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• Office arangement - comfort vs. teamwork?

  - by finrod

  Our team works in an open-space office. Luckily the cubicles are quite big (L shaped tables for everyone!), there is quite a lot of space so we are not sandwiched. Without going into further detail, there are comfortable spots (window), normal spots and stupid spots (near the corridor). Until recently, the development team of twelve engineers was seated so that all types of spots were occupied and we were all close together. In the old arrangement, verbal communication was very easy - half of the team was withing talking distance. The other half was like ten steps away. Often times I could ask, discuss, solve problems without leaving the cube. Most of the communication is work related, no bullshit or mental masturbation that would unnecessarily distract others. Now we have moved to another part of the building and have larger space to occupy. At this point, everyone could pick their spot. Naturally all stupid spots are left empty (for the poor newcomers to occupy bwehaha). In the new arrangement, the development team is stretched across the floor and some of the key engineers are seated 'far' from each other - definitely not within talking distance. I have yet to experience how this works out but am getting concerned that team work and communication may have been traded for personal comfort. Finally the questions... What do you think is better office arrangement? Such that allows for free verbal communication but trading for some developer's comfort, or such that potentially hinders verbal communication but makes developer's more comfortable in their spot? Or maybe it does not matter at all and we will evolve to be efficient in any arrangement? What is your personal experience? Note - yes I read books and posts how workplace is important in our job. However in this case - we are all still in open space and the difference between the different spots are not really groundbreaking. So I'm thinking the little comfort that few developers gain is not worth the loss of easy communication.

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• Finding the shorter turning direction towards a target

  - by A.B.

  I'm trying to implement a type of movement where the object gradually faces the target. The problem I've run into is figuring out which turning direction is faster. The following code works until the object's orientation crosses the -PI or PI threshold, at which point it will start turning into the opposite direction void moveToPoint(sf::Vector2f destination) { if (destination == position) return; auto distance = distanceBetweenPoints(position, destination); auto direction = angleBetweenPoints(position, destination); /// Decides whether incrementing or decrementing orientation is faster /// the next line is the problem if (atan2(sin(direction - rotation), cos(direction - rotation)) > 0 ) { /// Increment rotation rotation += rotation_speed; } else { /// Decrement rotation rotation -= rotation_speed; } if (distance < movement_speed) { position = destination; } else { position.x = position.x + movement_speed*cos(rotation); position.y = position.y + movement_speed*sin(rotation); } updateGraphics(); } 'rotation' and 'rotation_speed' are implemented as custom data type for radians which cannot have values lower than -PI and greater than PI. Any excess or deficit "wraps around". For example, -3.2 becomes ~3.08.

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• Smooth waypoint traversing

  - by TheBroodian

  There are a dozen ways I could word this question, but to keep my thoughts in line, I'm phrasing it in line with my problem at hand. So I'm creating a floating platform that I would like to be able to simply travel from one designated point to another, and then return back to the first, and just pass between the two in a straight line. However, just to make it a little more interesting, I want to add a few rules to the platform. I'm coding it to travel multiples of whole tile values of world data. So if the platform is not stationary, then it will travel at least one whole tile width or tile height. Within one tile length, I would like it to accelerate from a stop to a given max speed. Upon reaching one tile length's distance, I would like it to slow to a stop at given tile coordinate and then repeat the process in reverse. The first two parts aren't too difficult, essentially I'm having trouble with the third part. I would like the platform to stop exactly at a tile coordinate, but being as I'm working with acceleration, it would seem easy to simply begin applying acceleration in the opposite direction to a value storing the platform's current speed once it reaches one tile's length of distance (assuming that the tile is traveling more than one tile-length, but to keep things simple, let's just assume it is)- but then the question is what would the correct value be for acceleration to increment from to produce this effect? How would I find that value?

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• Estimate angle to launch missile, maths question

  - by Jonathan

  I've been working on this for an hour or two now and my maths really isn't my strong suit which is definitely not a good thing for a game programmer but that shouldn't stop me enjoying a hobby surely? After a few failed attempts I was hoping someone else out there could help so here's the situation. I'm trying to implement a bit of faked intelligence when the A.I fires it's missiles at a target in a 2D game world. By predicting the likely position the target will be in given it's current velocity and the time it will take the missile to reach it's target. I created an image to demonstrate my thinking: http://i.imgur.com/SFmU3.png which also contains the logic I use for accelerating the missile after launch. The ship that fires the missile can fire within a total of 40 degree angle, 20 either side of itself, but this could likely become variable. My current attempt was to break the space between the two lines into segments which match the targets width. Then calculate the time it would take the missile to get to that location using the formula. So for each iteration of this we total up the values and that tells us the distance travelled, ad it would then just need compared to distance to the segment. startVelocity * ((startVelocity * acceleration)^(currentframe-1) So for example. If we start at a velocity of 1f/frame with an acceleration of 0.1f the formula, at frame 4, would be 1 * (1.1^3) = 1.331 But I quickly realized I was getting lost when trying to put this into practice. Does this seem like a correct starting point or am I going completely the wrong way about it? Any pointers would help me greatly. Maths really isn't my strong suit so I get easily lost in these matters and don't even really know a good phrase to search for with this. So I guess in summary my question is more about the correct way to approach this problem and any additional code samples on top of that would be great but I'm not averse to working out the complete code from helpful pointers.

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• Moving 2d camera in the y direction

  - by Alex

  I'm developing a simple game for the iphone and am struggling to work out the best way for the camera to follow the main character. The following picture hightlights the three main components: There are 3 components to this: Circle - the main character Green line - terrain Black background The terrain is simply made from an array of points (approx 20 points per screen width). The terrain is moved in the x direction relative to the black background in order to keep the circle in its position shown. The distance to move the terrain is simply: movex = circle.position.x - terrain.position.x with a constant to fix the circle at some distance from the left of the screen. I am struggling to determine the best way to position the terrain in the y plane keep the focus in the character. I want to move the terrain in the y direction smoothly and not fix it to the position of the circle, so the circle can move in the y plane. If I take the same approach as the x positioning, the character is fixed at a point on the screen and the terrain moves. I could sample some terrain points either side of the character and produce an average, but in my implementation this was not smooth. I thought another approach might be to create a camera 'line' that is a smooth version of the terrain line and make the camerea follow this, but I'm not sure if this is the optimum solution. Any advice is much appreciated!

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• Platform game collisions with Block

  - by Sri Harsha Chilakapati

  I am trying to create a platform game and doing wrong collision detection with the blocks. Here's my code // Variables GTimer jump = new GTimer(1000); boolean onground = true; // The update method public void update(long elapsedTime){ MapView.follow(this); // Add the gravity if (!onground && !jump.active){ setVelocityY(4); } // Jumping if (isPressed(VK_SPACE) && onground){ jump.start(); setVelocityY(-4); onground = false; } if (jump.action(elapsedTime)){ // jump expired jump.stop(); } // Horizontal movement setVelocityX(0); if (isPressed(VK_LEFT)){ setVelocityX(-4); } if (isPressed(VK_RIGHT)){ setVelocityX(4); } } // The collision method public void collision(GObject other){ if (other instanceof Block){ // Determine the horizontal distance between centers float h_dist = Math.abs((other.getX() + other.getWidth()/2) - (getX() + getWidth()/2)); // Now the vertical distance float v_dist = Math.abs((other.getY() + other.getHeight()/2) - (getY() + getHeight()/2)); // If h_dist > v_dist horizontal collision else vertical collision if (h_dist > v_dist){ // Are we moving right? if (getX()<other.getX()){ setX(other.getX()-getWidth()); } // Are we moving left? else if (getX()>other.getX()){ setX(other.getX()+other.getWidth()); } } else { // Are we moving up? if (jump.active){ jump.stop(); } // We are moving down else { setY(other.getY()-getHeight()); setVelocityY(0); onground = true; } } } } The problem is that the object jumps well but does not fall when moved out of platform. Here's an image describing the problem. I know I'm not checking underneath the object but I don't know how. The map is a list of objects and should I have to iterate over all the objects??? Thanks

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• Combining pathfinding with global AI objectives

  - by V_Programmer

  I'm making a turn-based strategy game using Java and LibGDX. Now I want to code the AI. I haven't written the AI code yet. I've simply designed it. The AI will have two components, one focused in tactics and resource management (create troops, determine who have strategical advantage, detect important objectives, etc) and a individual component, focused in assign the work to each unit, examine its possibilites and move the unit. Now I'm facing an important problem. The map where the action take place is a grid-based map. Each terrain has different movement cost. I read about pathfinding and I think A* is a very good option to determine a good route between two points. However, imagine I have an unit with movement = 5 (i.e, it can move 5 tiles of movement cost = 1). My tactical AI has found an objective at a distance d = 20 tiles (Manhattan distance) from my unit. My problem is the following: the unit won't be able to reach the objective in one turn. So the AI will have to store a list of position and execute them in various turns. I don't know how to solve this. PS. In my unit code, I have a list called "selectionMarks" which stores all the possible places where the unit can go in this turn. This places are calculed recursively using a "getSelectionMarks" function. Any help is appreciated :D

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• Java Slick2d - Mouse picking how to take into account camera

  - by Corey

  When I move it it obviously changes the viewport so my mouse picking is off. My camera is just a float x and y and I use g.translate(-cam.cameraX+400, -cam.cameraY+300); to translate the graphics. I have the numbers hard coded just for testing purposes. How would I take into account the camera so my mouse picking works correctly. double mousetileX = Math.floor((double)mouseX/tiles.tileWidth); double mousetileY = Math.floor((double)mouseY/tiles.tileHeight); double playertileX = Math.floor(playerX/tiles.tileWidth); double playertileY = Math.floor(playerY/tiles.tileHeight); double lengthX = Math.abs((float)playertileX - mousetileX); double lengthY = Math.abs((float)playertileY - mousetileY); double distance = Math.sqrt((lengthX*lengthX)+(lengthY*lengthY)); if(input.isMousePressed(Input.MOUSE_LEFT_BUTTON) && distance < 4) { if(tiles.map[(int)mousetileX][(int)mousetileY] == 1) { tiles.map[(int)mousetileX][(int)mousetileY] = 0; } } That is my mouse picking code

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• Normalizing the direction to check if able to move

  - by spartan2417

  i have a a room with 4 walls along the x and z axis respectively. My player who is in first person (therefore the camera) should have collision detection with these walls. I'm relatively new to this so please bare with me. I believe the way to do this is to calculate the direction and distance to the wall from the camera and then normalize the directions. However i can only get this far before i dont know what to do. I think you should work out the angle and direction your facing? where _dx and _dz is the small buffer in front of the camera. float CalcDirection(float Cam_x, float Cam_z, float Wall_x, float Wall_z) { //Calculate direction and distance to obstacle. float ob_dirx = Cam_x + _dx - Wall_x; float ob_dirz = Cam_z + _dz - Wall_z; float ob_dist = sqrt(ob_dirx*ob_dirx + ob_dirz*ob_dirz); //Normalise directions float ob_norm = sqrt(ob_dirx*ob_dirx + ob_dirz*ob_dirz); ob_dirx = (ob_dirx)/ob_norm; ob_dirz = (ob_dirz)/ob_norm; can anyone explain in laymen's terms how i work out the angle?

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• A simple example of movement prediction

  - by Daniel

  I've seen lots of examples of theory about the reason for client-side prediction, but I'm having a hard time converting it into code. I was wondering if someone knows of some specific examples that share some of the code, or can share their knowledge to shed some light into my situation. I'm trying to run some tests to get a the movement going (smoothly) between multiple clients. I'm using mouse input to initiate movement. I'm using AS3 and C# on a local Player.IO server. Right now I'm trying to get the Client side working, as I'm only forwarding position info with the client. I have 2 timers, one is an onEnterFrame and the other is a 100ms Timer, and one on mouseClick listener. When I click anywhere with a mouse, I update my player class to give it a destination point On every enterFrame Event for the player, it moves towards the destination point At every 100ms it sends a message to the server with the position of where it should be in a 100ms. The distance traveled is calculated by taking the distance (in Pixels) that the player can travel in one second, and dividing it by the framerate for the onEnterFrame handler, and by the update frequency (1/0.100s) for the server update. For the other Players, the location is interpolated and animated on every frame based on the new location. Is this the right way of doing it?

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• Neural network input preprocessing

  - by TND

  It's clear that the effectiveness of a neural network depends strongly on the format you give it to work with. You want to preprocess it into the most convenient form you can algorithmically get to, so that the neural network doesn't have to account for that itself. I'm working on a little project that (surprise!) is going to be using neural networks. My future goal is to eventually use NEAT, which I'm really excited about. Anyway, one of my ideas involves moving entities in continuous 2D space, from a top-down perspective (this would be a really cool game AI). Of course, unless these guys are blind, they're going to be able to see the world around them. There's a lot of different ways this information could be fed into the network. One interesting but expensive way is to simply render a top-down "view" of things, with the entities as dots on the picture, and feed that in. I was hoping for something much simpler to use (at least at first), such as a list of the x (maybe 7 or so) nearest entities and their position in relative polar coordinates, orientation, health, etc., but I'm trying to think of the best way to do it. My first instinct was to order them by distance, which would inherently also train the neural network to consider those more "important". However, I was thinking- what if there's two entities that are nearly the same distance away? They could easily alternate indexes in that list, confusing the network. My question is, is there a better way of representing this? Essentially, the issue is the network needs a good way of keeping track of who's who, while knowing (by being inputted) relevant information about the list of entities it can see. Thanks!

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• Drawing a texture line between two vectors in XNA WP7

  - by Krav

  I want to create a simple graph maker in WP7. The goal is to draw a texture line between two vectors what the user defines with touch. I already made the rotation, and it is working, but not correctly, because it doesn't calculate the line's texture height, and because of that, there are too many overlapping textures. So it does draw the line, but too many of them. How could I calculate it correctly? Here is the code: public void DrawLine(Vector2 st,Vector2 dest,NodeUnit EdgeParent,NodeUnit EdgeChild) { float d = Vector2.Distance(st, dest); float rotate = (float)(Math.Atan2(st.Y - dest.Y, st.X - dest.X)); direction = new Vector2(((dest.X - st.X) / (float)d), (dest.Y - st.Y) / (float)d); Vector2 _pos = st; World.TheHive.Add(new LineHiveMind(linetexture, _pos, rotate, EdgeParent, EdgeChild,new List<LineUnit>())); for (int i = 0; i < d; i++) { World.TheHive.Last()._lines.Add(new LineUnit(linetexture, _pos, rotate, EdgeParent, EdgeChild)); _pos += direction; } } d is for the Distance of the st (Starting node) and dest (Destination node) rotate is for rotation direction calculates the direction between the starting and the destination node _pos is for starting position changing Thanks for any suggestions/help!

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• Make Gameobject Stand On Surface Facing Certain Direction

  - by Julian

  I want to make a biped character stand on any surface I click on. Surfaces have up vectors of any of positive or negative X,Y,Z. So imagine a cube with each face being a gameobject whose up vector pointing directly away from the cube. If my character is facing "forward" and I click on a surface which is to the left or right of me ( left or right walls), I want my character to now be standing on that surface but still be facing in the direction he initially was. If I click on a wall which is in the forward path of my character i want him to now be standing on that surface and his forward to now be what was once "up" relative to my character. Here is the code I am working with now. void Update() { if (Input.GetMouseButtonUp (0)) { RaycastHit hit; var ray = Camera.main.ScreenPointToRay(Input.mousePosition); if (Physics.Raycast(ray, out hit)) { Vector3 upVectBefore = transform.up; Vector3 forwardVectBefore = transform.forward; Quaternion rotationVectBefore = transform.rotation; Vector3 hitPosition = hit.transform.position; transform.position = hitPosition; float lookDifference = Vector3.Distance(hit.transform.up, forwardVectBefore); if(Vector3.Distance(hit.transform.up, upVectBefore) < .23) //Same normal { transform.rotation = rotationVectBefore; } else if(lookDifference > 1.412 && lookDifference <= 1.70607) //side wall { transform.up = hit.transform.up; transform.forward = forwardVectBefore; } else //head on wall { transform.up = hit.transform.up; transform.forward = upVectBefore; } } } } The first case "Same normal" works fine, however the other two do not work as I would like them to. Sometimes my character is laying down on the surface or on the wrong side of the surface. Does anyone know nice way of solving this problem?

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• Would having an undergraduate certificate in Computer Science help me get employed as a computer programmer? [on hold]

  - by JDneverSleeps

  I am wondering how would employers perceive the Universtiy Certificate in Computing and Information Systems offered by Athabasca University (a distance education institution... The university is legit and accredited by the Government of Alberta, Canada). I already have a BSc in Statistics from University of Alberta (a classic brick and mortar public university in Alberta, Canada)...so I can state in my resume that I have a "university degree"..... Luckily, I was able to secure a very good employment in my field after the graduation from the U of A. The main reason why I am interested in taking the certificate program through Athabasca is because knowing how to program can increase the chance for promotion in my current job. I also believe that if something turns out bad in my current job and if I ever need to look for a new place to work, having the certificate in computer science will help me get employed as a computer programmer (i.e. my choice for the new job wouldn't be restricted to the field of Statistics). Athabasca University is claiming that the certificate program is meant to be equivalent to the undergraduate minor in computing science. I carefully looked at the certificate's curriculum and as far as I am concerned, the certificate program does have the same level of rigour as the undergraduate minor in Computer Science programs offered by other Canadian universities. I am also confident that the certificate program will get me to pick up enough skills/background to start a career as a computer programmer. The reasons why I am not 100% sure on getting the certificate is worth the tuition are: Athabasca University is a distance education institution (accredited by government but still) The credential that I will receive is "university certificate", not a "undergraduate degree" Do you think it's a good idea for me to pursue the certificate, given the two facts above? again, I already have my Bachelor's degree - although it is not in CS Thanks,

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• Steering evaluate fitness

  - by Vodemki

  I've made a simple game with a steering model that manage a crowd of agents. I use an genetic algorithm to find the best parameters to use in my system but I need to determine a fitness for each simulation. I know it's something like that: number of collisions * time to reach goal * effort But I don't know how to calculate the effort, is there a special way to do that ? Here is what I've done so far: // Evaluate the distance from agents to goal Real totalDistance(0.0); for (unsigned i=0; i<_agents.size(); i++) { totalDistance += _agents[i]->position().distance(_agents[i]->_goal->position()); } Real totalWallsCollision(0.0); for (unsigned i=0; i<_agents.size(); i++) { for (unsigned j=0; j<walls.size(); j++) { if ( walls[j]->inside(_agents[i]->position()) ) { totalCollision += 1.0; } } } return totalDistance + totalWallsCollision; Thanks for your help.

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• SQLAuthority News – TechEd India – April 12-14, 2010 Bangalore – An Unforgettable Experience – An Op

  - by pinaldave

  TechEd India was one of the largest Technology events in India led by Microsoft. This event was attended by more than 3,000 technology enthusiasts, making it one of the most well-organized events of the year. Though I attempted to attend almost all the technology events here, I have not seen any bigger or better event in Indian subcontinents other than this. There are 21 Technical Tracks at Tech·Ed India 2010 that span more than 745 learning opportunities. I was fortunate enough to be a part of this whole event as a speaker and a delegate, as well. TechEd India Speaker Badge and A Token of Lifetime Hotel Selection I presented three different sessions at TechEd India and was also a part of panel discussion. (The details of the sessions are given at the end of this blog post.) Due to extensive traveling, I stay away from my family occasionally. For this reason, I took my wife – Nupur and daughter Shaivi (8 months old) to the event along with me. We stayed at the same hotel where the event was organized so as to maximize my time bonding with my family and to have more time in networking with technology community, at the same time. The hotel Lalit Ashok is the largest and most luxurious venue one can find in Bangalore, located in the middle of the city. The cost of the hotel was a bit pricey, but looking at all the advantages, I had decided to ask for a booking there. Hotel Lalit Ashok Nupur Dave and Shaivi Dave Arrival Day – DAY 0 – April 11, 2010 I reached the event a day earlier, and that was one wise decision for I was able to relax a bit and go over my presentation for the next day’s course. I am a kind of person who likes to get everything ready ahead of time. I was also able to enjoy a pleasant evening with several Microsoft employees and my family friends. I even checked out the location where I would be doing presentations the next day. I was fortunate enough to meet Bijoy Singhal from Microsoft who helped me out with a few of the logistics issues that occured the day before. I was not aware of the fact that the very next day he was going to be “The Man” of the TechEd 2010 event. Vinod Kumar from Microsoft was really very kind as he talked to me regarding my subsequent session. He gave me some suggestions which were really helpful that I was able to incorporate them during my presentation. Finally, I was able to meet Abhishek Kant from Microsoft; his valuable suggestions and unlimited passion have inspired many people like me to work with the Community. Pradipta from Microsoft was also around, being extremely busy with logistics; however, in those busy times, he did find some good spare time to have a chat with me and the other Community leaders. I also met Harish Ranganathan and Sachin Rathi, both from Microsoft. It was so interesting to listen to both of them talking about SharePoint. I just have no words to express my overwhelmed spirit because of all these passionate young guys - Pradipta,Vinod, Bijoy, Harish, Sachin and Ahishek (of course!). Map of TechEd India 2010 Event Day 1 – April 12, 2010 From morning until night time, today was truly a very busy day for me. I had two presentations and one panel discussion for the day. Needless to say, I had a few meetings to attend as well. The day started with a keynote from S. Somaseger where he announced the launch of Visual Studio 2010. The keynote area was really eye-catching because of the very large, bigger-than- life uniform screen. This was truly one to show. The title music of the keynote was very interesting and it featured Bijoy Singhal as the model. It was interesting to talk to him afterwards, when we laughed at jokes together about his modeling assignment. TechEd India Keynote Opening Featuring Bijoy TechEd India 2010 Keynote – S. Somasegar Time: 11:15pm – 11:45pm Session 1: True Lies of SQL Server – SQL Myth Buster Following the excellent keynote, I had my very first session on the subject of SQL Server Myth Buster. At first, I was a bit nervous as right after the keynote, for this was my very first session and during my presentation I saw lots of Microsoft Product Team members. Well, it really went well and I had a really good discussion with attendees of the session. I felt that a well begin was half-done and my confidence was regained. Right after the session, I met a few of my Community friends and had meaningful discussions with them on many subjects. The abstract of the session is as follows: In this 30-minute demo session, I am going to briefly demonstrate few SQL Server Myths and their resolutions as I back them up with some demo. This demo presentation is a must-attend for all developers and administrators who would come to the event. This is going to be a very quick yet fun session. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Lunch with Somasegar After the session I went to see my daughter, and then I headed right away to the lunch with S. Somasegar – the keynote speaker and senior vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft. I really thank to Abhishek who made it possible for us. Because of his efforts, all the MVPs had the opportunity to meet such a legendary person and had to talk with them on Microsoft Technology. Though Somasegar is currently holding such a high position in Microsoft, he is very polite and a real gentleman, and how I wish that everybody in industry is like him. Believe me, if you spread love and kindness, then that is what you will receive back. As soon as lunch time was over, I ran to the session hall as my second presentation was about to start. Time: 2:30pm – 3:30pm Session 2: Master Data Services in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Business Intelligence is a subject which was widely talked about at TechEd. Everybody was interested in this subject, and I did not excuse myself from this great concept as well. I consider myself fortunate as I was presenting on the subject of Master Data Services at TechEd. When I had initially learned this subject, I had a bit of confusion about the usage of this tool. Later on, I decided that I would tackle about how we all developers and DBAs are not able to understand something so simple such as this, and even worst, creating confusion about the technology. During system designing, it is very important to have a reference material or master lookup tables. Well, I talked about the same subject and presented the session keeping that as my center talk. The session went very well and I received lots of interesting questions. I got many compliments for talking about this subject on the real-life scenario. I really thank Rushabh Mehta (CEO, Solid Quality Mentors India) for his supportive suggestions that helped me prepare the slide deck, as well as the subject. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The abstract of the session is as follows: SQL Server Master Data Services will ship with SQL Server 2008 R2 and will improve Microsoft’s platform appeal. This session provides an in-depth demonstration of MDS features and highlights important usage scenarios. Master Data Services enables consistent decision-making process by allowing you to create, manage and propagate changes from a single master view of your business entities. Also, MDS – Master Data-hub which is a vital component, helps ensure the consistency of reporting across systems and deliver faster and more accurate results across the enterprise. We will talk about establishing the basis for a centralized approach to defining, deploying, and managing master data in the enterprise. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The day was still not over for me. I had ran into several friends but we were not able keep our enthusiasm under control about all the rumors saying that SQL Server 2008 R2 was about to be launched tomorrow in the keynote. I then ran to my third and final technical event for the day- a panel discussion with the top technologies of India. Time: 5:00pm – 6:00pm Panel Discussion: Harness the power of Web – SEO and Technical Blogging As I have delivered two technical sessions by this time, I was a bit tired but  not less enthusiastic when I had to talk about Blog and Technology. We discussed many different topics there. I told them that the most important aspect for any blog is its content. We discussed in depth the issues with plagiarism and how to avoid it. Another topic of discussion was how we technology bloggers can create awareness in the Community about what the right kind of blogging is and what morally and technically wrong acts are. A couple of questions were raised about what type of liberty a person can have in terms of writing blogs. Well, it was generically agreed that a blog is mainly a representation of our ideas and thoughts; it should not be governed by external entities. As long as one is writing what they really want to say, but not providing incorrect information or not practicing plagiarism, a blogger should be allowed to express himself. This panel discussion was supposed to be over in an hour, but the interest of the participants was remarkable and so it was extended for 30 minutes more. Finally, we decided to bring to a close the discussion and agreed that we will continue the topic next year. TechEd India Panel Discussion on Web, Technology and SEO Surprisingly, the day was just beginning after doing all of these. By this time, I have almost met all the MVP who arrived at the event, as well as many Microsoft employees. There were lots of Community folks present, too. I decided that I would go to meet several friends from the Community and continue to communicate with me on SQLAuthority.com. I also met Abhishek Baxi and had a good talk with him regarding Win Mobile and Twitter. He also took a very quick video of me wherein I spoke in my mother’s tongue, Gujarati. It was funny that I talked in Gujarati almost all the day, but when I was talking in the interview I could not find the right Gujarati words to speak. I think we all think in English when we think about Technology, so as to address universality. After meeting them, I headed towards the Speakers’ Dinner. Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Speakers Dinner The Speakers’ dinner was indeed a wonderful opportunity for all the speakers to get together and relax. We talked so many different things, from XBOX to Hindi Movies, and from SQL to Samosas. I just could not express how much fun I had. After a long evening, when I returned tmy room and met Shaivi, I just felt instantly relaxed. Kids are really gifts from God. Today was a really long but exciting day. So many things happened in just one day: Visual Studio Lanch, lunch with Somasegar, 2 technical sessions, 1 panel discussion, community leaders meeting, speakers dinner and, last but not leas,t playing with my child! A perfect day! Day 2 – April 13, 2010 Today started with a bang with the excellent keynote by Kamal Hathi who launched SQL Server 2008 R2 in India and demonstrated the power of PowerPivot to all of us. 101 Million Rows in Excel brought lots of applause from the audience. Kamal Hathi Presenting Keynote at TechEd India 2010 The day was a bit easier one for me. I had no sessions today and no events planned. I had a few meetings planned for the second day of the event. I sat in the speaker’s lounge for half a day and met many people there. I attended nearly 9 different meetings today. The subjects of the meetings were very different. Here is a list of the topics of the Community-related meetings: SQL PASS and its involvement in India and subcontinents How to start community blogging Forums and developing aptitude towards technology Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar User Groups and their developments SharePoint and SQL Business Meeting – a client meeting Business Meeting – a potential performance tuning project Business Meeting – Solid Quality Mentors (SolidQ) And family friends Pinal Dave at TechEd India The day passed by so quickly during this meeting. In the evening, I headed to Partners Expo with friends and checked out few of the booths. I really wanted to talk about some of the products, but due to the freebies there was so much crowd that I finally decided to just take the contact details of the partner. I will now start sending them with my queries and, hopefully, I will have my questions answered. Nupur and Shaivi had also one meeting to attend; it was with our family friend Vijay Raj. Vijay is also a person who loves Technology and loves it more than anybody. I see him growing and learning every day, but still remaining as a ‘human’. I believe that if someone acquires as much knowledge as him, that person will become either a computer or cyborg. Here, Vijay is still a kind gentleman and is able to stay as our close family friend. Shaivi was really happy to play with Uncle Vijay. Pinal Dave and Vijay Raj Renuka Prasad, a Microsoft MVP, impressed me with his passion and knowledge of SQL. Every time he gives me credit for his success, I believe that he is very humble. He has way more certifications than me and has worked many more years with SQL compared to me. He is an excellent photographer as well. Most of the photos in this blog post have been taken by him. I told him if ever he wants to do a part time job, he can do the photography very well. Pinal Dave and Renuka Prasad I also met L Srividya from Microsoft, whom I was looking forward to meet. She is a bundle of knowledge that everyone would surely learn a lot from her. I was able to get a few minutes from her and well, I felt confident. She enlightened me with SQL Server BI concepts, domain management and SQL Server security and few other interesting details. I also had a wonderful time talking about SharePoint with fellow Solid Quality Mentor Joy Rathnayake. He is very passionate about SharePoint but when you talk .NET and SQL with him, he is still overwhelmingly knowledgeable. In fact, while talking to him, I figured out that the recent training he delivered was on SQL Server 2008 R2. I told him a joke that it hurts my ego as he is more popular now in SQL training and consulting than me. I am sure all of you agree that working with good people is a gift from God. I am fortunate enough to work with the best of the best Industry experts. It was a great pleasure to hang out with my Community friends – Ahswin Kini, HimaBindu Vejella, Vasudev G, Suprotim Agrawal, Dhananjay, Vikram Pendse, Mahesh Dhola, Mahesh Mitkari,  Manu Zacharia, Shobhan, Hardik Shah, Ashish Mohta, Manan, Subodh Sohani and Sanjay Shetty (of course!) .  (Please let me know if I have met you at the event and forgot your name to list here). Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Community Leaders Dinner After lots of meetings, I headed towards the Community Leaders dinner meeting and met almost all the folks I met in morning. The discussion was almost the same but the real good thing was that we were enjoying it. The food was really good. Nupur was invited in the event, but Shaivi could not come. When Nupur tried to enter the event, she was stopped as Shaivi did not have the pass to enter the dinner. Nupur expressed that Shaivi is only 8 months old and does not eat outside food as well and could not stay by herself at this age, but the door keeper did not agree and asked that without the entry details Shaivi could not go in, but Nupur could. Nupur called me on phone and asked me to help her out. By the time, I was outside; the organizer of the event reached to the door and happily approved Shaivi to join the party. Once in the party, Shaivi had lots of fun meeting so many people. Shaivi Dave and Abhishek Kant Dean Guida (Infragistics President and CEO) and Pinal Dave (SQLAuthority.com) Day 3 – April 14, 2010 Though, it was last day, I was very much excited today as I was about to present my very favorite session. Query Optimization and Performance Tuning is my domain expertise and I make my leaving by consulting and training the same. Today’s session was on the same subject and as an additional twist, another subject about Spatial Database was presented. I was always intrigued with Spatial Database and I have enjoyed learning about it; however, I have never thought about Spatial Indexing before it was decided that I will do this session. I really thank Solid Quality Mentor Dr. Greg Low for his assistance in helping me prepare the slide deck and also review the content. Furthermore, today was really what I call my ‘learning day’ . So far I had not attended any session in TechEd and I felt a bit down for that. Everybody spends their valuable time & money to learn something new and exciting in TechEd and I had not attended a single session at the moment thinking that it was already last day of the event. I did have a plan for the day and I attended two technical sessions before my session of spatial database. I attended 2 sessions of Vinod Kumar. Vinod is a natural storyteller and there was no doubt that his sessions would be jam-packed. People attended his sessions simply because Vinod is syhe speaker. He did not have a single time disappointed audience; he is truly a good speaker. He knows his stuff very well. I personally do not think that in India he can be compared to anyone for SQL. Time: 12:30pm-1:30pm SQL Server Query Optimization, Execution and Debugging Query Performance I really had a fun time attending this session. Vinod made this session very interactive. The entire audience really got into the presentation and started participating in the event. Vinod was presenting a small problem with Query Tuning, which any developer would have encountered and solved with their help in such a fashion that a developer feels he or she have already resolved it. In one question, I was the only one who was ready to answer and Vinod told me in a light tone that I am now allowed to answer it! The audience really found it very amusing. There was a huge crowd around Vinod after the session. Vinod – A master storyteller! Time: 3:45pm-4:45pm Data Recovery / consistency with CheckDB This session was much heavier than the earlier one, and I must say this is my most favorite session I EVER attended in India. In this TechEd I have only attended two sessions, but in my career, I have attended numerous technical sessions not only in India, but all over the world. This session had taken my breath away. One by one, Vinod took the different databases, and started to corrupt them in different ways. Each database has some unique ways to get corrupted. Once that was done, Vinod started to show the DBCC CEHCKDB and demonstrated how it can solve your problem. He finally fixed all the databases with this single tool. I do have a good knowledge of this subject, but let me honestly admit that I have learned a lot from this session. I enjoyed and cheered during this session along with other attendees. I had total satisfaction that, just like everyone, I took advantage of the event and learned something. I am now TECHnically EDucated. Pinal Dave and Vinod Kumar After two very interactive and informative SQL Sessions from Vinod Kumar, the next turn me presenting on Spatial Database and Indexing. I got once again nervous but Vinod told me to stay natural and do my presentation. Well, once I got a huge stage with a total of four projectors and a large crowd, I felt better. Time: 5:00pm-6:00pm Session 3: Developing with SQL Server Spatial and Deep Dive into Spatial Indexing Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 I kicked off this session with Michael J Swart‘s beautiful spatial image. This session was the last one for the day but, to my surprise, I had more than 200+ attendees. Slowly, the rain was starting outside and I was worried that the hall would not be full; despite this, there was not a single seat available in the first five minutes of the session. Thanks to all of you for attending my presentation. I had demonstrated the map of world (and India) and quickly explained what  Geographic and Geometry data types in Spatial Database are. This session had interesting story of Indexing and Comparison, as well as how different traditional indexes are from spatial indexing. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Due to the heavy rain during this event, the power went off for about 22 minutes (just an accident – nobodies fault). During these minutes, there were no audio, no video and no light. I continued to address the mass of 200+ people without any audio device and PowerPoint. I must thank the audience because not a single person left from the session. They all stayed in their place, some moved closure to listen to me properly. I noticed that the curiosity and eagerness to learn new things was at the peak even though it was the very last session of the TechEd. Everybody wanted get the maximum knowledge out of this whole event. I was touched by the support from audience. They listened and participated in my session even without any kinds of technology (no ppt, no mike, no AC, nothing). During these 22 minutes, I had completed my theory verbally. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 After a while, we got the projector back online and we continued with some exciting demos. Many thanks to Microsoft people who worked energetically in background to get the backup power for project up. I had a very interesting demo wherein I overlaid Bangalore and Hyderabad on the India Map and find their aerial distance between them. After finding the aerial distance, we browsed online and found that SQL Server estimates the exact aerial distance between these two cities, as compared to the factual distance. There was a huge applause from the crowd on the subject that SQL Server takes into the count of the curvature of the earth and finds the precise distances based on details. During the process of finding the distance, I demonstrated a few examples of the indexes where I expressed how one can use those indexes to find these distances and how they can improve the performance of similar query. I also demonstrated few examples wherein we were able to see in which data type the Index is most useful. We finished the demos with a few more internal stuff. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Despite all issues, I was mostly satisfied with my presentation. I think it was the best session I have ever presented at any conference. There was no help from Technology for a while, but I still got lots of appreciation at the end. When we ended the session, the applause from the audience was so loud that for a moment, the rain was not audible. I was truly moved by the dedication of the Technology enthusiasts. Pinal Dave After Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The abstract of the session is as follows: The Microsoft SQL Server 2008 delivers new spatial data types that enable you to consume, use, and extend location-based data through spatial-enabled applications. Attend this session to learn how to use spatial functionality in next version of SQL Server to build and optimize spatial queries. This session outlines the new geography data type to store geodetic spatial data and perform operations on it, use the new geometry data type to store planar spatial data and perform operations on it, take advantage of new spatial indexes for high performance queries, use the new spatial results tab to quickly and easily view spatial query results directly from within Management Studio, extend spatial data capabilities by building or integrating location-enabled applications through support for spatial standards and specifications and much more. Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Dinner by Sponsors After the lively session during the day, there was another dinner party courtesy of one of the sponsors of TechEd. All the MVPs and several Community leaders were present at the dinner. I would like to express my gratitude to Abhishek Kant for organizing this wonderful event for us. It was a blast and really relaxing in all angles. We all stayed there for a long time and talked about our sweet and unforgettable memories of the event. Pinal Dave and Bijoy Singhal It was really one wonderful event. After writing this much, I say that I have no words to express about how much I enjoyed TechEd. However, it is true that I shared with you only 1% of the total activities I have done at the event. There were so many people I have met, yet were not mentioned here although I wanted to write their names here, too . Anyway, I have learned so many things and up until now, I am not able to get over all the fun I had in this event. Pinal Dave at TechEd India 2010 The Next Days – April 15, 2010 – till today I am still not able to get my mind out of the whole experience I had at TechEd India 2010. It was like a whole Microsoft Family working together to celebrate a happy occasion. TechEd India – Truly An Unforgettable Experience! Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: About Me, MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology Tagged: TechEd, TechEdIn

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• SQLAuthority News – TechEd India – April 12-14, 2010 Bangalore – An Unforgettable Experience – An Op

  - by pinaldave

  TechEd India was one of the largest Technology events in India led by Microsoft. This event was attended by more than 3,000 technology enthusiasts, making it one of the most well-organized events of the year. Though I attempted to attend almost all the technology events here, I have not seen any bigger or better event in Indian subcontinents other than this. There are 21 Technical Tracks at Tech·Ed India 2010 that span more than 745 learning opportunities. I was fortunate enough to be a part of this whole event as a speaker and a delegate, as well. TechEd India Speaker Badge and A Token of Lifetime Hotel Selection I presented three different sessions at TechEd India and was also a part of panel discussion. (The details of the sessions are given at the end of this blog post.) Due to extensive traveling, I stay away from my family occasionally. For this reason, I took my wife – Nupur and daughter Shaivi (8 months old) to the event along with me. We stayed at the same hotel where the event was organized so as to maximize my time bonding with my family and to have more time in networking with technology community, at the same time. The hotel Lalit Ashok is the largest and most luxurious venue one can find in Bangalore, located in the middle of the city. The cost of the hotel was a bit pricey, but looking at all the advantages, I had decided to ask for a booking there. Hotel Lalit Ashok Nupur Dave and Shaivi Dave Arrival Day – DAY 0 – April 11, 2010 I reached the event a day earlier, and that was one wise decision for I was able to relax a bit and go over my presentation for the next day’s course. I am a kind of person who likes to get everything ready ahead of time. I was also able to enjoy a pleasant evening with several Microsoft employees and my family friends. I even checked out the location where I would be doing presentations the next day. I was fortunate enough to meet Bijoy Singhal from Microsoft who helped me out with a few of the logistics issues that occured the day before. I was not aware of the fact that the very next day he was going to be “The Man” of the TechEd 2010 event. Vinod Kumar from Microsoft was really very kind as he talked to me regarding my subsequent session. He gave me some suggestions which were really helpful that I was able to incorporate them during my presentation. Finally, I was able to meet Abhishek Kant from Microsoft; his valuable suggestions and unlimited passion have inspired many people like me to work with the Community. Pradipta from Microsoft was also around, being extremely busy with logistics; however, in those busy times, he did find some good spare time to have a chat with me and the other Community leaders. I also met Harish Ranganathan and Sachin Rathi, both from Microsoft. It was so interesting to listen to both of them talking about SharePoint. I just have no words to express my overwhelmed spirit because of all these passionate young guys - Pradipta,Vinod, Bijoy, Harish, Sachin and Ahishek (of course!). Map of TechEd India 2010 Event Day 1 – April 12, 2010 From morning until night time, today was truly a very busy day for me. I had two presentations and one panel discussion for the day. Needless to say, I had a few meetings to attend as well. The day started with a keynote from S. Somaseger where he announced the launch of Visual Studio 2010. The keynote area was really eye-catching because of the very large, bigger-than- life uniform screen. This was truly one to show. The title music of the keynote was very interesting and it featured Bijoy Singhal as the model. It was interesting to talk to him afterwards, when we laughed at jokes together about his modeling assignment. TechEd India Keynote Opening Featuring Bijoy TechEd India 2010 Keynote – S. Somasegar Time: 11:15pm – 11:45pm Session 1: True Lies of SQL Server – SQL Myth Buster Following the excellent keynote, I had my very first session on the subject of SQL Server Myth Buster. At first, I was a bit nervous as right after the keynote, for this was my very first session and during my presentation I saw lots of Microsoft Product Team members. Well, it really went well and I had a really good discussion with attendees of the session. I felt that a well begin was half-done and my confidence was regained. Right after the session, I met a few of my Community friends and had meaningful discussions with them on many subjects. The abstract of the session is as follows: In this 30-minute demo session, I am going to briefly demonstrate few SQL Server Myths and their resolutions as I back them up with some demo. This demo presentation is a must-attend for all developers and administrators who would come to the event. This is going to be a very quick yet fun session. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Time: 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Lunch with Somasegar After the session I went to see my daughter, and then I headed right away to the lunch with S. Somasegar – the keynote speaker and senior vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft. I really thank to Abhishek who made it possible for us. Because of his efforts, all the MVPs had the opportunity to meet such a legendary person and had to talk with them on Microsoft Technology. Though Somasegar is currently holding such a high position in Microsoft, he is very polite and a real gentleman, and how I wish that everybody in industry is like him. Believe me, if you spread love and kindness, then that is what you will receive back. As soon as lunch time was over, I ran to the session hall as my second presentation was about to start. Time: 2:30pm – 3:30pm Session 2: Master Data Services in Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Business Intelligence is a subject which was widely talked about at TechEd. Everybody was interested in this subject, and I did not excuse myself from this great concept as well. I consider myself fortunate as I was presenting on the subject of Master Data Services at TechEd. When I had initially learned this subject, I had a bit of confusion about the usage of this tool. Later on, I decided that I would tackle about how we all developers and DBAs are not able to understand something so simple such as this, and even worst, creating confusion about the technology. During system designing, it is very important to have a reference material or master lookup tables. Well, I talked about the same subject and presented the session keeping that as my center talk. The session went very well and I received lots of interesting questions. I got many compliments for talking about this subject on the real-life scenario. I really thank Rushabh Mehta (CEO, Solid Quality Mentors India) for his supportive suggestions that helped me prepare the slide deck, as well as the subject. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The abstract of the session is as follows: SQL Server Master Data Services will ship with SQL Server 2008 R2 and will improve Microsoft’s platform appeal. This session provides an in-depth demonstration of MDS features and highlights important usage scenarios. Master Data Services enables consistent decision-making process by allowing you to create, manage and propagate changes from a single master view of your business entities. Also, MDS – Master Data-hub which is a vital component, helps ensure the consistency of reporting across systems and deliver faster and more accurate results across the enterprise. We will talk about establishing the basis for a centralized approach to defining, deploying, and managing master data in the enterprise. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The day was still not over for me. I had ran into several friends but we were not able keep our enthusiasm under control about all the rumors saying that SQL Server 2008 R2 was about to be launched tomorrow in the keynote. I then ran to my third and final technical event for the day- a panel discussion with the top technologies of India. Time: 5:00pm – 6:00pm Panel Discussion: Harness the power of Web – SEO and Technical Blogging As I have delivered two technical sessions by this time, I was a bit tired but  not less enthusiastic when I had to talk about Blog and Technology. We discussed many different topics there. I told them that the most important aspect for any blog is its content. We discussed in depth the issues with plagiarism and how to avoid it. Another topic of discussion was how we technology bloggers can create awareness in the Community about what the right kind of blogging is and what morally and technically wrong acts are. A couple of questions were raised about what type of liberty a person can have in terms of writing blogs. Well, it was generically agreed that a blog is mainly a representation of our ideas and thoughts; it should not be governed by external entities. As long as one is writing what they really want to say, but not providing incorrect information or not practicing plagiarism, a blogger should be allowed to express himself. This panel discussion was supposed to be over in an hour, but the interest of the participants was remarkable and so it was extended for 30 minutes more. Finally, we decided to bring to a close the discussion and agreed that we will continue the topic next year. TechEd India Panel Discussion on Web, Technology and SEO Surprisingly, the day was just beginning after doing all of these. By this time, I have almost met all the MVP who arrived at the event, as well as many Microsoft employees. There were lots of Community folks present, too. I decided that I would go to meet several friends from the Community and continue to communicate with me on SQLAuthority.com. I also met Abhishek Baxi and had a good talk with him regarding Win Mobile and Twitter. He also took a very quick video of me wherein I spoke in my mother’s tongue, Gujarati. It was funny that I talked in Gujarati almost all the day, but when I was talking in the interview I could not find the right Gujarati words to speak. I think we all think in English when we think about Technology, so as to address universality. After meeting them, I headed towards the Speakers’ Dinner. Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Speakers Dinner The Speakers’ dinner was indeed a wonderful opportunity for all the speakers to get together and relax. We talked so many different things, from XBOX to Hindi Movies, and from SQL to Samosas. I just could not express how much fun I had. After a long evening, when I returned tmy room and met Shaivi, I just felt instantly relaxed. Kids are really gifts from God. Today was a really long but exciting day. So many things happened in just one day: Visual Studio Lanch, lunch with Somasegar, 2 technical sessions, 1 panel discussion, community leaders meeting, speakers dinner and, last but not leas,t playing with my child! A perfect day! Day 2 – April 13, 2010 Today started with a bang with the excellent keynote by Kamal Hathi who launched SQL Server 2008 R2 in India and demonstrated the power of PowerPivot to all of us. 101 Million Rows in Excel brought lots of applause from the audience. Kamal Hathi Presenting Keynote at TechEd India 2010 The day was a bit easier one for me. I had no sessions today and no events planned. I had a few meetings planned for the second day of the event. I sat in the speaker’s lounge for half a day and met many people there. I attended nearly 9 different meetings today. The subjects of the meetings were very different. Here is a list of the topics of the Community-related meetings: SQL PASS and its involvement in India and subcontinents How to start community blogging Forums and developing aptitude towards technology Ahmedabad/Gandhinagar User Groups and their developments SharePoint and SQL Business Meeting – a client meeting Business Meeting – a potential performance tuning project Business Meeting – Solid Quality Mentors (SolidQ) And family friends Pinal Dave at TechEd India The day passed by so quickly during this meeting. In the evening, I headed to Partners Expo with friends and checked out few of the booths. I really wanted to talk about some of the products, but due to the freebies there was so much crowd that I finally decided to just take the contact details of the partner. I will now start sending them with my queries and, hopefully, I will have my questions answered. Nupur and Shaivi had also one meeting to attend; it was with our family friend Vijay Raj. Vijay is also a person who loves Technology and loves it more than anybody. I see him growing and learning every day, but still remaining as a ‘human’. I believe that if someone acquires as much knowledge as him, that person will become either a computer or cyborg. Here, Vijay is still a kind gentleman and is able to stay as our close family friend. Shaivi was really happy to play with Uncle Vijay. Pinal Dave and Vijay Raj Renuka Prasad, a Microsoft MVP, impressed me with his passion and knowledge of SQL. Every time he gives me credit for his success, I believe that he is very humble. He has way more certifications than me and has worked many more years with SQL compared to me. He is an excellent photographer as well. Most of the photos in this blog post have been taken by him. I told him if ever he wants to do a part time job, he can do the photography very well. Pinal Dave and Renuka Prasad I also met L Srividya from Microsoft, whom I was looking forward to meet. She is a bundle of knowledge that everyone would surely learn a lot from her. I was able to get a few minutes from her and well, I felt confident. She enlightened me with SQL Server BI concepts, domain management and SQL Server security and few other interesting details. I also had a wonderful time talking about SharePoint with fellow Solid Quality Mentor Joy Rathnayake. He is very passionate about SharePoint but when you talk .NET and SQL with him, he is still overwhelmingly knowledgeable. In fact, while talking to him, I figured out that the recent training he delivered was on SQL Server 2008 R2. I told him a joke that it hurts my ego as he is more popular now in SQL training and consulting than me. I am sure all of you agree that working with good people is a gift from God. I am fortunate enough to work with the best of the best Industry experts. It was a great pleasure to hang out with my Community friends – Ahswin Kini, HimaBindu Vejella, Vasudev G, Suprotim Agrawal, Dhananjay, Vikram Pendse, Mahesh Dhola, Mahesh Mitkari,  Manu Zacharia, Shobhan, Hardik Shah, Ashish Mohta, Manan, Subodh Sohani and Sanjay Shetty (of course!) .  (Please let me know if I have met you at the event and forgot your name to list here). Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Community Leaders Dinner After lots of meetings, I headed towards the Community Leaders dinner meeting and met almost all the folks I met in morning. The discussion was almost the same but the real good thing was that we were enjoying it. The food was really good. Nupur was invited in the event, but Shaivi could not come. When Nupur tried to enter the event, she was stopped as Shaivi did not have the pass to enter the dinner. Nupur expressed that Shaivi is only 8 months old and does not eat outside food as well and could not stay by herself at this age, but the door keeper did not agree and asked that without the entry details Shaivi could not go in, but Nupur could. Nupur called me on phone and asked me to help her out. By the time, I was outside; the organizer of the event reached to the door and happily approved Shaivi to join the party. Once in the party, Shaivi had lots of fun meeting so many people. Shaivi Dave and Abhishek Kant Dean Guida (Infragistics President and CEO) and Pinal Dave (SQLAuthority.com) Day 3 – April 14, 2010 Though, it was last day, I was very much excited today as I was about to present my very favorite session. Query Optimization and Performance Tuning is my domain expertise and I make my leaving by consulting and training the same. Today’s session was on the same subject and as an additional twist, another subject about Spatial Database was presented. I was always intrigued with Spatial Database and I have enjoyed learning about it; however, I have never thought about Spatial Indexing before it was decided that I will do this session. I really thank Solid Quality Mentor Dr. Greg Low for his assistance in helping me prepare the slide deck and also review the content. Furthermore, today was really what I call my ‘learning day’ . So far I had not attended any session in TechEd and I felt a bit down for that. Everybody spends their valuable time & money to learn something new and exciting in TechEd and I had not attended a single session at the moment thinking that it was already last day of the event. I did have a plan for the day and I attended two technical sessions before my session of spatial database. I attended 2 sessions of Vinod Kumar. Vinod is a natural storyteller and there was no doubt that his sessions would be jam-packed. People attended his sessions simply because Vinod is syhe speaker. He did not have a single time disappointed audience; he is truly a good speaker. He knows his stuff very well. I personally do not think that in India he can be compared to anyone for SQL. Time: 12:30pm-1:30pm SQL Server Query Optimization, Execution and Debugging Query Performance I really had a fun time attending this session. Vinod made this session very interactive. The entire audience really got into the presentation and started participating in the event. Vinod was presenting a small problem with Query Tuning, which any developer would have encountered and solved with their help in such a fashion that a developer feels he or she have already resolved it. In one question, I was the only one who was ready to answer and Vinod told me in a light tone that I am now allowed to answer it! The audience really found it very amusing. There was a huge crowd around Vinod after the session. Vinod – A master storyteller! Time: 3:45pm-4:45pm Data Recovery / consistency with CheckDB This session was much heavier than the earlier one, and I must say this is my most favorite session I EVER attended in India. In this TechEd I have only attended two sessions, but in my career, I have attended numerous technical sessions not only in India, but all over the world. This session had taken my breath away. One by one, Vinod took the different databases, and started to corrupt them in different ways. Each database has some unique ways to get corrupted. Once that was done, Vinod started to show the DBCC CEHCKDB and demonstrated how it can solve your problem. He finally fixed all the databases with this single tool. I do have a good knowledge of this subject, but let me honestly admit that I have learned a lot from this session. I enjoyed and cheered during this session along with other attendees. I had total satisfaction that, just like everyone, I took advantage of the event and learned something. I am now TECHnically EDucated. Pinal Dave and Vinod Kumar After two very interactive and informative SQL Sessions from Vinod Kumar, the next turn me presenting on Spatial Database and Indexing. I got once again nervous but Vinod told me to stay natural and do my presentation. Well, once I got a huge stage with a total of four projectors and a large crowd, I felt better. Time: 5:00pm-6:00pm Session 3: Developing with SQL Server Spatial and Deep Dive into Spatial Indexing Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 I kicked off this session with Michael J Swart‘s beautiful spatial image. This session was the last one for the day but, to my surprise, I had more than 200+ attendees. Slowly, the rain was starting outside and I was worried that the hall would not be full; despite this, there was not a single seat available in the first five minutes of the session. Thanks to all of you for attending my presentation. I had demonstrated the map of world (and India) and quickly explained what  Geographic and Geometry data types in Spatial Database are. This session had interesting story of Indexing and Comparison, as well as how different traditional indexes are from spatial indexing. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Due to the heavy rain during this event, the power went off for about 22 minutes (just an accident – nobodies fault). During these minutes, there were no audio, no video and no light. I continued to address the mass of 200+ people without any audio device and PowerPoint. I must thank the audience because not a single person left from the session. They all stayed in their place, some moved closure to listen to me properly. I noticed that the curiosity and eagerness to learn new things was at the peak even though it was the very last session of the TechEd. Everybody wanted get the maximum knowledge out of this whole event. I was touched by the support from audience. They listened and participated in my session even without any kinds of technology (no ppt, no mike, no AC, nothing). During these 22 minutes, I had completed my theory verbally. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 After a while, we got the projector back online and we continued with some exciting demos. Many thanks to Microsoft people who worked energetically in background to get the backup power for project up. I had a very interesting demo wherein I overlaid Bangalore and Hyderabad on the India Map and find their aerial distance between them. After finding the aerial distance, we browsed online and found that SQL Server estimates the exact aerial distance between these two cities, as compared to the factual distance. There was a huge applause from the crowd on the subject that SQL Server takes into the count of the curvature of the earth and finds the precise distances based on details. During the process of finding the distance, I demonstrated a few examples of the indexes where I expressed how one can use those indexes to find these distances and how they can improve the performance of similar query. I also demonstrated few examples wherein we were able to see in which data type the Index is most useful. We finished the demos with a few more internal stuff. Pinal Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 Despite all issues, I was mostly satisfied with my presentation. I think it was the best session I have ever presented at any conference. There was no help from Technology for a while, but I still got lots of appreciation at the end. When we ended the session, the applause from the audience was so loud that for a moment, the rain was not audible. I was truly moved by the dedication of the Technology enthusiasts. Pinal Dave After Presenting session at TechEd India 2010 The abstract of the session is as follows: The Microsoft SQL Server 2008 delivers new spatial data types that enable you to consume, use, and extend location-based data through spatial-enabled applications. Attend this session to learn how to use spatial functionality in next version of SQL Server to build and optimize spatial queries. This session outlines the new geography data type to store geodetic spatial data and perform operations on it, use the new geometry data type to store planar spatial data and perform operations on it, take advantage of new spatial indexes for high performance queries, use the new spatial results tab to quickly and easily view spatial query results directly from within Management Studio, extend spatial data capabilities by building or integrating location-enabled applications through support for spatial standards and specifications and much more. Time: 8:00 PM – onwards Dinner by Sponsors After the lively session during the day, there was another dinner party courtesy of one of the sponsors of TechEd. All the MVPs and several Community leaders were present at the dinner. I would like to express my gratitude to Abhishek Kant for organizing this wonderful event for us. It was a blast and really relaxing in all angles. We all stayed there for a long time and talked about our sweet and unforgettable memories of the event. Pinal Dave and Bijoy Singhal It was really one wonderful event. After writing this much, I say that I have no words to express about how much I enjoyed TechEd. However, it is true that I shared with you only 1% of the total activities I have done at the event. There were so many people I have met, yet were not mentioned here although I wanted to write their names here, too . Anyway, I have learned so many things and up until now, I am not able to get over all the fun I had in this event. Pinal Dave at TechEd India 2010 The Next Days – April 15, 2010 – till today I am still not able to get my mind out of the whole experience I had at TechEd India 2010. It was like a whole Microsoft Family working together to celebrate a happy occasion. TechEd India – Truly An Unforgettable Experience! Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: About Me, MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology Tagged: TechEd, TechEdIn

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• Google and Bing Map APIs Compared

  - by SGWellens

  At one of the local golf courses I frequent, there is an open grass field next to the course. It is about eight acres in size and mowed regularly. It is permissible to hit golf balls there—you bring and shag our own balls. My golf colleagues and I spend hours there practicing, chatting and in general just wasting time. One of the guys brings Ginger, the amazing, incredible, wonder dog. Ginger is a Portuguese Pointer. She chases squirrels, begs for snacks and supervises us closely to make sure we don't misbehave.     Anyway, I decided to make a dedicated web page to measure distances on the field in yards using online mapping services. I started with Google maps and then did the same application with Bing maps. It is a good way to become familiar with the APIs. Here are images of the final two maps: Google:  Bing:   To start with online mapping services, you need to visit the respective websites and get a developers key. I pared the code down to the minimum to make it easier to compare the APIs. Google maps required this CSS (or it wouldn't work): <style type="text/css">     html     {         height: 100%;     }       body     {         height: 100%;         margin: 0;         padding: 0;     } Here is how the map scripts are included. Google requires the developer Key when loading the JavaScript, Bing requires it when the map object is created: Google: <script type="text/javascript" src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=XXXXXXX&libraries=geometry&sensor=false" > </script> Bing: <script  type="text/javascript" src="http://ecn.dev.virtualearth.net/mapcontrol/mapcontrol.ashx?v=7.0"> </script> Note: I use jQuery to manipulate the DOM elements which may be overkill, but I may add more stuff to this application and I didn't want to have to add it later. Plus, I really like jQuery. Here is how the maps are created: Common Code (the same for both Google and Bing Maps):     <script type="text/javascript">         var gTheMap;         var gMarker1;         var gMarker2;           $(document).ready(DocLoaded);           function DocLoaded()         {             // golf course coordinates             var StartLat = 44.924254;             var StartLng = -93.366859;               // what element to display the map in             var mapdiv = $("#map_div")[0];   Google:         // where on earth the map should display         var StartPoint = new google.maps.LatLng(StartLat, StartLng);           // create the map         gTheMap = new google.maps.Map(mapdiv,             {                 center: StartPoint,                 zoom: 18,                 mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.SATELLITE             });           // place two markers         marker1 = PlaceMarker(new google.maps.LatLng(StartLat, StartLng + .0001));         marker2 = PlaceMarker(new google.maps.LatLng(StartLat, StartLng - .0001));           DragEnd(null);     } Bing:         // where on earth the map should display         var StartPoint = new  Microsoft.Maps.Location(StartLat, StartLng);           // create the map         gTheMap = new Microsoft.Maps.Map(mapdiv,             {                 credentials: 'Asbsa_hzfHl69XF3wxBd_WbW0dLNTRUH3ZHQG9qcV5EFRLuWEaOP1hjWdZ0A0P17',                 center: StartPoint,                 zoom: 18,                 mapTypeId: Microsoft.Maps.MapTypeId.aerial             });             // place two markers         marker1 = PlaceMarker(new Microsoft.Maps.Location(StartLat, StartLng + .0001));         marker2 = PlaceMarker(new Microsoft.Maps.Location(StartLat, StartLng - .0001));           DragEnd(null);     } Note: In the Bing documentation, mapTypeId: was missing from the list of options even though the sample code included it. Note: When creating the Bing map, use the developer Key for the credentials property. I immediately place two markers/pins on the map which is simpler that creating them on the fly with mouse clicks (as I first tried). The markers/pins are draggable and I capture the DragEnd event to calculate and display the distance in yards and draw a line when the user finishes dragging. Here is the code to place a marker: Google: // ---- PlaceMarker ------------------------------------   function PlaceMarker(location) {     var marker = new google.maps.Marker(         {             position: location,             map: gTheMap,             draggable: true         });     marker.addListener('dragend', DragEnd);     return marker; }   Bing: // ---- PlaceMarker ------------------------------------   function PlaceMarker(location) {     var marker = new Microsoft.Maps.Pushpin(location,     {         draggable : true     });     Microsoft.Maps.Events.addHandler(marker, 'dragend', DragEnd);     gTheMap.entities.push(marker);     return marker; } Here is the code than runs when the user stops dragging a marker: Google: // ---- DragEnd -------------------------------------------   var gLine = null;   function DragEnd(Event) {     var meters = google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeDistanceBetween(marker1.position, marker2.position);     var yards = meters * 1.0936133;     $("#message").text(yards.toFixed(1) + ' yards');    // draw a line connecting the points     var Endpoints = [marker1.position, marker2.position];       if (gLine == null)     {         gLine = new google.maps.Polyline({             path: Endpoints,             strokeColor: "#FFFF00",             strokeOpacity: 1.0,             strokeWeight: 2,             map: gTheMap         });     }     else        gLine.setPath(Endpoints); } Bing: // ---- DragEnd -------------------------------------------   var gLine = null;   function DragEnd(Args) {    var Distance =  CalculateDistance(marker1._location, marker2._location);      $("#message").text(Distance.toFixed(1) + ' yards');       // draw a line connecting the points    var Endpoints = [marker1._location, marker2._location];           if (gLine == null)    {        gLine = new Microsoft.Maps.Polyline(Endpoints,            {                strokeColor: new Microsoft.Maps.Color(0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0),  // aRGB                strokeThickness : 2            });          gTheMap.entities.push(gLine);    }    else        gLine.setLocations(Endpoints);  }   Note: I couldn't find a function to calculate the distance between points in the Bing API, so I wrote my own (CalculateDistance). If you want to see the source for it, you can pick it off the web page. Note: I was able to verify the accuracy of the measurements by using the golf hole next to the field. I put a pin/marker on the center of the green, and then by zooming in, I was able to see the 150 markers on the fairway and put the other pin/marker on one of them. Final Notes: All in all, the APIs are very similar. Both made it easy to accomplish a lot with a minimum amount of code. In one aerial view, there are leaves on the tree, in the other, the trees are bare. I don't know which service has the newer data. Here are links to working pages: Bing Map Demo Google Map Demo I hope someone finds this useful. Steve Wellens   CodeProject

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• OpenGL directional light creating black spots

  - by AnonymousDeveloper

  I probably ought to start by saying that I suspect the problem is that one of my vectors is not in the correct "space", but I don't know for sure. I am having a strange problem with a directional light. When I move the camera away from (0.0, 0.0, 0.0) it creates tiny black spots that grow larger as the distance increases. I apologize ahead of time for the length of the code. Vertex shader: #version 410 core in vec3 vf_normal; in vec3 vf_bitangent; in vec3 vf_tangent; in vec2 vf_textureCoordinates; in vec3 vf_vertex; out vec3 tc_normal; out vec3 tc_bitangent; out vec3 tc_tangent; out vec2 tc_textureCoordinates; out vec3 tc_vertex; uniform mat3 vf_m_normal; uniform mat4 vf_m_model; uniform mat4 vf_m_mvp; uniform mat4 vf_m_projection; uniform mat4 vf_m_view; uniform float vf_te_inner; uniform float vf_te_outer; void main() { tc_normal = vf_normal; tc_bitangent = vf_bitangent; tc_tangent = vf_tangent; tc_textureCoordinates = vf_textureCoordinates; tc_vertex = vf_vertex; gl_Position = vf_m_mvp * vec4(vf_vertex, 1.0); } Tessellation Control shader: #version 410 core layout (vertices = 3) out; in vec3 tc_normal[]; in vec3 tc_bitangent[]; in vec3 tc_tangent[]; in vec2 tc_textureCoordinates[]; in vec3 tc_vertex[]; out vec3 te_normal[]; out vec3 te_bitangent[]; out vec3 te_tangent[]; out vec2 te_textureCoordinates[]; out vec3 te_vertex[]; uniform float vf_te_inner; uniform float vf_te_outer; uniform vec4 vf_l_color; uniform vec3 vf_l_position; uniform mat4 vf_m_depthBias; uniform mat4 vf_m_model; uniform mat4 vf_m_mvp; uniform mat4 vf_m_projection; uniform mat4 vf_m_view; uniform sampler2D vf_t_diffuse; uniform sampler2D vf_t_normal; uniform sampler2DShadow vf_t_shadow; uniform sampler2D vf_t_specular; #define ID gl_InvocationID float getTessLevelInner(float distance0, float distance1) { float avgDistance = (distance0 + distance1) / 2.0; return clamp((vf_te_inner - avgDistance), 1.0, vf_te_inner); } float getTessLevelOuter(float distance0, float distance1) { float avgDistance = (distance0 + distance1) / 2.0; return clamp((vf_te_outer - avgDistance), 1.0, vf_te_outer); } void main() { te_normal[gl_InvocationID] = tc_normal[gl_InvocationID]; te_bitangent[gl_InvocationID] = tc_bitangent[gl_InvocationID]; te_tangent[gl_InvocationID] = tc_tangent[gl_InvocationID]; te_textureCoordinates[gl_InvocationID] = tc_textureCoordinates[gl_InvocationID]; te_vertex[gl_InvocationID] = tc_vertex[gl_InvocationID]; float eyeToVertexDistance0 = distance(vec3(0.0), vec4(vf_m_view * vec4(tc_vertex[0], 1.0)).xyz); float eyeToVertexDistance1 = distance(vec3(0.0), vec4(vf_m_view * vec4(tc_vertex[1], 1.0)).xyz); float eyeToVertexDistance2 = distance(vec3(0.0), vec4(vf_m_view * vec4(tc_vertex[2], 1.0)).xyz); gl_TessLevelOuter[0] = getTessLevelOuter(eyeToVertexDistance1, eyeToVertexDistance2); gl_TessLevelOuter[1] = getTessLevelOuter(eyeToVertexDistance2, eyeToVertexDistance0); gl_TessLevelOuter[2] = getTessLevelOuter(eyeToVertexDistance0, eyeToVertexDistance1); gl_TessLevelInner[0] = getTessLevelInner(eyeToVertexDistance2, eyeToVertexDistance0); } Tessellation Evaluation shader: #version 410 core layout (triangles, equal_spacing, cw) in; in vec3 te_normal[]; in vec3 te_bitangent[]; in vec3 te_tangent[]; in vec2 te_textureCoordinates[]; in vec3 te_vertex[]; out vec3 g_normal; out vec3 g_bitangent; out vec4 g_patchDistance; out vec3 g_tangent; out vec2 g_textureCoordinates; out vec3 g_vertex; uniform float vf_te_inner; uniform float vf_te_outer; uniform vec4 vf_l_color; uniform vec3 vf_l_position; uniform mat4 vf_m_depthBias; uniform mat4 vf_m_model; uniform mat4 vf_m_mvp; uniform mat3 vf_m_normal; uniform mat4 vf_m_projection; uniform mat4 vf_m_view; uniform sampler2D vf_t_diffuse; uniform sampler2D vf_t_displace; uniform sampler2D vf_t_normal; uniform sampler2DShadow vf_t_shadow; uniform sampler2D vf_t_specular; vec2 interpolate2D(vec2 v0, vec2 v1, vec2 v2) { return vec2(gl_TessCoord.x) * v0 + vec2(gl_TessCoord.y) * v1 + vec2(gl_TessCoord.z) * v2; } vec3 interpolate3D(vec3 v0, vec3 v1, vec3 v2) { return vec3(gl_TessCoord.x) * v0 + vec3(gl_TessCoord.y) * v1 + vec3(gl_TessCoord.z) * v2; } float amplify(float d, float scale, float offset) { d = scale * d + offset; d = clamp(d, 0, 1); d = 1 - exp2(-2*d*d); return d; } float getDisplacement(vec2 t0, vec2 t1, vec2 t2) { float displacement = 0.0; vec2 textureCoordinates = interpolate2D(t0, t1, t2); vec2 vector = ((t0 + t1 + t2) / 3.0); float sampleDistance = sqrt((vector.x * vector.x) + (vector.y * vector.y)); sampleDistance /= ((vf_te_inner + vf_te_outer) / 2.0); displacement += texture(vf_t_displace, textureCoordinates).x; displacement += texture(vf_t_displace, textureCoordinates + vec2(-sampleDistance, -sampleDistance)).x; displacement += texture(vf_t_displace, textureCoordinates + vec2(-sampleDistance, sampleDistance)).x; displacement += texture(vf_t_displace, textureCoordinates + vec2( sampleDistance, sampleDistance)).x; displacement += texture(vf_t_displace, textureCoordinates + vec2( sampleDistance, -sampleDistance)).x; return (displacement / 5.0); } void main() { g_normal = normalize(interpolate3D(te_normal[0], te_normal[1], te_normal[2])); g_bitangent = normalize(interpolate3D(te_bitangent[0], te_bitangent[1], te_bitangent[2])); g_patchDistance = vec4(gl_TessCoord, (1.0 - gl_TessCoord.y)); g_tangent = normalize(interpolate3D(te_tangent[0], te_tangent[1], te_tangent[2])); g_textureCoordinates = interpolate2D(te_textureCoordinates[0], te_textureCoordinates[1], te_textureCoordinates[2]); g_vertex = interpolate3D(te_vertex[0], te_vertex[1], te_vertex[2]); float displacement = getDisplacement(te_textureCoordinates[0], te_textureCoordinates[1], te_textureCoordinates[2]); float d2 = min(min(min(g_patchDistance.x, g_patchDistance.y), g_patchDistance.z), g_patchDistance.w); d2 = amplify(d2, 50, -0.5); g_vertex += g_normal * displacement * 0.1 * d2; gl_Position = vf_m_mvp * vec4(g_vertex, 1.0); } Geometry shader: #version 410 core layout (triangles) in; layout (triangle_strip, max_vertices = 3) out; in vec3 g_normal[3]; in vec3 g_bitangent[3]; in vec4 g_patchDistance[3]; in vec3 g_tangent[3]; in vec2 g_textureCoordinates[3]; in vec3 g_vertex[3]; out vec3 f_tangent; out vec3 f_bitangent; out vec3 f_eyeDirection; out vec3 f_lightDirection; out vec3 f_normal; out vec4 f_patchDistance; out vec4 f_shadowCoordinates; out vec2 f_textureCoordinates; out vec3 f_vertex; uniform vec4 vf_l_color; uniform vec3 vf_l_position; uniform mat4 vf_m_depthBias; uniform mat4 vf_m_model; uniform mat4 vf_m_mvp; uniform mat3 vf_m_normal; uniform mat4 vf_m_projection; uniform mat4 vf_m_view; uniform sampler2D vf_t_diffuse; uniform sampler2D vf_t_normal; uniform sampler2DShadow vf_t_shadow; uniform sampler2D vf_t_specular; void main() { int index = 0; while (index < 3) { vec3 vertexNormal_cameraspace = vf_m_normal * normalize(g_normal[index]); vec3 vertexTangent_cameraspace = vf_m_normal * normalize(f_tangent); vec3 vertexBitangent_cameraspace = vf_m_normal * normalize(f_bitangent); mat3 TBN = transpose(mat3( vertexTangent_cameraspace, vertexBitangent_cameraspace, vertexNormal_cameraspace )); vec3 eyeDirection = -(vf_m_view * vf_m_model * vec4(g_vertex[index], 1.0)).xyz; vec3 lightDirection = normalize(-(vf_m_view * vec4(vf_l_position, 1.0)).xyz); f_eyeDirection = TBN * eyeDirection; f_lightDirection = TBN * lightDirection; f_normal = normalize(g_normal[index]); f_patchDistance = g_patchDistance[index]; f_shadowCoordinates = vf_m_depthBias * vec4(g_vertex[index], 1.0); f_textureCoordinates = g_textureCoordinates[index]; f_vertex = (vf_m_model * vec4(g_vertex[index], 1.0)).xyz; gl_Position = gl_in[index].gl_Position; EmitVertex(); index ++; } EndPrimitive(); } Fragment shader: #version 410 core in vec3 f_bitangent; in vec3 f_eyeDirection; in vec3 f_lightDirection; in vec3 f_normal; in vec4 f_patchDistance; in vec4 f_shadowCoordinates; in vec3 f_tangent; in vec2 f_textureCoordinates; in vec3 f_vertex; out vec4 fragColor; uniform vec4 vf_l_color; uniform vec3 vf_l_position; uniform mat4 vf_m_depthBias; uniform mat4 vf_m_model; uniform mat4 vf_m_mvp; uniform mat4 vf_m_projection; uniform mat4 vf_m_view; uniform sampler2D vf_t_diffuse; uniform sampler2D vf_t_normal; uniform sampler2DShadow vf_t_shadow; uniform sampler2D vf_t_specular; vec2 poissonDisk[16] = vec2[]( vec2(-0.94201624, -0.39906216), vec2( 0.94558609, -0.76890725), vec2(-0.09418410, -0.92938870), vec2( 0.34495938, 0.29387760), vec2(-0.91588581, 0.45771432), vec2(-0.81544232, -0.87912464), vec2(-0.38277543, 0.27676845), vec2( 0.97484398, 0.75648379), vec2( 0.44323325, -0.97511554), vec2( 0.53742981, -0.47373420), vec2(-0.26496911, -0.41893023), vec2( 0.79197514, 0.19090188), vec2(-0.24188840, 0.99706507), vec2(-0.81409955, 0.91437590), vec2( 0.19984126, 0.78641367), vec2( 0.14383161, -0.14100790) ); float random(vec3 seed, int i) { vec4 seed4 = vec4(seed,i); float dot_product = dot(seed4, vec4(12.9898, 78.233, 45.164, 94.673)); return fract(sin(dot_product) * 43758.5453); } float amplify(float d, float scale, float offset) { d = scale * d + offset; d = clamp(d, 0, 1); d = 1 - exp2(-2.0 * d * d); return d; } void main() { vec3 lightColor = vf_l_color.xyz; float lightPower = vf_l_color.w; vec3 materialDiffuseColor = texture(vf_t_diffuse, f_textureCoordinates).xyz; vec3 materialAmbientColor = vec3(0.1, 0.1, 0.1) * materialDiffuseColor; vec3 materialSpecularColor = texture(vf_t_specular, f_textureCoordinates).xyz; vec3 n = normalize(texture(vf_t_normal, f_textureCoordinates).rgb * 2.0 - 1.0); vec3 l = normalize(f_lightDirection); float cosTheta = clamp(dot(n, l), 0.0, 1.0); vec3 E = normalize(f_eyeDirection); vec3 R = reflect(-l, n); float cosAlpha = clamp(dot(E, R), 0.0, 1.0); float visibility = 1.0; float bias = 0.005 * tan(acos(cosTheta)); bias = clamp(bias, 0.0, 0.01); for (int i = 0; i < 4; i ++) { float shading = (0.5 / 4.0); int index = i; visibility -= shading * (1.0 - texture(vf_t_shadow, vec3(f_shadowCoordinates.xy + poissonDisk[index] / 3000.0, (f_shadowCoordinates.z - bias) / f_shadowCoordinates.w))); }\n" fragColor.xyz = materialAmbientColor + visibility * materialDiffuseColor * lightColor * lightPower * cosTheta + visibility * materialSpecularColor * lightColor * lightPower * pow(cosAlpha, 5); fragColor.w = texture(vf_t_diffuse, f_textureCoordinates).w; } The following images should be enough to give you an idea of the problem. Before moving the camera: Moving the camera just a little. Moving it to the center of the scene.

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• Google and Bing Map APIs Compared

  - by SGWellens

  At one of the local golf courses I frequent, there is an open grass field next to the course. It is about eight acres in size and mowed regularly. It is permissible to hit golf balls there—you bring and shag our own balls. My golf colleagues and I spend hours there practicing, chatting and in general just wasting time. One of the guys brings Ginger, the amazing, incredible, wonder dog. Ginger is a Hungarian Vizlas (or Hungarian pointer). She chases squirrels, begs for snacks and supervises us closely to make sure we don't misbehave. Anyway, I decided to make a dedicated web page to measure distances on the field in yards using online mapping services. I started with Google maps and then did the same application with Bing maps. It is a good way to become familiar with the APIs. Here are images of the final two maps: Google:  Bing:   To start with online mapping services, you need to visit the respective websites and get a developers key. I pared the code down to the minimum to make it easier to compare the APIs. Google maps required this CSS (or it wouldn't work): <style type="text/css">     html     {         height: 100%;     }       body     {         height: 100%;         margin: 0;         padding: 0;     } Here is how the map scripts are included. Google requires the developer Key when loading the JavaScript, Bing requires it when the map object is created: Google: <script type="text/javascript" src="https://maps.googleapis.com/maps/api/js?key=XXXXXXX&libraries=geometry&sensor=false" > </script> Bing: <script  type="text/javascript" src="http://ecn.dev.virtualearth.net/mapcontrol/mapcontrol.ashx?v=7.0"> </script> Note: I use jQuery to manipulate the DOM elements which may be overkill, but I may add more stuff to this application and I didn't want to have to add it later. Plus, I really like jQuery. Here is how the maps are created: Common Code (the same for both Google and Bing Maps):     <script type="text/javascript">         var gTheMap;         var gMarker1;         var gMarker2;           $(document).ready(DocLoaded);           function DocLoaded()         {             // golf course coordinates             var StartLat = 44.924254;             var StartLng = -93.366859;               // what element to display the map in             var mapdiv = $("#map_div")[0];   Google:         // where on earth the map should display         var StartPoint = new google.maps.LatLng(StartLat, StartLng);           // create the map         gTheMap = new google.maps.Map(mapdiv,             {                 center: StartPoint,                 zoom: 18,                 mapTypeId: google.maps.MapTypeId.SATELLITE             });           // place two markers         marker1 = PlaceMarker(new google.maps.LatLng(StartLat, StartLng + .0001));         marker2 = PlaceMarker(new google.maps.LatLng(StartLat, StartLng - .0001));           DragEnd(null);     } Bing:         // where on earth the map should display         var StartPoint = new  Microsoft.Maps.Location(StartLat, StartLng);           // create the map         gTheMap = new Microsoft.Maps.Map(mapdiv,             {                 credentials: 'XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX',                 center: StartPoint,                 zoom: 18,                 mapTypeId: Microsoft.Maps.MapTypeId.aerial             });           // place two markers         marker1 = PlaceMarker(new Microsoft.Maps.Location(StartLat, StartLng + .0001));         marker2 = PlaceMarker(new Microsoft.Maps.Location(StartLat, StartLng - .0001));           DragEnd(null);     } Note: In the Bing documentation, mapTypeId: was missing from the list of options even though the sample code included it. Note: When creating the Bing map, use the developer Key for the credentials property. I immediately place two markers/pins on the map which is simpler that creating them on the fly with mouse clicks (as I first tried). The markers/pins are draggable and I capture the DragEnd event to calculate and display the distance in yards and draw a line when the user finishes dragging. Here is the code to place a marker: Google: // ---- PlaceMarker ------------------------------------   function PlaceMarker(location) {     var marker = new google.maps.Marker(         {             position: location,             map: gTheMap,             draggable: true         });     marker.addListener('dragend', DragEnd);     return marker; } Bing: // ---- PlaceMarker ------------------------------------   function PlaceMarker(location) {     var marker = new Microsoft.Maps.Pushpin(location,     {         draggable : true     });     Microsoft.Maps.Events.addHandler(marker, 'dragend', DragEnd);     gTheMap.entities.push(marker);     return marker; } Here is the code than runs when the user stops dragging a marker: Google: // ---- DragEnd -------------------------------------------   var gLine = null;   function DragEnd(Event) {     var meters = google.maps.geometry.spherical.computeDistanceBetween(marker1.position, marker2.position);     var yards = meters * 1.0936133;     $("#message").text(yards.toFixed(1) + ' yards');    // draw a line connecting the points     var Endpoints = [marker1.position, marker2.position];       if (gLine == null)     {         gLine = new google.maps.Polyline({             path: Endpoints,             strokeColor: "#FFFF00",             strokeOpacity: 1.0,             strokeWeight: 2,             map: gTheMap         });     }     else        gLine.setPath(Endpoints); } Bing: // ---- DragEnd -------------------------------------------   var gLine = null;   function DragEnd(Args) {    var Distance =  CalculateDistance(marker1._location, marker2._location);      $("#message").text(Distance.toFixed(1) + ' yards');       // draw a line connecting the points    var Endpoints = [marker1._location, marker2._location];           if (gLine == null)    {        gLine = new Microsoft.Maps.Polyline(Endpoints,            {                strokeColor: new Microsoft.Maps.Color(0xFF, 0xFF, 0xFF, 0),  // aRGB                strokeThickness : 2            });          gTheMap.entities.push(gLine);    }    else        gLine.setLocations(Endpoints);  }  Note: I couldn't find a function to calculate the distance between points in the Bing API, so I wrote my own (CalculateDistance). If you want to see the source for it, you can pick it off the web page. Note: I was able to verify the accuracy of the measurements by using the golf hole next to the field. I put a pin/marker on the center of the green, and then by zooming in, I was able to see the 150 markers on the fairway and put the other pin/marker on one of them. Final Notes: All in all, the APIs are very similar. Both made it easy to accomplish a lot with a minimum amount of code. In one aerial view, there are leaves on the tree, in the other, the trees are bare. I don't know which service has the newer data. Here are links to working pages: Bing Map Demo Google Map Demo I hope someone finds this useful. Steve Wellens   CodeProject

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• Best practice to calculate the average speed from GPS coordinates

  - by Sebi

  i have here a device which can give me gps coordinates. the time intervall i can define. i want to use it to calculate the average speed during driving or travelling by car. actually i used a orthodrome formula to calculate the distance between two points and then divided it by the given time intervall. by the implemenation i followed this term (http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodrome#Genauere_Formel_zur_Abstandsberechnung_auf_der_Erde). Unfortunately i could only find a german link, but i think the formula should be understandable in any language ;) Unfortunately, using this formula and a time intverall of 1 seconds gives very unprecises results. the speed while walking is between 1 km/h and 20km/h. So i wonder if there is a general reference how to implement distance calculation between two gps coordinates (i found something similar on SO) and particulary, which is the best time intervall to update the GPS coordiantes.

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• Django: making raw SQL query, passing multiple/repeated params?

  - by AP257

  Hopefully this should be a fairly straightforward question, I just don't know enough about Python and Django to answer it. I've got a raw SQL query in Django that takes six different parameters, the first two of which (centreLat and centreLng) are each repeated: query = "SELECT units, (SQRT(((lat-%s)*(lat-%s)) + ((lng-%s)*(lng-%s)))) AS distance FROM places WHERE lat<%s AND lat>%s AND lon<%s AND lon>%s ORDER BY distance;" params = [centreLat,centreLng,swLat,neLat,swLng,neLng] places = Place.objects.raw(query, params) How do I structure the params object and the query string so they know which parameters to repeat and where?

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• image focus calculation

  - by Oren Mazor

  Hi folks, I'm trying to develop an image focusing algorithm for some test automation work. I've chosen to use AForge.net, since it seems like a nice mature .net friendly system. Unfortunately, I can't seem to find information on building autofocus algorithms from scratch, so I've given it my best try: take image. apply sobel edge detection filter, which generates a greyscale edge outline. generate a histogram and save the standard dev. move camera one step closer to subject and take another picture. if the standard dev is smaller than previous one, we're getting more in focus. otherwise, we've past the optimal distance to be taking pictures. is there a better way? update: HUGE flaw in this, by the way. as I get past the optimal focus point, my "image in focus" value continues growing. you'd expect a parabolic-ish function looking at distance/focus-value, but in reality you get something that's more logarithmic

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• How to page while maintaining the querystring values in ASP.Net Mvc 2

  - by Picflight

  I am using the pager provided by Martijin Boland to implementing paging in my Asp.Net Mvc 2 application. My form uses the GET method to send all parameters to the querystring, it is a search form with several form elements. <% using (Html.BeginForm("SearchResults", "Search", FormMethod.Get)) {%> On the SearchResults View I am trying to implement paging: <div class="pager"> <%= Html.Pager(Model.PageSize, Model.PageNumber, Model.TotalItemCount, new { Request.QueryString })%> </div> The Html.Pager has some overloads which I am not too clear on how to use. The Request.QueryString makes the querystring look like this: http://localhost:1155/Search/SearchResults?QueryString=Distance%3D10%26txtZip%3D%26cb&page=2 Should it not be like this? http://localhost:1155/Search/SearchResults?Distance=20&txtZip=10021&page=2

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• What's an efficient way of calculating the nearest point?

  - by Griffo

  I have objects with location data stored in Core Data, I would like to be able to fetch and display just the nearest point to the current location. I'm aware there are formulas which will calculate the distance from current lat/long to a stored lat/long, but I'm curious about the best way to perform this for a set of 1000+ points stored in Core Data. I know I could just return the points from Core Data to an array and then loop through that looking for the min value for distance between the points but I'd imagine there's a more efficient method, possibly leveraging Core Data in some way. Any insight would be appreciated. EDIT: I don't know how I missed this on my initial search but this SO question suggests just iterating through an array of Core Data objects but limiting the array size with a bounding box based on the current location. Is this the best I can do?

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