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  • Tortoise SVN tree conflict with myself

    - by Jesse Pepper
    Has anyone had the experience of moving a file in tortoise and committing successfully, only to later commit a different change and be told of a tree conflict where: the file in its original location has been deleted, but in tortoise is marked as missing the file in its new location is there, but marked as already added. (I use tortoise SVN, and we have client and server 1.60) Nobody else changed either the directory or the file (according to svn log). Why is this happening? Is there a way to avoid it happening? If it does happen, is there a more elegant way of fixing the problem than by deleting the whole folder and updating again?

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  • Just introducing myself to TMPing, and came across a quirk

    - by Justen
    I was just trying to learn the syntax of the beginner things, and how it worked when I was making this short bit of code. The code below works in adding numbers 1 to 499, but if I add 1 to 500, the compiler bugs out giving me: fatal error C1001: An internal error has occurred in the compiler. And I was just wondering why that is. Is there some limit to how much code the compiler can generate or something and it just happened to be a nice round number of 500 for me? #include <iostream> using namespace std; template < int b > struct loop { enum { sum = loop< b - 1 >::sum + b }; }; template <> struct loop< 0 > { enum { sum = 0 }; }; int main() { cout << "Adding the numbers from 1 to 499 = " << loop< 499 >::sum << endl; return 0; }

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  • How do I protect myself?

    - by ved
    I was poking around at my work computer this evening and was looking at my timesheets. I noticed that all my timesheets had variables in the URLs and I could figure out the numbering scheme for the pages. Then I got a little curious about SQL injection and thought of trying out adding simple SQL injections like "OR 1=1" etc. to see how protected we really were with our timesheet info. One of these strings yielded a friendly error page saying that an error email was sent to the developer. I am concerned that my ID, and request will be seen by the developer , immediately recognized as SQL injection and will be reported to network security officer as a malicious attempt by an employee to hack the timesheet dB. what is my defense? I am really worried.

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  • How can I update the version of an APK which I did not create myself

    - by sylvanaar
    I am new to Android development. I am using a x-platform development tool which builds and signs the APK for me. This tool has a bug and it does not generate APK's with the version number I specify, all APK's generated are version 1.0. I would like to unpack the APK, edit the version number, and then resign and repackage it. It was signed using my keystore originally, so I have the keys needed to sign it again. How can this be done?

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  • Myself throwing NullReferenceException... needs help

    - by Amit Ranjan
    I know it might be a weird question and its Title too, but i need your help. I am a .net dev , working on platform for the last 1.5 years. I am bit confused on the term usually we say " A Good Programmer ". I dont know ,what are the qualities of a good programmer ? Is the guy who writes a bug free code? or Can develop applications solely? or blah blah blah...lots of points. I dont know... But as far i am concerned , I know I am not a good programmer, still in learning phase an needs a lot to learn in coming days. So you guys are requested to please help me with this two problems of mine My first problem is regarding the proper Error Handling, which is a most debatable aspect of programming. We all know we use ` try { } catch { } finally { } ` in our code to manage exception. But even if I use try { } catch(exception ex) { throw ex } finally { } , different guys have different views. I still dont know the good way to handle errors. I can write code, use try-catch but still i feel I lacks something. When I saw the codes generated by .net fx tools even they uses throw ex or `throw new Exception("this is my exception")`.. I am just wondering what will be the best way to achieve the above. All means the same thing but why we avoid something. If it has some demerits then it must be made obselete.Anyways I still dont have one [how to handle errors efficiently?]. I generally follow the try-catch(execoption ex){throw ex}, and usually got stucked in debates with leads why you follow this why not that... 2.Converting your entire code blocks in modules using Design patterns of some OOPs concepts. How do you guys decide what architeture or pattern will be the best for my upcoming application based on its working, flow etc. I need to know what you guys can see that I can't. Since I know , I dont have that much experience but I can say, with my experience that experience doesnot comes either from degree/certificates or success you made instead it cames from failures you faced or got stucking situations. Pleas help me out.

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  • Ringing myself using android emulator

    - by vondip
    Hi all, I am developing a small application on Google's android emulator. I am trying to figure out how I can simulate a phone call from one instance of an emulator to another (both running on my computer). Does anyone know how this can be done? Thank you very much.

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  • NullReferenceException makes me want to shoot myself

    - by rockinthesixstring
    Ok, so once upon a time, my code worked. Since then I did some refactoring (basic stuff so I thought) but now I'm getting a null reference exception, and I can't bloody well figure out why. Here's where it starts. note, this is the logout method, but all of my ActivityLogs sections are throwing this error Function LogOut(ByVal go As String) As ActionResult ActivityLogService.AddActivity(AuthenticationHelper.RetrieveAuthUser.ID, _ IActivityLogService.LogType.UserLogout, _ HttpContext.Request.UserHostAddress) ActivityLogService.SubmitChanges() ''# more stuff happens after this End Function The service is pretty straight forward (notice the ERROR THROWN HERE) Public Sub AddActivity(ByVal userid As Integer, ByVal activity As Integer, ByVal ip As String) Implements IActivityLogService.AddActivity Dim _activity As ActivityLog = New ActivityLog With {.Activity = activity, .UserID = userid, .UserIP = ip.IPAddressToNumber, .ActivityDate = DateTime.UtcNow} ActivityLogRepository.Create(_activity) ''#ERROR THROWN HERE End Sub And the Interface that the Service uses looks like this Public Interface IActivityLogService Sub AddActivity(ByVal userid As Integer, ByVal activity As Integer, ByVal ip As String) Function GetUsersLastActivity(ByVal UserID As Integer) As ActivityLog Sub SubmitChanges() ''' <summary> ''' The type of activity done by the user ''' </summary> ''' <remarks>Each int refers to an activity. ''' There can be no duplicates or modifications ''' after this application goes live</remarks> Enum LogType As Integer ''' <summary> ''' A new session started ''' </summary> SessionStarted = 1 ''' <summary> ''' A new user is Added/Created ''' </summary> UserAdded = 2 ''' <summary> ''' User has updated their profile ''' </summary> UserUpdated = 3 ''' <summary> ''' User has logged into they system ''' </summary> UserLogin = 4 ''' <summary> ''' User has logged out of the system ''' </summary> UserLogout = 5 ''' <summary> ''' A new event has been added ''' </summary> EventAdded = 6 ''' <summary> ''' An event has been updated ''' </summary> EventUpdated = 7 ''' <summary> ''' An event has been deleted ''' </summary> EventDeleted = 8 ''' <summary> ''' An event has received a Up/Down vote ''' </summary> EventVoted = 9 ''' <summary> ''' An event has been closed ''' </summary> EventCloseVoted = 10 ''' <summary> ''' A comment has been added to an event ''' </summary> CommentAdded = 11 ''' <summary> ''' A comment has been updated ''' </summary> CommentUpdated = 12 ''' <summary> ''' A comment has been deleted ''' </summary> CommentDeleted = 13 ''' <summary> ''' An event or comment has been reported as spam ''' </summary> SpamReported = 14 End Enum End Interface And the repository is equally straight forward Public Sub Create(ByVal activity As ActivityLog) Implements IActivityLogRepository.Create dc.ActivityLogs.InsertOnSubmit(activity) End Sub The stack trace is as follows [NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.] MyApp.Core.Domain.ActivityLogService.AddActivity(Int32 userid, Int32 activity, String ip) in E:\Projects\MyApp\MyApp.Core\Domain\Services\ActivityLogService.vb:49 MyApp.Core.Controllers.UsersController.Authenticate(String go) in E:\Projects\MyApp\MyApp.Core\Controllers\UsersController.vb:258 lambda_method(Closure , ControllerBase , Object[] ) +163 System.Web.Mvc.ActionMethodDispatcher.Execute(ControllerBase controller, Object[] parameters) +51 System.Web.Mvc.ReflectedActionDescriptor.Execute(ControllerContext controllerContext, IDictionary2 parameters) +409 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionMethod(ControllerContext controllerContext, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor, IDictionary2 parameters) +52 System.Web.Mvc.<c_DisplayClass15.b_12() +127 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionMethodFilter(IActionFilter filter, ActionExecutingContext preContext, Func1 continuation) +436 System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClass17.<InvokeActionMethodWithFilters>b__14() +61 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeActionMethodWithFilters(ControllerContext controllerContext, IList1 filters, ActionDescriptor actionDescriptor, IDictionary2 parameters) +305 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerActionInvoker.InvokeAction(ControllerContext controllerContext, String actionName) +830 System.Web.Mvc.Controller.ExecuteCore() +136 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerBase.Execute(RequestContext requestContext) +232 System.Web.Mvc.ControllerBase.System.Web.Mvc.IController.Execute(RequestContext requestContext) +39 System.Web.Mvc.<>c__DisplayClassb.<BeginProcessRequest>b__5() +68 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass1.<MakeVoidDelegate>b__0() +44 System.Web.Mvc.Async.<>c__DisplayClass81.b__7(IAsyncResult ) +42 System.Web.Mvc.Async.WrappedAsyncResult`1.End() +141 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.End(IAsyncResult asyncResult, Object tag) +54 System.Web.Mvc.Async.AsyncResultWrapper.End(IAsyncResult asyncResult, Object tag) +40 System.Web.Mvc.<c_DisplayClasse.b_d() +61 System.Web.Mvc.SecurityUtil.b_0(Action f) +31 System.Web.Mvc.SecurityUtil.ProcessInApplicationTrust(Action action) +56 System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult asyncResult) +110 System.Web.Mvc.MvcHandler.System.Web.IHttpAsyncHandler.EndProcessRequest(IAsyncResult result) +38 System.Web.CallHandlerExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +690 System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +194 here's an image of the error when attached to the debugger. And here's an image of the DB schema in question Can anyone shed some light on what I might be missing here?

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  • Can I avoid repeating myself in this situation (Java)

    - by UltimateGuy
    if (openFile == null) { new AppFileDialog().chooseFile("Save", appFrame); } if (openFile == null) { return; } Here I need to check to see if the user has already chosen a file. If not, they are given a prompt to. If the file is still null, the function returns without saving. The problem is the two identical if statements, can I avoid it? I take DRY very seriously, but at the same time KISS. Ideally the two go hand in hand, but in a situation like this, it seems they are mutually exclusive.

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  • Making it myself vs. modifying someone else's code as a beginner

    - by JamesGold
    I just started getting into open source projects mainly for the learning experience. I've made a few tiny contributions to some small projects. Most of my time has been spent just reading over other people's code and trying to understand how it works. Often times I find myself frustrated by a lack of documentation and unit tests. There are also times where I think I can see a more intuitive solution to a problem, but implementing it would require large restructuring of code. I see all this and wonder to myself why I don't just start clean on the whole thing by myself and do things "the right way"? I'd also enjoy the experience of building it from scratch, as it would force me to learn skills that I might not learn by working on other people's code. On the other hand, working on other people's code is also a great experience because it requires me to understand and work with other people's code and collaborate with them. It's just harder, IMO. Thoughts?

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  • Studying computer science - what am I getting myself into?

    - by clankercrusher
    I'm a student considering the possibility of studying computer science. I've picked up programming indie games and websites as a hobby and I really enjoy it. Despite my fairly positive experience, I somehow get the feeling that computer science in the business world will be completely different than do-it-for-fun game making. Since I'm interested in the field and I'd like to study well, I want to prepare myself for the onslaught. (If that’s even possible) What are some of the most important principals I need to know if I decide to study computer science? What will I need to know about computer science that a University probably won't teach me? Is there any way I can get hands on experience before or while I'm at a University? What am I getting myself into? P.S. Is this the right stack exchange site for this type of question?

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  • Deleted Myself from Admin Group - Now Getting Error usermod: cannot lock /etc/passwd; try again later

    - by BubbaJ
    I have a laptop with Ubuntu 11.10 that is shared between myself and two other family members. My user id was setup as the only "Administrator" on the laptop. The other users were setup as "Standard" users. In my attempt to try to add myself to the user groups for the other users, I somehow deleted myself from the admin groups. I used the "usermod" command from the terminal. I must have neglected to include the proper switches or syntax for the update. It looks like I successfully added my userid to the group associated with my wife's account. When I use the "groups" command, I can see only my id and my wife's id in the list. I no longer see the "admin" or "adm" groups, and others that used to be listed. When I go into System Settings User Accounts it looks like my ID is now listed as a "Standard" user. I would like to change my account back to "Administrator", but now I can't. I did some searches for solutions and found that I would need to boot into Recovery Mode and execute the usermod command from the root session. I was able to successfully boot into Recovery Mode and get to the root session. I was trying to execute the command "usermod -a -G admin user1" to add my id (user1) back to the admin group. When I execute the command from the root session, I get the error message "usermod: cannot lock /etc/passwd; try again later". I tried preceding the usermod command with "sudo", but it didn't make a difference, same error. I then tried adding a new user using adduser, thinking I would try to create a new userid and make the new userid part of the admin group. I get the same error using the adduser command. I saw some posts that recommend looking for and deleting files that end in ".lock" in the etc directory. The only file I found was .pwd.lock which I haven't touched. I am at a loss as to what to try next. I am relatively inexperienced with Ubuntu and Linux, so alot of this is new to me. Any help you can provide would be much appreciated.

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  • I am now ready to publish my commercial Android/IPhone/Anything application - what disclaimers should I use to protect myself?

    - by corgrath
    I have now written my last line of code and I am ready to publish my application to the Android Market, what disclaimers should I add to protect myself as a developer from customers who purchase my application, to prevent being sued by stupid people? It might be a harsh question, but how does developers protect themselves when publishing their software? Developers or small companies (for example all these iPhone/Android developers) that can't afford hiring a small army of lawyers, what should they do? Any solid text I can use?

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  • Trying not to get ahead of myself but it is hard!

    - by Andrew
    Well I made a 5 year plan for myself (11years-16years) I am pretty good at Java, HTML, and PHP. I have already done some end projects: Small Java Platform Game A Small Polynomial Solver A Small Image Sharing Site A Chess Website: chesslounge.net I am currently doing some Android Development and so far I have made a program that Vibrates, Blinks the Light, or Creates a custom status message based on the user input. And a program that rotates a pyramid with a texture. My question is: Should I stick to what I am doing or Learn something a little new? I am itching to do C++, but what is your advice?

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  • How do I dig myself out of this DEEP hole? [closed]

    - by user74847
    I may be a bit bias in the way i word this but any opinions and suggestions are welcome. I should start by saying i have a MSc in CS and a degree in new media +6 years expereince and im probably around a middleweight developer. I started a web development company with my friend from uni a year ago, there was a 4 month gap in the middle where i went miles away work on a big project. Ive since returned and picked up where we left off. A year on though i find im still staying up til 5am and getting up at 9 sometimes 2-3 days without sleep. While i was away i was working 9-5 and struggling to keep up with doing stuff for my clients 8 hours ahead, after work, so things stagnated. We currently have about 12 active projects, with one other part time developer and a full time freelancer who is dealing with one of our major projects. I am solely responsible for concurrently developing 2 big sites similar to gumtree in functionality, at the same time as about 5-6+ small WordPress based 5-10page sites. a lot of the content isnt in yet or the client is delaying so i chop and change project every other day which does my head in. Is it reasonable to expect myself to remember the intricate details of each project when i come back to it a week later? and remember the details of a task which hasnt been written down? my business partner seems to think so. or am i just forgetful? Im particularly bad at estimating timescales which doesnt help, added to that a lot of the technologies im am using are new to me (a magento site took weeks to theme rather than days and was full of bugs, even after 1000's of google searches and hours reading forums) im still trying to learn and find the best CMS for us to use and getting my head around the likes of Bootstrap and jquery, Cpanel / Linux (we just got a blank vps for me to set up with no experience) even installing an SSL certificate caused everyone's mail clients to go down which was more stress for me to sort out. I find the pressure of the workload and timescales and trying to learn this stuff so fast is beginning to turn me against my career path. The fact that i never seem to get anything done really winds up my business partner and iv come to associate him with the stress and pain of the whole situation especially when I get berated or a look that says "oh you retard" when I forget something. Even today i spent hours learning how a particular themeforest theme worked with wordpress and how i could twist it to work for our partiuclar needs, on the surface had done no work, that triggered a 30 minute tirade of anger and stress and questioning what i had done from my business partner. had i taken too long to work on that? shoudl i have done it in 2 hours instead of 6? i told him i would take 2 hours. i was wrong. I feel like im running myself into the ground. My sleeping pattern has got so bad that when im working im half asleep and making mistakes, my eyes are constantly purple underneath, i literally fall asleep at my desk, its affecting my social life too, ive not slept more than lightly for the last year and grind through impossible code puzzles in my half sleep wich keeps me awake, when im already exhausted. plus the work is rushed and buggy when it does get done so drags on into the next project. I also procrastinate quite badly, pacing the livingroom, looking out the window when Im alone for three days straight in the flat and start to get cabin fever which means i do even less work and the negative feedback loop continues. I get told im the only one with the problem when i say that i cant work from home any more, and examples of other freelancers get brought up. an office wouldnt bring any extra cash in to the company but im convinced having that moving more than 2 meters away from my bed to go to "work" would get me working, at the moment i feel guilty like i should be working 24-7. It is important that we do all this work to raise enough cash to get our business to the next level but every month still feels like a struggle to pay the rent (there is about £20K coming in by Jan) and i have to borrow money from friends often to buy food or get a taxi to a meeting, so it is vital the money keeps coming in. (im also 20 mins late for nearly all meetings but thats a different issue) have you experienced anything similar? how can i deal with the issues ive raised? is it realistic to develop 10 sites at once? how can i improve my relationship with my business partner? do you struggle to work at home? how do you deal with that? i think if i dont get my life on track by feb i will seriously consider giving it all up, but that seems like such a waste. any ideas!!? i need help! Thanks.

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  • Should I try to write simple key-value storage by myself?

    - by shabunc
    I need a key-value storage in a simplest form we can think of. Keys should be some fixed-length strings, values should be some texts. This key-value storage should have an HTTP-backed API. That's basically it. As you can see, there is no big difference between such storage and some web application with some upload functionality. The thing is - it'll take few hours (including tests and coffee drinking) to write something like this. "Something like this" will be fully under my control and can be tuned on demand. Should I, in this specific case, not try to reinvent bicycles? Is it better to use some of existing NoSQL solutions. If yes, which one exactly? If, say, I'd needed something SQL-like, I won't ask and won't try to write something by myself. But with NoSQL I just don't know what is adequate and what is not.

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  • How can I make myself better at programming working at a shi* job ?

    - by Scrooge
    I recently graduated with an Engineering degree in Computer Science, but my employer (a mid-sized software company) is not using my logical and programming skills. I want to move to a better opportunity but how do I do that since my experience here is not going to count as much? How do I get a better programming job? The worst part is that I am still reading from books (and not writing code myself) even after I have started working. They are paying me a standard entry level Indian IT job rate but I really dont care. It's not worth it. Please advise as to how I can do something worthwhile. (I have studied C++; Core Java; Ruby On Rails ..made a couple of academic projects but no relevant practical real world experience). Just to make things easier .. let me list a few basic queries How I get better at programming without a good project at my company? Please suggest projects where I can learn to write practical code (platform doesn't matter) Best place to take part in open source development? Is it possible that I earn slightly more while I learn? (apart from my sh** job I mean) What kind of practical projects are best suited for me? (ie for an entry level programmer)

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  • I have an MIS degree. How do I sell myself as a programmer?

    - by hydroparadise
    So, I graduated with a BSBA in Management Information Systems with honors almost 2 years ago which is more of a business degree. As of right now, I do have a job title of "Programmer", but it's more of a report writing position in an arbitrary, proprietary language called PowerOn with the occasional interesting project using more mainstream technologies like .Net and Java. I am also somewhat isoloated being the only programmer in the workplace, which I beleive is a detriment to my career path. The only people I have to bounce ideas against are those on the various SE sites. I don't regret going MIS, but over the past couple of years I have discovered my passion for coding, even though I have been doing some form of coding profesionally and as an enthusiast for years. I do want to persue my Masters in CS (at a later time), but I am not sure if I necessarily need a CS degree to get in with a team of programmers. In addition, I do have a number classes I have taken for different laguanges on the way (C++, Java, SQL, and VB.Net) I beleive my strength is in problem solving where code is just a tool to tackling to problem if needed. My question: How do I best sell myself as a programmer? Should I continue pounding out reports and wait till I have my masters in CS? Or am I viable to be a programmer as I stand?

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  • How can I check myself when I'm the only one working on a project?

    - by Ricardo Altamirano
    I'm in between jobs in my field (unrelated to software development), and I recently picked up a temporary side contract writing a few applications for a firm. I'm the only person working on these specific applications. Are there ways I should be checking myself to make sure my applications are sound? I test my code, try to think of edge cases, generate sample data, use source control, etc. but since I'm the only person working on these applications, I'm worried I'll miss bugs that would easily be found in a team environment. Once I finish the application, either when I'm happy with it or when my deadline expires, the firm plans to use it in production. Any advice? Not to use a cliche, but as of now, I simply work "to the best of my ability" and hope that it's enough. Incidentally, I'm under both strict NDA's and laws about classified material, so I don't discuss the applications with friends who have actually worked in software development. (In case it's not obvious, I am not a software developer by trade, and even my experience with other aspects of information technology/computer science are limited and restrained to dabbling for the most part).

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  • Where is the best place to teach myself a language, and which one?

    - by Lorinda
    Hello, I do not know any programming languages at all. I will self teach myself and need to know the best place to do so where I can learn from a most basic level. Where is a great place to begin learning a language? What language is best to learn first? Is it silly to learn Ruby first? Here, I came across someone saying that learning some of the higher languages can make you 'lazy' if you learn them first. Like Ruby amongst others. For my first language, my husband is advising me to learn Ruby (for his own personal interests). However, I need some independent advice of how to get started and what language I should learn first. I will eventually learn Ruby and then Rails. Four months ago, my husband ordered a text of objective C because he thought he would take it on. I flipped through and it was clearly starting at a place more advanced than where I am coming from. I have dabbled with a Ruby tutorial and I don't get it. I get what I am putting in is what I get, but I don't understand what is leading up to that. I need to know ALL the rules first. I then looked up computer languages and stared researching binary code which helped a lot, but not where I want to start. I don't have a lot of time right now in my life (with four kids) to go back that far. If I were going to school, that would be different. Any advice you could give is most welcomed.

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  • Can I eventually consider myself a professional developer if I don't have a CS degree? [on hold]

    - by heltonbiker
    Question first, context later: If I am a dedicated, self-taught programmer, always seeking top-quality books AND READING THEM, while successfully applying all that new knowledge into my current work, could I call myself (and offer my work as) a PROFESSIONAL developer? How limiting (or how common) that is nowadays? I am afraid that, no matter how hard I study and practice, it could be too difficult to compete with "actual", college graduated developers, and potential employers might have doubts investing in an "undergraduated" person. Now, context: My former profession is from healthcare sector, then I studied mechanical engineering (quit in the middle), then I studied product design (master degree), and I ended up working (very happily) at an engineering company that manufactures medical devices. For more than two years now my main activity in this company is software development. The devices contain software, and we gave up hiring software development (domain knowledge needed, too much communication cost). My current company sees a lot of value in what I do, but I cannot afford the risk of depending on this single company for the rest of my life, you get it. But a lot of job offers require some minimal formal education, usually a CS degree. Fact is that I am sure this is my target profession, I don't plan to go to another area, it is a pleasure to dive into books that normal people would consider unreadable, but I'm 36 years old and can't see going back to college as a viable alternative.

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  • Am I deluding myself? Business analyst transition to programmer

    - by Ryan
    Current job: Working as the lead business analyst for a Big 4 firm, leading a team of developers and testers working on a large scale re-platforming project (4 onshore dev, 4 offshore devs, several onshore/offshore testers). Also work in a similar capacity on other smaller scale projects. Extent of my role: Gathering/writing out requirements, creating functional specifications, designing the UI (basically mapping out all front-end aspects of the system), working closely with devs to communicate/clarify requirements and come up with solutions when we hit roadblocks, writing test cases (and doing much of the testing), working with senior management and key stakeholders, managing beta testers, creating user guides and leading training sessions, providing key technical support. I also write quite a few macros in Excel using VBA (several of my macros are now used across the entire firm, so there are maybe around 1000 people using them) and use SQL on a daily basis, both on the SQL compact files the program relies on, our SQL Server data and any Access databases I create. The developers feel that I am quite good in this role because I understand a lot about programming, inherent system limitations, structure of the databases, etc so it's easier for me to communicate ideas and come up with suggestions when we face problems. What really interests me is developing software. I do a fair amount of programming in VBA and have been wanting to learn C# for awhile (the dev team uses C# - I review code occasionally for my own sake but have not had any practical experience using it). I'm interested in not just the business process but also the technical side of things, so the traditional BA role doesn't really whet my appetite for the kind of stuff I want to do. Right now I have a few small projects that managers have given me and I'm finding new ways to do them (like building custom Access applications), so there's a bit here and there to keep me interested. My question is this: what I would like to do is create custom Excel or Access applications for small businesses as a freelance business (working as a one-man shop; maybe having an occasional contractor depending on a project's complexity). This would obviously start out as a part-time venture while I have a day job, but eventually become a full-time job. Am I deluding myself to thinking I can go from BA/part-time VBA programmer to making a full-time go of a freelance business (where I would be starting out just writing custom Excel/Access apps in VBA)? Or is this type of thing not usually attempted until someone gains years of full-time programming experience? And is there even a market for these types of applications amongst small businesses (and maybe medium-sized) businesses?

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  • “I could use a little help here” or “I can do it myself, thank you” for Cloud Projects

    - by BuckWoody
    Windows Azure allows you to write code in languages within the .NET stack, you can use Java, C++, PHP, NodeJS and others. Code is code - other than keeping things stateless, using a Web or Worker Role in Azure is not all that different from working with an on-premises system. However…. Working in a scalable, component-based stateless architecture that can use federated security is not all that common for many developers. Some are used to owning the server, scaling up, and state-full paradigms that have a single security domain. Making the transition whilst trying to create a new software application or even port a previous one can be daunting. Sure, we have absolutely tons of free training, kits, videos, online books and more to learn on your own, but some things like architecture can be pivotal as you move along. So the question is, should you just strike out on your own for a Cloud project, or get Microsoft Consulting Services or another partner to work with you on your first one? I use a few decision points to help guide the projects I assist in. Note: I’m a huge fan of having help that ends up giving you training and leaves you in charge. If you do engage with someone to help you, make sure you keep this clear and take more and more ownership yourself as the project progresses. How much time do you have? Usually the first thing I ask is about the timeline for the project. It doesn’t matter how skilled you are, if you have a short window to get things done it’s better to get help - especially if this is your first cloud project. Having someone that knows the platform well can save you amazing amounts of time. If you have longer, then start with the training in the link above and once you feel confident, jump in. How complex is the project? If there are a lot of moving parts, it’s best to engage a partner. The reason is that certain interactions - particularly things like Service Bus or Data Integration  - can be quite different than what you may have encountered before. How many people do you have? I have a “pizza rule” about projects I’ve used in my career - if it takes over two pizzas to feed everyone on the project, it’s too big and will fail. That being said, one developer and a one-week deadline does not a good project make, usually. It’s best to have at least one architect (or someone in that role) guiding the project along, and at least two developers to work on a cloud project. That’s a generalization of course, since I’ve seen great software on Azure with one developer writing code all by herself, but for more complex projects, more (to a point) is better. The nice thing about bringing on a partner is that you don’t have to hire them full time - they help you and then they go away. How critical is the project? There’s no shame in using some help. If the platform is new, if the project is large and complex, and if it is critical to the business, you should engage a partner. That’s regardless of Cloud or anything else - get some help. You don’t want to hit your company’s bottom line in a negative way, but you have to innovate and get them a competitive advantage. Do your research, make sure the partner is qualified to help you, and get it done. Don’t let these questions scare you off. There are lots of projects you can implement on Windows and SQL Azure with nothing other than the Software Development Kit (SDK) that you get for free with Windows Azure. And assistance comes in many forms - sometimes just phone support, a friend you can ask. Microsoft Consulting Services or any of our great partners. You can get help on just the architecture piece or have them show you how to write the code. They’ll get involved as little or as much as you like.

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