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  • Windows8, JavaScript and HTML5 - A good thing?

    - by Albers
    Most of us have seen the Windows 8 news regarding support for native HTML5/JavaScript applications. The press has pushed this as a potential threat to the .NET developer community because JavaScript and HTML5 were called "our new developer platform". The press release refers to "Web-connected and Web-powered apps built using HTML5 and JavaScript that have access to the full power of the PC.".Microsoft has also been hush on details related to these comments. Before we buy the hype and start worrying about a world where we drop our Visual Studio licenses and buy DreamWeaver - let's think about how Windows 8 HTML/JavaScript applications would be implemented. The HTML5 spec offers support for offline applications, but this won't offer the OS-integrated experience the press release refers to. MS has to be planning a way to extend access beyond the traditional JavaScript feature set. Microsoft has a similar option today: HTML Applications or HTAs. They come close to required features, but HTAs need ActiveX or Java integration to provide the promised OS-level access. I'm guessing that Microsoft's future OS strategy isn't built on developers cranking out ActiveX controls or Java applets. So where is Microsoft headed? One possibility is that MS builds a new JavaScript framework from the ground up outside their current APIs. Another idea would be for Microsoft to add support for JavaScript as a first class .NET language using the Dynamic Language Runtime. A solution based on the DLR could be integrated into an HTA-like model to provide the promised access, along with the full range of features in .NET Framework. Security comes included in the Framework. And the work necessary to support this integration would tie in nicely with the effort MS has recently made providing better JavaScript and HTML5 support in Visual Studio 2010. As a bonus, a full-fledged JavaScript DLR implementation would allow single language web solutions across client and server (think node.js) and would appeal to developers who are familiar with JavaScript but have less experience with the Microsoft tech stack. We will all get a better picture after the Build conference in September. But in the mean time we know that Microsoft has a reputation for providing strong developer support. We might want to reserve our harshest judgement and consider that the press release could hint at new opportunities for .NET development.

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  • F# &ndash; It&rsquo;s time to grow up baby.

    - by MarkPearl
    In the last few months since I started learning F# I have begin to notice an increase in the number of people blogging about the language. Sure, it could just be that I am noticing it more because I am actively looking out for questions and blog posts, but even in my day to day reading of Code Project Daily News and Stack Overflow questions there seems to be increased activity around the language. So what sparked this post? Well, today today I logged in and saw that the latest podcast by DNR was on F# and then immediately afterwards I received an email from CodeProject with a great article comparing F# and Scala. Currently, as of this blog posting (21 May 2010) F# is ranked on the tiobe site at position 43, but I am willing to put money on it that in the next few tiobe ratings this ranking will continue to rise till F# will be a top 20.

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  • Are there any examples of a temporal field/object updater?

    - by Bryan Agee
    The system in question has numerous examples of temporal objects and fields--ones which are a certain variable at a certain point in time. An example of this would be someone's rate of pay--there are different answers depending on when you ask and what the constraints might be; eg, can there ever be more than one of a certain temporal object concurrently, etc. Ideally, there would be an object that handles those constraints when a new state/stateful object is introduced; when a new value is set, it would prevent creating negative ranges and overlaps. Martin Fowler has written some great material on this (such as this description of Temporal Objects) , but what I've found of it tends to be entirely theoretic, with no concrete implementations. PHP is the target language, but examples in any language would be most helpful.

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  • How to remove all that country-specific dictionaries (like En_AU, En_CA, de_CH, etc)?

    - by Ivan
    After I've installed some language packs and spell checking dictionaries (I'd like to use with Firefox and OpenOffice) I've got tons of language variations installed. This makes very inconvenient to maintain dictionary additions, for example. Sometimes Firefox decides to switch to Australian, sometimes to UK dictionary, sometimes to US, etc. For me, a Russian, English is just English, and German is just German. I think every English-speaking will understand me, may I write "color" or "colour", "dialog", or "dialogue" (I usually prefer classic UK spelling though, as a matter of a habit (as I was taught at school)). How to remove all those dialects?

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  • Subdividing a polygon into boxes of varying size

    - by Michael Trouw
    I would like to be pointed to information / resources for creating algorithms like the one illustrated on this blog, which is a subdivision of a polygon (in my case a voronoi cell) into several boxes of varying size: http://procworld.blogspot.nl/2011/07/city-lots.html In the comments a paper by among others the author of the blog can be found, however the only formula listed is about candidate location suitability: http://www.groenewegen.de/delft/thesis-final/ProceduralCityLayoutGeneration-Preprint.pdf Any language will do, but if examples can be given Javascript is preferred (as it is the language i am currently working with) A similar question is this one: What is an efficient packing algorithm for packing rectangles into a polygon?

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  • Breaking 1NF to model subset constraints. Does this sound sane?

    - by Chris Travers
    My first question here. Appologize if it is in the wrong forum but this seems pretty conceptual. I am looking at doing something that goes against conventional wisdom and want to get some feedback as to whether this is totally insane or will result in problems, so critique away! I am on PostgreSQL 9.1 but may be moving to 9.2 for this part of this project. To re-iterate: Does it seem sane to break 1NF in this way? I am not looking for debugging code so much as where people see problems that this might lead. The Problem In double entry accounting, financial transactions are journal entries with an arbitrary number of lines. Each line has either a left value (debit) or a right value (credit) which can be modelled as a single value with negatives as debits and positives as credits or vice versa. The sum of all debits and credits must equal zero (so if we go with a single amount field, sum(amount) must equal zero for each financial journal entry). SQL-based databases, pretty much required for this sort of work, have no way to express this sort of constraint natively and so any approach to enforcing it in the database seems rather complex. The Write Model The journal entries are append only. There is a possibility we will add a delete model but it will be subject to a different set of restrictions and so is not applicable here. If and when we allow deletes, we will probably do them using a simple ON DELETE CASCADE designation on the foreign key, and require that deletes go through a dedicated stored procedure which can enforce the other constraints. So inserts and selects have to be accommodated but updates and deletes do not for this task. My Proposed Solution My proposed solution is to break first normal form and model constraints on arrays of tuples, with a trigger that breaks the rows out into another table. CREATE TABLE journal_line ( entry_id bigserial primary key, account_id int not null references account(id), journal_entry_id bigint not null, -- adding references later amount numeric not null ); I would then add "table methods" to extract debits and credits for reporting purposes: CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION debits(journal_line) RETURNS numeric LANGUAGE sql IMMUTABLE AS $$ SELECT CASE WHEN $1.amount < 0 THEN $1.amount * -1 ELSE NULL END; $$; CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION credits(journal_line) RETURNS numeric LANGUAGE sql IMMUTABLE AS $$ SELECT CASE WHEN $1.amount > 0 THEN $1.amount ELSE NULL END; $$; Then the journal entry table (simplified for this example): CREATE TABLE journal_entry ( entry_id bigserial primary key, -- no natural keys :-( journal_id int not null references journal(id), date_posted date not null, reference text not null, description text not null, journal_lines journal_line[] not null ); Then a table method and and check constraints: CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION running_total(journal_entry) returns numeric language sql immutable as $$ SELECT sum(amount) FROM unnest($1.journal_lines); $$; ALTER TABLE journal_entry ADD CONSTRAINT CHECK (((journal_entry.running_total) = 0)); ALTER TABLE journal_line ADD FOREIGN KEY journal_entry_id REFERENCES journal_entry(entry_id); And finally we'd have a breakout trigger: CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION je_breakout() RETURNS TRIGGER LANGUAGE PLPGSQL AS $$ BEGIN IF TG_OP = 'INSERT' THEN INSERT INTO journal_line (journal_entry_id, account_id, amount) SELECT NEW.id, account_id, amount FROM unnest(NEW.journal_lines); RETURN NEW; ELSE RAISE EXCEPTION 'Operation Not Allowed'; END IF; END; $$; And finally CREATE TRIGGER AFTER INSERT OR UPDATE OR DELETE ON journal_entry FOR EACH ROW EXECUTE_PROCEDURE je_breaout(); Of course the example above is simplified. There will be a status table that will track approval status allowing for separation of duties, etc. However the goal here is to prevent unbalanced transactions. Any feedback? Does this sound entirely insane? Standard Solutions? In getting to this point I have to say I have looked at four different current ERP solutions to this problems: Represent every line item as a debit and a credit against different accounts. Use of foreign keys against the line item table to enforce an eventual running total of 0 Use of constraint triggers in PostgreSQL Forcing all validation here solely through the app logic. My concerns are that #1 is pretty limiting and very hard to audit internally. It's not programmer transparent and so it strikes me as being difficult to work with in the future. The second strikes me as being very complex and required a series of contraints and foreign keys against self to make work, and therefore it strikes me as complex, hard to sort out at least in my mind, and thus hard to work with. The fourth could be done as we force all access through stored procedures anyway and this is the most common solution (have the app total things up and throw an error otherwise). However, I think proof that a constraint is followed is superior to test cases, and so the question becomes whether this in fact generates insert anomilies rather than solving them. If this is a solved problem it isn't the case that everyone agrees on the solution....

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  • CodePlex Daily Summary for Thursday, October 03, 2013

    CodePlex Daily Summary for Thursday, October 03, 2013Popular ReleasesEvent-Based Components AppBuilder: AB3.Iteration.52: Iteration 52 (Feature): Improve edit of flow step definition by validating input. (empty type name, type name contains space, type name starts with illegal char., custom name contains space, custom name is unique) Renamed: EditSingleStepDefinitionFlow => EditStepDefinitionFlow Improved: EditSubFlowDefinitionFlow (No code was changed. All necessary parts already existed. Only improvement of flow definitions.)DNN® Form and List: DNN Form and List 06.00.07: DotNetNuke Form and List 06.00.06 Changes to 6.0.7•Fixed an error in datatypes.config that caused calculated fields to be missing in 6.0.6 Changes to 6.0.6•Add in Sql to remove 'text on row' setting for UserDefinedTable to make SQL Azure compatible. •Add new azureCompatible element to manifest. •Added a fix for importing templates. Changes to 6.0.2•Fix: MakeThumbnail was broken if the application pool was configured to .Net 4 •Change: Data is now stored in nvarchar(max) instead of ntext C...SpiderSync: SpiderSync 0.5: Initial releaseSimpleExcelReportMaker: Serm 0.03: SourceCode and Sample .Net Framework 3.5 AnyCPU compile.RDFSharp - Start playing with RDF!: RDFSharp-0.6.6: GENERAL (NEW) Introduction of INT64 hashing engine (codenamed "Greta"); QUERY (FIX) Incorrect query evaluation due to faulty detection of optional patterns (v0.6.5 regression); (FIX) Missing update of PatternGroupID information after adding patterns and filters to a pattern group; (FIX) Ensure Context information of a pattern is not null before trying to collect it as variable; (MISC) Changed semantics of Context information of a pattern: if not provided, it will be ignored; (MISC...Ela, functional programming language: Ela, dynamic functional language (PDF, book, 0.6): A book about Ela, dynamic functional language in PDF format.DrivenDb: DrivenDb 1.6.0.1 Release: Removed untyped ReadValue(s) methods specifically for strings. The typed version (ReadValue<T>) works with ReadValue<string> now.Application Architecture Guidelines: App Architecture Guidelines 3.0.8: This document is an overview of software qualities, principles, patterns, practices, tools and libraries.C# Intellisense for Notepad++: Release v1.0.7.1: - smart indentation - document formatting To avoid the DLLs getting locked by OS use MSI file for the installation.CS-Script for Notepad++: Release v1.0.7.1: - smart indentation - document formatting To avoid the DLLs getting locked by OS use MSI file for the installation.State of Decay Save Manager: Version 1.0.2: Added Start/Stop button for timer to manually enable/disable Quick save routine updated to force it to refresh the folder date Quick save added to backup listing Manual update button Lower level hooking for F5 and F9 buttons workingBlackJumboDog: Ver5.9.6: 2013.09.30 Ver5.9.6 (1)SMTP???????、???????????????? (2)WinAPI??????? (3)Web???????CGI???????????????????????Microsoft Ajax Minifier: Microsoft Ajax Minifier 5.2: Mostly internal code tweaks. added -nosize switch to turn off the size- and gzip-calculations done after minification. removed the comments in the build targets script for the old AjaxMin build task (discussion #458831). Fixed an issue with extended Unicode characters encoded inside a string literal with adjacent \uHHHH\uHHHH sequences. Fixed an IndexOutOfRange exception when encountering a CSS identifier that's a single underscore character (_). In previous builds, the net35 and net20...AJAX Control Toolkit: September 2013 Release: AJAX Control Toolkit Release Notes - September 2013 Release (Updated) Version 7.1002September 2013 release of the AJAX Control Toolkit. AJAX Control Toolkit .NET 4.5 – AJAX Control Toolkit for .NET 4.5 and sample site (Recommended). AJAX Control Toolkit .NET 4 – AJAX Control Toolkit for .NET 4 and sample site (Recommended). AJAX Control Toolkit .NET 3.5 – AJAX Control Toolkit for .NET 3.5 and sample site (Recommended). Important UpdateThis release has been updated to fix two issues: Upda...WDTVHubGen - Adds Metadata, thumbnails and subtitles to WDTV Live Hubs: WDTVHubGen.v2.1.4.apifix-alpha: WDTVHubGen.v2.1.4.apifix-alpha is for testers to figure out if we got the NEW api plugged in ok. thanksVisual Log Parser: VisualLogParser: Portable Visual Log Parser for Dotnet 4.0AudioWordsDownloader: AudioWordsDownloader 1.1 build 88: New features list of words (mp3 files) is available upon typing when a download path is defined list of download paths is added paths history settings added Bug fixed case mismatch in word search field fixed path not exist bug fixed when history has been used path, when filled from dialog, not stored refresh autocomplete list after path change word sought is deleted when path is changed at the end sought word list is deleted word list not refreshed download ends. word lis...Wsus Package Publisher: Release v1.3.1309.28: Fix a bug, where WPP crash when running on a computer where Windows was installed in another language than Fr, En or De, and launching the Update Creation Wizard. Fix a bug, where WPP crash if some Multi-Thread job are launch with more than 64 items. Add a button to abort "Install This Update" wizard. Allow WPP to remember which columns are shown last time. Make URL clickable on the Update Information Tab. Add a new feature, when Double-Clicking on an update, the default action exec...Tweetinvi a friendly Twitter C# API: Alpha 0.8.3.0: Version 0.8.3.0 emphasis on the FIlteredStream and ease how to manage Exceptions that can occur due to the network or any other issue you might encounter. Will be available through nuget the 29/09/2013. FilteredStream Features provided by the Twitter Stream API - Ability to track specific keywords - Ability to track specific users - Ability to track specific locations Additional features - Detect the reasons the tweet has been retrieved from the Filtered API. You have access to both the ma...AcDown?????: AcDown????? v4.5: ??●AcDown??????????、??、??、???????。????，????，?????????????????????????。???????????Acfun、????(Bilibili)、??、??、YouTube、??、???、??????、SF????、????????????。 ●??????AcPlay?????，??????、????????????????。 ● AcDown???????C#??，????.NET Framework 2.0??。?????"Acfun?????"。 ??v4.5 ???? AcPlay????????v3.5 ????????，???????????30% ?? ???????GoodManga.net???? ?? ?????????? ?? ??Acfun?????????? ??Bilibili??????????? ?????????flvcd???????? ??SfAcg????????????? ???????????? ???????????????? ????32...New ProjectsBootstrap 3.0 WebPages Helpers: Bootstrap 3.0 WebPages Helpers offre direttamente la forza del pattern responsive e la semplicità di controlli facili d’uso e riuso. Compact Framework 3.9 Templates for Windows Embedded Compact 2013: This project provides Visual Studio 2012 Templates for Compact Framework Version 3.9 in the context of a Windows Embedded Compact 2013 OS project SDK.ganda: naGSpeak (Gesture Speak): Code generation through speech/gesture for everyone (Including individuals with disabilities).Importing Microsoft Project Files: Using mpjx to read microsoft project filesMoppet.Lapa: Very light parser generator based on combinations of lambda functions. Without language of grammar descriptions. Defining parsers in the code directly.NotifyPilot for TFS: NotifyPilot is a simple bridge between TFS and a group of clients (eg : Yammer, SignalR, ect..).SimCa: Simple Image Cacher for WP7.SIMPLE: We are aiming to create an easy to use machine learning framework in C++ which includes the tools you need to make modules for the included learning environmentSpiderSync: Command line application for providing one-way real-time synchronization between two folders.StrontiumTeam: An client-side application based on Kendo UI. It provides the means for car owners to make offers and lure potential buyers through the sleek interface.StudentSystem: A learning system comprising students, teachers, courses and lectures.TelerikExams: Solutions of the tasks for the exams in ThelerikAcademy (http://telerikacademy.com)Thewhy: Just Test CreateUser Stories: proyecto academicoWindows Embedded Compact 2013 Tools: Some applications to add to Compact 2013 OS that were available in previous versions of Windows Embedded Compact/CE but not part of the current version.

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  • What is the best wrapping strategy ?

    - by Riduidel
    Hi, I'm planning to integrate an external tool (ffmpeg in my particular case, but it could be anything, in fact, as lolng as its tasks are long running ones). This tool has a lot of command-line parameters. For now, I've done to simple things with it, already requiring me a good bunch of class writing, to embed all the information it can return to me. I now face the even more complex task of having to send it a bunch of parameters and to handle possible errors. So, what is a best way for that ? Create classes containing all possible options Relying upon a reverse equivalent of commons-cli / CliBuilder / OptionParser Directly write all options from user input Obiwan Kenobi powers (or anything I don't even know about) Please notice I do it in an uncommon language (for the sake of me, don't ask me what it is, as it looks like a desperate and sterile union between CoffeeScript and lua), as a consequence, there can be no framework doing what I want in the language I use.

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  • Is type safety worth the trade-offs?

    - by Prof Plum
    I began coding in in Python primarily where there is no type safety, then moved to C# and Java where there is. I found that I could work a bit more quickly and with less headaches in Python, but then again, my C# and Java apps are at much higher level of complexity so I have never given Python a true stress test I suppose. The Java and C# camps make it sound like without the type safety in place, most people would be running into all sorts of horrible bugs left an right and it would be more trouble than its worth. This is not a language comparison, so please do not address issues like compiled vs interpreted. Is type safety worth the hit to speed of development and flexibilty? WHY? to the people who wanted an example of the opinion that dynamic typing is faster: "Use a dynamically typed language during development. It gives you faster feedback, turn-around time, and development speed." - http://blog.jayway.com/2010/04/14/static-typing-is-the-root-of-all-evil/

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  • Is Clojure, Scala and other restrained by the JVM vs CLR

    - by jia93
    The Java implementors seem slow to adopt language improvements, for example compare C# with full closures, expression trees, LINQ etc.. to Java, and even the push back of some stuff to Java 8 will still leave it behind the current implementation of C#. However since I dont intend to use either Java or C# that particular language war isnt of interest too much, im more concerned with the JVM vs CLR. Is this lagging-behind also applicable to the JVM? Will Scala, Clojure etc.. will they be able to continue to innovate or score optimal performance in the face of slowly progressing underlying VM such as JVM? Is Clojure/Scala restrained at present by JVM limitations?

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  • What should I call the process of converting an object to a string?

    - by shabbychef
    We are having a game of 'semantic football' in the office over this matter: I am writing a method for an object which will represent the object as a string. That string should be such that when typed (more likely, cut and pasted) into the interpreter window (I will keep the language name out of this for now), will produce an object which is, for our purposes, identical to the one upon which the method was called. There is a spirited discussion over the 'best' name for this method. The terms pickle, serialize, deflate, etc have been proposed. However, it seems that those terms assume some process for the de-pickling (unserialization, etc) that is not necessarily the language interpreter itself. That is, they do not specifically refer to the case where strings of valid code are produced. This is closer to a quine, but we are re-producing the object not the code, so this is not quite right. any suggestions?

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  • Why make JavaScript class based?

    - by Carnotaurus
    JavaScript is a prototype language. To turn it into a class based language adds little value? I am not talking about best-practice here. I remember reading an article from way back, which claimed that the class-based worldview is perceivably more flawed than the one of prototypes. My summary can be found here: http://carnotaurus.tumblr.com/post/3248631891/class-based-javascript-or-not. I am resisting to use the class-based jQuery add-on and other attempts at faciliating class-based JavaScript. Peer pressure is strong but is there a stronger theoretical or practical reason why I stop resisting?

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  • Why do "Joke" programming languages exist? [closed]

    - by ThePlan
    First of all please be aware this post contains some abusive language but I hope it will not bother anyone. I apologize for the bad language but that's what the name is. As I've been doing documentation on existing programming languages attempting to make a complete list of them I stumbled across terrible programming languages, which were clearly not made for actual use and implementation due to their insane difficulty. Languages such as Brainfu*k and LOLCODE or Whitespace are fool languages because they have no real use. For example, a "Hello world" program written in BrainFu*k. Taken from Wikipedia: The following program prints "Hello World!" and a newline to the screen: +++++ +++++ initialize counter (cell #0) to 10 [ use loop to set the next four cells to 70/100/30/10 > +++++ ++ add 7 to cell #1 > +++++ +++++ add 10 to cell #2 > +++ add 3 to cell #3 > + add 1 to cell #4 <<<< - decrement counter (cell #0) ] > ++ . print 'H' > + . print 'e' +++++ ++ . print 'l' . print 'l' +++ . print 'o' > ++ . print ' ' << +++++ +++++ +++++ . print 'W' > . print 'o' +++ . print 'r' ----- - . print 'l' ----- --- . print 'd' > + . print '!' > . print '\n' or another example taken from LOLCODE language: HAI CAN HAS STDIO? PLZ OPEN FILE "LOLCATS.TXT"? AWSUM THX VISIBLE FILE O NOES INVISIBLE "ERROR!" KTHXBYE These languages are very difficult to learn/read/work with. My question is - Why do they exist? What is the purpose of them? Also, is there an official "name" for these type of languages?

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  • Microsoft and Application Architectures

    Microsoft has dealt with several kinds of application architectures to include but not limited to desktop applications, web applications, operating systems, relational database systems, windows services, and web services. Because of the size and market share of Microsoft, virtually every modern language works with or around a Microsoft product. Some of the languages include: Visual Basic, VB.Net, C#, C++, C, ASP.net, ASP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java and XML. From my experience, Microsoft strives to maintain an n-tier application standard where an application is comprised of multiple layers that perform specific functions, for example: presentation layer, business layer, data access layer are three general layers that just about every formally structured application contains. The presentation layer contains anything to do with displaying information to the screen and how it appears on the screen. The business layer is the middle man between the presentation layer and data access layer and transforms data from the data access layer in to useable information to be stored later or sent to an output device through the presentation layer. The data access layer does as its name implies, it allows the business layer to access data from a data source like MS SQL Server, XML, or another data source. One of my favorite technologies that Microsoft has come out with recently is the .Net Framework. This framework allows developers to code an application in multiple languages and compiles them in to one intermediate language called the Common Language Runtime (CLR). This allows VB and C# developers to work seamlessly together as if they were working in the same project. The only real disadvantage to using the .Net Framework is that it only natively runs on Microsoft operating systems. However, Microsoft does control a majority of the operating systems currently installed on modern computers and servers, especially with personal home computers. Given that the Microsoft .Net Framework is so flexible it is an ideal for business to develop applications around it as long as they wanted to commit to using Microsoft technologies and operating systems in the future. I have been a professional developer for about 9+ years now and have seen the .net framework work flawlessly in just about every instance I have used it. In addition, I have used it to develop web applications, mobile phone applications, desktop applications, web service applications, and windows service applications to name a few.

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  • Is it a good practice to use smaller data types for variables to save memory?

    - by ThePlan
    When I learned the C++ language for the first time I learned that besides int, float etc, smaller or bigger versions of these data types existed within the language. For example I could call a variable x int x; or short int x; The main difference being that short int takes 2 bytes of memory while int takes 4 bytes, and short int has a lesser value, but we could also call this to make it even smaller: int x; short int x; unsigned short int x; which is even more restrictive. My question here is if it's a good practice to use separate data types according to what values your variable take within the program. Is it a good idea to always declare variables according to these data types?

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  • Cloud Computing Forces Better Design Practices

    - by Herve Roggero
    Is cloud computing simply different than on premise development, or is cloud computing actually forcing you to create better applications than you normally would? In other words, is cloud computing merely imposing different design principles, or forcing better design principles?  A little while back I got into a discussion with a developer in which I was arguing that cloud computing, and specifically Windows Azure in his case, was forcing developers to adopt better design principles. His opinion was that cloud computing was not yielding better systems; just different systems. In this blog, I will argue that cloud computing does force developers to use better design practices, and hence better applications. So the first thing to define, of course, is the word “better”, in the context of application development. Looking at a few definitions online, better means “superior quality”. As it relates to this discussion then, I stipulate that cloud computing can yield higher quality applications in terms of scalability, everything else being equal. Before going further I need to also outline the difference between performance and scalability. Performance and scalability are two related concepts, but they don’t mean the same thing. Scalability is the measure of system performance given various loads. So when developers design for performance, they usually give higher priority to a given load and tend to optimize for the given load. When developers design for scalability, the actual performance at a given load is not as important; the ability to ensure reasonable performance regardless of the load becomes the objective. This can lead to very different design choices. For example, if your objective is to obtains the fastest response time possible for a service you are building, you may choose the implement a TCP connection that never closes until the client chooses to close the connection (in other words, a tightly coupled service from a connectivity standpoint), and on which a connection session is established for faster processing on the next request (like SQL Server or other database systems for example). If you objective is to scale, you may implement a service that answers to requests without keeping session state, so that server resources are released as quickly as possible, like a REST service for example. This alternate design would likely have a slower response time than the TCP service for any given load, but would continue to function at very large loads because of its inherently loosely coupled design. An example of a REST service is the NO-SQL implementation in the Microsoft cloud called Azure Tables. Now, back to cloud computing… Cloud computing is designed to help you scale your applications, specifically when you use Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings. However it’s not automatic. You can design a tightly-coupled TCP service as discussed above, and as you can imagine, it probably won’t scale even if you place the service in the cloud because it isn’t using a connection pattern that will allow it to scale [note: I am not implying that all TCP systems do not scale; I am just illustrating the scalability concepts with an imaginary TCP service that isn’t designed to scale for the purpose of this discussion]. The other service, using REST, will have a better chance to scale because, by design, it minimizes resource consumption for individual requests and doesn’t tie a client connection to a specific endpoint (which means you can easily deploy this service to hundreds of machines without much trouble, as long as your pockets are deep enough). The TCP and REST services discussed above are both valid designs; the TCP service is faster and the REST service scales better. So is it fair to say that one service is fundamentally better than the other? No; not unless you need to scale. And if you don’t need to scale, then you don’t need the cloud in the first place. However, it is interesting to note that if you do need to scale, then a loosely coupled system becomes a better design because it can almost always scale better than a tightly-coupled system. And because most applications grow overtime, with an increasing user base, new functional requirements, increased data and so forth, most applications eventually do need to scale. So in my humble opinion, I conclude that a loosely coupled system is not just different than a tightly coupled system; it is a better design, because it will stand the test of time. And in my book, if a system stands the test of time better than another, it is of superior quality. Because cloud computing demands loosely coupled systems so that its underlying service architecture can be leveraged, developers ultimately have no choice but to design loosely coupled systems for the cloud. And because loosely coupled systems are better… … the cloud forces better design practices. My 2 cents.

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  • How to better start learning programming - with imperative or declarative languages?

    - by user712092
    Someone is interested in learning to program. What language paradigm should I recomend him - imperative or declarative? And what programming language should he start with? I think that declarative because it is closer to math. And I would say that Prolog might be the best start because it is based on logic and programs are short. On the other hand at school we started learning from imperative languages and I am not sure whether there is a benefit to start with them instead of declarive ones. Thanks. :)

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  • What's the normal way machine-learning algorithms are integrated into normal programs?

    - by Benjamin Pollack
    I'm currently taking a machine learning course for fun, and the course heavily focuses on Matlab/Octave to write the code. One thing mentioned in the course is that, while Matlab/Octave are great for prototyping, they're very rarely used for production algorithms. Instead, those algorithms are typically rewritten in C++/Python/etc., using appropriate libraries, before reaching customers. Fair enough; I get that. But here's my question: is that done for cultural reasons, for technical reasons, or because there is really no language that provides Matlab/Octave-like fluidity, but in a compiled form that can be linked from C/C++/$MainstreamLanguage? The game industry uses Lua for game logic because it's easy to embed, and vastly superior for expressing things like AI. Likewise, there are Prolog variants for rules-heavy applications, Scheme variants for compilers, and so on. If there's a matrix equivalent language, what is it? If there isn't, why is this field different?

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  • My 2011 Professional Development Goals

    - by kerry
    I thought it might be a good idea to post some professional goals for 2011.  Hopefully, I can look at this list at the end of the year and have accomplished most of them. Release an Android app to the marketplace – I figured I would put this first because I have one that I have been working on for a while and it is about ready.  Along with this, I would like to start another one and continue to develop my Android skills. Contribute free software to the community – Again, I have an SMF plugin that will fill this requirement nicely.  Just need to give it some polish and release it.  That’s not all, I would like to add a few more libraries on github, or possibly contribute to an open source project. Regularly attend a user group meetings outside of Java – A great way to meet people and learn new things. Obtain the Oracle Certified Web Developer Certification – I got the SCJP a few years ago and would like to obtain another one.  One step closer to Certified Enterprise Architect. Learn scala – As a language geek, I like to stick to the Pragmatic Programmer’s ‘learn a new language every year’ rule (last year was Ruby).  Scala presents some new concepts all wrapped in a JVM-based OOP language.  Time to dig in. Write an app using JSF – New JEE 6 features are pretty slick.  I want to really leverage them in an app. Present at a user group meeting – Last but not least, I would like to improve my public speaking and skills in presenting.  Also, is a great reason to dig in to some latest and greatest tech. Use git more, and more effectively – Trying to move all my personal projects from Subversion to Git. That’s it.  A little daunting, but I am confident I can at least touch on most of these and it’s a great roadmap to my professional development.

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  • Developing Functional Specifications based on the UML Model

    A few days ago I found this white paper I did around 2004 way before I started really blogging:The Process OverviewUse-case to Specifications is a processing using UML use-cases to identify user requirements and model systems to be able to properly define functionality. This document is intended to serve as an execution based walk-through of this process.As background: The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a language for specifying, visualizing, constructing, and documenting the artifacts of software...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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  • Novice developer

    - by Shrikant
    Sir. I'm a student of B.Tech final year from the CSE branch. I'm using Ubuntu since the last 3 years. It gave me a lot of knowledge. So now I want to repay Ubuntu back by developing some apps for Ubuntu, but I don't know which language I should choose: Java, C or C++ or something else. So please, guide me how to start. I have intermediate knowlegde of C, C++ , Java & Linux scripts. So in which language should i start? I don't have any live software development knowledge so explain me everything. Thank you

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