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Can't complete dropbox installation from behind proxy

- by Mark Jones

Problem: My PC on campus sits behind a proxy (requiring authentication) and I can't setup Dropbox. I am convinced that this is a proxy issue as I can't setup Ubuntu one either (but I don't use Ubuntu One so that is not a problem). I have looked at the Ubuntu One fix but it seems to be to modify settings explicitly related to Ubuntu One. I can install the nautilus-dropbox package (compiled from source and from .deb package from website and from software centre) but once I click OK from the "Dropbox Installation" dialog box (prompting me to download the proprietary daemon) the installation just freezes with the OK button pressed. When I look at its process in System Monitor its waiting channel is inet_wait_for_connect. I have set the following proxy directives thus far: Added mj22:**@proxy.waikato.ac.nz:80 information to network proxy settings under network in settings. Added http_host and http_port variables under gconf-editor-system-proxy Added 'host', 'authentication_password' 'authentication_user' and ticked 'user authentication' and 'use_http_proxy' under gconf-editor-system-http_proxy Added export http_proxy="http://mj22:**@proxy.waikato.ac.nz:80/" to /etc/bash.bashrc Added Acquire::http::proxy "http://mj22:**@proxy.waikato.ac.nz:80/"; to /etc/apt/apt.conf (which is what I imagine is letting Software Center retrieve packages). (where ** is my password) I have also added the equivalent ftp and https lines for the above entries. I get the internet fine and Software Centre can download packages but thats it. Related issues: The software centre can't fetch reviews (but can download packages). When trying to add an online account in Gnome 3 a dialog pop up appears with "Error getting a Request Token: Cannot connect to proxy (proxy.waikato.ac.nz)" Updates: After some time (10mins ish) Dropbox shows an error dialog box that reads: Trouble connecting to Dropbox servers. Maybe your internet connection is down, or you need to set you http_proxy environment variable. Is there a way I can see what environment variables are currently set?

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SQL SERVER 2008 – 2011 – Declare and Assign Variable in Single Statement

- by pinaldave

Many of us are tend to overlook simple things even if we are capable of doing complex work. In SQL Server 2008, inline variable assignment is available. This feature exists from last 3 years, but I hardly see its utilization. One of the common arguments was that as the project migrated from the earlier version, the feature disappears. I totally accept this argument and acknowledge it. However, my point is that this new feature should be used in all the new coding – what is your opinion? The code which we used in SQL Server 2005 and the earlier version is as follows: DECLARE @iVariable INT, @vVariable VARCHAR(100), @dDateTime DATETIME SET @iVariable = 1 SET @vVariable = 'myvar' SET @dDateTime = GETDATE() SELECT @iVariable iVar, @vVariable vVar, @dDateTime dDT GO The same should be re-written as following: DECLARE @iVariable INT = 1, @vVariable VARCHAR(100) = 'myvar', @dDateTime DATETIME = GETDATE() SELECT @iVariable iVar, @vVariable vVar, @dDateTime dDT GO I have started to use this new method to assign variables as I personally find it very easy to read as well write. Do you still use the earlier method to declare and assign variables? If yes, is there any particular reason or just an old routine? I am interested to hear about this. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: Pinal Dave, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Scripts, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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Minimize useless tweaking of a numeric app

- by Potatoswatter

I'm developing a numeric application (nonlinear optimizer), with a zillion knobs to tweak and rising. It's not my first foray into this domain, but this time there are even more variables in the code and I'm on a tight schedule. Don't want to waste time fiddling. Days or even months can potentially be wasted adjusting variables, recompiling, and reprocessing benchmark datasets. The resulting data is viewed and trouble spots are checked. The overall quality of the solution is reported by the program but the meaning of the report could change over time. (Numeric units for the report are one thing I'm trying to nail down.) One main problem is organizing result files to identify each with specific code changes. Note taking can be a pain, is there software to help with this? Are there agreed best practices to making this kind of development cycle reliably move forward? The solver package converges to its optimal solution with mechanical determination, but I'm all too familiar with the way an excess of design decisions can mire development.

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Visual Basic link to SQL output to Word

- by CLO_471

I am in need of some advice/references. I am currently trying to develop a legal document interface. There are certain fields in which I need to query out of my sql db and have those fields output into a document that can be printed. I am trying to develop a user interface where people can enter fields that will output to a document template but at the same time I need the template to be able to pull data from the SQL database. This is the reason why I think that VB might be my best choice and because it is one of the only OOP languages I am familiar with presently. Does anyone know that best way to be able to handle this type of job?? I know that you can use VBA within MS Word and have the form output variables to a word template. But, is there a way to have the word document also pull information from the SQL db? Is the best option to use VB linked to SQL and run queries to get the information from the database and then have it output to a for within VB? Is it possible for VB to be linked to a SQL db and output variables and SQL fields to a Word Template? I have looked into Mail Merge and I see that it allows users to pull data from an Access query but I dont think it would be easy to automate and it seems that users would need to have an advanced knowledge of MS Word and Access to handle this. I am not finding much useful information online so I came here. Any advice or references would be greatly appreciated. If there is a better way please let me know.

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Organising levels / rooms in a MUD-style text based world

- by Polynomial

I'm thinking of writing a small text-based adventure game, but I'm not particularly sure how I should design the world from a technical standpoint. My first thought is to do it in XML, designed something like the following. Apologies for the huge pile of XML, but I felt it important to fully explain what I'm doing. <level> <start>  <room>Kitchen</room> <inventory></inventory> </start> <rooms> <room> <name>Kitchen</name> <description>A small kitchen that looks like it hasn't been used in a while. It has a table in the middle, and there are some cupboards. There is a door to the north, which leads to the garden.</description>  <objects> <object>Cupboards</object> <object>Knife</object> <object>Batteries</object> </objects> </room> <room> <name>Garden</name> <description>The garden is wild and full of prickly bushes. To the north there is a path, which leads into the trees. To the south there is a house.</description> <objects> </objects> </room> <room> <name>Woods</name> <description>The woods are quite dark, with little light bleeding in from the garden. It is eerily quiet.</description> <objects> <object>Trees01</object> </objects> </room> </rooms> <doors>  <door> <type>door</type> <direction>N</direction> <from>Kitchen</from> <to>Garden</to> </door> <door> <type>path</type> <direction>N</direction> <from>Garden</type> <to>Woods</type> </door> </doors> <variables>  <variable name="cupboard_open">0</variable> </variables> <objects>  <object> <name>Trees01</name> <displayName>Trees</displayName> <actions>  <action> <command>EXAMINE</command> <message>The trees are tall and thick. There aren't any low branches, so it'd be difficult to climb them.</message> </action> </actions> </object> <object> <name>Cupboards</name> <displayName>Cupboards</displayName> <actions> <action>  <requirements>  <require operation="equal" value="1">cupboard_open</require> </requirements> <command>EXAMINE</command>  <failMessage>The cupboard is closed.</failMessage> <message>The cupboard contains some batteires.</message> </action> <action> <requirements> <require operation="equal" value="0">cupboard_open</require> </requirements> <command>OPEN</command> <failMessage>The cupboard is already open.</failMessage> <message>You open the cupboard. It contains some batteries.</message>  <assigns> <assign operation="set" value="1">cupboard_open</assign> </assigns> </action> <action> <requirements> <require operation="equal" value="1">cupboard_open</require> </requirements> <command>CLOSE</command> <failMessage>The cupboard is already closed.</failMessage> <message>You closed the cupboard./message> <assigns> <assign operation="set" value="0">cupboard_open</assign> </assigns> </action> </actions> </object> <object> <name>Batteries</name> <displayName>Batteries</displayName>  <inventory>1</inventory> <actions> <action> <requirements> <require operation="equal" value="1">cupboard_open</require> </requirements> <command>GET</command>  <message>You picked up the batteries.</message> </action> </actions> </object> </objects> </level> Obviously there'd need to be more to it than this. Interaction with people and enemies as well as death and completion are necessary additions. Since the XML is quite difficult to work with, I'd probably create some sort of world editor. I'd like to know if this method has any downfalls, and if there's a "better" or more standard way of doing it.

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Calculating the "power" of a player in a "Defend Your Castle" type game

- by Jesse Emond

I'm a making a "Defend Your Castle" type game, where each player has a castle and must send units to destroy the opponent's castle. It looks like this (and yeah, this is the actual game, not a quick paint drawing..): Now, I'm trying to implement the AI of the opponent, and I'd like to create 4 different AI levels: Easy, Normal, Hard and Hardcore. I've never made any "serious" AI before and I'd like to create a quite complete one this time. My idea is to calculate a player's "power" score, based on the current health of its castle and the individual "power" score of its units. Then, the AI would just try to keep a score close to the player's one(Easy would stay below it, Normal would stay near it and Hard would try to get above it). But I just don't know how to calculate a player's power score. There are just too many variables to take into account and I don't know how to properly use them to create one significant number(the power level). Could anyone help me out on this one? Here are the variables that should influence a player's power score: Current castle health, the unit's total health, damage, speed and attack range. Also, the player can have increased Income(the money bag), damage(the + Damage) and speed(the + speed)... How could I include them in the score? I'm really stuck here... Or is there an other way that I could implement AI for this type of game? Thanks for your precious time.

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Using unordered_multimap as entity and component storage

- by natebot13

The Setup I've made a few games (more like animations) using the Object Oriented method with base classes for objects that extend them, and objects that extend those, and found I couldn't wrap my head around expanding that system to larger game ideas. So I did some research and discovered the Entity-Component system of designing games. I really like the idea, and thoroughly understood the usefulness of it after reading Byte54's perfect answer here: Role of systems in entity systems architecture. With that said, I have decided to create my current game idea using the described Entity-Component system. Having basic knowledge of C++, and SFML, I would like to implement the backbone of this entity component system using an unordered_multimap without classes for the entities themselves. Here's the idea: An unordered_mulitmap stores entity IDs as the lookup term, while the value is an inherited Component object. Examlpe: ____________________________ |ID |Component | ---------------------------- |0 |Movable | |0 |Accelable | |0 |Renderable | |1 |Movable | |1 |Renderable | |2 |Renderable | ---------------------------- So, according to this map of objects, the entity with ID 0 has three components: Movable, Accelable, and Renderable. These component objects store the entity specific data, such as the location, the acceleration, and render flags. The entity is simply and ID, with the components attached to that ID describing its attributes. Problem I want to store the component objects within the map, allowing the map have full ownership of the components. The problem I'm having, is I don't quite understand enough about pointers, shared pointers, and references in order to get that set up. How can I go about initializing these components, with their various member variables, within the unordered_multimap? Can the base component class take on the member variables of its child classes, when defining the map as unordered_multimap<int, component>? Requirements I need a system to be able to grab an entity, with all of its' attached components, and access members from the components in order to do the necessary calculations and reassignments for position, velocity, etc. Need a clarification? Post a comment with your concerns and I will gladly edit or comment back! Thanks in advance! natebot13

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how to link a c++ object to a local variable in Lua

- by MahanGM

I'm completing my scripting interface with Lua, but recently I've stuck at some point. I have several functions for my Entitiy events like Update(). I have a function called create_entitiy() which instantiate a new entity from a given entity index: function Update() local bullet = create_entity(0, 0, "obj_bullet") end create_entity returns a table which is the properties of the created entity. Now how can I make a connection between bullet variable and my newly created object? Right now for previously added objects to the scene, I simply set a global table for each of them and then after every call to Update(), I go through registered names to find object tables and perform new changes. Like the one below: function Update() if keyboard_key_press(vk_right) then obj_player.x += 3 end I can get obj_player table because I know its name from C++, plus I can get it as a global table and simply reach for the first instance named obj_player. Is there any solution for me to make bullet variable act like this? I was thinking to get all local variables in Update() function and check for every one to see if is it table and it has an unique field attached to it like id, this way I can determine that this is an object table and do the rest of the process. By the way, is this interface going to work easier with luaBind if I implement it? Bottom line: How can I make a local variable in Lua that receives a table from create_entity function and track that local variable to capture it from C++. e. g. function Update() local bullet = create_entity(0, 0, "obj_bullet") bullet.x = 10 <== Commit a change in table end Now I want to get variable bullet from C++. And it's not just this variable, there might be a ton of these local variables with different names.

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App installed in ~/usr launches from terminal but not Applications menu (or why does setting ld_library_path in .profile not work as it should)

- by levesque

I have built and installed an application under a directory of my choosing, let's say under /home/jim/usr, so files have been put in three-four folders, all under this $HOME/usr folder (e.g., bin, include, lib, share, etc.). I can launch this application from the command line just fine as I added the proper paths to my environement variables PATH and LD_LIBRARY_PATH in ~/.bashrc. I added the same paths to the ~/.profile file, which, if I'm not mistaken, is supposed to be parsed by Ubuntu. Doesn't work. Nothing. Where can I go from there? EDIT: I logged out/in and restarted my computer. Both didn't change a thing. The problem seems to come from the fact that no matter what I do the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable is not properly passed to Ubuntu. Using log files, I found that the application I'm trying to run in this example doesn't find one it's dependencies located in ~/usr/lib. One solution would be to add the /home/jim/usr/lib folder inside a file located in /etc/ld.so.conf.d/, but I don't have admin rights on this machine. Making a wrapper script like this one works: #!/bin/bash export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HLOC/usr/lib application &> $HOME/application_messages.log but that would force me to wrap all my home compiled applications with this script. Any ideas? Why does Ubuntu/Gnome remove the LD_LIBRARY_PATH environment variable from my set variables? Is it because trying to do this is bad practice? UPDATE (and solution): As found by Christopher, there is a bug report about this on launchpad. LD_LIBRARY_PATH is unset after parsing of the ~/.profile file. See the bug report. Seems the only solution for now is to make a wrapper script.

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What the Hekaton?

- by Tony Davis

Hekaton, the power behind SQL Server 2014′s In-Memory OLTP technology, is intended to make data operations run orders of magnitude faster on SQL Server. This works its magic partly by serving database workloads entirely from main memory, using memory-optimized table structures. It replaces the relational engine’s standard locking model with an optimistic concurrency model based on time-stamped row versions. Deeper down the Hekaton engine uses new, ‘latch free’ data structures. So far, so good, but performance improvements on this scale require a compromise, and the compromise is that these aren’t tables as we understand them. For the database developer, these differences are painful because they involve sacrificing some very important bits of the relational model. Most importantly, Hekaton tables don’t currently support FOREIGN KEY constraints or CHECK constraints, and you can’t put the checks in triggers because there aren’t any DML triggers either. Constraints allow a relational designer to enforce relational integrity and data integrity. Without them, of course, ‘bad data’ can get into our Hekaton tables. There is no easy way of preventing it. For several classes of database and data, this is a show-stopper. One may regard all these restrictions regretfully, seeing limited opportunity to try out Hekaton with current databases, but perhaps there is also a sudden glow of recognition. Isn’t this how we all originally imagined table variables were going to be, back in SQL 2005? And they have much the same restrictions. Maybe, instead of pretending that a currently-designed database can be ‘Hekatonized’ with a few mouse clicks, we should redesign databases for SQL 2014 to replace table variables with Hekaton tables, exploiting this technology for fast intermediate processing, and for the most part forget, for now, the idea of trying to convert our base relational tables into Hekaton tables. Few database developers would be averse to having their working tables running an order of magnitude faster, as long as it didn’t compromise the integrity of the data in the base tables.

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Can't complete dropbox installation from behind proxy in Ubuntu 11.10

- by Mark Jones

Problem: My PC on campus sits behind a proxy (requiring authentication) and I can't setup Dropbox. I am convinced that this is a proxy issue as I can't setup Ubuntu one either (but I don't use Ubuntu One so that is not a problem). I have looked at the Ubuntu One fix but it seems to be to modify settings explicitly related to Ubuntu One. I can install the nautilus-dropbox package (compiled from source and from .deb package from website and from software centre) but once I click OK from the "Dropbox Installation" dialog box (prompting me to download the proprietary daemon) the installation just freezes with the OK button pressed. When I look at its process in System Monitor its waiting channel is inet_wait_for_connect. I have set the following proxy directives thus far: Added mj22:**@proxy.waikato.ac.nz:80 information to network proxy settings under network in settings. Added http_host and http_port variables under gconf-editor-system-proxy Added 'host', 'authentication_password' 'authentication_user' and ticked 'user authentication' and 'use_http_proxy' under gconf-editor-system-http_proxy Added export http_proxy="http://mj22:**@proxy.waikato.ac.nz:80/" to /etc/bash.bashrc Added Acquire::http::proxy "http://mj22:**@proxy.waikato.ac.nz:80/"; to /etc/apt/apt.conf (which is what I imagine is letting Software Center retrieve packages). (where ** is my password) I have also added the equivalent ftp and https lines for the above entries. I get the internet fine and Software Centre can download packages but thats it. Related issues: The software centre can't fetch reviews (but can download packages). When trying to add an online account in Gnome 3 a dialog pop up appears with "Error getting a Request Token: Cannot connect to proxy (proxy.waikato.ac.nz)" Updates: After some time (10mins ish) Dropbox shows an error dialog box that reads: Trouble connecting to Dropbox servers. Maybe your internet connection is down, or you need to set you http_proxy environment variable. Is there a way I can see what environment variables are currently set?

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Documenting mathematical logic in code

- by Kiril Raychev

Sometimes, although not often, I have to include math logic in my code. The concepts used are mostly very simple, but the resulting code is not - a lot of variables with unclear purpose, and some operations with not so obvious intent. I don't mean that the code is unreadable or unmaintainable, just that it's waaaay harder to understand than the actual math problem. I try to comment the parts which are hardest to understand, but there is the same problem as in just coding them - text does not have the expressive power of math. I am looking for a more efficient and easy to understand way of explaining the logic behind some of the complex code, preferably in the code itself. I have considered TeX - writing the documentation and generating it separately from the code. But then I'd have to learn TeX, and the documentation will not be in the code itself. Another thing I thought of is taking a picture of the mathematical notations, equations and diagrams written on paper/whiteboard, and including it in javadoc. Is there a simpler and clearer way? P.S. Giving descriptive names(timeOfFirstEvent instead of t1) to the variables actually makes the code more verbose and even harder too read.

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Is there an excuse for short variable names?

- by KChaloux

This has become a large frustration with the codebase I'm currently working in; many of our variable names are short and undescriptive. I'm the only developer left on the project, and there isn't documentation as to what most of them do, so I have to spend extra time tracking down what they represent. For example, I was reading over some code that updates the definition of an optical surface. The variables set at the start were as follows: double dR, dCV, dK, dDin, dDout, dRin, dRout dR = Convert.ToDouble(_tblAsphere.Rows[0].ItemArray.GetValue(1)); dCV = convert.ToDouble(_tblAsphere.Rows[1].ItemArray.GetValue(1)); ... and so on Maybe it's just me, but it told me essentially nothing about what they represented, which made understanding the code further down difficult. All I knew was that it was a variable parsed out specific row from a specific table, somewhere. After some searching, I found out what they meant: dR = radius dCV = curvature dK = conic constant dDin = inner aperture dDout = outer aperture dRin = inner radius dRout = outer radius I renamed them to essentially what I have up there. It lengthens some lines, but I feel like that's a fair trade off. This kind of naming scheme is used throughout a lot of the code however. I'm not sure if it's an artifact from developers who learned by working with older systems, or if there's a deeper reason behind it. Is there a good reason to name variables this way, or am I justified in updating them to more descriptive names as I come across them?

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Is there an excuse for excessively short variable names?

- by KChaloux

This has become a large frustration with the codebase I'm currently working in; many of our variable names are short and undescriptive. I'm the only developer left on the project, and there isn't documentation as to what most of them do, so I have to spend extra time tracking down what they represent. For example, I was reading over some code that updates the definition of an optical surface. The variables set at the start were as follows: double dR, dCV, dK, dDin, dDout, dRin, dRout dR = Convert.ToDouble(_tblAsphere.Rows[0].ItemArray.GetValue(1)); dCV = convert.ToDouble(_tblAsphere.Rows[1].ItemArray.GetValue(1)); ... and so on Maybe it's just me, but it told me essentially nothing about what they represented, which made understanding the code further down difficult. All I knew was that it was a variable parsed out specific row from a specific table, somewhere. After some searching, I found out what they meant: dR = radius dCV = curvature dK = conic constant dDin = inner aperture dDout = outer aperture dRin = inner radius dRout = outer radius I renamed them to essentially what I have up there. It lengthens some lines, but I feel like that's a fair trade off. This kind of naming scheme is used throughout a lot of the code however. I'm not sure if it's an artifact from developers who learned by working with older systems, or if there's a deeper reason behind it. Is there a good reason to name variables this way, or am I justified in updating them to more descriptive names as I come across them?

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What is the philosophy/reasoning behind C#'s Pascal-casing method names?

- by Nocturne

I'm just starting to learn C#. Coming from a background in Java, C++ and Objective-C, I find C#'s Pascal-casing its method-names rather unique, and a tad difficult to get used to at first. What is the reasoning and philosophy behind this? I'm guessing it is because of C# properties. Unlike in Objective-C, where method names can be exactly the same as an instance variables, this is not the case with C#. I would guess one of the goals with properties (as it is with most of the languages that support it) is to make properties truly indistinguishable from variables and methods. So, one can have an "int x" in C#, and the corresponding property becomes X. To ensure that properties and methods are indistinguishable, all method names I'm guessing are also therefore expected to start with an uppercase letter. (This is just my hypothesis based on what I know of C# so far—I'm still learning). I'm very curious to know how this curious guideline came into being (given that it's not something one sees in most other languages where method names are expected to start with a lowercase letter) (EDIT: By Pascal-casing, I mean PascalCase (which is basically camelCase but starting with a capital letter). Method names typically start with a lowercase letter in most languages)

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Input/Output console window in XNA

- by Will Bagley

I am currently making a simple game in XNA but am at a point where testing various aspect gets a bit tricky, especially when you have to wait till you have 1000 score to see if your animation is playing correctly etc. Of course i could just edit the starting variable in the code before I launched but I have recently been interested in trying to implement a console style window which can print out values and take input to alter public variables during run-time. I am aware that VS has the immediate window which achieves a similar thing but i would prefer mine is an actual part of the game with the intention that the user may have limited access to it in the future. Some of the key things i have yet to find an answer to after looking around for a while are: how i would support free text entry how i would access variables during runtime how i would edit these variable I have also read about using a property grid from windows form aps (and partially reflection) which looked like it could simplify a lot of things but i am not sure how I would get that running inside my XNA game window or how i would get it to not look out of place (as the visual aspect of is seems to be aimed just for development time viewing). All in all I'm quite open to any suggestions on how to approach this task as currently I'm not sure where to start. Thanks in advance.

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Keyring no longer prompts for password when SSH-ing

- by Lie Ryan

I remember that I used to be able to do ssh [email protected] and have a prompt asks me for a password to unlock the keyring for the whole GNOME session so subsequent ssh wouldn't need to enter the keyring password any longer (not quite sure if this is in Ubuntu or other distro). But nowadays doing ssh [email protected] would ask me, in the terminal, my keyring password every single time; which defeats the purpose of using SSH keys. I checked $ cat /etc/pam.d/lightdm | grep keyring auth optional pam_gnome_keyring.so session optional pam_gnome_keyring.so auto_start which looks fine, and $ pgrep keyring 1784 gnome-keyring-d so the keyring daemon is alive. I finally found that SSH_AUTH_SOCK variable (and GNOME_KEYRING_CONTROL and GPG_AGENT_INFO and GNOME_KEYRING_PID) are not being set properly. What is the proper way to set this variable and why aren't they being set in my environment (i.e. shouldn't they be set in default install)? I guess I can set it in .bashrc, but then the variables would only be defined in bash session, while that is fine for ssh, I believe the other environment variables are necessary for GUI apps to use keyring.

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Are long methods always bad?

- by wobbily_col

So looking around earlier I noticed some comments about long methods being bad practice. I am not sure I always agree that long methods are bad (and would like opinions from others). For example I have some Django views that do a bit of processing of the objects before sending them to the view, a long method being 350 lines of code. I have my code written so that it deals with the paramaters - sorting / filtering the queryset, then bit by bit does some processing on the objects my query has returned. So the processing is mainly conditional aggregation, that has complex enough rules it can't easily be done in the database, so I have some variables declared outside the main loop then get altered during the loop. varaible_1 = 0 variable_2 = 0 for object in queryset : if object.condition_condition_a and variable_2 > 0 : variable 1+= 1 ..... ... . more conditions to alter the variables return queryset, and context So according to the theory I should factor out all the code into smaller methods, so That I have the view method as being maximum one page long. However having worked on various code bases in the past, I sometimes find it makes the code less readable, when you need to constantly jump from one method to the next figuring out all the parts of it, while keeping the outermost method in your head. I find that having a long method that is well formatted, you can see the logic more easily, as it isn't getting hidden away in inner methods. I could factor out the code into smaller methods, but often there is is an inner loop being used for two or three things, so it would result in more complex code, or methods that don't do one thing but two or three (alternatively I could repeat inner loops for each task, but then there will be a performance hit). So is there a case that long methods are not always bad? Is there always a case for writing methods, when they will only be used in one place?

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SSIS Catalog: How to use environment in every type of package execution

- by Kevin Shyr

Here is a good blog on how to create a SSIS Catalog and setting up environments. http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jamie_thomson/archive/2010/11/13/ssis-server-catalogs-environments-environment-variables-in-ssis-in-denali.aspx Here I will summarize 3 ways I know so far to execute a package while using variables set up in SSIS Catalog environment. First way, we have SSIS project having reference to environment, and having one of the project parameter using a value set up in the environment called "Development". With this set up, you are limited to calling the packages by right-clicking on the packages in the SSIS catalog list and select Execute, but you are free to choose absolute or relative path of the environment. The following screenshot shows the 2 available paths to your SSIS environments. Personally, I use absolute path because of Option 3, just to keep everything simple for myself. The second option is to call through SQL Job. This does require you to configure your project to already reference an environment and use its variable. When a job step is set up, the configuration part will require you to select that reference again. This is more useful when you want to automate the same package that needs to be run in different environments. The third option is the most important to me as I have a SSIS framework that calls hundreds of packages. The main part of the stored procedure is in this post (http://geekswithblogs.net/LifeLongTechie/archive/2012/11/14/time-to-stop-using-ldquoexecute-package-taskrdquondash-a-way-to.aspx). But the top part had to be modified to include the logic to use environment reference. CREATE PROCEDURE [AUDIT].[LaunchPackageExecutionInSSISCatalog] @PackageName NVARCHAR(255) , @ProjectFolder NVARCHAR(255) , @ProjectName NVARCHAR(255) , @AuditKey INT , @DisableNotification BIT , @PackageExecutionLogID INT , @EnvironmentName NVARCHAR(128) = NULL , @Use32BitRunTime BIT = FALSE AS BEGIN TRY DECLARE @execution_id BIGINT = 0; -- Create a package execution IF @EnvironmentName IS NULL BEGIN EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[create_execution] @package_name=@PackageName, @execution_id=@execution_id OUTPUT, @folder_name=@ProjectFolder, @project_name=@ProjectName, @use32bitruntime=@Use32BitRunTime; END ELSE BEGIN DECLARE @EnvironmentID AS INT SELECT @EnvironmentID = [reference_id] FROM SSISDB.[internal].[environment_references] WITH(NOLOCK) WHERE [environment_name] = @EnvironmentName AND [environment_folder_name] = @ProjectFolder EXEC [SSISDB].[catalog].[create_execution] @package_name=@PackageName, @execution_id=@execution_id OUTPUT, @folder_name=@ProjectFolder, @project_name=@ProjectName, @reference_id=@EnvironmentID, @use32bitruntime=@Use32BitRunTime; END

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Languages with a clear distinction between subroutines that are purely functional, mutating, state-changing, etc?

- by CPX

Lately I've become more and more frustrated that in most modern programming languages I've worked with (C/C++, C#, F#, Ruby, Python, JS and more) there is very little, if any, language support for determining what a subroutine will actually do. Consider the following simple pseudo-code: var x = DoSomethingWith(y); How do I determine what the call to DoSomethingWith(y) will actually do? Will it mutate y, or will it return a copy of y? Does it depend on global or local state, or is it only dependent on y? Will it change the global or local state? How does closure affect the outcome of the call? In all languages I've encountered, almost none of these questions can be answered by merely looking at the signature of the subroutine, and there is almost never any compile-time or run-time support either. Usually, the only way is to put your trust in the author of the API, and hope that the documentation and/or naming conventions reveal what the subroutine will actually do. My question is this: Does there exist any languages today that make symbolic distinctions between these types of scenarios, and places compile-time constraints on what code you can actually write? (There is of course some support for this in most modern languages, such as different levels of scope and closure, the separation between static and instance code, lambda functions, et cetera. But too often these seem to come into conflict with each other. For instance, a lambda function will usually either be purely functional, and simply return a value based on input parameters, or mutate the input parameters in some way. But it is usually possible to access static variables from a lambda function, which in turn can give you access to instance variables, and then it all breaks apart.)

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3d Picking under reticle

- by Wolftousen

i'm currently trying to work out some 3d picking code that I started years ago, but then lost interested the assignment was completed (this part wasn't actually part of the assignment). I am not using the mouse coords for picking, i'm just using the position in 3d space and a ray directly out from there. A small hitch though is that I want to use a cone and not a ray. Here are the variables i'm using: float iReticleSlope = 95/3000; //inverse reticle slope float baseReticle = 1; //radius of the reticle at z = 0 float maxRange = 3000; //max range to target Quaternion orientation; //the cameras orientation Vector3d position; //the cameras position Then I loop through each object in the world: Vector3d transformed; //object position after transformations float d, r; //holder variables for(i = 0; i < objects.length; i++) { transformed = position - objects[i].position; //transform the position relative to camera orientation.multiply(transformed); //orient the object relative to the camera if(transformed.z < 0) { d = sqrt(transformed[0] * transformed[0] + transformed[1] * transformed[1]); r = -transformed[2] * iReticleSlope + objects[i].radius; if(d < r && -transformed[2] - objects[i].radius <= maxRange) { //the object is under the reticle } else { //the object is not under the reticle } } else { //the object is not under the reticle } } Now this all works fine and dandy until the window ratio doesn't match the resolution ratio. Is there any simple way to account for that

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Are these advanced/unfair interview questions regarding Java concurrency?

- by sparc_spread

Here are some questions I've recently asked interviewees who say they know Java concurrency: Explain the hazard of "memory visibility" - the way the JVM can reorder certain operations on variables that are unprotected by a monitor and not declared volatile, such that one thread may not see the changes made by another thread. Usually I ask this one by showing code where this hazard is present (e.g. the NoVisibility example in Listing 3.1 from "Java Concurrency in Practice" by Goetz et al) and asking what is wrong. Explain how volatile affects not just the actual variable declared volatile, but also any changes to variables made by a thread before it changes the volatile variable. Why might you use volatile instead of synchronized? Implement a condition variable with wait() and notifyAll(). Explain why you should use notifyAll(). Explain why the condition variable should be tested with a while loop. My question is - are these appropriate or too advanced to ask someone who says they know Java concurrency? And while we're at it, do you think that someone working in Java concurrency should be expected to have an above-average knowledge of Java garbage collection?

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How should I start refactoring my mostly-procedural C++ application?

- by oob

We have a program written in C++ that is mostly procedural, but we do use some C++ containers from the standard library (vector, map, list, etc). We are constantly making changes to this code, so I wouldn't call it a stagnant piece of legacy code that we can just wrap up. There are a lot of issues with this code making it harder and harder for us to make changes, but I see the three biggest issues being: Many of the functions do more (way more) than one thing We violate the DRY principle left and right We have global variables and global state up the wazoo. I was thinking we should attack areas 1 and 2 first. Along the way, we can "de-globalize" our smaller functions from the bottom up by passing in information that is currently global as parameters to the lower level functions from the higher level functions and then concentrate on figuring out how to removing the need for global variables as much as possible. I just finished reading Code Complete 2 and The Pragmatic Programmer, and I learned a lot, but I am feeling overwhelmed. I would like to implement unit testing, change from a procedural to OO approach, automate testing, use a better logging system, fully validate all input, implement better error handling and many other things, but I know if we start all this at once, we would screw ourselves. I am thinking the three I listed are the most important to start with. Any suggestions are welcome. We are a team of two programmers mostly with experience with in-house scripting. It is going to be hard to justify taking the time to refactor, especially if we can't bill the time to a client. Believe it or not, this project has been successful enough to keep us busy full time and also keep several consultants busy using it for client work.

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Nullable types and ?? operator C# [en-US]

- by ruimachado

Nullable types vs Non-nullable types While developing our C# projects its frequent the null comparison operation to avoid null exceptions. This simple operation is mainly coded using the "var x = null" code example inside an if clause. However not all types of variables are nullable, which means that setting a variable to null is not allowed in every cases, it depends on what kind of type are you defining. But what if there was an extension to your non-nullable type that would convert your variable types to nullable? This extension really exists. As I said before in C# you have nullable types which represent all the values of an underlying type, and an additional null value and can be declared easily using "T?", where T is the type of the variable and for example the normal int type cannot be null, so its a non-nullable type, however if you define a "int?" your variable can be null, what you do is convert a non-nullable type to a nullable type. Example: int x=null; Not allowed int? x=null; Allowed While using nullable types you can check if a variable is null the same way you do it with nullable types: But what about setting a default value when a certain variable is null? In this cases the c# .net framework let you set a default value when you try to assign a nullable type to a non-nullable type, using the ?? operator. If you don't use this operator you can still catch the InvalidOperationException which is throw in this cases. For example without the ?? operator : Using the ?? operator your code becomes cleaner and more easy to read and you get a bonus, you can set a default value for multiple variables using the ?? in a chain set. That’s it, Thanks, Rui Machado rpmachado.wordpress.com

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Are specific types still necessary?

- by MKO

One thing that occurred to me the other day, are specific types still necessary or a legacy that is holding us back. What I mean is: do we really need short, int, long, bigint etc etc. I understand the reasoning, variables/objects are kept in memory, memory needs to be allocated and therefore we need to know how big a variable can be. But really, shouldn't a modern programming language be able to handle "adaptive types", ie, if something is only ever allocated in the shortint range it uses fewer bytes, and if something is suddenly allocated a very big number the memory is allocated accordinly for that particular instance. Float, real and double's are a bit trickier since the type depends on what precision you need. Strings should however be able to take upp less memory in many instances (in .Net) where mostly ascii is used buth strings always take up double the memory because of unicode encoding. One argument for specific types might be that it's part of the specification, ie for example a variable should not be able to be bigger than a certain value so we set it to shortint. But why not have type constraints instead? It would be much more flexible and powerful to be able to set permissible ranges and values on variables (and properties). I realize the immense problem in revamping the type architecture since it's so tightly integrated with underlying hardware and things like serialization might become tricky indeed. But from a programming perspective it should be great no?

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