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• ASP.NET MVC 2 Released

  - by ScottGu

  I’m happy to announce that the final release of ASP.NET MVC 2 is now available for VS 2008/Visual Web Developer 2008 Express with ASP.NET 3.5.  You can download and install it from the following locations: Download ASP.NET MVC 2 using the Microsoft Web Platform Installer Download ASP.NET MVC 2 from the Download Center The final release of VS 2010 and Visual Web Developer 2010 will have ASP.NET MVC 2 built-in – so you won’t need an additional install in order to use ASP.NET MVC 2 with them.  ASP.NET MVC 2 We shipped ASP.NET MVC 1 a little less than a year ago.  Since then, almost 1 million developers have downloaded and used the final release, and its popularity has steadily grown month over month. ASP.NET MVC 2 is the next significant update of ASP.NET MVC. It is a compatible update to ASP.NET MVC 1 – so all the knowledge, skills, code, and extensions you already have with ASP.NET MVC continue to work and apply going forward. Like the first release, we are also shipping the source code for ASP.NET MVC 2 under an OSI-compliant open-source license. ASP.NET MVC 2 can be installed side-by-side with ASP.NET MVC 1 (meaning you can have some apps built with V1 and others built with V2 on the same machine).  We have instructions on how to update your existing ASP.NET MVC 1 apps to use ASP.NET MVC 2 using VS 2008 here.  Note that VS 2010 has an automated upgrade wizard that can automatically migrate your existing ASP.NET MVC 1 applications to ASP.NET MVC 2 for you. ASP.NET MVC 2 Features ASP.NET MVC 2 adds a bunch of new capabilities and features.  I’ve started a blog series about some of the new features, and will be covering them in more depth in the weeks ahead.  Some of the new features and capabilities include: New Strongly Typed HTML Helpers Enhanced Model Validation support across both server and client Auto-Scaffold UI Helpers with Template Customization Support for splitting up large applications into “Areas” Asynchronous Controllers support that enables long running tasks in parallel Support for rendering sub-sections of a page/site using Html.RenderAction Lots of new helper functions, utilities, and API enhancements Improved Visual Studio tooling support You can learn more about these features in the “What’s New in ASP.NET MVC 2” document on the www.asp.net/mvc web-site.  We are going to be posting a lot of new tutorials and videos shortly on www.asp.net/mvc that cover all the features in ASP.NET MVC 2 release.  We will also post an updated end-to-end tutorial built entirely with ASP.NET MVC 2 (much like the NerdDinner tutorial that I wrote that covers ASP.NET MVC 1).  Summary The ASP.NET MVC team delivered regular V2 preview releases over the last year to get feedback on the feature set.  I’d like to say a big thank you to everyone who tried out the previews and sent us suggestions/feedback/bug reports.  We hope you like the final release! Scott

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• Imperative Programming v/s Declarative Programming v/s Functional Programming

  - by kaleidoscope

  Imperative Programming :: Imperative programming is a programming paradigm that describes computation in terms of statements that change a program state. In much the same way as the imperative mood in natural languages expresses commands to take action, imperative programs define sequences of commands for the computer to perform. The focus is on what steps the computer should take rather than what the computer will do (ex. C, C++, Java). Declarative Programming :: Declarative programming is a programming paradigm that expresses the logic of a computation without describing its control flow. It attempts to minimize or eliminate side effects by describing what the program should accomplish, rather than describing how to go about accomplishing it. The focus is on what the computer should do rather than how it should do it (ex. SQL). A  C# example of declarative v/s. imperative programming is LINQ. With imperative programming, you tell the compiler what you want to happen, step by step. For example, let's start with this collection, and choose the odd numbers: List<int> collection = new List<int> { 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 }; With imperative programming, we'd step through this, and decide what we want: List<int> results = new List<int>(); foreach(var num in collection) {     if (num % 2 != 0)           results.Add(num); } Here’s what we are doing: *Create a result collection *Step through each number in the collection *Check the number, if it's odd, add it to the results With declarative programming, on the other hand, we write the code that describes what you want, but not necessarily how to get it var results = collection.Where( num => num % 2 != 0); Here, we're saying "Give us everything where it's odd", not "Step through the collection. Check this item, if it's odd, add it to a result collection." Functional Programming :: Functional programming is a programming paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids state and mutable data. It emphasizes the application of functions.Functional programming has its roots in the lambda calculus. It is a subset of declarative languages that has heavy focus on recursion. Functional programming can be a mind-bender, which is one reason why Lisp, Scheme, and Haskell have never really surpassed C, C++, Java and COBOL in commercial popularity. But there are benefits to the functional way. For one, if you can get the logic correct, functional programming requires orders of magnitude less code than imperative programming. That means fewer points of failure, less code to test, and a more productive (and, many would say, happier) programming life. As systems get bigger, this has become more and more important. To know more : http://stackoverflow.com/questions/602444/what-is-functional-declarative-and-imperative-programming http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb669144.aspx http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperative_programming   Technorati Tags: Ranjit,Imperative Programming,Declarative programming,Functional Programming

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• [MISC GEEKERY] Lucid Lynx to Come Loaded with Ubuntu One Music Store

  - by Vivek

  Ubuntu 10.04 (code name Lucid Lynx) will come loaded with the Ubuntu One music store. Rhythmbox will have the Ubuntu One music store integrated in it. It’ll also allow users to download purchased music to their local machine. Ubuntu One Music Store Users will be able to access Ubuntu One music store from the sidebar of Rhythmbox. The music store is a web page that opens in the Rhythmbox player. There are albums listed on the home page of the Ubuntu One music store page. Ubuntu One music store is powered by 7digital, which is a leading digital B2B media delivery company based in London and operating globally. Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, has partnered with 7digital to bring the music store to it’s users, integrating it with Rhythmbox and it’s cloud storage service UbuntuOne which was launched last year. The home screen of the Ubuntu One music store displays popular albums and functionality to browse and search. You can search for Artists, Tracks, Albums, or a combination of all three. Users will also be able to browse the store alphabetically, or based on different music genres. Once you select a specific artist, all their available albums are arranged in a grid. Once an album is selected, you’ll will be able to download specific songs or the whole album. You’ll also be allowed to preview different songs for 60 seconds. You’ll be able to buy tracks using a credit card or with PayPal. The purchased tracks will be visible under Library \ Purchased from Ubuntu One. The downloaded tracks are also synced with your UbuntuOne account. This means that you’ll be able to access your tracks from any where on the web. The default UbuntuOne account comes with 2 GB free storage, however, you can also purchase additional space if you need it.   All the music is in mp3 format which is not supported by default in Ubuntu. However, you can get mp3 playback functionality using GStreamer multimedia framework. Conclusion All in all the Ubuntu One music store is a positive move to enhance the user experience and also increase the popularity of Canonical in bringing Ubuntu closer to regular users. This would also provide Canonical to make some revenue in collaboration with 7digital. Ubuntu One Music Store Wiki Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Install GIMP 2.7.1 on Lucid Lynx using PPAExaile 0.3.0 is a Music Player for UbuntuHow to install Spotify in Ubuntu 9.10 using WineAdding extra Repositories on UbuntuSpeed Up Amarok With Large Music Collections TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Open Multiple Links At One Go NachoFoto Searches Images in Real-time Office 2010 Product Guides Google Maps Place marks – Pizza, Guns or Strip Clubs Monitor Applications With Kiwi LocPDF is a Visual PDF Search Tool

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• Addin Central Windows Home Server

  - by Mysticgeek

  If you’re a Windows Home Server user, you’ve probably come across a lot of cool addins that you can use to enhance its functionality. Today we take a look at Addin Central… which gives you easy access to the many addin possibilities out there. Addin Central from HomeServerLand is a free well…addin…that brings you information and easy access to several other addins that are available for your Windows Home Server. It essentially creates an “app store” of sorts for your Windows Home Server that you can view in the console. Install Addin Central Browse to your shared folders on the server and open the Add-Ins folder and copy the AddinCentral.msi installer (link below). Next open WHS Console from one of the computers connected to your network, and click Settings then Add-ins. Under Available Add-ins click the Available tab and you’ll see the Addin Central installer file we just copied over. Click the Install button. Installation kicks off and when it’s complete, you’ll need to close out of the console and reconnect. Using Addin Central When you reconnect to WHS Console, you’ll see Addin Central in the menu with a list of the newest updated addins. You can go through the list of addins and check out their rating, version, author, amount of downloads, and if they’re free or you need to purchase a license. You can sort through the addins by popularity, author, categories, or look at them all.   When you select an addin you can read more detail about it in the pane on the right side…from here you can go directly to the addin website as well. Hover over the thumbnail of the addin to get a larger screenshot of what it looks like. The toolbox gives you different options for controlling Addin Central, and notice you can easily search for addins too. In the Addin Central Toolbox you can change settings such as the startup view, showing tooltips, and more.   Conclusion If you’re a Windows Home Server user, you’ll definitely want to give Addin Central a go. It lets you easily find and download various addins for essentially anything you might want to use to customize your home server. HomeServerLand calls it “The Mother of All Addins” and for a good reason. Download Addin Central (registration required) Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips GMedia Blog: Setting Up a Windows Home ServerGet Extended Access to Windows Home Server with Advanced Admin ConsoleShare Ubuntu Home Directories using SambaInstalling Windows Home ServerAnother Blog You Should Subscribe To TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Find Out the Celebrity You Resemble With FaceDouble Whoa ! Use Printflush to Solve Printing Problems Icelandic Volcano Webcams Open Multiple Links At One Go NachoFoto Searches Images in Real-time

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• Today's Links (6/20/2011)

  - by Bob Rhubart

  Why your security sucks | Eric Knorr A conversation with InfoWorld security expert Roger Grimes reveals why the latest burst of attacks is just business as usual. JDev 11g R2 - ADF BC Dependency Diagram Feature | Andrejus Baranovskis Oracle ACE Director Andrejus Baranovkis continues his exploration of JDeveloper 11g R2. Mobile Apps Put the Web in Their Rear-view Mirror | Charles Newark-French "Our analysis shows that, for the first time ever, daily time spent in mobile apps surpasses desktop and mobile web consumption," says Newark-French. "This stat is even more remarkable if you consider that it took less than three years for native mobile apps to achieve this level of usage, driven primarily by the popularity of iOS and Android platforms." Vivek Kundra, a public servant who gets stuff done | Craig Newmark Craigslist founder Craig Newmark bids farewell to the nation's first CIO. Weblogic, QBrowser and topics | Eric Elzinga Elzinga says: "Besides using the Weblogic Console to add subscribers to our topics we can also use QBrowser to browse queues and topics on your Weblogic Server." Java EE talks at JAX Conf | Arun Gupta Arun Gupta shares links to several Java EE presentations taking place at this week's Jax Conference in San Jose, CA. Development gotchas and silver bullets | Andy Mulholland Mulholland explains why "Software development has to change to fit with new business practices!" Oracle is Proud Sponsor of Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit 2011 | Troy Kitch Oracle will have a very strong presence at this year’s Gartner Security and Risk Management Summit 2011 in Washington D.C., June 20-23. Database Web Service using Toplink DB Provider | Vishal Jain "With JDeveloper 11gR2 you can now create database based web services using JAX-WS Provider," says Jain. Sample Chapter: A Fusion Applications Technical Overview An excerpt from "Managing Oracle Fusion Applications" by Richard Bingham, published by Oracle Press, May 2011. White Paper: Oracle Optimized Solution for Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure This paper provides recommendations and best practices for optimizing virtualization infrastructures when deploying the Oracle Enterprise Cloud Infrastructure. White paper: Oracle Optimized Solution for Lifecycle Content Management Authors Donna Harland and Nick Klosk illustrate how Oracle Enterprise Content Management Suite and Oracle’s Sun Storage Archive Manager work Oracle’s Sun hardware. Bay Area Coherence Special Interest Group Date: Thursday, July 21, 2011 Time: 4:30pm - 8:15pm ET - Note that Parking at 475 Sansome Closes at 8:30pm Location: Oracle Office,475 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA Google Map Speakers: Chris Akker, Solutions Engineer, F5 Paul Cleary, Application Architect, Oracle Alexey Ragozin, Independent Consultant Brian Oliver, Oracle

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• Game timings and formats

  - by topright

  There are more or less standardized TV-show/movie formats and recommended timings: 1. By the early 1960s, television companies commonly presented half-hour long "comedy" series, or one hour long "dramas." Half-hour series were mostly restricted to situation comedy or family comedy, and were usually aired with either a live or artificial laugh track. One hour dramas included genre series such as police and detective series, westerns, science fiction, and, later, serialized prime time soap operas. Programs today still overwhelmingly conform to these half-hour and one hour guidelines. Source 2. In the United States, most medical dramas are one hour long. Source 3. Traditionally serials were broadcast as fifteen minute installments each weekday in daytime slots. In 1956 As the World Turns debuted as the first half-hour soap opera. All soap operas broadcast half-hour episodes by the end of the 1960s. With increased popularity in the 1970s most soap operas expanded to an hour (Another World even expanded to ninety minutes for a short time). More than half of the serials had expanded to one hour episodes by 1980. As of 2010, six of the seven US serials air one hour episodes each weekday. Source Interesting. Are there any standards of timing in game development? Well, 5-20 minutes casual games, of course. There is even a "5-minutes-game" site. And 1-hour-gamer site. Are there 1-week, 1-year, 1-eternity game formats? Chess and Go - deep games that you can study all your life; but they are played in hour or several days (pro games). Addictive long-term online role-playing games (without win-condition) are played in monthes and, possibly, years. Replayability is an important factor to consider. It's good when game design document contains a line: "A game is designed for solving in X hours". How can it be measured before there is any prototype or demo? When you know your game format, you know your audience (and vice versa). It is practical question. Are there psychological researches about dynamic of gaming interest and involvement? And is there a correlation between game format and game genre?

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• Announcement: Employee Info Starter Kit (v6.0–ASP.NET MVC Edition) is Released

  - by Mohammad Ashraful Alam

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/joycsharp/archive/2013/06/16/announcement-employee-info-starter-kit-v6.0asp.net-mvc-edition-is-released.aspxAfter a long wait, the next version of Employee Info Starter Kit is released! This starter kit is basically a project template that contains code samples targeting a specific technology, such as ASP.NET Web Form, ASP.NET MVC etc. Since its first release, this open source project gained a huge popularity in the developer community and had 250K+ combined downloads. This starter kit is honored to be placed at the official ASP.NET site, along with other asp.net starter kits, which all are being considered as the “best” ASP.NET coding standards, recommended by Microsoft. EISK is showcased in Microsoft’s Channel 9’s Weekly Show, as well. The ASP.NET MVC Edition of the new version 6.0 bundles most of the greatest and successful platforms, frameworks and technologies together, to enable web developers to learn and build manageable and high performance web applications with rich user experience effectively and quickly. User End Specifications Creating a new employee record Read existing employee records Update an existing employee record Delete existing employee records Role based security model Key Technology Areas ASP.NET MVC 4 Entity Framework 4.3.1 Sql Server Compact Edition 4 Visual Studio 2012 QuickStart Guide Getting started with EISK 6.0 ASP.NET is pretty easy. Once you've Visual Studio 2012 installed, then just follow the steps as provided below: Download the EISK 6.0 MVC version. Extract the file. From the extracted folder, click the solution file "Eisk.MVC-VS2012.sln". Right click the "Eisk.MVC" project node and select "Select set as StartUp Project". Hit Ctrl+F5 and explore! Architectural Overview Overall architecture is based on Model-View-Controller pattern Support for desktop & mobile browsers. Usage of Domain Model, Repository and Unit of Work pattern from Domain Driven Development approach Usage of Data Annotations in model (entity) classes to centralize basic validation mechanism that facilitates DRY principle Usage of IValidatableObject interface in model (entity) classes that isolates custom business logic from application layer Usage of OOP inheritance and Value Object pattern in model (entity) classes that provides reusability in application architecture Usage of View Model, Editor Model pattern that provides mechanism for testable view rendering logic Several helper classes and extension methods to enable developers build application with reduced code If you want to learn more about it in details, just check the following links: Getting Started - Hands on Coding Walkthrough – Technology Stack - Design & Architecture Enjoy!

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• links for 2011-03-17

  - by Bob Rhubart

  Siba Prasad: Oracle Database on Amazon RDSg Siba Prasad share an analysis of the pros and cons. (tags: oracle database cloud amazon) LIVE WEBCAST March 24 2pm PT- Why Switch from Red Hat and SUSE Linux to Oracle Linux? (Oracle's Linux Blog) Featuring Oracle's Monica Kumar, Sr.Director of Linux, Oracle VM and MySQL and Avi Miller, Principal Sales Consultant, Linux and Virtualization. (tags: oracle linux) Webcast: IBM SOA vs. Oracle SOA, March 24, 1pm ET / 10am PT Maneesh Joshi and Bruce Tierney guide you to a solid understanding of the differences between the Oracle and IBM approach to comprehensive SOA. (tags: oracle soa bpm) Finding the Right Solution to Source and Manage Your Contractors (PeopleSoft Apps Strategy) "Talent has become a primary competitive advantage for most organizations. Contingent labor offers talent on flexible terms; it offers the ability to scale up operations, close skill gaps, and manage risk in the process of delivering services." - Mark Rosenberg (tags: oracle peoplesoft enterprisearchitecture) Oracle Business Intelligence Customers: Have Your Voice Heard in the "2011Wisdom of the Crowds Business Intelligence Market Survey" (BI & Analytics Pulse) "The Wisdom of the Crowds survey combines social media, crowd sourcing, and good old fashioned market research to provide vendors and customers alike an unvarnished and insightful snap shot of what's top of mind with business intelligence professionals." (tags: oracle businessintelligence) Martin Bach: Troubleshooting Grid Infrastructure startup Martin Bach hunts down the problem that caused one of his blades to reboot after an EXT3 journal error. (tags: oracle grid rac) Oracle WebCenter: Social Networking & Collaboration (Oracle Enterprise 2.0 Blog) Kelley Ruppel with information on "how the new release of Oracle WebCenter provides unprecedented Social Networking and Collaboration." (tags: oracle webcenter enterprise2.0 collaboration) VirtaThon: 100% Virtual Java/Oracle/MySQL Conference! | Bex Huff "The goal is simple," says Oracle ACE Director Bex Huff. "Because it's all online, the conference is very cheap. Pricing is not yet announced... but it should be around $300. Also, unlike other conferences, every speaker gets paid a small fee depending on the popularity of his or her session." (tags: oracle oracleace java mysqql) Griffiths Waite Blog: BPM 11g PS3 GW's Ian Heathcock shares a link to "a most interesting article on Oracle's recent release discussing the new features and how PS3 adds value  to the whole SOA message." (tags: oracle soa) The Buttso Blathers: Tutorial: JSF 2.0 and JPA 2.0 with WebLogic Server using NetBeans Should you take application architecture advice from a man named Buttso? In this case, yes. (tags: oracle jsf jpa weblogic) Setting-up a High Available Tuned SOA Environment Middleware Magic (tags: ping.fm) How to Configure Weblogic Messaging Bridge with JBoss Middleware Magic (tags: ping.fm Weblogic JBoss) Richard Veryard on Architecture: Emergent Architecture (tags: ping.fm entarch emergence)

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• Turnkey with LightSwitch

  - by Laila

  Microsoft has long wanted to find a replacement for Microsoft Access. The best attempt yet, which is due out in, or before, September is Visual Studio LightSwitch, with which it is said to be as 'easy as flipping a switch' to use Silverlight to create simple form-driven business applications. It is easy to get confused by the various initiatives from Microsoft. No, this isn't WebMatrix. There is no 'Razor', for this isn't meant for cute little ecommerce sites, but is designed to build simple database-applications of the card-box type. It is more clearly a .NET-based solution to the problem that every business seems to suffer from; the plethora of Access-based, and Excel-based 'private' and departmental database-applications. These are a nightmare for any IT department since they are often 'stealth' applications built by the business in the teeth of opposition from the IT Department zealots. As they are undocumented, it is scarily easy to bring a whole department into disarray by decommissioning a PC tucked under a desk somewhere. With LightSwitch, it is easy to re-write such applications in a standard, maintainable, way, using a SQL Server database, deployed somewhere reasonably safe such as Azure. Even Sharepoint or Windows Communication Foundation can be used as data sources. Oracle's ApEx has taken off remarkably well, and has shaken the perception that, for the business user, Oracle must remain a mystic force accessible only to the priests and acolytes. Microsoft, by comparison had only Access, which was first released in 1992, the year of the Madonna conical bustier. It looks just as dated. Microsoft badly needed an entirely new solution to the same business requirement that led to Access's and Foxpro's long-time popularity, but which had the same allure as ApEx. LightSwitch is sound in its ideas, and comfortingly conventional in its architecture. By giving an easy access to SQL Server databases, and providing a 'thumb and blanket' migration path to Access-heads, LightSwitch seems likely to offer a simple way of pulling more Microsoft users into the .NET community. If Microsoft puts its weight behind it, then it will give some glimmer of hope to the many Silverlight developers that Microsoft is capable of seeing through its .NET revolution.

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• The Buzz at the JavaOne Bookstore

  - by Janice J. Heiss

  I found my way to the JavaOne bookstore, a hub of activity. Who says brick and mortar bookstores are dead? I asked what was hot and got two answers: Hadoop in Practice by Alex Holmes was doing well. And Scala for the Impatient by noted Java Champion Cay Horstmann also seemed to be a fast seller. Hadoop in PracticeHadoop is a framework that organizes large clusters of computers around a problem. It is touted as especially effective for large amounts of data, and is use such companies as  Facebook, Yahoo, Apple, eBay and LinkedIn. Hadoop in Practice collects nearly 100 Hadoop examples and presents them in a problem/solution format with step by step explanations of solutions and designs. It’s very much a participatory book intended to make developers more at home with Hadoop.The author, Alex Holmes, is a senior software engineer with more than 15 years of experience developing large-scale distributed Java systems. For the last four years, he has gained expertise in Hadoop solving Big Data problems across a number of projects. He has presented at JavaOne and Jazoon and is currently a technical lead at VeriSign.At this year’s JavaOne, he is presenting a session with VeriSign colleague, Karthik Shyamsunder called “Java: A Perfect Platform for Data Science” where they will explain how the Java platform has emerged as a perfect platform for practicing data science, and also talk about such technologies as Hadoop, Hive, Pig, HBase, Cassandra, and Mahout. Scala for the ImpatientSan Jose State University computer science professor and Java Champion Cay Horstmann is the principal author of the highly regarded Core Java. Scala for the Impatient is a basic, practical introduction to Scala for experienced programmers. Horstmann has a presentation summarizing the themes of his book on at his website. On the final page he offers an enticing summary of his conclusions:* Widespread dissatisfaction with Java + XML + IDEs               --Don't make me eat Elephant again * A separate language for every problem domain is not efficient               --It takes time to master the idioms* ”JavaScript Everywhere” isn't going to scale* Trend is towards languages with more expressive power, less boilerplate* Will Scala be the “one ring to rule them”?* Maybe              --If it succeeds in industry             --If student-friendly subsets and tools are created The popularity of both books echoed comments by IBM Distinguished Engineer Jason McGee who closed his part of the Sunday JavaOne keynote by pointing out that the use of Java in complex applications is increasingly being augmented by a host of other languages with strong communities around them – JavaScript, JRuby, Scala, Python and so forth. Java developers increasingly must know the strengths and weaknesses of such languages going forward.

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• Developer’s Life – Every Developer is a Superman

  - by Pinal Dave

  I enjoyed comparing developers to Spiderman so much, that I have decided to continue the trend and encourage some of my favorite people (developers) with another favorite superhero – Superman.  Superman is probably the most famous superhero – and one of the most inspiring. Everyone has their own favorite, but Superman has been the longest enduring of all comic book characters.  Clark Kent has inspired multiple movie series, TV shows, books, cartoons, and costumes.  Superman’s enduring popularity has been attributed to his superhuman strength, integrity, dedication to good, and his humility in keeping his identity a secret. So how are developers like Superman? Well, read on my list of reasons. Secret Identities They have secret identities.  I’m not saying that all developers wear thick glasses and go by an alias like “Clark Kent.”  But developers certainly work in the background, making sure everything runs smoothly, often without recognition.  Like Superman, when they have done their job right, no one knows they were there. Working Alone You don’t have to work alone.  Superman doesn’t have a sidekick like Robin or Bat Girl, but he is a major player in the Justice League.  Developers have amazing skills, and they shouldn’t be afraid to unite those skills to solve some of the world’s major problems (like slow networks). Daily Inspiration Developers are inspiring.  Clark Kent works at The Daily Planet, Metropolis’ newspaper, which is lucky because he can keep some of the publicity Superman inspires under wraps.  Developers might go unnoticed sometimes, but when people hear about some of the tasks they accomplish on a daily basis, it inspires awe. Discover Your Superpowers You have to discover your superpowers.  Clark Kent didn’t just wake up one morning with the full understanding that he could fly, leap tall buildings in a single bound, and was stronger than a speeding locomotive.  He slowly discovered these powers (after a few comic book-worthy misunderstandings!).  Developers are always learning and growing as well.  You probably won’t wake up with super powers, either, but years of practice and continuing education can get you close. Every Day is a New Day The story continues.  The Superman comic books are still being printed, and have been in print since 1938.  There have been two TV series, (one, Smallville, was on TV for ten seasons) and multiple cartoon adaptations.  There have been multiple movies, with many different actors.  A new reboot came out last year, and another is set to premier in 2016.   So, developers, when you are having a bad day or a problem seems unsolvable – remember, the story will continue!  There is always tomorrow. I hope you are all enjoying reading about developers-as-superheroes as much as I am enjoying writing about them.  Please tell me how else developers are like Superheroes in the comments – especially if you know any developers who are faster than a speeding bullet and can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL Tagged: Developer, Superhero

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• Beyond Chatting: What ‘Social’ Means for CRM

  - by Divya Malik

  A guest post by Steve Diamond, Senior Director, Outbound Product Management, Oracle In a recent post on the Oracle Applications blog, my colleague Steve Boese asked three questions related to the widespread popularity and incredibly rapid growth of Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Steve then addressed the many applications for collaborative solutions in the area of Human Capital Management. So, in turning to a conversation about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Sales Force Automation (SFA), let me ask you one simple question. How many sales people, particularly at business-to-business companies, consistently meet or beat their quotas in their roles by working alone, with no collaboration among fellow sales people, sales executives, employees in product groups, in service, in Legal, third-party partners, etc.? Hello? Is anybody out there? What’s that cricket noise I hear? That’s correct. Nobody! When it comes to Sales, introverts arguably have a distinct disadvantage. While it’s certainly a truism that “success” in most professional endeavors requires working with people, it’s a mandatory success factor in Sales. This fact became abundantly clear to me one early morning in the late 1990s when I joined the former Hyperion Solutions (now part of Oracle) and attended a Sales Award Ceremony. The Head of Sales at that time gave out dozens of awards – none of them to individuals and all of them to TEAMS of individuals. That’s how it works in Sales. Your colleagues help provide you with product intelligence and competitive intelligence. They help you build the best presentations, pitches, and proposals. They help you develop the most killer RFPs. They align you with the best product people to ensure you’re matching the best products for the opportunity and join you in critical meetings. They help knock the socks of your prospects in “bake off” demo’s. They bring in the best partners to either add complementary products to your opportunity or help you implement a solution. They work with you as a collective team. And so how is all this collaboration STILL typically done today? Through email. And yet we all silently or not so silently grimace about email. It’s relatively siloed. It’s painful to search. It’s difficult to align by topic. And it’s nearly impossible to re-trace meaningful and helpful conversations that occurred among a group or a team at some point in history. This is where social networking for Sales comes into play. It’s about PURPOSEFUL social networking versus chattering. What is purposeful social networking? It’s collaboration that’s built around opportunities, accounts, and contacts. It’s collaboration that delivers valuable context – on the target company, and on key competitors – just to name two examples. It’s collaboration that can scale to provide coaching for larger numbers of sales representatives, both for general purposes, and as we’ve largely discussed here, for specific ‘deals.’ And it’s collaboration that allows a team of people to collectively edit and iterate on a document like an RFP or a soon-to-be killer presentation that is maintained in a central repository, with no time wasted searching for it or worrying about version control. But lest we get carried away, let’s remember that collaboration “happens” among sales people whether there is specialized software to support it or not. The human practice of sales has not changed much in the last 80 to 90 years. Collaboration has been a mainstay during this entire time. But what social networking in general, and Oracle Social Networking in particular delivers, is the opportunity for sales teams to dramatically increase their effectiveness and efficiency – to identify and close more high quality and lucrative opportunities more quickly. For most sales organizations, this is how the game is won. To learn more please visit Oracle Social Network and Oracle Fusion Customer Relationship Management on oracle.com

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• Beyond Chatting: What ‘Social’ Means for CRM

  - by Divya Malik

  A guest post by Steve Diamond, Senior Director, Outbound Product Management, Oracle In a recent post on the Oracle Applications blog, my colleague Steve Boese asked three questions related to the widespread popularity and incredibly rapid growth of Facebook, Pinterest, and LinkedIn. Steve then addressed the many applications for collaborative solutions in the area of Human Capital Management. So, in turning to a conversation about Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Sales Force Automation (SFA), let me ask you one simple question. How many sales people, particularly at business-to-business companies, consistently meet or beat their quotas in their roles by working alone, with no collaboration among fellow sales people, sales executives, employees in product groups, in service, in Legal, third-party partners, etc.? Hello? Is anybody out there? What’s that cricket noise I hear? That’s correct. Nobody! When it comes to Sales, introverts arguably have a distinct disadvantage. While it’s certainly a truism that “success” in most professional endeavors requires working with people, it’s a mandatory success factor in Sales. This fact became abundantly clear to me one early morning in the late 1990s when I joined the former Hyperion Solutions (now part of Oracle) and attended a Sales Award Ceremony. The Head of Sales at that time gave out dozens of awards – none of them to individuals and all of them to TEAMS of individuals. That’s how it works in Sales. Your colleagues help provide you with product intelligence and competitive intelligence. They help you build the best presentations, pitches, and proposals. They help you develop the most killer RFPs. They align you with the best product people to ensure you’re matching the best products for the opportunity and join you in critical meetings. They help knock the socks of your prospects in “bake off” demo’s. They bring in the best partners to either add complementary products to your opportunity or help you implement a solution. They work with you as a collective team. And so how is all this collaboration STILL typically done today? Through email. And yet we all silently or not so silently grimace about email. It’s relatively siloed. It’s painful to search. It’s difficult to align by topic. And it’s nearly impossible to re-trace meaningful and helpful conversations that occurred among a group or a team at some point in history. This is where social networking for Sales comes into play. It’s about PURPOSEFUL social networking versus chattering. What is purposeful social networking? It’s collaboration that’s built around opportunities, accounts, and contacts. It’s collaboration that delivers valuable context – on the target company, and on key competitors – just to name two examples. It’s collaboration that can scale to provide coaching for larger numbers of sales representatives, both for general purposes, and as we’ve largely discussed here, for specific ‘deals.’ And it’s collaboration that allows a team of people to collectively edit and iterate on a document like an RFP or a soon-to-be killer presentation that is maintained in a central repository, with no time wasted searching for it or worrying about version control. But lest we get carried away, let’s remember that collaboration “happens” among sales people whether there is specialized software to support it or not. The human practice of sales has not changed much in the last 80 to 90 years. Collaboration has been a mainstay during this entire time. But what social networking in general, and Oracle Social Networking in particular delivers, is the opportunity for sales teams to dramatically increase their effectiveness and efficiency – to identify and close more high quality and lucrative opportunities more quickly. For most sales organizations, this is how the game is won. To learn more please visit Oracle Social Network and Oracle Fusion Customer Relationship Management on oracle.com

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• Employee Info Starter Kit: Project Mission

  - by Mohammad Ashraful Alam

  Employee Info Starter Kit is an open source ASP.NET project template that is intended to address different types of real world challenges faced by web application developers when performing common CRUD operations. Using a single database table ‘Employee’, it illustrates how to utilize Microsoft ASP.NET 4.0, Entity Framework 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010 effectively in that context. Employee Info Starter Kit is highly influenced by the concept ‘Pareto Principle’ or 80-20 rule. where it is targeted to enable a web developer to gain 80% productivity with 20% of effort with respect to learning curve and production. User Stories The user end functionalities of this starter kit are pretty simple and straight forward that are focused in to perform CRUD operation on employee records as described below. Creating a new employee record Read existing employee record Update an existing employee record Delete existing employee records Key Technology Areas ASP.NET 4.0 Entity Framework 4.0 T-4 Template Visual Studio 2010 Architectural Objective There is no universal architecture which can be considered as the best for all sorts of applications around the world. Based on requirements, constraints, environment, application architecture can differ from one to another. Trade-off factors are one of the important considerations while deciding a particular architectural solution. Employee Info Starter Kit is highly influenced by the concept ‘Pareto Principle’ or 80-20 rule, where it is targeted to enable a web developer to gain 80% productivity with 20% of effort with respect to learning curve and production. “Productivity” as the architectural objective typically also includes other trade-off factors as well as, such as testability, flexibility, performance etc. Fortunately Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0 and Visual Studio 2010 includes lots of great features that have been implemented cleverly in this project to reduce these trade-off factors in the minimum level. Why Employee Info Starter Kit is Not a Framework? Application frameworks are really great for productivity, some of which are really unavoidable in this modern age. However relying too many frameworks may overkill a project, as frameworks are typically designed to serve wide range of different usage and are less customizable or editable. On the other hand having implementation patterns can be useful for developers, as it enables them to adjust application on demand. Employee Info Starter Kit provides hundreds of “connected” snippets and implementation patterns to demonstrate problem solutions in actual production environment. It also includes Visual Studio T-4 templates that generate thousands lines of data access and business logic layer repetitive codes in literally few seconds on the fly, which are fully mock testable due to language support for partial methods and latest support for mock testing in Entity Framework. Why Employee Info Starter Kit is Different than Other Open-source Web Applications? Software development is one of the rapid growing industries around the globe, where the technology is being updated very frequently to adapt greater challenges over time. There are literally thousands of community web sites, blogs and forums that are dedicated to provide support to adapt new technologies. While some are really great to enable learning new technologies quickly, in most cases they are either too “simple and brief” to be used in real world scenarios or too “complex and detailed” which are typically focused to achieve a product goal (such as CMS, e-Commerce etc) from "end user" perspective and have a long duration learning curve with respect to the corresponding technology. Employee Info Starter Kit, as a web project, is basically "developer" oriented which actually considers a hybrid approach as “simple and detailed”, where a simple domain has been considered to intentionally illustrate most of the architectural and implementation challenges faced by web application developers so that anyone can dive into deep into the corresponding new technology or concept quickly. Roadmap Since its first release by 2008 in MSDN Code Gallery, Employee Info Starter Kit gained a huge popularity in ASP.NET community and had 1, 50,000+ downloads afterwards. Being encouraged with this great response, we have a strong commitment for the community to provide support for it with respect to latest technologies continuously. Currently hosted in Codeplex, this community driven project is planned to have a wide range of individual editions, each of which will be focused on a selected application architecture, framework or platform, such as ASP.NET Webform, ASP.NET Dynamic Data, ASP.NET MVC, jQuery Ajax (RIA), Silverlight (RIA), Azure Service Platform (Cloud), Visual Studio Automated Test etc. See here for full list of current and future editions.

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• Access Music from Amie Street in Boxee

  - by Mysticgeek

  One of our favorite sites for discovering new music is Amie Street. Today we take a look at the Amie Street app for Boxee that allows you to access your favorite tunes from the Boxee interface. Amie Street is a cool site that allows you to discover a lot of cool music from independent artists. What makes Amie Street unique is that most of the music starts out free, then the price goes up incrementally as its popularity grows. The Amie Street App for Boxee let’s you access music and playlists you’ve created on the site, with more features are on the way. For this example we’re using the mouse and keyboard, but of course you can also get to each section using your remote if you have one. Or you can turn your iPod touch into a Boxee remote too. Amie Street in Boxee To access the Amie Street app, launch Boxee and click on Apps from the main menu. Under the Search Sidebar type in Amie Street and select it from the results field.   Then you can add it to the My Apps section…and double-click on the icon. Click on Start to begin using it. You’ll be be presented with a Welcome screen where you can sign into your account. If you don’t have an account yet, there is also an option to go to the Amie Street site and create one. Enter in your account credentials… Now you’ll be able to access your Library, Playlists, Search for new tunes, and check out your Recommended bands and artists. Hover the pointer over an album to get a bit more info about it such as the music genre. You’ll be able to play the songs from the playlists you created on the Amie Street site. You can browse through the history of the music you’ve played as well. Not all the features of this app seem to work as you’d expect them to, and some of the features are not yet available like the Browse feature.   Conclusion At the time of this writing we weren’t able to purchase music or get additional information about the artists. As development continues on Boxee and this app, you can expect more of a full user experience and the ability to purchase music. Even though some of the features are a bit buggy or not available, if you’re a Boxee user and a fan of Amie Street, this is cool app to add to your collection. Download Boxee for Windows, Mac, and Ubuntu Learn more about Amie Street on Boxee Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Amie Street Downloader Makes Purchasing Music EasierFind Free or Cheap Indie Music at Amie StreetIntegrate Boxee with Media Center in Windows 7Using Pandora in BoxeeGetting Started with Boxee TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips HippoRemote Pro 2.2 Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Watch World Cup Online On These Sites Speed Up Windows With ReadyBoost Awesome World Cup Soccer Calendar Nice Websites To Watch TV Shows Online 24 Million Sites Windows Media Player Glass Icons (icons we like)

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• Is It Worth It To Learn Experimental Languages

  - by Xander Lamkins

  I'm a young programmer who desires to work in the field someday as a programmer. I know Java, VB.NET and C#. I want to learn a new language (as I programmer, I know that it is valuable to extend what I know - to learn languages that make you think differently). I took a look online to see what languages were common. Everybody knows C and C++ (even those muggles who know so little about computers in general), so I thought, maybe I should push for C. C and C++ are nice but they are old. Things like Haskell and Forth (etc. etc. etc.) are old and have lost their popularity. I'm scared of learning C (or even C++) for this same reason. Java is pretty old as well and is slow because it's run by the JVM and not compiled to native code. I've been a Windows developer for quite a while. I recently started using Java - but only because it was more versatile and spreadable to other places. The problem is that it doesn't look like a very usable language for these reasons: It's most used purpose is for web application and cellphone apps (specifically Android) As far as actual products made with it, the only things that come to mind are Netbeans, Eclipse (hurrah for making and IDE with the language the IDE is for - it's like making a webpage for writing HTML/CSS/Javascript), and Minecraft which happens to be fun but laggy and bipolar as far as computer spec. support. Other than that it's used for servers but heck - I don't only want to make/configure servers. The .NET languages are nice, however: People laugh if I even mention VB.NET or C# in a serious conversation. It isn't cross-platform unless you use MONO (which is still in development and has some improvements to be made). Lacks low level stuff because, like Java with the JVM, it is run/managed by the CLR. My first thought was learning something like C and then using it to springboard into C++ (just to make sure I would have a strong understanding/base), but like I said earlier, it's getting older and older by the minute. What I've Looked Into Fantom looks nice. It's like a nice middleman between my two favorite languages and even lets me publish between the two interchangeably, but, unlike what I want, it compiles to the CLR or JVM (depending on what you publish it to) instead of it being a complete compile. D also looks nice. It seems like a very usable language and from multiple sources it appears to actually be better than C/C++. I would jump right with it, but I'm still unsure of its success because it obviously isn't very mainstream at this point. There are a couple others that looked pretty nice that focused on other things such as Opa with web development and Go by GOOGLE. My Question Is it worth learning these "experimental" languages? I've read other questions that say that if you aren't constantly learning languages and open to all languages that you aren't in the right mindset for programming. I understand this and I still might not quite be getting it, but in truth, if a language isn't going to become mainstream, should I spend my time learning something else? I don't want to learn old (or any going to soon be old) programming languages. I know that many people see this as something important, *but would any of you ever actually consider (assuming you didn't already know) FORTRAN? My goal is to stay current to make sure I'm successful in the future. Disclaimer Yes, I am a young programmer, so I probably made a lot of naive statements in my question. Feel free to correct me on ANYTHING! I have to start learning somewhere so I'm sure a lot of my knowledge is sketchy enough to have caused to incorrect statements or flaws in my thinking. Please leave any feelings you have in the comments.

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• SQLAuthority News – Advantages of Distance Learning

  - by Pinal Dave

  Distance education is extremely popular – almost overnight, it seems.  Almost everyone has taken an online course, or knows someone who has, or is considering joining an online school.  There are many advantages and disadvantages to attending an online school – but the same can be said of attending a physical school!  Let’s take a look at the top reasons to use distance education. 1) Flexibility.  Physical universities are usually willing to make some concessions to student – like night classes, study hours, and online networks.  However, nothing is going to beat the flexibility of distance education.  You can attend classes and take notes anytime, anywhere, wearing anything you’d like! 2) Affordability.  We don’t need to get into hard numbers to understand how an expensive university can be.  Students are taking on more and more debt just to get an education.  Many of these fees pay for room, board, and facilities.   Distance education cuts out all these costs, and makes attending school much more affordable for the average student. 3) Try before you buy.  Did you know that the average college student changes his or her major 10 times before they graduate?  You can imagine that this kind of indecision plays a huge part in WHEN you graduate – not being able to make up your mind can cost you big bucks if you have to stay in school for extra years!  Distance education allows you to take different classes from a wide range of disciplines.  Do you want to study forensic science or English literature?  Now you don’t have to pay for classes you can’t afford just to find out. 4) Pace yourself.  Some students struggle in a traditional classroom setting – classes can be taught too fast, too slow, or there are too many distractions.  Distance education allows mature students to set the pace themselves.  They can rewatch lectures they didn’t catch the first time, or go through classes quickly if they are already familiar with the material – cutting out the chance of burning out or getting bored. 5) Lifelong learning.  Maybe you already have a degree, but would like to learn more about your field, or a related field, or maybe even about something completely unrelated – just because you are curious!  Distance education allows you to learn whatever you want ,whenever you want (and yes, wearing anything you’d like!). 6) Attend whatever college you want.  Because of the popularity of distance education, physical campuses are getting in on the game by offering online courses – often just uploaded versions of classes already taught at their campus.  Ever wanted to attend Harvard, but knew you couldn’t get in?  Take a class online!  Of course, you probably should not attempt to lie and say you have a Harvard degree, but Ivy League colleges are prestigious because they are the best in their field – take advantage of the best by taking an online course! I am a big believer in continuing education, whether it is online courses, returning to school, or even take informal classes online.  Distance education can be a great way to accomplish these goals and become a lifelong learner. My friends at provides training through virtual classrooms for students who want to avoid travelling. Distance learning course allows IT aspirants to connect with trainers using the internet.  I encourage everyone to check it out! Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQL Training, T SQL, Technology

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• History of Mobile Technology

  - by David Dorf

  Over the last ten years, mobile phones have gone through several incremental technology leaps that have added capabilities that impact the retail industry.  I've listed the six major ones below, along with their long-lasting impact. 1. Location In the US, the FCC required mobile phones to implement E911 (emergency calls) by 2006, requiring the caller to be located to within 300 meters.  Back in 2000, GPS was opened up for civilian use, and by 2004 Qualcomm had figured out how to use GPS in mobile phones.  So mobile operators moved from cell tower triangulation to GPS, principally for E911.  But then lots of other uses became apparent, especially navigation.  The earliest mobile apps from retailers made it easy to find nearby stores, and companies are looking at ways to use WiFi triangulation inside stores. 2. Computer Vision In 1997 Philippe Kahn shared a photo of his newborn using a mobile phone thus launching the popularity of instant visual communications.  Over the years the quality of the cameras got better, reaching the point where barcodes could be read around 2008.  That's when Occipital came on the scene with their Red Laser application, which was eventually acquired by eBay.  This opened up the ability for consumers to easily price compare inside stores.  Other interesting apps included Tesco's Wine Finder and Amazon's Price Checker, both allowing products to be identified by picture. 3. Augmented Reality Once the mobile phone had GPS, a video camera, and compass functionality it was suddenly possible to overlay digital information on the screen in real-time.  Yelp, which was using GPS to find nearby merchants, created a backdoor called Monocle on the iPhone that showed nearby merchants overlayed on the video camera view.  Today AR apps are mostly used by retailers for marketing, like Moosejaw's app that undresses models in their catalog. 4. Geo-Fencing So if we're able to track the location of a mobile phone, why not use that context to offer timely information?  My first experience with geo-fencing came courtesy of North Face, the outdoor enthusiast store. When a mobile phone enters a predetermined area, like near a store, a text message is sent to phone with an offer or useful information.  Of course retailers can geo-fence their competitors as well and find out which customers are aren't so loyal. 5. Digital Wallet Mobile payments leverage different technologies such as NFC, QRCodes, bluetooth, and SMS to facilitate communication between the consumers's phone and the retailer's point-of-sale. The key here is the potential to consolidate loyalty cards, coupons, and bank cards into the mobile phone and enable faster checkout.  Nobody does this better than Starbucks today, but McDonald's and Duncan Donuts aren't far behind.  Google, Isis, Paypal, Square, and MCX are all vying for leadership in this area.  If NFC does finally take off, it will be leveraged by retailers in more places than just the POS. 6. Voice Response Mobile Phones have had the ability to interpret simple voice commands for a while, but Google and Amazon were the first to use voice to allow searches for products.  Allowing searches by text, barcode, and voice makes it easy to comparison shop in the aisles.  Walmart even uses voice to build shopping lists, and if the Siri API is even opened we could see lots more innovation in this area.

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• Is it worth to learn Experimental Languages?

  - by Xander Lamkins

  I'm a young programmer who desires to work in the field someday as a programmer. I know Java, VB.NET and C#. I want to learn a new language (as I programmer, I know that it is valuable to extend what I know - to learn languages that make you think differently). I took a look online to see what languages were common. Everybody knows C and C++ (even those muggles who know so little about computers in general), so I thought, maybe I should push for C. C and C++ are nice but they are old. Things like Haskell and Forth (etc. etc. etc.) are old and have lost their popularity. I'm scared of learning C (or even C++) for this same reason. Java is pretty old as well and is slow because it's run by the JVM and not compiled to native code. I've been a Windows developer for quite a while. I recently started using Java - but only because it was more versatile and spreadable to other places. The problem is that it doesn't look like a very usable language for these reasons: It's most used purpose is for web application and cellphone apps (specifically Android) As far as actual products made with it, the only things that come to mind are Netbeans, Eclipse (hurrah for making and IDE with the language the IDE is for - it's like making a webpage for writing HTML/CSS/Javascript), and Minecraft which happens to be fun but laggy and bipolar as far as computer spec. support. Other than that it's used for servers but heck - I don't only want to make/configure servers. The .NET languages are nice, however: People laugh if I even mention VB.NET or C# in a serious conversation. It isn't cross-platform unless you use MONO (which is still in development and has some improvements to be made). Lacks low level stuff because, like Java with the JVM, it is run/managed by the CLR. My first thought was learning something like C and then using it to springboard into C++ (just to make sure I would have a strong understanding/base), but like I said earlier, it's getting older and older by the minute. What I've Looked Into Fantom looks nice. It's like a nice middleman between my two favorite languages and even lets me publish between the two interchangeably, but, unlike what I want, it compiles to the CLR or JVM (depending on what you publish it to) instead of it being a complete compile. D also looks nice. It seems like a very usable language and from multiple sources it appears to actually be better than C/C++. I would jump right with it, but I'm still unsure of its success because it obviously isn't very mainstream at this point. There are a couple others that looked pretty nice that focused on other things such as Opa with web development and Go by GOOGLE. My Question Is it worth learning these "experimental" languages? I've read other questions that say that if you aren't constantly learning languages and open to all languages that you aren't in the right mindset for programming. I understand this and I still might not quite be getting it, but in truth, if a language isn't going to become mainstream, should I spend my time learning something else? I don't want to learn old (or any going to soon be old) programming languages. I know that many people see this as something important, *but would any of you ever actually consider (assuming you didn't already know) FORTRAN? My goal is to stay current to make sure I'm successful in the future. Disclaimer Yes, I am a young programmer, so I probably made a lot of naive statements in my question. Feel free to correct me on ANYTHING! I have to start learning somewhere so I'm sure a lot of my knowledge is sketchy enough to have caused to incorrect statements or flaws in my thinking. Please leave any feelings you have in the comments.

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• Extreme Makeover, Phone Edition: Comcasts xfinity

  Mobile Makeover For many companies the first foray into Windows Phone 7 (WP7) may be in porting their existing mobile apps. It is tempting to simply transfer existing functionality, avoiding the additional design costs. Readdressing business needs and taking advantage of the WP7 platform can reduce cost and is essential to a successful re-launch. To better understand the advantage of new development lets examine a conceptual upgrade of Comcasts existing mobile app. Before Comcast has a great mobile app that provides several key features. The ability to browse the lineup using a guide, a client for Comcast email accounts, On Demand gallery, and much more. We will leverage these and build on them using some of the incredible WP7 features.   After With the proliferation of DVRs (Digital Video Recorders) and a variety of media devices (TV, PC, Mobile) content providers are challenged to find creative ways to build their brands. Every client touch point must provide both value added services as well as opportunities for marketing and up-sale; WP7 makes it easy to focus on those opportunities. The new app is an excellent vehicle for presenting Comcasts newly rebranded TV, Voice, and Internet services. These services now fly under the banner of xfinity and have been expanded to provide the best experience for Comcast customers. The Windows Phone 7 app will increase the surface area of this service revolution.   The home menu is simplified and highlights Comcasts Triple Play: Voice, TV, and Internet. The inbox has been replaced with a messages view, and message management is handled by a WP7 hub. The hub presents emails, tweets, and IMs from Comcast and other viewers the user follows on Twitter.  The popular view orders shows based on the users viewing history and current cable package. The first show Glee is both popular and participating in a conceptual co-marketing effort, so it receives prime positioning. The second spot goes to a hit show on a premium channel, in this example HBOs The Pacific, encouraging viewers to upgrade for this premium content. The remaining spots are ordered based on viewing history and popularity. Tapping the play button moves the user to the theatre where they can watch previews or full episodes streaming from Fancast. Tapping an extra presents the user with show details as well as interactive content that may be included as part of co-marketing efforts. Co-Marketing with Dynamic Content The success of Comcasts services are tied to the success of the networks and shows it purveys, making co-marketing efforts essential. In this concept FOX is co-marketing its popular show Glee. A customized panorama is updated with the latest gleeks tweets, streaming HD episodes, and extras featuring photos and video of the cast. If WP7 apps can be dynamically extended with web hosted .xap files, including sandboxed partner experiences would enable interactive features such as the Gleek Peek, in which a viewer can select a character from a panorama to view the actors profile. This dynamic inline experience has a tailored appeal to aspiring creatives and is technically possible with Windows Phone 7.   Summary The conceptual Comcast mobile app for Windows Phone 7 highlights just a few of the incredible experiences and business opportunities that can be unlocked with this latest mobile solution. It is critical that organizations recognize and take full advantage of these new capabilities. Simply porting existing mobile applications does not leverage these powerful tools; re-examining existing applications and upgrading them to Windows Phone 7 will prove essential to the continued growth and success of your brand.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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• Why is software quality so problematic?

  - by Yuval A

  Even when viewing the subject in the most objective way possible, it is clear that software, as a product, generally suffers from low quality. Take for example a house built from scratch. Usually, the house will function as it is supposed to. It will stand for many years to come, the roof will support heavy weather conditions, the doors and the windows will do their job, the foundations will not collapse even when the house is fully populated. Sure, minor problemsdo occur, like a leaking faucet or a bad paint job, but these are not critical. Software, on the other hand is much more susceptible to suffer from bad quality: unexpected crashes, erroneous behavior, miscellaneous bugs, etc. Sure, there are many software projects and products which show high quality and are very reliable. But lots of software products do not fall in this category. Take into consideration paradigms like TDD which its popularity is on the rise in the past few years. Why is this? Why do people have to fear that their software will not work or crash? (Do you walk into a house fearing its foundations will collapse?) Why is software - subjectively - so full of bugs? Possible reasons: Modern software engineering exists for only a few decades, a small time period compared to other forms of engineering/production. Software is very complicated with layers upon layers of complexity, integrating them all is not trivial. Software development is relatively easy to start with, anyone can write a simple program on his PC, which leads to amateur software leaking into the market. Tight budgets and timeframes do not allow complete and high quality development and extensive testing. How do you explain this issue, and do you see software quality advancing in the near future?

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• Images missing after moving Django to new server

  - by miszczu

  I'm moving Django project to new server. I'm newbie in Django, and I don't know where should be upload folder. There are all images which should be displayed on website. In config file I haven't seen upload folder I could specify, so I'm guessing it always should be the same location for django projects or I just can't find it. Locations are saved in database. When I've put uploaded files into media folder, so url was like domain.co.uk/media/upload/media/images/year/month/day/image_name.ext and the same is on the old website, images on website ware still missing. All images are visible if I put url by hand, but django doesn't seems to see files. Also I check django log file: 2012-05-30 09:13:33,393 ERROR render: Thumbnail tag failed: [in /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/sorl_thumbnail-11.12-py2.6.egg/sorl/thumbnail/templatetags/thumbnail.py (line 49)] Traceback (most recent call last): File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/sorl_thumbnail-11.12-py2.6.egg/sorl/thumbnail/templatetags/thumbnail.py", line 45, in render return self._render(context) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/sorl_thumbnail-11.12-py2.6.egg/sorl/thumbnail/templatetags/thumbnail.py", line 97, in _render file_, geometry, **options File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/sorl_thumbnail-11.12-py2.6.egg/sorl/thumbnail/base.py", line 50, in get_thumbnail cached = default.kvstore.get(thumbnail) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/sorl_thumbnail-11.12-py2.6.egg/sorl/thumbnail/kvstores/base.py", line 25, in get return self._get(image_file.key) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/sorl_thumbnail-11.12-py2.6.egg/sorl/thumbnail/kvstores/base.py", line 123, in _get value = self._get_raw(add_prefix(key, identity)) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/sorl_thumbnail-11.12-py2.6.egg/sorl/thumbnail/kvstores/cached_db_kvstore.py", line 26, in _get_raw value = KVStoreModel.objects.get(key=key).value File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/models/manager.py", line 132, in get return self.get_query_set().get(*args, **kwargs) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/models/query.py", line 344, in get num = len(clone) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/models/query.py", line 82, in __len__ self._result_cache = list(self.iterator()) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/models/query.py", line 273, in iterator for row in compiler.results_iter(): File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/compiler.py", line 680, in results_iter for rows in self.execute_sql(MULTI): File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/models/sql/compiler.py", line 735, in execute_sql cursor.execute(sql, params) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/util.py", line 34, in execute return self.cursor.execute(sql, params) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py", line 86, in execute return self.cursor.execute(query, args) File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/site-packages/MySQLdb/cursors.py", line 174, in execute self.errorhandler(self, exc, value) File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/site-packages/MySQLdb/connections.py", line 36, in defaulterrorhandler raise errorclass, errorvalue DatabaseError: (1146, "Table 'thumbnail_kvstore' doesn't exist") 2012-05-30 09:13:33,396 DEBUG execute: (0.000) SELECT `freetext_freetext`.`id`, `freetext_freetext`.`key`, `freetext_freetext`.`content`, `freetext_freetext`.`active` FROM `freetext_freetext` WHERE (`freetext_freetext`.`active` = True AND `freetext_freetext`.`key` = office-closed-message ); args=(True, u'office-closed-message') [in /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/util.py (line 44)] 2012-05-30 09:13:33,399 DEBUG execute: (0.000) SELECT `menus_menu`.`id`, `menus_menu`.`name`, `menus_menu`.`slug`, `menus_menu`.`base_url`, `menus_menu`.`description`, `menus_menu`.`enabled` FROM `menus_menu` WHERE (`menus_menu`.`enabled` = True AND `menus_menu`.`slug` = about ); args=(True, u'about') [in /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/util.py (line 44)] 2012-05-30 09:13:33,401 DEBUG execute: (0.000) SELECT `menus_menuitem`.`id`, `menus_menuitem`.`menu_id`, `menus_menuitem`.`title`, `menus_menuitem`.`url`, `menus_menuitem`.`order` FROM `menus_menuitem` INNER JOIN `menus_menu` ON (`menus_menuitem`.`menu_id` = `menus_menu`.`id`) WHERE `menus_menu`.`slug` = about ORDER BY `menus_menuitem`.`order` ASC; args=(u'about',) [in /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/util.py (line 44)] 2012-05-30 09:13:33,404 DEBUG execute: (0.000) SELECT `freetext_freetext`.`id`, `freetext_freetext`.`key`, `freetext_freetext`.`content`, `freetext_freetext`.`active` FROM `freetext_freetext` WHERE (`freetext_freetext`.`active` = True AND `freetext_freetext`.`key` = contactdetails-footer ); args=(True, u'contactdetails-footer') [in /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/util.py (line 44)] I checked database and there is no table calls thumbnail_kvstore, but I have database backup, and in backup files this table doesn't exist. All uploaded files I get are in media/uploads/media/. Also I'm getting errors on some pages: Syntax error. Expected: ``thumbnail source geometry [key1=val1 key2=val2...] as var`` /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/sorl_thumbnail-11.12-py2.6.egg/sorl/thumbnail/templatetags/thumbnail.py in __init__, line 72 In template /var/www/vhosts/domain.co.uk/sites/apps/shop/products/templates/products/product_detail.html, error at line 34 {% thumbnail image.file "800x700" detail as zoom %} Maybe some modules I install are not in the right version. Dont know how to fix it. Im using, CentOS 6, mod_wsgi, apache, python 2.6. Update 1.0: On the old server was Django 1.3, on the new one is Django 1.3.1 Update 1.1: I this i know where is the problem. I tried python manage.py syncdb and this is output: Syncing... Creating tables ... The following content types are stale and need to be deleted: orders | ordercontact Any objects related to these content types by a foreign key will also be deleted. Are you sure you want to delete these content types? If you're unsure, answer 'no'. Type 'yes' to continue, or 'no' to cancel: no Installing custom SQL ... Installing indexes ... No fixtures found. Synced: > django.contrib.auth > django.contrib.contenttypes > django.contrib.sessions > django.contrib.sites > django.contrib.messages > django.contrib.admin > django.contrib.admindocs > django.contrib.markup > django.contrib.sitemaps > django.contrib.redirects > django_filters > freetext > sorl.thumbnail > django_extensions > south > currencies > pagination > tagging > honeypot > core > faq > logentry > menus > news > shop > shop.cart > shop.orders Not synced (use migrations): - dbtemplates - contactform - links - media - pages - popularity - testimonials - shop.brands - shop.collections - shop.discount - shop.pricing - shop.product_types - shop.products - shop.shipping - shop.tax (use ./manage.py migrate to migrate these) Next I run python manage.py migrate, and thats what i get: Running migrations for dbtemplates: - Migrating forwards to 0002_auto__del_unique_template_name. > dbtemplates:0001_initial ! Error found during real run of migration! Aborting. ! Since you have a database that does not support running ! schema-altering statements in transactions, we have had ! to leave it in an interim state between migrations. ! You *might* be able to recover with: = DROP TABLE `django_template` CASCADE; [] = DROP TABLE `django_template_sites` CASCADE; [] ! The South developers regret this has happened, and would ! like to gently persuade you to consider a slightly ! easier-to-deal-with DBMS. ! NOTE: The error which caused the migration to fail is further up. Traceback (most recent call last): File "manage.py", line 13, in <module> execute_manager(settings) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 438, in execute_manager utility.execute() File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/__init__.py", line 379, in execute self.fetch_command(subcommand).run_from_argv(self.argv) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 191, in run_from_argv self.execute(*args, **options.__dict__) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/core/management/base.py", line 220, in execute output = self.handle(*args, **options) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/South-0.7.3-py2.6.egg/south/management/commands/migrate.py", line 105, in handle ignore_ghosts = ignore_ghosts, File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/South-0.7.3-py2.6.egg/south/migration/__init__.py", line 191, in migrate_app success = migrator.migrate_many(target, workplan, database) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/South-0.7.3-py2.6.egg/south/migration/migrators.py", line 221, in migrate_many result = migrator.__class__.migrate_many(migrator, target, migrations, database) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/South-0.7.3-py2.6.egg/south/migration/migrators.py", line 292, in migrate_many result = self.migrate(migration, database) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/South-0.7.3-py2.6.egg/south/migration/migrators.py", line 125, in migrate result = self.run(migration) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/South-0.7.3-py2.6.egg/south/migration/migrators.py", line 99, in run return self.run_migration(migration) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/South-0.7.3-py2.6.egg/south/migration/migrators.py", line 81, in run_migration migration_function() File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/South-0.7.3-py2.6.egg/south/migration/migrators.py", line 57, in <lambda> return (lambda: direction(orm)) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django_dbtemplates-1.3-py2.6.egg/dbtemplates/migrations/0001_initial.py", line 18, in forwards ('last_changed', self.gf('django.db.models.fields.DateTimeField')(default=datetime.datetime.now)), File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/South-0.7.3-py2.6.egg/south/db/generic.py", line 226, in create_table ', '.join([col for col in columns if col]), File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/South-0.7.3-py2.6.egg/south/db/generic.py", line 150, in execute cursor.execute(sql, params) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/util.py", line 34, in execute return self.cursor.execute(sql, params) File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/django/db/backends/mysql/base.py", line 86, in execute return self.cursor.execute(query, args) File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/site-packages/MySQLdb/cursors.py", line 174, in execute self.errorhandler(self, exc, value) File "/usr/lib64/python2.6/site-packages/MySQLdb/connections.py", line 36, in defaulterrorhandler raise errorclass, errorvalue _mysql_exceptions.OperationalError: (1050, "Table 'django_template' already exists") Also i run python manage.py migrate --list, and uotput is: dbtemplates (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__del_unique_template_name contactform (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__add_callback (*) 0003_auto__add_field_callback_notes (*) 0004_auto__add_field_callback_is_closed__add_field_callback_closed (*) 0005_auto__add_field_callback_url (*) 0006_auto__add_contact (*) 0007_auto__add_field_contact_category (*) 0008_auto__add_field_contact_url links (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__add_field_category_enabled__add_field_category_order media (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__del_field_image_external_url__add_field_image_link_url__del_fiel (*) 0003_add_model_FileAttachment (*) 0004_auto__chg_field_file_slug__chg_field_image_slug (*) 0005_auto__chg_field_image_file (*) 0006_auto__chg_field_file_file pages (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__chg_field_page_meta_description__chg_field_page_meta_title__chg_ (*) 0003_auto__add_field_page_show_in_sitemap (*) 0004_auto__add_field_page_changefreq__add_field_page_priority popularity (*) 0001_initial testimonials (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__add_field_testimonial_is_featured brands (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__add_field_brand_template (*) 0003_auto__chg_field_brand_meta_description__chg_field_brand_meta_title__ch (*) 0004_auto__add_field_brand_url (*) 0005_auto__del_field_brand_image__add_field_brand_logo collections (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__add_field_collection_discount (*) 0003_auto__chg_field_collection_meta_description__chg_field_collection_meta (*) 0004_auto__add_field_collection_is_featured (*) 0005_auto__add_field_collection_order discount (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_added_field_discount_description (*) 0003_auto__add_field_discountvoucher_automatic (*) 0004_auto__add_field_discountvoucher_collection (*) 0005_auto__del_field_discountvoucher_collection (*) 0006_auto__chg_field_discountvoucher_expiry_date pricing (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__add_pricingrule product_types (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__add_field_producttype_meta_title__add_field_producttype_meta_des (*) 0003_auto__add_field_producttype_summary__add_field_producttype_description products (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__del_field_product_is_featured (*) 0003_auto__chg_field_product_meta_keywords__chg_field_product_meta_descript (*) 0004_auto shipping (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__add_field_shippingmethod_includes_tax__add_field_shippingmethod_ (*) 0003_auto__add_field_shippingmethod_order (*) 0004_auto__del_field_shippingmethod_tax_rate__del_field_shippingmethod_incl (*) 0005_auto__del_field_shippingrule_enabled tax (*) 0001_initial (*) 0002_auto__add_field_taxrate_internal_name (*) 0003_initial_internal_names (*) 0004_auto__add_unique_taxrate_internal_name (*) 0005_force_unique_taxrate_name (*) 0006_auto__add_unique_taxrate_name After that some images source were something like this: src="cache/1e/bd/1ebd719910aa843238028edd5fe49e71.jpg" Is any1 could help me with syncdb pledase?

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• Eclipse / Aptana File Sync Solutions

  - by Brad

  Our development team uses Eclipse + Aptana to do their web development work. Currently, most of them are mapping their Eclipse projects directly to the web server. I'd rather them create a local project and use that to sync to the web server project directory they are working on. The issue is that there aren't any good solutions which is just appalling given the popularity of the two. The FileSync plugin for Eclipse is only one-way. Meaning if another developer makes a change to the file on the server, another dev isn't even notified and could overwrite the change. The File Transfer option in Aptana 2.0 doesn't support any sort of Sync, just manually uploading/downloading files. The Sync option in Aptana 1.5.1 doesn't allow you to merge files when they are different. You can only update one or the other. It does however allow you to view a diff (but only if you right click and select) and in that diff you can't make any changes. I did find a way to allow files to be uploaded to their Sync repositories in Aptana using Eclipse Monkey. However it doesn't work if a user saves multiple files at once, 'Save All', again it doesn't work. And additionally, there is no notification if a user opens a local file that has an updated copy on the server. I tried to add one using Eclipse Monkey but I couldn't find any sort of listener in the Eclipse API to do it and any Eclipse Monkey documentation is far and few between. My only solution at this point is just to let them continue to map directly to the server or ask them to do a manual download before they do any work (but again what if someone uploads a change right after they do that). Anyone have any ideas?

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• Applications on the Web/Cloud the way to go? over Desktop apps?

  - by jiewmeng

  i am currently a mainly web developer, but is quite attracted to the performance and great integration with the OS (eg. Windows 7, Jump Lists, Taskbar Thumbnails, etc) something like WPF/C# can provide to the user, improving workflow and productivity. privacy and performance seems like a major downside of web/cloud apps compared to desktop apps. applications on the cloud/web work on the go, increased popularity of smartphones/netbooks majority of users may not benefit as much from increased performance of desktop apps, eg. internet surfing, word processing, probably benefit more from decreased startup times, lower costs and data on the cloud desktop applications increased performance benefits power users like 3D rendering, HD video/photo editing, gamers (i wonder if such processing maybe offset to cloud processing) integration with OS increases productivity (maybe such features can be adapted to a web version? maybe with a local desktop app to work with Web App API) more control over privacy (maybe fixed by encryption?) local data access (esp. large files) guaranteed and fast (YouTube HD fast enough most of the time) work not affected by intermittent/slow/availability internet connections (i know this is changing tho) what do you think?

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• if (i == 2) or if (2 == i) ?

  - by Maroloccio

  I usually use if (i == 2) in preference to if (2 == i) On occasion, I would switch things around when writing xUnit-type tests from scratch so as to follow the assertion convention of "expected" preceding "actual". When adding to existing unit tests, I always follow the style I find. No matter what, I always try to keep things consistent. Today I checked out some code with a lot of "if (2 == i)" and started wondering: which style is more "popular" nowadays? is popularity language-dependent? The latter probably because I am aware of why the "if (2 == i)" became common in the first place (C heritage) and because I see some languages go as far as disallowing assignments within conditions (e.g. Python). I thought about downloading some sources: apt-get source linux-source eclipse openoffice.org expanding them and performing a quick grep: grep --color --include=*.java --include=*.c -ERI \ "if[[:space:]]*\([[:space:]]*[[:digit:]]+[[:space:]]==" . or creating a quick "poll": http://goo.gl/mod/ciMF after a bit of searching and asking around, I am still not sure. So I am asking you: which way to go?

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