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  • Book review: Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams

    - by DigiMortal
       Peopleware by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister is golden classic book that can be considered as mandatory reading for software project managers, team leads, higher level management and board members of software companies. If you make decisions about people then you cannot miss this book. If you are already good on managing developers then this book can make you even better – you will learn new stuff about successful development teams for sure. Why peopleware? Peopleware gives you very good hints about how to build up working environment for project teams where people can really do their work. Book also covers team building topics that are also important reading. As software developer I found practically all points in this book to be accurate and valid. Many times I have found my self thinking about same things and Peopleware made me more confident about my opinions. Peopleware covers also time management and planning topics that help you do way better job on using developers time effectively by minimizing the amount of interruptions by phone calls, pointless meetings and i-want-to-know-what-are-you-doing-right-now questions by managers who doesn’t write code anyway. I think if you follow suggestions given by Peopleware your developers are very happy. I suggest you to also read another great book – Death March by Edward Yourdon. Death March describes you effectively what happens when good advices given by Peopleware are totally ignored or worse yet – people are treated exactly opposite way. I consider also Death March as golden classics and I strongly recommend you to read this book too. Table of Contents Acknowledgments Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition Part 1: Managing the Human Resource Chapter 1: Somewhere Today, a Project Is Failing Chapter 2: Make a Cheeseburger, Sell a Cheeseburger Chapter 3: Vienna Waits for You Chapter 4: Quality-If Time Permits Chapter 5: Parkinson's Law Revisited Chapter 6: Laetrile Part II: The Office Environment Chapter 7: The Furniture Police Chapter 8: "You Never Get Anything Done Around Here Between 9 and 5" Chapter 9: Saving Money on Space Intermezzo: Productivity Measurement and Unidentified Flying Objects Chapter 10: Brain Time Versus Body Time Chapter 11: The Telephone Chapter 12: Bring Back the Door Chapter 13: Taking Umbrella Steps Part III: The Right People Chapter 14: The Hornblower Factor Chapter 15: Hiring a Juggler Chapter 16: Happy to Be Here Chapter 17: The Self-Healing System Part IV: Growing Productive Teams Chapter 18: The Whole Is Greater Than the Sum of the Parts Chapter 19: The Black Team Chapter 20: Teamicide Chapter 21: A Spaghetti Dinner Chapter 22: Open Kimono Chapter 23: Chemistry for Team Formation Part V: It't Supposed to Be Fun to Work Here Chapter 24: Chaos and Order Chapter 25: Free Electrons Chapter 26: Holgar Dansk Part VI: Son of Peopleware Chapter 27: Teamicide, Revisited Chapter 28: Competition Chapter 29: Process Improvement Programs Chapter 30: Making Change Possible Chapter 31: Human Capital Chapter 32:Organizational Learning Chapter 33: The Ultimate Management Sin Is Chapter 34: The Making of Community Notes Bibliography Index About the Authors

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  • How to get tens of millions of pages indexed by Google bot?

    - by Chris Adragna
    We are currently developing a site that currently has 8 million unique pages that will grow to about 20 million right away, and eventually to about 50 million or more. Before you criticize... Yes, it provides unique, useful content. We continually process raw data from public records and by doing some data scrubbing, entity rollups, and relationship mapping, we've been able to generate quality content, developing a site that's quite useful and also unique, in part due to the breadth of the data. It's PR is 0 (new domain, no links), and we're getting spidered at a rate of about 500 pages per day, putting us at about 30,000 pages indexed thus far. At this rate, it would take over 400 years to index all of our data. I have two questions: Is the rate of the indexing directly correlated to PR, and by that I mean is it correlated enough that by purchasing an old domain with good PR will get us to a workable indexing rate (in the neighborhood of 100,000 pages per day). Are there any SEO consultants who specialize in aiding the indexing process itself. We're otherwise doing very well with SEO, on-page especially, besides, the competition for our "long-tail" keyword phrases is pretty low, so our success hinges mostly on the number of pages indexed. Our main competitor has achieved approx 20MM pages indexed in just over one year's time, along with an Alexa 2000-ish ranking. Noteworthy qualities we have in place: page download speed is pretty good (250-500 ms) no errors (no 404 or 500 errors when getting spidered) we use Google webmaster tools and login daily friendly URLs in place I'm afraid to submit sitemaps. Some SEO community postings suggest a new site with millions of pages and no PR is suspicious. There is a Google video of Matt Cutts speaking of a staged on-boarding of large sites, too, in order to avoid increased scrutiny (at approx 2:30 in the video). Clickable site links deliver all pages, no more than four pages deep and typically no more than 250(-ish) internal links on a page. Anchor text for internal links is logical and adds relevance hierarchically to the data on the detail pages. We had previously set the crawl rate to the highest on webmaster tools (only about a page every two seconds, max). I recently turned it back to "let Google decide" which is what is advised.

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  • Tell me a Story

    - by Geoff N. Hiten
    I recently had a friend ask me to review his resume.  He is a very experienced DBA with excellent skills.  If I had an opening I would have hired him myself.  But not because of the resume.  I know his skill set and skill levels, but there is no way his standard resume can convey that.  A bare bones list of job titles and skills does not set you apart from your competition, nor does it convey whether you have junior or senior level skills and experience.  The solution is to not use the standard format. Tell me a story.  I want to know what you were responsible for.  Describe a tough project and how you saved time/money/personnel on that project.  Link your work activity to business value.  Drop some technical bits in there since we do work in a technical field, but show me what you can do to add value to my business well above what I would pay you.  That will get my attention. The resume exists for one primary and one secondary reason.  The primary reason is to get the interview.  A Resume won’t get you a job, so don’t expect it to.  The secondary reason is to give you and the interviewer a starting point for conversations.  If I can say “Tell me more about when….” and reference an item from your resume, then that is great for both of us.  Of course, you better be able to tell me more, both from the technical and the business side, at least if I am hiring a senior or higher level position.  As for the junior DBAs, go ahead and tell your story too.  Don’t worry about how simple or basic your projects or solutions seem.  It is how you solved the problem and what you learned that I am looking for.  If you learn rapidly and think like a DBA, I can work with that, regardless of you current skill level.

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  • Retail in New York - a walk down 5th Avenue

    - by sarah.taylor(at)oracle.com
    It's the week of the NRF Big Show and all eyes in the retail industry are on New York. The Big Apple is famous for Big Retail -with a proliferation of incredibly iconic stores. The environment is exciting and familiar even to people visiting this small island for the first time. Most of us have travelled down Fifth Avenue watching movies and TV even if we have never set foot on American soil. I find it one of the most exciting retail cities in the world and I am thrilled this year to be here with so many of Oracle's International retail customers who are joining us for the Retail Exchange. The Oracle program brings retailers from all over the planet together to share ideas and be inspired by New York retail and the NRF event. The show celebrates its 100th year in 2011 and New York itself has been recognized globally as the capital of innovative retail for just as long.  Fifth Avenue is where many global brands have placed their flagship stores, and businesses are in constant competition to set themselves apart from their competitors - both in the store and from the street.  These flag ship retail destinations present what today's customers are finding most exciting and delightful about retail. For the tourist market, they may only visit these stores once, but the impression that a trip to a flagship store leaves with a customer can last a lifetime.  One of the stores that is currently turning heads on Fifth Avenue is Hollister, sister brand to Abercrombie and Fitch, which has filled its shop front with a massive live video (and audio) feed of surfers on the beach in California.  To complete the effect, they also have troughs of water in front of the video screens to bring the sea to the street.  And this isn't the only kind of surfing that retailers are considering today and multi-channel retail is a hot topic that all of the retailers joining the Retail Exchange are considering.   The rest of the world looks to the brands along Fifth Avenue for inspiration - how they take advantage of new opportunities, how they set themselves apart from their competitors and how they keep their products fresh and desirable. With these inspiring pioneers in New York, it's little wonder that NRF's Big Show is so popular, and that New York is viewed as one of the retail capitals of the world. It is a pleasure to be here with so many of the world's greatest international retailers.

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  • Mobile Apps: An Ongoing Revolution

    - by Steve Walker
    a guest post from Suhas Uliyar, VP Mobile Strategy, Product Management, Oracle The rise of smartphone apps have proved transformational for businesses, increasing the productivity of employees while simultaneously creating some seriously cool end user experiences. But this is a revolution that is only just beginning. Over the next few years, apps will change everything about the way enterprises work as well as overhauling the experiences of customers. The spark for this revolution is simplicity. Simplicity has already proved important for the front-end of apps, which are now often as compelling and intuitive as consumer apps. Businesses will encourage this trend, both to further increase employee productivity and to attract ‘digital natives’ (as employees and customers). With the variety of front-end development tools available already, this should be a simple mission for developers to accomplish – but front-end simplicity alone is not enough for the enterprise mobile revolution. Without the right content even the most user-friendly app is useless. Yet when it comes to integrating apps with ‘back-end’ systems to enable this content, developers often face a complex, costly and time-consuming task. Then there is security: how can developers strike a balance between complying with enterprise security policies and keeping the user experience simple? Complexity has acted as a brake on innovation, with integration and security compliance swallowing enterprise resources. This is why the simplification of integration, security and scalability is so important: it frees time and money for revolutionary innovation. The key is to put in place a complete and unified SOA integration platform that runs across the entire enterprise and enables organizations to easily integrate and connect applications across IT environments. The platform must also be capable of abstracting apps from the underlying OS and enabling a ‘write-once, run- anywhere’ capability for mobile devices - essential for BYOD environments and integrating third-party apps. Mobile Back-end-as-a-Service can also be very important in streamlining back-end integration. Mobile services offered through the cloud can simplify mobile application development with a standard approach to dealing with complex server-side programming and integration issues. This allows the business to innovate at its own pace while providing developers with a choice of tools to speed development and integration. Finally, there is security, which must be done in a way that encourages users to make the most of their mobile devices and applications. As mobile users, we want convenience and that is why we generally approve of businesses that adopt BYOD policies. Enterprises can safely encourage BYOD as they can separate, protect, and wipe corporate applications by installing a secure ‘container’ around corporate applications on any mobile device. BYOD management also means users’ personal applications and data can be kept separate from the enterprise information – giving them the confidence they need to embrace the use of their devices for corporate apps. Enterprises that place mobility at the heart of what they do will fundamentally transform their businesses and leap ahead of the competition. As businesses take to mobile platforms that simplify integration, security and scalability we will see a blossoming of innovation that will drive new levels of user convenience and create new ways of working that we are only beginning to imagine.

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  • Gauging Maturity of your BPM Strategy - part 1 / 2

    - by Sanjeev Sharma
    Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";} In this post I will discuss the essence of maturity assessment and the business imperative for doing the same in the context of BPM. Social psychology purports that an individual progresses from being a beginner to an expert in a given activity or task along four stages of self-awareness: Unconscious Incompetence where the individual does not understand or know how to do something and does not necessarily recognize the deficit and may even deny the usefulness of the skill. Conscious Incompetence where the individual recognizes the deficit, as well as the value of a new skill in addressing the deficit. Conscious Competence where the individual understands or knows how to do something but demonstrating the skill requires explicit concentration. Unconscious Competence where the individual has had so much practice with a skill that it has become "second nature" and serves as a basis of developing other complementary skills. We can extend the above thinking to an organization as a whole by measuring an organization’s level of competence in a specific area or capability, as an aggregate of the competence levels of individuals it is comprised of. After all organizations too like individuals, evolve through experience, develop “memory” and capabilities that are shaped through a constant cycle of learning, un-learning and re-learning. Hence the key to organizational success lies in developing these capabilities to enable execution of its strategy in-line with the external environment i.e. demand, competition, economy etc. However developing a capability merits establishing a base line in order to Assess the magnitude of improvement from past investments Identify gaps and short-comings Prioritize future investments in the right areas A maturity assessment is essentially an organizational self-awareness check that is aimed at depicting the “as-is” snapshot of an existing capability in-order to guide future investments to develop that capability in-line with business goals. This effectively is the essence of a maturity Organizational capabilities stem through its architecture, routines, culture and intellectual resources that are implicitly and explicitly embedded in its business processes. Given that business processes underpin realization of organizational capabilities, is what has prompted business transformation and process management efforts. Thus, the BPM capability of an organization needs to be measured on an on-going basis to ensure delivery of its planned benefits. In my next post I will describe Oracle’s BPM Maturity assessment methodology.

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  • Games at Work Part 1: Introduction to Gamification and Applications

    - by ultan o'broin
    Games Are Everywhere How many of you (will admit to) remember playing Pong? OK then, do you play Angry Birds on your phone during work hours? Thought about why we keep playing online, video, and mobile games and what this "gamification" business we're hearing about means for the enterprise applications user experience? In Reality Is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World, Jane McGonigal says that playing computer and online games now provides more rewards for people than their real lives do. Games offer intrinsic rewards and happiness to the players as they pursue more satisfying work and the success, social connection, and meaning that goes with it. Yep, Gran Turismo, Dungeons & Dragons, Guitar Hero, Mario Kart, Wii Boxing, and the rest are all forms of work it seems. Games are, in fact, work taken so seriously that governments now move to limit the impact of virtual gaming currencies on the real financial system. Anyone who spends hours harvesting crops on FarmVille realizes it’s hard work too. Yet games evoke a positive emotion in players who voluntarily stay engaged with games for hours, day after day. Some 183 million active gamers in the United States play on average 13 hours per week. Weekly, 5 million of those gamers play for longer than a working week (45 hours). So why not harness the work put into games to solve real-world problems? Or, in the case of our applications users, real-world work problems? What’s a Game? Jane explains that all games have four defining traits: a goal, rules, a feedback system, and voluntary participation. We need to look at what motivational ideas behind the dynamics of the game—what we call gamification—are appropriate for our users. Typically, these motivators are achievement, altruism, competition, reward, self-expression, and status). Common game techniques for leveraging these motivations include: Badging and avatars Points and awards Leader boards Progress charts Virtual currencies or goods Gifting and giving Challenges and quests Some technology commentators argue for a game layer on top of everything, but this layer is already part of our daily lives in many instances. We see gamification working around us already: the badging and kudos offered on My Oracle Support or other Oracle community forums, becoming a Dragon Slayer implementor of Atlassian applications, being made duke of your favorite coffee shop on Yelp, sharing your workout details with Nike+, or donating to Japanese earthquake relief through FarmVille, for example. And what does all this mean for the applications that you use in your work? Read on in part two...

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  • MS in Computer Science after BE in electronics

    - by Abhinav
    I am doing my 3rd year Bachelors in Electronics and Electrical Communication but from the first year I have been interested in Computer Science. But at that time it was just my hobby. But in second year when I joined robotics my love for computer science rose. I with my team came in top three in 2 National Competition (Technical fests of different IITs) where we used Image Processing, Hardware interfacing etc. But then I realised that Computer Science is not just about coding. I took many lectures from online free schools like Udacity, Coursera in subjects related to Artificial Intelligence, Building a Search Engine, Design and Analysis of Algorithm, Programming a Robotic Car, Programming Languages, Machine Learning, Software Engineering as a Service, WebApps Engineering, Compilers, Applied Crypotography etc. I also did some courses in Core and Advanced Java in my second year from training institute. I will also be taking course in Statistics, Databases, Discrete Mathematics from 25th June. Now I realized how vast is the field of Computer Science and how efficient you become on deciding algorithms and classifying problems into different subfields which have been thoroughly researched so you don't always do brute force thing or naive programming. Now this field has become kind of passion for me. Adding to the fact I am also doing my 6 months internship in software field in Texas Instruments where I am working on Automation and Algorithms. I also have some 5-6 good college level projects in Softwares and Robotics. I also like Electronics but only some fields like Operating System(this subject was there in Electronics also), Micro Processor, Digital, Computer Architecture, DSPs etc. I really want to pursue MS in some field of Computer Science. I am giving GRE in October/November. Till now I have good CG of around 9.4/10 and my 1 year in college is still left. Do I have any chance that some good University in US will consider me for MS in field related to computer science or Robotics. Also Can you suggest somethings that I can do during this 1 year to increase my chances for MS or should I apply for EECS(Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and then I can shift more towards Computer Science as my major option. My main aim is to do Phd after Ms in CS if I am able to do that somehow. I know that I have to put much extra effort to understand things in MS than CS undergraduates but I will do that with my full dedication, also when I communicate with my college CS students or during my internship period I didn't feel that I am missing very much stuff that they know and was very comfortable during my internship with software employees.

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  • 3 Reasons You Need To Know Something About Every Technology

    - by Tim Murphy
    I make my living as a consultant and a general technologist.  I credit my success to the fact that I have never been afraid to pick up any product, language or platform needed to get the job done.  While Microsoft technologies I my mainstay, I have done work on mainframe and UNIX platforms and have worked with a wide variety of database engines.  Each one has it’s use and most times it is less expensive to find a way to communicate with an existing system than to replace it. So what are the main benefits of expending the effort to learn a new technology? New ways to solve problems Accelerate development Advise clients and get new business opportunities By new technology I mean ones that you haven’t had experience with before.  They don’t have to be the the one that just came out yesterday.  As they say, those who do not learn from history are bound to repeat it.  If you can learn something from an older technology it can be just as valuable as the shiny new one.  Either way, when you add another tool to your kit you get a new view on each problem you face.  This makes it easier to create a sound solution. The next thing you can learn from working with different products and techniques is how to more efficiently develop solve problems.  Many times if you are working with a new language you will find that there are specific design patterns that are used with it in normal use.  These can usually be applied with most languages.  You just needed to be exposed to them. The last point is about helping your clients and helping yourself.  If you can get in on technologies early you will have advantage over your competition in the market.  You will also be able to honestly advise you client on why they should or should not go with a new product.  Being able to compare products and their features is always an ability that stake holders appreciate. You don’t need to learn every detail of a product.  Learn enough to function and get an idea of how to use the technology.  Keep eating those technology Wheaties and you will be ready to go the distance in any project. del.icio.us Tags: Technology,technologists,technology generalist,Software Architecture

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  • One Year Oracle SocialChat - The Movie

    - by mprove
    Tweet | Like | Watch on Vimeo You’ve just watched – hopefully – my first short movie. Thank you! Here is a bit of the back stage story. About 6 weeks ago colleagues from SNBC (Social Network and Business Collaboration) announced a Social Use Case Competition. It was expected to submit a video of 2 to 5 minutes duration on the Social Enterprise (our internal phrase for Enterprise 2.0). Hmm – I had a few vague ideas, but no script – no actors – no experience in film making. Really the best conditions to try something! I chose our weekly SocialChats as my main topic. But if you don’t do Danish Dogma cinema, you still need a script. Hence I played around with the SocialChat’s archive, and all of a sudden a script and even the actors appeared in front of me. The words that you have just seen are weekly topics. Slightly abridged and rearranged to form a story. Exciting, next phase. How to get it on digital celluloid? I have to confess I am still impressed by epic. (Keep in mind, epic was done in 2004.) And my actors – words – call for a typographic style already. The main part was done over a weekend with Apple Keynote. And I even found a wonderful matching soundtrack among my albums: Didge Goes World by Delago. I picked parts of Second Day and Seventh Day. Literally, the rhythm was set, and I "just" had to complete the movie. Tools used – apart from trial and error: Keynote, Pixelmator, GarageBand, iMovie. Finally I want to mention that I am extremely thankful to BSC Music for granting permissions to use the tracks for this short film! Without this sound it would have been just an ordinary slide show. – Internal note: The next SocialChat is on Death by PowerPoint vs. Presentation Zen. CU this Friday 3pm Greenwich / 7am Pacific.

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  • Are we ready for the Cloud computing era?

    - by andrewkatumba
    Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} "Elite?" developer circles are abuzz with the notion of Cloud computing . The increasing bandwidth, the desire for faster and leaner operations and ofcourse the need for outsourcing non core it related business requirements e.g wordprocessing, spreadsheets, data backups. In strolls Chrome OS (am sure other similar OSes will join with their own wagons for us to jump on), offering just that, internet based services(more like a repository of), quick efficient and "reliable" and for the most part cheap and often time even free! And we all go rhapsodic!  It boils down to the age old dilemma, "if the cops are so busy protecting us then who will protect them" (even the folks back at Hollywood keep us reminded)! Who is going to ensure that these internet based services do not go down(either intentionally or by some malicious third party) leading to a multinational colossal disaster .At the risk of sounding pessimistic,  IT IS NOT AN ISSUE OF TRUST, this is but a mere case of Murphy's Law!  What then? Should the "cloud" be trusted to this extent at this time?  This is an era where challenges are rapidly solved with lightning promptness to "beat the competition", my hope is that our solutions are not just creating problems that we may not be able to solve!  Keeping my ear on the Ground.

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  • SOA Summit - Oracle Session Replay

    - by Bruce Tierney
    If you think you missed the most recent Integration Developer News (IDN) "SOA Summit" 2013...good news, you didn't.  At least not the replay of the Oracle session titled: Three Solutionsfor Simplifying Cloud/On-Premises Integration As you will see in the reply below, this session introduces Three common reasons for integration complexity: Disparate Toolkits Lack of API Management Rigid, Brittle Infrastructure and then the Three solutions to these challenges: Unify Cloud On-premises Integration Enable Multi-channel Development with API Management Plan for the Unexpected - Future Readiness The last solution on future readiness describes how you can transition from being reactive to new trends, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), by modifying your integration strategy to enable business agility and how to recognize trends through Fast Data event processing ahead of your competition. Oracle SOA Suite customer SFpark's (San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Authority) implementation with API Management is covered as shown in the screenshot to the right This case study covers the core areas of API Management for partners to build their own applications by leveraging parking availability and real-time pricing as well as mobile enablement of data integrated by SOA Suite underneath.  Download the free SFpark app from the Apple and Android app stores to check it out. When looking into the future, the discussion starts with a historical look to better prepare for what comes next.   As shown in the image below, one of the next frontiers after mobile and cloud integration is a deeper level of direct "enterprise to customer" interaction.  Much of this relates to the Internet of Things.  Examples of IoT from the perspective of SOA and integration is also covered in the session. For example, early adopter Turkcell and their tracking of mobile phone users as they move from point A to B to C is shown in the image the right.   As you look into more "smart services" such as Location-Based Services, how "future ready" is your application infrastructure?  . . . Check out the replay by clicking the video image below to learn about these three challenges and solution including how to "future ready" your application infrastructure:

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  • Showrooming: What's the big deal?

    - by David Dorf
    There's been lots of chatter recently on how retailers will combat showrooming this holiday season.  Best Buy and Target, for example, plan to price-match certain online sites.  But from my perspective, the whole showrooming concept is overblown.  Yes, mobile phones make is easier to comparison-shop, but consumers have been doing that all along.  Retailers have to work hard to merchandise their stores with the right products at the right price with the right promotions.  Its Retail 101. Yeah ok, many websites don't have to charge tax so they have an advantage, but they also have to cover shipping costs. Brick-and-mortar stores have the opportunity to provide expertise, fit, and instant gratification all of which are pretty big advantages. I see lots of studies that claim a large percentage of shoppers are showrooming.  Now I don't do much shopping, but when I do I rarely see anyone scanning UPC codes in the aisles.  If you dig into those studies, the question is usually something like, "have you used your mobile phone to price compare while shopping in the last year."  Well yeah, I did it once -- out of the 20 shopping trips.  And by the way, the in-store price was close enough to just buy the item.  Based on casual observation and informal surveys of friends, showrooming is not the modus-operandi for today's busy shoppers. I never see people showrooming in grocery stores, and most people don't bother for fashion.  For big purchases like appliances and furniture, I bet most people do their research online before entering the store.  The cases where I've done it was to see if a promotion was in fact a good deal.  Or even to make sure the in-store price is the same as the online price for the same brand. So, if you think you're a victim of showrooming, I suggest you look at the bigger picture.  Are you providing an engaging store experience?  Are you allowing customers to shop the way they want to shop, using various touchpoints?  Are you monitoring the competition to ensure prices are competitive?  Are your promotions attracting the right customers? Hubert Jolly, CEO of Best Buy, recently commented that showrooming might just get more people into his stores. "Once customers are in our stores, they're ours to lose."

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  • Oracle Could Lead In Cloud Business Apps Within Year

    - by Richard Lefebvre
    Below is the reprint from an article, writen by By Pete Barlas, Investor's Business Daily, published on Investorscom: Oracle (ORCL) is all but destined to become the largest seller of cloud business-software applications, analysts say, and perhaps within a year. What that means in the long run is much debated, though, as analysts aren't sure whether pricing competition might cut into profit or what other issues might develop in the fast-emerging cloud software field. But the database leader, which is either No. 1 or 2 to SAP (SAP) in business apps overall, simply has the size and scope to overtake current cloud business-app leader, Salesforce.com (CRM), analysts say. Oracle rolled out its first full suite of cloud applications on June 6. Cloud computing lets companies store data and apps on the Internet "cloud" and access it quickly and easily. The applications run the gamut of customer relationship management software to social networking sites for employees, partners and customers. For longtime software giants like Oracle, the cloud is a big switch. They get the great bulk of revenue from companies and other enterprises buying or licensing software that the customers keep on their own computer systems. Vendors also get annual maintenance fees. Analysts estimate Oracle is taking in a mere $1 billion or so a year from cloud-based software sales and services now. But while that's just a sliver of the company's $37 billion in sales last year, it's already about a third of the total sales for Salesforce, which is expected to end this year with some $3 billion in revenue. Operates In 145 Countries Oracle operates in more than 145 countries vs. about 70 for Salesforce. And Oracle has far more apps than Salesforce. Revenue doesn't equate to profit, but it's inevitable that huge Oracle will become the largest seller of cloud applications, says Trip Chowdhry, an analyst for Global Equities Research. "What Oracle has is global presence," he said. "They have two things driving the revenue: breadth of the offering and breadth of the distribution. You put those applications in those sales reps' hands and you get deployments not in just one country but several countries." At the June 6 event, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison emphasized that his company could and would beat Salesforce.com in head-to-head battles for customers. Oracle makes software to help companies manage such tasks as customer relationships, recruiting, supply chains, projects, finances and more. That range gives it an edge over all rivals, says Michael Fauscette, an analyst for research firm IDC.

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  • Taking a Chomp out of a (Social Network) Product Hype

    - by kellsey.ruppel
    Andrew Kershaw, Senior Director Oracle Social Network Product Development, speaks about Oracle Social Network One of our competitors is being very aggressive with its own developed Social Network add-on, but there should be no doubt in the minds that the Oracle social capabilities available with Fusion CRM stack up well against it. Within the Oracle Cloud, we have announced a product called Oracle Social Network. That technology is pre-integrated into Fusion Applications, enabling your customer to build a collaborative and social enterprise (without all the noise!). Oracle Social Network is designed together with our Fusion Applications. It is very conveniently pre-integrated with CRM, HCM, Financials, Projects, Supply Chain, and the Fusion family. But what's even better is that the individual teams can take a considered approach to what they are trying to achieve within the collaboration process and the outcome they are trying to enable. Then they can utilize the network and collaboration tools to support that result. And there's more! The Fusion teams can design social interactions that bridge across and outside their individual product lines because we have more than just a product line and they know they have the social network to connect them. I know we have a superior product, but it is our ability to understand and execute across the enterprise that will enable us to deliver a much more robust and capable platform in the short term than our competitor can. We have built a product specifically designed for enterprise social collaboration which is not the same for the competition. We have delivered a much more effective solution - one in which individuals can easily collaborate to get results, while being confident that they know who has access to their information. Our platform has been pre-built to cross the company boundaries and enable our customers to collaborate, not just with their customers, but with their partners and suppliers as well. So Fusion addresses the combination of the enterprise application suite with enterprise collaboration and social networking. Oracle Social Network already has a feature function advantage over our competitor's tool providing a real added value to the employees. Plus Oracle has the ability to execute in a broad enterprise and cross-enterprise way that our competitors cannot. We have the power of a tool that provides the core social fabric across all of the applications, as well as supporting enterprise collaboration. That allows us to provide intelligent business insight, connections, and recommendations that our competitor simply can't. From our competitors, customers get integration for Sales; they get integration for Service, but then they have to integrate every other enterprise asset that they have by themselves. With Oracle, we are doing the integration. Fusion Applications will be pre-integrated, and over time, all of the applications in the business suite, including our Applications Unlimited and specialist industry applications, will connect to the Oracle Social Network. I'm confident these capabilities make Oracle Social Network the only collaboration platform on which to deliver the social enterprise.

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  • Designing Snake AI

    - by Ronald
    I'm new to this gamedev stackechange but have used the math and cs sites before. So, I'm in a competition to create AI for a snake that will compete with 3 other snakes in 5 minute rounds where the rules are much like the traditional Nokia snake game except that there are 4 snakes, the board is 50x50 and there are a number of small obstacles on the field. Like the Nokia game, your snake grows when you get to the fruit and if you crash into yourself, another snake or the wall you die. The game runs with a 50ms delay between moves and the server sends the new game state every 50ms which the code must analyze and what not and output the next move. The winner is the snake who had the longest length at any point in the game. Tie breakers are decided by kills. So far what I have done is implemented an A* graph search from each snake to determine if my snake is the closest to the apple and if it is, it goes for the apple. Otherwise, I made a neat little algorithm to determine the emptiest area of the board, which my snake goes for, to anticipate the next apple. Other than this I have some small survivability checks to ensure my snake isn't walking into a trap that it can't get out and if it does get stuck, I have something to give it a better chance of getting out. ... Anyway, I've tested my snake on a test server and it does quite well. Generally, my strategy of only going for the apple when its a sure thing and finding space when its not makes it grow faster than any other snakes (some snakes do a similar thing but often just go to the middle or a corner) sometimes it wins these trial games but is more often than not beaten by the same snake who seems to have the edge on survivability(my snake grows quicker but then dies somehow and this other snake just plods slowly along and wins on consistency. So I was wondering about any ideas anyone has to try and improve my snake. Or maybe ideas at a new approach to take. My functions and classes are good so changes that might seem drastic shouldn't be too bad. I encourage all ideas. Any thoughts ??

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  • Is there any special way to force GoBack to work with Windows Vista and 7?

    - by dfree
    Norton/Roxio's GoBack doesn't work with Vista/7 for reasons unknown. I have tried several alternatives (Norton Ghost, RollbackRX, Norton Save and Restore), none of which offer the same functionality as GoBack. Not only does GoBack not eat up all your hard drive space while creating a legitimate fail safe for any pc problems, it also allows you to see ACTIVELY EXACTLY WHAT PROCESS ARE BEING EXECUTED ON YOUR COMPUTER. This feature (called Advanced Disk Drive Restore) also allows you to troubleshoot problems and determine causes for things in about half a second by seeing what is happening on your machine. It's how I learned everything I know about computers. GoBack also features something called Safe Try Mode where you can put it in SafeTry and then mess up the whole computer and when you come out of it, your computer will be exactly how it was before. Amazing for people who like to tinker without risking their machine stability. It also helps for that accidentally erased paper or whatever you may have erased. I believe GoBack installs a type44 partition around the drive, which loads prior to windows to allow this functionality. If you're going to recommend another program, please don't (unless it does all of the above). I've tried all the competition and nothing is as good. I just want my GoBack to work with 7 :) Any ideas of crazy ways to make this work?

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  • SQL Server performance on VSphere 4.0

    - by Charles
    We are having a performance issue that we cannot explain with our VMWare environment and I am hoping someone here may be able to help. We have a web application that uses a databases backend. We have an SQL 2005 Cluster setup on Windows 2003 R2 between a physical node and a virtual node. Both physical servers are identical 2950's with 2x Xeaon x5460 Quad Core CPUs and 64GB of memory, 16GB allocated to the OS. We are utilizing an iSCSI San for all cluster disks. The problem is this, when utilizing the application under a repeated stress testing that adds CPUs to the cluster nodes, the Physical node scales from 1 pCPU to 8 pCPUs, meaning we see continued performance increases. When testing the node running Vsphere, we have the expected 12% performance hit for being virtual but we still scale from 1 vCPU to 4 vCPUs like the physical but beyond this performance drops off, by the time we get to 8 vCPUs we are seeing performance numbers worse than at 4 vCPUs. Again, both nodes are configured identically in terms of hardware, Guest OS, SQL Configurations etc and there is no traffic other than the testing on the system. There are no other VMs on the virtual server so there should be no competition for resources. We have contacted VMWare for help but they have not really been any suggesting things like setting SQL Processor Affinity which, while being helpful would have the same net effect on each box and should not change our results in the least. We have looked at all of VMWare's SQL Tuning guides with regards to VSphere with no benefit, please help!

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  • How to minimize the risk of employees spreading critical information?

    - by Industrial
    Hi everyone, What's common sense when it comes to minimising the risk of employees spreading critical information to rivalling companies? As of today, it's clear that not even the US government and military can be sure that their data stays safely within their doors. Thereby I understand that my question probably instead should be written as "What is common sense to make it harder for employees to spread business critical information?" If anyone would want to spread information, they will find a way. That's the way life work and always has. If we make the scenario a bit more realistic by narrowing our workforce by assuming we only have regular John Does onboard and not Linux-loving sysadmins , what should be good precautions to at least make it harder for the employees to send business-critical information to the competition? As far as I can tell, there's a few obvious solutions that clearly has both pros and cons: Block services such as Dropbox and similar, preventing anyone to send gigabytes of data through the wire. Ensure that only files below a set size can be sent as email (?) Setup VLANs between departments to make it harder for kleptomaniacs and curious people to snoop around. Plug all removable media units - CD/DVD, Floppy drives and USB Make sure that no configurations to hardware can be made (?) Monitor network traffic for non-linear events (how?) What is realistic to do in a real world? How does big companies handle this? Sure, we can take the former employer to court and sue, but by then the damage has already been caused... Thanks a lot

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  • How to minimize the risk of employees spreading critical information? [closed]

    - by Industrial
    What's common sense when it comes to minimising the risk of employees spreading critical information to rivalling companies? As of today, it's clear that not even the US government and military can be sure that their data stays safely within their doors. Thereby I understand that my question probably instead should be written as "What is common sense to make it harder for employees to spread business critical information?" If anyone would want to spread information, they will find a way. That's the way life work and always has. If we make the scenario a bit more realistic by narrowing our workforce by assuming we only have regular John Does onboard and not Linux-loving sysadmins , what should be good precautions to at least make it harder for the employees to send business-critical information to the competition? As far as I can tell, there's a few obvious solutions that clearly has both pros and cons: Block services such as Dropbox and similar, preventing anyone to send gigabytes of data through the wire. Ensure that only files below a set size can be sent as email (?) Setup VLANs between departments to make it harder for kleptomaniacs and curious people to snoop around. Plug all removable media units - CD/DVD, Floppy drives and USB Make sure that no configurations to hardware can be made (?) Monitor network traffic for non-linear events (how?) What is realistic to do in a real world? How does big companies handle this? Sure, we can take the former employer to court and sue, but by then the damage has already been caused... Thanks a lot

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  • Delphi Editbox causing unexplainable errors...

    - by NeoNMD
    On a form I have 8 edit boxes that I do the exact same thing with. They are arranged in 2 sets of 4, one is Upper and the other is Lower. I kept getting errors clearing all the edit boxes so I went through clearing them 1 by 1 and found that 1 of the edit boxes just didnt work and when I tried to run the program and change that exit box it caused the debugger to jump to a point in the code with the database (even though the edit boxes had nothing to do with the database and they arent in a procedure or stack with a database in it) and say the program has access violation there. So I then removed all mention of that edit box and the code worked perfectly again, so I deleted that edit box, copied and pasted another edit box and left all values the same, then went through my code and copied the code from the other sections and simply renamed it for the new Edit box and it STILL causes an error even though it is entirely new. I cannot figure it out so I ask you all, what the hell? The editbox in question is "Edit1" unit DefinitionCoreV2; interface uses Windows, Messages, SysUtils, Variants, Classes, Graphics, Controls, Forms, Dialogs, SQLiteTable3, StdCtrls; type TDefinitionFrm = class(TForm) GrpCompetition: TGroupBox; CmbCompSele: TComboBox; BtnCompetitionAdd: TButton; BtnCompetitionUpdate: TButton; BtnCompetitionRevert: TButton; GrpCompetitionDetails: TGroupBox; LblCompetitionIDTitle: TLabel; EdtCompID: TEdit; LblCompetitionDescriptionTitle: TLabel; EdtCompDesc: TEdit; LblCompetitionNotesTitle: TLabel; EdtCompNote: TEdit; LblCompetitionLocationTitle: TLabel; EdtCompLoca: TEdit; BtnCompetitionDelete: TButton; GrpSection: TGroupBox; LblSectionID: TLabel; LblGender: TLabel; LblAge: TLabel; LblLevel: TLabel; LblWeight: TLabel; LblType: TLabel; LblHeight: TLabel; LblCompetitionID: TLabel; BtnSectionAdd: TButton; EdtSectionID: TEdit; CmbGender: TComboBox; BtnSectionUpdate: TButton; BtnSectionRevert: TButton; CmbAgeRange: TComboBox; CmbLevelRange: TComboBox; CmbType: TComboBox; CmbWeightRange: TComboBox; CmbHeightRange: TComboBox; EdtSectCompetitionID: TEdit; BtnSectionDelete: TButton; GrpSectionDetails: TGroupBox; EdtLowerAge: TEdit; EdtLowerWeight: TEdit; EdtLowerHeight: TEdit; EdtUpperAge: TEdit; EdtUpperLevel: TEdit; EdtUpperWeight: TEdit; EdtUpperHeight: TEdit; LblAgeRule: TLabel; LblLevelRule: TLabel; LblWeightRule: TLabel; LblHeightRule: TLabel; LblCompetitionSelect: TLabel; LblSectionSelect: TLabel; CmbSectSele: TComboBox; Edit1: TEdit; procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject); procedure BtnCompetitionAddClick(Sender: TObject); procedure CmbCompSeleChange(Sender: TObject); procedure BtnCompetitionUpdateClick(Sender: TObject); procedure BtnCompetitionRevertClick(Sender: TObject); procedure BtnCompetitionDeleteClick(Sender: TObject); procedure CmbSectSeleChange(Sender: TObject); procedure BtnSectionAddClick(Sender: TObject); procedure BtnSectionUpdateClick(Sender: TObject); procedure BtnSectionRevertClick(Sender: TObject); procedure BtnSectionDeleteClick(Sender: TObject); procedure CmbAgeRangeChange(Sender: TObject); procedure CmbLevelRangeChange(Sender: TObject); procedure CmbWeightRangeChange(Sender: TObject); procedure CmbHeightRangeChange(Sender: TObject); private procedure UpdateCmbCompSele; procedure AddComp; procedure RevertComp; procedure AddSect; procedure RevertSect; procedure UpdateCmbSectSele; procedure ClearSect; { Private declarations } public { Public declarations } end; var DefinitionFrm: TDefinitionFrm; implementation {$R *.dfm} procedure TDefinitionFrm.UpdateCmbCompSele; var slDBpath: string; sldb : TSQLiteDatabase; sltb : TSQLiteTable; sCompTitle : string; bNext : boolean; begin slDBPath := ExtractFilepath(application.exename)+ 'Competitions.db'; if not FileExists(slDBPath) then begin MessageDlg('Competitions.db does not exist.',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); exit; end; sldb := TSQLiteDatabase.Create(slDBPath); try sltb := slDb.GetTable('SELECT * FROM CompetitionTable'); try CmbCompSele.Items.Clear; Repeat begin sCompTitle:=sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['CompetitionID'])+':'+sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Description']); CmbCompSele.Items.Add(sCompTitle); bNext := sltb.Next; end; Until sltb.EOF; finally sltb.Free; end; finally sldb.Free; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.UpdateCmbSectSele; var slDBpath: string; sldb : TSQLiteDatabase; sltb : TSQLiteTable; sSQL : string; sSectTitle : string; bNext : boolean; bLast : boolean; begin slDBPath := ExtractFilepath(application.exename)+ 'Competitions.db'; if not FileExists(slDBPath) then begin MessageDlg('Competitions.db does not exist.',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); exit; end; sldb := TSQLiteDatabase.Create(slDBPath); try sltb := slDb.GetTable('SELECT * FROM SectionTable WHERE CompetitionID = '+EdtCompID.text); If sltb.RowCount =0 then begin sltb := slDb.GetTable('SELECT * FROM SectionTable'); bLast:= sltb.MoveLast; sSQL := 'INSERT INTO SectionTable(SectionID,CompetitionID,Gender,Type) VALUES ('+IntToStr(sltb.FieldAsInteger(sltb.FieldIndex['SectionID'])+1)+','+EdtCompID.text+',1,1)'; sldb.ExecSQL(sSQL); sltb := slDb.GetTable('SELECT * FROM SectionTable WHERE CompetitionID = '+EdtCompID.text); end; try CmbSectSele.Items.Clear; Repeat begin sSectTitle:=sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['SectionID'])+':'+sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Type'])+':'+sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Gender'])+':'+sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Age'])+':'+sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Level'])+':'+sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Weight'])+':'+sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Height']); CmbSectSele.Items.Add(sSectTitle); //CmbType.Items.Strings[sltb.FieldAsInteger(sltb.FieldIndex['Type'])] Works but has logic errors bNext := sltb.Next; end; Until sltb.EOF; finally sltb.Free; end; finally sldb.Free; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.AddComp; var slDBpath: string; sSQL : string; sldb : TSQLiteDatabase; sltb : TSQLiteTable; bLast : boolean; begin slDBPath := ExtractFilepath(application.exename)+ 'Competitions.db'; if not FileExists(slDBPath) then begin MessageDlg('Competitions.db does not exist.',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); exit; end; sldb := TSQLiteDatabase.Create(slDBPath); try sltb := slDb.GetTable('SELECT * FROM CompetitionTable'); try bLast:= sltb.MoveLast; sSQL := 'INSERT INTO CompetitionTable(CompetitionID,Description) VALUES ('+IntToStr(sltb.FieldAsInteger(sltb.FieldIndex['CompetitionID'])+1)+',"New Competition")'; sldb.ExecSQL(sSQL); finally sltb.Free; end; finally sldb.Free; end; UpdateCmbCompSele; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.AddSect; var slDBpath: string; sSQL : string; sldb : TSQLiteDatabase; sltb : TSQLiteTable; bLast : boolean; begin slDBPath := ExtractFilepath(application.exename)+ 'Competitions.db'; if not FileExists(slDBPath) then begin MessageDlg('Competitions.db does not exist.',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); exit; end; sldb := TSQLiteDatabase.Create(slDBPath); try sltb := slDb.GetTable('SELECT * FROM SectionTable'); try bLast:= sltb.MoveLast; sSQL := 'INSERT INTO SectionTable(SectionID,CompetitionID,Gender,Type) VALUES ('+IntToStr(sltb.FieldAsInteger(sltb.FieldIndex['SectionID'])+1)+','+EdtCompID.text+',1,1)'; sldb.ExecSQL(sSQL); finally sltb.Free; end; finally sldb.Free; end; UpdateCmbSectSele; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.RevertComp; var slDBpath: string; sldb : TSQLiteDatabase; sltb : TSQLiteTable; iID : integer; begin slDBPath := ExtractFilepath(application.exename)+ 'Competitions.db'; if not FileExists(slDBPath) then begin MessageDlg('Competitions.db does not exist.',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); exit; end; sldb := TSQLiteDatabase.Create(slDBPath); try If CmbCompSele.Text <> '' then begin iID := StrToInt(Copy(CmbCompSele.Text,0,Pos(':',CmbCompSele.Text)-1)); sltb := slDb.GetTable('SELECT * FROM CompetitionTable WHERE CompetitionID='+IntToStr(iID))//ItemIndex starts at 0, CompID at 1 end else sltb := slDb.GetTable('SELECT * FROM CompetitionTable WHERE CompetitionID=1'); try EdtCompID.Text:=sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['CompetitionID']); EdtCompLoca.Text:=sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Location']); EdtCompDesc.Text:=sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Description']); EdtCompNote.Text:=sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Notes']); finally sltb.Free; end; finally sldb.Free; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.RevertSect; var slDBpath: string; sldb : TSQLiteDatabase; sltb : TSQLiteTable; iID : integer; sTemp : string; begin slDBPath := ExtractFilepath(application.exename)+ 'Competitions.db'; if not FileExists(slDBPath) then begin MessageDlg('Competitions.db does not exist.',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); exit; end; sldb := TSQLiteDatabase.Create(slDBPath); try If CmbCompSele.Text <> '' then begin iID := StrToInt(Copy(CmbSectSele.Text,0,Pos(':',CmbSectSele.Text)-1)); sltb := slDb.GetTable('SELECT * FROM SectionTable WHERE SectionID='+IntToStr(iID));//ItemIndex starts at 0, CompID at 1 end else sltb := slDb.GetTable('SELECT * FROM SectionTable WHERE CompetitionID='+EdtCompID.Text); try EdtSectionID.Text:=sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['SectionID']); EdtSectCompetitionID.Text:=sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['CompetitionID']); Case sltb.FieldAsInteger(sltb.FieldIndex['Type']) of 1 : CmbType.ItemIndex:=0; 2 : CmbType.ItemIndex:=0; 3 : CmbType.ItemIndex:=1; 4 : CmbType.ItemIndex:=1; end; Case sltb.FieldAsInteger(sltb.FieldIndex['Gender']) of 1 : CmbGender.ItemIndex:=0; 2 : CmbGender.ItemIndex:=1; 3 : CmbGender.ItemIndex:=2; end; sTemp := sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Age']); if sTemp <> '' then begin //Decode end else begin LblAgeRule.Hide; EdtLowerAge.Text :=''; EdtLowerAge.Hide; EdtUpperAge.Text :=''; EdtUpperAge.Hide; end; sTemp := sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Level']); if sTemp <> '' then begin //Decode end else begin LblLevelRule.Hide; Edit1.Text :=''; Edit1.Hide; EdtUpperLevel.Text :=''; EdtUpperLevel.Hide; end; sTemp := sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Weight']); if sTemp <> '' then begin //Decode end else begin LblWeightRule.Hide; EdtLowerWeight.Text :=''; EdtLowerWeight.Hide; EdtUpperWeight.Text :=''; EdtUpperWeight.Hide; end; sTemp := sltb.FieldAsString(sltb.FieldIndex['Height']); if sTemp <> '' then begin //Decode end else begin LblHeightRule.Hide; EdtLowerHeight.Text :=''; EdtLowerHeight.Hide; EdtUpperHeight.Text :=''; EdtUpperHeight.Hide; end; finally sltb.Free; end; finally sldb.Free; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.BtnCompetitionAddClick(Sender: TObject); begin AddComp end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.ClearSect; begin CmbSectSele.Clear; EdtSectionID.Text:=''; EdtSectCompetitionID.Text:=''; CmbType.Clear; CmbGender.Clear; CmbAgeRange.Clear; EdtLowerAge.Text:=''; EdtUpperAge.Text:=''; CmbLevelRange.Clear; Edit1.Text:=''; EdtUpperLevel.Text:=''; CmbWeightRange.Clear; EdtLowerWeight.Text:=''; EdtUpperWeight.Text:=''; CmbHeightRange.Clear; EdtLowerHeight.Text:=''; EdtUpperHeight.Text:=''; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.CmbCompSeleChange(Sender: TObject); begin If CmbCompSele.ItemIndex <> -1 then begin RevertComp; GrpSection.Enabled:=True; CmbSectSele.Clear; ClearSect; UpdateCmbSectSele; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.BtnCompetitionUpdateClick(Sender: TObject); var slDBpath: string; sSQL : string; sldb : TSQLiteDatabase; begin slDBPath := ExtractFilepath(application.exename)+ 'Competitions.db'; if not FileExists(slDBPath) then begin MessageDlg('Competitions.db does not exist.',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); exit; end; sldb := TSQLiteDatabase.Create(slDBPath); try sSQL:= 'UPDATE CompetitionTable SET Description="'+EdtCompDesc.Text+'",Location="'+EdtCompLoca.Text+'",Notes="'+EdtCompNote.Text+'" WHERE CompetitionID ="'+EdtCompID.Text+'";'; sldb.ExecSQL(sSQL); finally sldb.Free; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.BtnCompetitionRevertClick(Sender: TObject); begin RevertComp; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.BtnCompetitionDeleteClick(Sender: TObject); var slDBpath: string; sSQL : string; sldb : TSQLiteDatabase; iID : integer; begin If CmbCompSele.Text <> '' then begin If (CmbCompSele.Text[1] ='1') and (CmbCompSele.Text[2] =':') then begin MessageDlg('Deleting the last record is a very bad idea :/',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); end else begin slDBPath := ExtractFilepath(application.exename)+ 'Competitions.db'; if not FileExists(slDBPath) then begin MessageDlg('Competitions.db does not exist.',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); exit; end; sldb := TSQLiteDatabase.Create(slDBPath); try iID := StrToInt(Copy(CmbCompSele.Text,0,Pos(':',CmbCompSele.Text)-1)); sSQL:= 'DELETE FROM SectionTable WHERE CompetitionID='+IntToStr(iID)+';'; sldb.ExecSQL(sSQL); sSQL:= 'DELETE FROM CompetitionTable WHERE CompetitionID='+IntToStr(iID)+';'; sldb.ExecSQL(sSQL); finally sldb.Free; end; CmbCompSele.ItemIndex:=0; UpdateCmbCompSele; RevertComp; CmbCompSele.Text:='Select Competition'; end; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.FormCreate(Sender: TObject); begin UpdateCmbCompSele; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.CmbSectSeleChange(Sender: TObject); begin RevertSect; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.BtnSectionAddClick(Sender: TObject); begin AddSect; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.BtnSectionUpdateClick(Sender: TObject); //change fields values var slDBpath: string; sSQL : string; sldb : TSQLiteDatabase; iTypeCode : integer; iGenderCode : integer; sAgeStr, sLevelStr, sWeightStr, sHeightStr : string; begin slDBPath := ExtractFilepath(application.exename)+ 'Competitions.db'; if not FileExists(slDBPath) then begin MessageDlg('Competitions.db does not exist.',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); exit; end; sldb := TSQLiteDatabase.Create(slDBPath); try If CmbType.Text='Fighting' then iTypeCode := 1 else iTypeCode := 3; If CmbGender.Text='Male' then iGenderCode := 1 else if CmbGender.Text='Female' then iGenderCode := 2 else iGenderCode := 3; Case CmbAgeRange.ItemIndex of 0:sAgeStr := 'o-'+EdtLowerAge.Text; 1:sAgeStr := 'u-'+EdtLowerAge.Text; 2:sAgeStr := EdtLowerAge.Text+'-'+EdtUpperAge.Text; end; Case CmbLevelRange.ItemIndex of 0:sLevelStr := 'o-'+Edit1.Text; 1:sLevelStr := 'u-'+Edit1.Text; 2:sLevelStr := Edit1.Text+'-'+EdtUpperLevel.Text; end; Case CmbWeightRange.ItemIndex of 0:sWeightStr := 'o-'+EdtLowerWeight.Text; 1:sWeightStr := 'u-'+EdtLowerWeight.Text; 2:sWeightStr := EdtLowerWeight.Text+'-'+EdtUpperWeight.Text; end; Case CmbHeightRange.ItemIndex of 0:sHeightStr := 'o-'+EdtLowerHeight.Text; 1:sHeightStr := 'u-'+EdtLowerHeight.Text; 2:sHeightStr := EdtLowerHeight.Text+'-'+EdtUpperHeight.Text; end; sSQL:= 'UPDATE SectionTable SET Type="'+IntToStr(iTypeCode)+'",Gender="'+IntToStr(iGenderCode)+'" WHERE SectionID ="'+EdtSectionID.Text+'";'; sldb.ExecSQL(sSQL); finally sldb.Free; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.BtnSectionRevertClick(Sender: TObject); begin RevertSect; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.BtnSectionDeleteClick(Sender: TObject); var slDBpath: string; sSQL : string; sldb : TSQLiteDatabase; begin If CmbSectSele.Text[1] ='1' then begin MessageDlg('Deleting the last record is a very bad idea :/',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); end else begin slDBPath := ExtractFilepath(application.exename)+ 'Competitions.db'; if not FileExists(slDBPath) then begin MessageDlg('Competitions.db does not exist.',mtInformation,[mbOK],0); exit; end; sldb := TSQLiteDatabase.Create(slDBPath); try sSQL:= 'DELETE FROM SectionTable WHERE SectionID='+CmbSectSele.Text[1]+';'; sldb.ExecSQL(sSQL); finally sldb.Free; end; CmbSectSele.ItemIndex:=0; UpdateCmbSectSele; RevertSect; CmbSectSele.Text:='Select Competition'; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.CmbAgeRangeChange(Sender: TObject); begin Case CmbAgeRange.ItemIndex of 0: begin EdtLowerAge.Show; LblAgeRule.Caption:='Over and including'; LblAgeRule.Show; EdtUpperAge.Hide; end; 1: begin EdtLowerAge.Show; LblAgeRule.Caption:='Under and including'; LblAgeRule.Show; EdtUpperAge.Hide; end; 2: begin EdtLowerAge.Show; LblAgeRule.Caption:='LblAgeRule'; LblAgeRule.Hide; EdtUpperAge.Show; end; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.CmbLevelRangeChange(Sender: TObject); begin Case CmbLevelRange.ItemIndex of 0: begin Edit1.Show; LblLevelRule.Caption:='Over and including'; LblLevelRule.Show; EdtUpperLevel.Hide; end; 1: begin Edit1.Show; LblLevelRule.Caption:='Under and including'; LblLevelRule.Show; EdtUpperLevel.Hide; end; 2: begin Edit1.Show; LblLevelRule.Caption:='LblLevelRule'; LblLevelRule.Hide; EdtUpperLevel.Show; end; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.CmbWeightRangeChange(Sender: TObject); begin Case CmbWeightRange.ItemIndex of 0: begin EdtLowerWeight.Show; LblWeightRule.Caption:='Over and including'; LblWeightRule.Show; EdtUpperWeight.Hide; end; 1: begin EdtLowerWeight.Show; LblWeightRule.Caption:='Under and including'; LblWeightRule.Show; EdtUpperWeight.Hide; end; 2: begin EdtLowerWeight.Show; LblWeightRule.Caption:='LblWeightRule'; LblWeightRule.Hide; EdtUpperWeight.Show; end; end; end; procedure TDefinitionFrm.CmbHeightRangeChange(Sender: TObject); begin Case CmbHeightRange.ItemIndex of 0: begin EdtLowerHeight.Show; LblHeightRule.Caption:='Over and including'; LblHeightRule.Show; EdtUpperHeight.Hide; end; 1: begin EdtLowerHeight.Show; LblHeightRule.Caption:='Under and including'; LblHeightRule.Show; EdtUpperHeight.Hide; end; 2: begin EdtLowerHeight.Show; LblHeightRule.Caption:='LblHeightRule'; LblHeightRule.Hide; EdtUpperHeight.Show; end; end; end; end.

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  • Get special numbers from a random number generator

    - by Wikeno
    I have a random number generator: int32_t ksp_random_table[GENERATOR_DEG] = { -1726662223, 379960547, 1735697613, 1040273694, 1313901226, 1627687941, -179304937, -2073333483, 1780058412, -1989503057, -615974602, 344556628, 939512070, -1249116260, 1507946756, -812545463, 154635395, 1388815473, -1926676823, 525320961, -1009028674, 968117788, -123449607, 1284210865, 435012392, -2017506339, -911064859, -370259173, 1132637927, 1398500161, -205601318, }; int front_pointer=3, rear_pointer=0; int32_t ksp_rand() { int32_t result; ksp_random_table[ front_pointer ] += ksp_random_table[ rear_pointer ]; result = ( ksp_random_table[ front_pointer ] >> 1 ) & 0x7fffffff; front_pointer++, rear_pointer++; if (front_pointer >= GENERATOR_DEG) front_pointer = 0; if (rear_pointer >= GENERATOR_DEG) rear_pointer = 0; return result; } void ksp_srand(unsigned int seed) { int32_t i, dst=0, kc=GENERATOR_DEG, word, hi, lo; word = ksp_random_table[0] = (seed==0) ? 1 : seed; for (i = 1; i < kc; ++i) { hi = word / 127773, lo = word % 127773; word = 16807 * lo - 2836 * hi; if (word < 0) word += 2147483647; ksp_random_table[++dst] = word; } front_pointer=3, rear_pointer=0; kc *= 10; while (--kc >= 0) ksp_rand(); } I'd like know what type of pseudo random number generation algorithm this is. My guess is a multiple linear congruential generator. And is there a way of seeding this algorithm so that after 987721(1043*947) numbers it would return 15 either even-only, odd-only or alternating odd and even numbers? It is a part of an assignment for a long term competition and i've got no idea how to solve it. I don't want the final solution, I'd like to learn how to do it myself.

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  • Algorithm for finding the best routes for food distribution in game

    - by Tautrimas
    Hello, I'm designing a city building game and got into a problem. Imagine Sierra's Caesar III game mechanics: you have many city districts with one market each. There are several granaries over the distance connected with a directed weighted graph. The difference: people (here cars) are units that form traffic jams (here goes the graph weights). Note: in Ceasar game series, people harvested food and stockpiled it in several big granaries, whereas many markets (small shops) took food from the granaries and delivered it to the citizens. The task: tell each district where they should be getting their food from while taking least time and minimizing congestions on the city's roads. Map example Sample diagram Suppose that yellow districts need 7, 7 and 4 apples accordingly. Bluish granaries have 7 and 11 apples accordingly. Suppose edges weights to be proportional to their length. Then, the solution should be something like the gray numbers indicated on the edges. Eg, first district gets 4 apples from the 1st and 3 apples from the 2nd granary, while the last district gets 4 apples from only the 2nd granary. Here, vertical roads are first occupied to the max, and then the remaining workers are sent to the diagonal paths. Question What practical and very fast algorithm should I use? I was looking at some papers (Congestion Games: Optimization in Competition etc.) describing congestion games, but could not get the big picture. Any help is very appreciated! P. S. I can post very little links and no images because of new user restriction.

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  • How can a program be detected as running?

    - by ryeguy
    I have written a program that is sort of an unofficial, standalone plugin for an application. It allows customers to get a service that is a lower priced alternative then the vendor-owned one. My program is not illegal, against any kind of TOS, and is certainly not a virus, adware, or anything like that. That being said, the vendor of course is not happy about me taking his competition, and is trying to block my application from running. He has already tried some tactics to stop people from running my app alongside his. He makes it so if it is detected, his app throws a fake error. First, he checked to see if my program was running by looking for an open window with the right title. I countered this by randomizing the program title at startup. Next, he looked for the running process name. I countered this by making the app copy itself when it is started as [random string].exe and then running that. Anyways, my question is this: what else can he do to detect if my program running? I know that you can read window text (ie status bar, labels). I'm prepared to counter this by replacing the labels with images (ugh, any other way?). But what else is there? Can you detect what .dlls a program has loaded? If so, could this be solved by randomizing the dll names before loading them? I know that it's possible to get a program's signature in memory and track it that way (like a virus scanner), but the chances of him doing that probably aren't good because that sounds pretty advanced. Even though this is kinda crappy of him to be doing, its kind of fun. It's like a nerdy fist fight. EDIT: When I said it's a plugin, that is just the (incorrect) term I used. It's a standalone EXE. The "API" between my program and the other is mine is simply entering data into the controls (like textboxes, etc).

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  • How important is it to use SSL?

    - by Mark
    Recently I installed a certificate on the website I'm working on. I've made as much of the site as possible work with HTTP, but after you log in, it has to remain in HTTPS to prevent session hi-jacking, doesn't it? Unfortunately, this causes some problems with Google Maps; I get warnings in IE saying "this page contains insecure content". I don't think we can afford Google Maps Premier right now to get their secure service. It's sort of an auction site so it's fairly important that people don't get charged for things they didn't purchase because some hacker got into their account. All payments are done through PayPal though, so I'm not saving any sort of credit card info, but I am keeping personal contact information. Fraudulent charges could be reversed fairly easily if it ever came to that. What do you guys suggest I do? Should I take the bulk of the site off HTTPS and just secure certain pages like where ever you enter your password, and that's it? That's what our competition seems to do.

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