g – Scripting Repository Creation

    - by David Allan
    Here’s a quick post on how to create both master and work repositories in one simple dialog, its using the groovy capabilities in ODI 11g and the groovy swing builder components. So if you want more/less take the groovy script and change, its easy stuff. The groovy script odi_create_repos.groovy is here, just open it in ODI before connecting and you will be able to create both master and work repositories with ease – or check the groovy out and script your own automation – you can construct the master, work and runtime repositories, so if you are embedding ODI as your DI engine this may be very useful. When you click ‘Create Repository’ you will see the following in the log as the master repository starts to be created; ====================================================== Repository Creation Started.... ====================================================== Master Repository Creation Started.... Then the completion message followed by the work repository creation and final completion message. Master Repository Creation Completed. Work Repository Creation Started. Work Repository Creation Completed. ====================================================== Repository Creation Completed Successfully ====================================================== Script exited. If any error is hit, the script just exits and prints any error to the log. For example if I enter no passwords, I will get this error; ====================================================== Repository Creation Started.... ====================================================== Master Repository Creation Started.... ====================================================== Repository Creation Complete in Error ====================================================== oracle.odi.setup.RepositorySetupException: oracle.odi.core.security.PasswordPolicyNotMatchedException: ODI-10189: Password policy MinPasswordLength is not matched. ====================================================== Script exited. This is another example of using the ODI 11g SDK showing how to automate the construction of your data integration environment. The main interfaces and classes used here are IMasterRepositorySetup / MasterRepositorySetupImpl and IWorkRepositorySetup / WorkRepositorySetupImpl.

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  • CodePlex Daily Summary for Wednesday, October 03, 2012

    CodePlex Daily Summary for Wednesday, October 03, 2012Popular ReleasesSharePoint Column & View Permission: SharePoint Column and View Permission v1.5: Version 1.5 of this project. If you will find any bugs please let me know at enti@zoznam.sk or post your findings in Issue TrackerZ3: Z3 4.1.1 source code: Snapshot corresponding to version 4.1.1.DirectX Tool Kit: October 2012: October 2, 2012 Added ScreenGrab module Added CreateGeoSphere for drawing a geodesic sphere Put DDSTextureLoader and WICTextureLoader into the DirectX C++ namespace Renamed project files for better naming consistency Updated WICTextureLoader for Windows 8 96bpp floating-point formats Win32 desktop projects updated to use Windows Vista (0x0600) rather than Windows 7 (0x0601) APIs Tweaked SpriteBatch.cpp to workaround ARM NEON compiler codegen bugHome Access Plus+: v8.1: HAP+ Web v8.1.1003.000079318 Fixed: Issue with the Help Desk and updating a ticket as an admin 79319 Fixed: formatting issue with the booking system admin header 79321 Moved to using the arrow with a circle symbol on the homepage instead of the > and < 79541 Added: 480px wide mobile theme to login page 79541 Added: 480px wide mobile theme to home page 79541 Added: slide events for homepage 79553 Fixed: Booking System Multiple Lesson Bug 79553 Fixed: IE Error Message 79684 Fixed: jQuery issue ...System.Net.FtpClient: System.Net.FtpClient 2012.10.02: This is the first release of the new code base. It is not compatible with the old API, I repeat it is not a drop in update for projects currently using System.Net.FtpClient. New users should download this release. The old code base (Branch: System.Net.FtpClient_1) will continue to be supported while the new code matures. This release is a complete re-write of System.Net.FtpClient. The API and code are simpler than ever before. There are some new features included as well as an attempt at be...CRM 2011 Visual Ribbon Editor: Visual Ribbon Editor (1.3.1002.3): Visual Ribbon Editor 1.3.1002.3 What's New: Multi-language support for Labels/Tooltips for custom buttons and groups Support for base language other than English (1033) Connect dialog will not require organization name for ADFS / IFD connections Automatic creation of missing labels for all provisioned languages Minor connection issues fixed Notes: Before saving the ribbon to CRM server, editor will check Ribbon XML for any missing <Title> elements inside existing <LocLabel> elements...YAXLib: Yet Another XML Serialization Library for the .NET Framework: YAXLib 2.10: See change-log for the list of new features added and bugs fixedRenameApp: RenameApp 1.0: First release of RenameAppJsonToStaticTypeGenerator: JsonToStaticTypeGenerator 0.1: This is the first alpha release of JsonToStaticTypeGenerator.XiaoKyun: XiaoKyun V1.00: https://xiaokyun.codeplex.com/CatchThatException: Release 1.12: Wow a very fast change and a much better and faster writing to the text fileNaked Objects: Naked Objects Release 5.0.0: Corresponds to the packaged version 5.0.0 available via NuGet. Please note that the easiest way to install and run the Naked Objects Framework is via the NuGet package manager: just search the Official NuGet Package Source for 'nakedobjects'. It is only necessary to download the source code (from here) if you wish to modify or re-build the framework yourself. If you do wish to re-build the framework, consul the file HowToBuild.txt in the release. Major enhancementsNaked Objects 5.0 is desi...WinRT XAML Toolkit: WinRT XAML Toolkit - 1.3.0: WinRT XAML Toolkit based on the Windows 8 RTM SDK. Download the latest source from the SOURCE CODE page. For compiled version use NuGet. You can add it to your project in Visual Studio by going to View/Other Windows/Package Manager Console and entering: PM> Install-Package winrtxamltoolkit Features AsyncUI extensions Controls and control extensions Converters Debugging helpers Imaging IO helpers VisualTree helpers Samples Recent changes NOTE: Namespace changes DebugConsol...D3 Loot Tracker: 1.4.1: This version will automatically save a recording session on application exit if the user didn't stop the current session.SubExtractor: Release 1029: Feature: Added option to make i and ¡ characters movie-specific for improved OCR on Spanish subs (Special Characters tab in Options) Feature: Allow switch to Word Spacing dialog directly from Spell Check dialog Fix: Added more default word spacings for accented characters Fix: Changed Word Spacing dialog to show all OCR'd characters in current sub Fix: Removed application focus grab during OCR Fix: Tightened HD subs fuzzy logic to reduce false matches in small characters Fix: Improved Arrow k...MCEBuddy 2.x: MCEBuddy 2.2.18: Reccomended download Changelog for 2.2.18 (32bit and 64bit) 1. Added support for checking if Showanalyzer has hung and cancelling it 2. New version of comskip, 0.81.48 3. Speeding up comskip 4. Fixed a build bug in 64bit 2.2.17 5. Added a new comkip.ini, better commercial detection for international channels and less aggressive. Old one has been retained as comskip_old.ini 6. Added support for Audio Offset on Conversion Task page in GUI (this overrides the profiles AudioDelay when specified)Readable Passphrase Generator: KeePass Plugin 0.7.1: See the KeePass Plugin Step By Step Guide for instructions on how to install the plugin. Changes Built against KeePass 2.20Windows 8 Toolkit - Charts and More: Beta 1.0: The First Compiled Version of my LibraryPDF.NET: PDF.NET.Ver4.5-OpenSourceCode: PDF.NET Ver4.5 ????,????Web??????。 PDF.NET Ver4.5 Open Source Code,include a sample Web application project.Visual Studio Icon Patcher: Version 1.5.2: This version contains no new images from v1.5.1 Contains the following improvements: Better support for detecting the installed languages The extract & inject commands won’t run if Visual Studio is running You may now run in extract or inject mode The p/invoke code was cleaned up based on Code Analysis recommendations When a p/invoke method fails the Win32 error message is now displayed Error messages use red text Status messages use green textNew Projects.Net Exception Reporter: A reusable and extensible exception reporter for Microsoft .NET projects.Aesha Broker: A rich client Auction House Broker application. Built upon Blizzard's new REST API. Provides a client experience which caches historical auction data to provideASP.NET Friendly URLs: A library that enables automatic resolving of extensionless URLs to ASP.NET file-based handlers, e.g. ASPX pages.Astro Power CMS: Astro Power CMS build on GraffitiCMS, a product of Telligent. GraffitiCMS stop develop, I create this project with name is Astro Power CMSaTester: Here is a good place. And now, I can upload my soruce to it. It's very good.Automacao Residencial: O Netduino é uma plataforma onde voce utiliza a linguagem C# para controlar hardware. O objetivo é criar uma estrutura de comunicaçao com o netduino.Derbster: Explore and learn about modern C# architecture and programming by implementing software to support the modern game of roller derby. Dot FPE - A free Format-preserving encryption implementation for .net: There aren't any widely available implementations of a format-preserving encryption in .NET. Thus we aim to be the first!DotNetEx: .NET Framework extended functionality for data access, working with Tasks and asynchronous programming, encryption algorithms such as SkipJack and other stuff.Elemental Development Toolchain (.NET version): A complete toolchain built around the Æthere langauge.elFinder ASP.NET Connector: The one and only .NET connector for the amazing elFinder 2.X web-based file manager. Finally you can manage your files easily right from your browser!Geosynkronisering: Prosjekt for utarbeidelse av spesifikasjoner for grensesnitt som muliggjør synkronisering av datalager med geografisk datainnhold på tvers av ulike plattformerGIII_P1: Jesli wszyscy w Ciebie zwatpili pokaz ze sie mylili !IntroduceCompany: Website gi?i thi?u doanh nghi?p - công ty.JsonToStaticTypeGenerator: This is the JsonToStaticTypeGenerator project that gives the possibility to generate c# classes out of Json data.kwerty: Coming soonMachine Learning: My machine learning project. Just to figure out things...MicroManager: MaNGOS Web-based ManagerMvcContrib3: This is the version of mvccontrib which works with ASP.Net MVC 3Oracle Destination via ODP.Net (Custom Destination Component): SSIS 2008 R2 solution (custom destination component) to write to oracle via ODP.NetOrchard Commerce History with PayPal: Project expands on Nwazet.Commerce module (and is required for this module to work). Adds a purchase history, product role associations, and PayPal.Phoenix Trans: Web Phoenix Trans v?n t?i hàng hóa trong và ngoài nu?cPowerState: PowerState is .NET application for sending Wake-On-LAN (WOL) requests to computers. It can also shutdown, log off and reboot computers using the WMI.RenameApp: RenameApp is a free and very simple to use renaming software for Windows. RenameApp allows you to easily rename files based on the specified criteria and order.Rose-Hulman User Experience Design: This project will contain labs intended for use in Rose-Hulman's Computer Science and Software Engineering department.Server d? phòng: Ðây là server d? phòng, SharePoint BCS External Connector Caching Pattern Library: Library for enabling caching on SharePoint BCS external connectors. Enables BCS .Net Assemblies to be written that are scalable and performant for search.SharpDX.WPF: This projects provides a DirectX 9, DirectX 10 and DirectX 11 support for WPF. The assembly contains DXElement - an easy to use WPF-FrameworkElement.Simple Password Generator Library: The password generator library, written in C#, is a simple assembly which allow generation of passwords with length anywhere from 1-99.SisEagle.NET: Esse sistema foi desenvolvido pra fins de apresentação do TCC referente ao ano de 2012 na UDF-BrasiliaSWebshop: SWebshop is a PHP based webshop system which allows you to insert, edit and delete data easily and is easy to use for customers.Tabular Database Powershell Cmdlets: This project provides a sample of PowerShell Cmdlets to manage Tabular models, from Analysis Services.University timetable using java: the project is using java language to create timetable (full timetable with exam tables and labs tables) and it will be free for all users with sql databaseURLShoter: This project for shorting URL for ASP.NETWeb Input Form Control: This control allow developer to create the input form by configuring the control in html modeWeibo: rtWorkoutMemo: Project descritpion(first draft): Memorise your workout. Keep archive records of your daily trening such: - series of excercise, - quantity of each serie, - weWPF - Automate Acrobat Security Policy: This WPF Tool was created to quickly password protect batches of PDF documents, using a random generator to generate the passwords.XiaoKyun: Hello Page for Web.Z3: Z3 is a high-performance theorem prover being developed at Microsoft Research.

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  • Craftsmanship is ALL that Matters

    - by Wayne Molina
    Today, I'm going to talk about a touchy subject: the notion of working in a company that doesn't use the prescribed "best practices" in its software development endeavours.  Over the years I have, using a variety of pseudonyms, asked this question on popular programming forums.  Although I always add in some minor variation of the story to avoid suspicion that it's the same person posting, the crux of the tale remains the same: A Programmer’s Tale A junior software developer has just started a new job at an average company, creating average line-of-business applications for internal use (the most typical scenario programmers find themselves in).  This hypothetical newbie has spent a lot of time reading up on the "theory" of software development, devouring books, blogs and screencasts from well-known and respected software developers in the community in order to broaden his knowledge and "do what the pros do".  He begins his new job, eager to apply what he's learned on a real-world project only to discover that his new teammates doesn't use any of those concepts and techniques.  They hack their way through development, or in a best-case scenario use some homebrew, thrown-together semblance of a framework for their applications that follows not one of the best practices suggested by the “elite” in the software community - things like TDD (TDD as a "best practice" is the only subjective part of this post, but it's included here due to a very large following of respected developers who consider it one), the SOLID principles, well-known and venerable tools, even version control in a worst case and truly nightmarish scenario.  Our protagonist is frustrated that he isn't doing things the "proper" way - a way he's spent personal time digesting and learning about and, more importantly, a way that some of the top developers in the industry advocate - and turns to a forum to ask the advice of his peers. Invariably the answer I, in the guise of the concerned newbie, will receive is that A) I don't know anything and should just shut my mouth and sling code the bad way like everybody else on the team, and B) These "best practices" are fade or a joke, and the only thing that matters is shipping software to your customers. I am here today to say that anyone who says this, or anything like it, is not only full of crap but indicative of exactly the type of “developer” that has helped to give our industry a bad name.  Here is why: One Who Knows Nothing, Understands Nothing On one hand, you have the cognoscenti of the .NET development world.  Guys like James Avery, Jeremy Miller, Ayende Rahien and Rob Conery; all well-respected and noted programmers that are pretty much our version of celebrities.  These guys write blogs, books, and post videos outlining the "correct" way of writing software to make sure it not only works but is maintainable and extensible and a joy to work with.  They tout the virtues of the SOLID principles, or of using TDD/BDD, or using a mature ORM like NHibernate, Subsonic or even Entity Framework. On the other hand, you have Joe Everyman, Lead Software Developer at Initrode Corporation - in our hypothetical story Joe is the junior developer's new boss.  Joe's been with Initrode for 10 years, starting as the company’s very first programmer and over the years building up a little fiefdom of his own until at the present he’s in charge of all Initrode’s software development.  Joe writes code the same way he always has, without bothering to learn much, if anything.  He looked at NHibernate once and found it was "too hard", so he uses a primitive implementation of the TableDataGateway pattern as a wrapper around SqlClient.SqlConnection and SqlClient.SqlCommand instead of an actual ORM (or, in a better case scenario, has created his own ORM); the thought of using LINQ or Entity Framework or really anything other than his own hastily homebrew solution has never occurred to him.  He doesn't understand TDD and considers “testing” to be using the .NET debugger to step through code, or simply loading up an app and entering some values to see if it works.  He doesn't really understand SOLID, and he doesn't care to.  He's worked as a programmer for years, and that's all that counts.  Right?  WRONG. Who would you rather trust?  Someone with years of experience and who writes books, creates well-known software and is akin to a celebrity, or someone with no credibility outside their own minute environment who throws around their clout and company seniority as the "proof" of their ability?  Joe Everyman may have years of experience at Initrode as a programmer, and says to do things "his way" but someone like Jeremy Miller or Ayende Rahien have years of experience at companies just like Initrode, THEY know ten times more than Joe Everyman knows or could ever hope to know, and THEY say to do things "this way". Here's another way of thinking about it: If you wanted to get into politics and needed advice on the best way to do it, would you rather listen to the mayor of Hicktown, USA or Barack Obama?  One is a small-time nobody while the other is very well-known and, as such, would probably have much more accurate and beneficial advice. NOTE: The selection of Barack Obama as an example in no way, shape, or form suggests a political affiliation or political bent to this post or blog, and no political innuendo should be mistakenly read from it; the intent was merely to compare a small-time persona with a well-known persona in a non-software field.  Feel free to replace the name "Barack Obama" with any well-known Congressman, Senator or US President of your choice. DIY Considered Harmful I will say right now that the homebrew development environment is the WORST one for an aspiring programmer, because it relies on nothing outside it's own little box - no useful skill outside of the small pond.  If you are forced to use some half-baked, homebrew ORM created by your Director of Software, you are not learning anything valuable you can take with you in the future; now, if you plan to stay at Initrode for 10 years like Joe Everyman, this is fine and dandy.  However if, like most of us, you want to advance your career outside a very narrow space you will do more harm than good by sticking it out in an environment where you, to be frank, know better than everybody else because you are aware of alternative and, in almost most cases, better tools for the job.  A junior developer who understands why the SOLID principles are good to follow, or why TDD is beneficial, or who knows that it's better to use NHibernate/Subsonic/EF/LINQ/well-known ORM versus some in-house one knows better than a senior developer with 20 years experience who doesn't understand any of that, plain and simple.  Anyone who disagrees is either a liar, or someone who, just like Joe Everyman, Lead Developer, relies on seniority and tenure rather than adapting their knowledge as things evolve. In many cases, the Joe Everymans of the world act this way out of fear - they cannot possibly fathom that a “junior” could know more than them; after all, they’ve spent 10 or more years in the same company, doing the same job, cranking out the same shoddy software.  And here comes a newbie who hasn’t spent 10+ years doing the same things, with a fresh and often radical take on the craft, and Joe Everyman is afraid he might have to put some real effort into his career again instead of just pointing to his 10 years of service at Initrode as “proof” that he’s good, or that he might have to learn something new to improve; in most cases the problem is Joe Everyman, and by extension Initrode itself, has a mentality of just being “good enough”, and mediocrity is the rule of the day. A Thorn Bush is No Place for a Phoenix My advice is that if you work on a team where they don't use the best practices that some of the most famous developers in our field say is the "right" way to do things (and have legions of people who agree), and YOU are aware of these practices and can see why they work, then LEAVE the company.  Find a company where they DO care about quality, and craftsmanship, otherwise you will never be happy.  There is no point in "dumbing" yourself down to the level of your co-workers and slinging code without care to craftsmanship.  In 95% of these situations there will be no point in bringing it to the attention of Joe Everyman because he won't listen; he might even get upset that someone is trying to "upstage" him and fire the newbie, and replace someone with loads of untapped potential with a drone that will just nod affirmatively and grind out the tasks assigned without question. Find a company that has people smart enough to listen to the "best and brightest", and be happy.  Do not, I repeat, DO NOT waste away in a job working for ignorant people.  At the end of the day software development IS a craft, and a level of craftsmanship is REQUIRED for any serious professional.  When you have knowledgeable people with the credibility to back it up saying one thing, and small-time people who are, to put it bluntly, nobodies in the field saying and doing something totally different because they can't comprehend it, leave the nobodies to their own devices to fade into obscurity.  Work for a company that uses REAL software engineering techniques and really cares about craftsmanship.  The biggest issue affecting our career, and the reason software development has never been the respected, white-collar career it was meant to be, is because hacks and charlatans can pass themselves off as professional programmers without following a lick of good advice from programmers much better at the craft than they are.  These modern day snake-oil salesmen entrench themselves in companies by hoodwinking non-technical businesspeople and customers with their shoddy wares, end up in senior/lead/executive positions, and push their lack of knowledge on everybody unfortunate enough to work with/for/under them, crushing any dissent or voices of reason and change under their tyrannical heel and leaving behind a trail of dismayed and, often, unemployed junior developers who were made examples of to keep up the facade and avoid the shadow of doubt being cast upon them. To sum this up another way: If you surround yourself with learned people, you will learn.  Surround yourself with ignorant people who can't, as the saying goes, see the forest through the trees, and you'll learn nothing of any real value.  There is more to software development than just writing code, and the end goal should not be just "shipping software", it should be shipping software that is extensible, maintainable, and above all else software whose creation has broadened your knowledge in some capacity, even if a minor one.  An eager newbie who knows theory and thirsts for knowledge can easily be moulded and taught the advanced topics, but the same can't be said of someone who only cares about the finish line.  This industry needs more people espousing the benefits of software craftsmanship and proper software engineering techniques, and less Joe Everymans who are unwilling to adapt or foster new ways of thinking. Conclusion - I Cast “Protection from Fire” I am fairly certain this post will spark some controversy and might even invite the flames.  Please keep in mind these are opinions and nothing more.  A little healthy rant and subsequent flamewar can be good for the soul once in a while.  To paraphrase The Godfather: It helps to get rid of the bad blood.

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  • Nervous about the "real" world

    - by Randy
    I am currently majoring in Computer Science and minoring in mathematics (the minor is embedded in the major). The program has a strong C++ curriculum. We have done some UNIX and assembly language (not fun) and there is C and Java on the way in future classes that I must take. The program I am in did not use the STL, but rather a STL-ish design that was created from the ground up for the program. From what I have read on, the STL and what I have taken are very similar but what I used seemed more user friendly. Some of the programs that I had to write in C++ for assignments include: a password server that utilized hashing of the passwords for security purposes, a router simulator that used a hash table and maps, a maze solver that used depth first search, a tree traveler program that traversed a tree using levelorder, postorder, inorder, selection sort, insertion sort, bit sort, radix sort, merge sort, heap sort, quick sort, topological sort, stacks, queues, priority queues, and my least favorite, red-black trees. All of this was done in three semesters which was just enough time to code them up and turn them in. That being said, if I was told to use a stack to convert an equation to infix notation or something, I would be lost for a few hours. My main concern in writing this is when I graduate and land an interview, what are some of the questions posed to assess my skills? What are some of the most important areas of computer science that are prevalent in the field? I am currently trying to get some ideas of programs I can write in C++ that interest and challenge me to keep learning the language. A sodoku solver came to mind but am lost as to where to start. I apologize for the rant, but I'm just a wee bit nervous about the future. Any tips are appreciated.

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  • IT Optimization Plan Pays Off For UK Retailer

    - by Brian Dayton
    I caught this article in ComputerworldUK yesterday. The headline talks about UK-based supermarket chain Morrisons is increasing their IT spend...OK, sounds good. Even nicer that Oracle is a big part of that. But what caught my eye were three things: 1) Morrison's truly has a long term strategy for IT. In this case, modernizing and optimizing how they use IT for business advantage.   2) Even in a tough economic climate, Morrison's views IT investments as contributing to and improving the bottom line. Specifically, "The investment in IT contributed to a 21 percent increase in Morrison's underlying profit.."   3) The phased, 3-year "Optimization Plan" took a holistic approach to their business--from CRM and Supply Chain systems to the underlying application infrastructure. On the infrastructure front, adopting a more flexible Service-Oriented Architecture enabled them to be more agile and adapt their business and Identity Management helped with sometimes mundane (but costly) issues like lost passwords and being able to document who has access to what.   Things don't always turn out so rosy. And I know it was a long and difficult process...but it's nice to see a happy ending every once in a while.  

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