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  • a flexible data structure for geometries

    - by AkiRoss
    What data structure would you use to represent meshes that are to be altered (e.g. adding or removing new faces, vertices and edges), and that have to be "studied" in different ways (e.g. finding all the triangles intersecting a certain ray, or finding all the triangles "visible" from a given point in the space)? I need to consider multiple aspects of the mesh: their geometry, their topology and spatial information. The meshes are rather big, say 500k triangles, so I am going to use the GPU when computations are heavy. I tried using arrays with vertices and arrays with indices, but I do not love adding and removing vertices from them. Also, using arrays totally ignore spatial and topological information, which I may need studying the mesh. So, I thought about using custom double-linked list data structures, but I believe doing so will require me to copy the data to array buffers before going on the GPU. I also thought about using BST, but not sure it fits. Any help is appreciated. If I have been too fuzzy and you require other information feel free to ask.

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  • Performance Testing &ndash; Quick Reference Guide &ndash; Released up on CodePlex

    - by Shawn Cicoria
    Why performance test at all right?  Well, physics still plays a role in what we do.  Why not take a better look at your application – need help, well, the Rangers team just released the following to help: The following has both VS2008 & VS2010 content: http://vstt2008qrg.codeplex.com/ Visual Studio Performance Testing Quick Reference Guide (Version 2.0) The final released copy is here and ready for full time use. Please enjoy and post feedback on the discussion board. This document is a collection of items from public blog sites, Microsoft® internal discussion aliases (sanitized) and experiences from various Test Consultants in the Microsoft Services Labs. The idea is to provide quick reference points around various aspects of Microsoft Visual Studio® performance testing features that may not be covered in core documentation, or may not be easily understood. The different types of information cover: How does this feature work under the covers? How can I implement a workaround for this missing feature? This is a known bug and here is a fix or workaround. How do I troubleshoot issues I am having

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  • Is it better to have multiple domains for cities or one single TLD?

    - by Brett
    I make websites for small businesses, and for some reason business owners love to have several domains with the same website but the TLD containing the city name. For example: 1. smallbizname.com 2. clevelandsmallbizname.com 3. columbussmallbizname.com 4. cincinnatismallbizname.com ... and so on. I've seen questions about localization per country aspects, but this is a much smaller scale, so I don't think the same rules apply. The problem I have is the companies never want to write separate content per domain, just have the same website hosted several times at each domain. I feel this probably hurts SEO for two reasons: 1. Traffic gets scattered throughout domains, could be boosting just one domain. 2. Duplicate content penalty because the content is identical. My question boils down to this... Should I redirect all the city domains to the main business name domain, or does having these separate sites help to rank better per city? And if they are redirected, how does google rank the redirects? Thanks for any input on this issue!!

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  • Limiting my heavy thinking to my job [closed]

    - by Robin Castlin
    This might be a weird problem which is only to a half relevant to actual programming, but hopefully there are people here that knows what I'm talking about. Basicly I'm proud of how I can deal with coding problems and fix them in short notice and many other aspects like building new systems and such. I'm fast on finding solutions and I often think about the impact my changes does to existing systems and so on, therefor preventing problem from arising at all and such. I am simply happy with how my mind operates when it comes to programming and I wouldn't want to change it at all. The problem, however is when I'm not programming. I find myself rather limited in social situations. I can't determine if it is through programming, but I sometimes think way to much about the consequences when it comes to being social. I know from own experience that most times you earn by not thinking about consequences, but it's hard for me not to. Often my friends tells me "I think too much" and even though I agree, I can't seem to change this behavior. My brain wants to think, and it likes to overthink simple stuff. Does anyone recognize the bad habit of not leaving advanced thinking at work, and in what way do you deal with it? If this isn't a suitable place to ask this question, I apologize and hope you may point me to the right site.

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  • Do you sign contracts digitally or still on paper? And what do clients think?

    - by user1162541
    We are all getting used to checking a box and putting our name in a text field to create a contract with an airline, a hosting company, or a software download. However, for some reason I am still asking clients to sign our contracts for website development on paper, and send me a scan. Few complain about this procedure, but I am personally thinking: what am I doing, doing this the old fashion way?! Signing contracts digitally would be faster, more convenient for clients and for me, and easier to store. So to me it appears to be time to start creating some contract agreement online that clients can read, then print their name, and mark a box "I AGREE WITH THIS CONTRACT AND BY PRINTING MY NAME I AGREE TO SIGNING THIS", or something like that. I would record their IP, browser data, and time of signing. If I really want to ensure their identity, I could link this to OpenID and require them to log in with their e-mail so that I can ensure that they are logged in on an existing e-mail account. Sounds OK to me. My question is: is this practice becoming a standard practice in professional IT services? Are you (as a professional) doing this? If you are, how do clients react? Any drawbacks doing this? EDIT: This question is not about the legal aspects. It is about common practices among programmers and web-development companies, and what clients think of this.

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  • Directx vs XNA - Which is better for me? [closed]

    - by tristo
    Recently I got Visual Studio 2012 from visual studio 2010, although did not expect Visual Studio to 2012 to designed the way it was. Anyway I am pleased with some of VS 2012 technology and have moved all of my projects to it. At this point of time since I got VS 2012 I have been into making windows applications and other non-game activities. ALTHOUGH have recently gotten into the spirit of game development and I am planning to make a 3d comical game, shader effects, not too complicated meshes, but it requires alot of lighting effects to emphasise certain parts of the game. When I was using VS 2010 I had a great time making 2d games with XNA, it uses a great language, and has a very awesome system. But I no longer have XNA with me, and the workarounds described in stackoverflow always gives me errors while using xna. Anyway it seems that microsoft have stuffed themselves up with xna anyway with the weirdness of Windows 8, and it being only avaliabe on pc and xbox. Due to these reasons I have decided to work with Directx and Direct3d to produce my new game, although the overflowing credits after each directx game gives me the shivers, and the low-level coding of directx also puts me on thin ice with my games, left in a confusional mess with what decision I should make. I don't know anything about directx or direct3d. I am an indie developer, but I am planning to take on alot of professional aspects of games. I don't have heaps of time(2-3 hours a day) I don't mind the complexity of how directx works, as long as I can learn how to make the fundementals of a game in a week. I am also unsure if directx is really for my situation, and keep with xna game development. Anyone can tell me the best technology for me would be great.

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  • What technologies are needed to be a freelance web developer / designer targeting small businesses?

    - by Jason Wirth
    First off, I'm not looking for this answer: "learn PHP/MySQL, JQuery, HTML/CSS...." My background, I wear many hats, and do many things. Currently I manage investment accounts with a business partner who is also a friend. He happens to be attending business / law school perusing a joint JD and MBA. As a result, we're putting our into "coast", maintaining our current clients, but not acquiring more. Recently I've picked up some freelance graphic design / web development / online marketing side work (Photoshop, HTML/CSS, WordPress) through some personal networks. The work is enjoyable; now I'm thinking about expanding it into a larger business with these primary goals: augment my finances (I'm shooting for about $1,000-2,000 per mo.), learn new technologies, involve myself with meaningful work. As an entrepreneur I don't mind the aspects of running a business that hassle other freelancers... -- the marketing -- the billing -- etc. I'm considering targeting the small to middle market businesses and organizations where I can contribute in marketing, design, and development building projects from the ground up. Thus I'll have freedom to decide the specific technology (I won't have to work with an existing code base). What kinds of projects should I focus on? What technologies are a good fit for this style of work? For example: It might be fun to develop with Ruby on Rails. However, maybe a lot of projects would be rolling out e-commerce solutions. Thus, I should focus on PHP due to more shopping cart options, skipping ROR entirely.

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  • Majoring in computer science, but i'm not to sure I'm in the right field [closed]

    - by user74340
    Throught out my high school years and first year in college, I never thought of studying computer science. I studied biology and chemistry during my first year, and I didn't like the research, nor any type of medical professionals. So I took an introductory CS course, and loved the diverse roles this field can have. So I declare CS as my major. I finished first, and second year CS courses. Then now, I'm doing my co-op(intern) as a web developer. During my first and second year, I was always just an average student. My grades is around low B. But I put so much effort to understand my course' materials. I see many brilliants peers who not only excel at what they do, but have the passion. So I always doubt myself if I don't belong in this field. I'm not good at math, I usually get Cs on my math courses. My internship (a corporate developer job) is okay. But doesn't want to work like this after my graduation). Some aspects of CS that I like is HCI. In my experience in programming, and group projects, I enjoyed designing User interface, and thinking of user experience. I'm also thinking of taking some psychology courses.. I would appreciate any criticism, or advices.

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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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  • Sending Emails from existing SMTP host from Ubuntu Server

    - by ezgoodnight
    I feel like my problem is very simple, but I've been trying for quite some time and haven't cracked it. You experienced server guys will probably laugh at this, but I'm finally at the point I need help or I'll never get anywhere. I have a little box running 12.04 LTS and I've wanted to script some status checks and have the server send me an email and schedule this with cron. I basically want a command line mail client that I can set up as easily as Thunderbird to send through my existing SMTP through the command line. Something that can easily be rolled into my bash scripts. I already have a remote host handling our email, SMTP, MTA, all that garbage. I don't particularly want to set up a relay just to send email when I have one that everyone else in the company already uses. I've tried, but there are too many aspects I don't understand AND I don't see why I should set up something local when we already pay for a remote host to do these things. If I absolutely have to set up sendmail or postfix, then so be it, but I'd appreciate a simple alternative. I'm open to practically anything at this point.

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  • MySQL documentation writer wanted

    - by stefanhinz
    As MySQL is thriving and growing, we're looking for an experienced technical writer located in Europe or North America to join the MySQL documentation team.For this job, we need the best and most dedicated people around. You will be part of a geographically distributed documentation team responsible for the technical documentation of all MySQL products. Team members are expected to work independently, requiring discipline and excellent time-management skills as well as the technical facilities to communicate across the Internet.Candidates should be prepared to work intensively with our engineers and support personnel. The overall team is highly distributed across different geographies and time zones. Our source format is DocBook XML. We're not just writing documentation, but also handling publication. This means you should be familiar with DocBook, and willing to learn our publication infrastructure.Candidates should therefore be interested not just in writing but also in the technical aspects of publishing documentation. Regarding your initial areas of authoring, those would be MySQL Cluster, MySQL Enterprise Monitor and Backup, and various parts of the MySQL server documentation (also known as the MySQL Reference Manual). This means you should be familiar with MySQL in general, and preferably also with MySQL Cluster and the MySQL Enterprise offerings.Other qualifications: Native English speaker 3 or more years previous experience in writing software documentation Excellent written and oral communication skills Ability to provide (online) samples of your work, e.g. books or articles Curiosity to learn new technologies Familiarity with distributed working environments and versioning systems such as SVN Comfortable with working on multiple operating systems, particularly Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux Ability to administer own workstations and test environment If you're interested, contact me under [email protected].

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  • Developing a TCK: Spec Lead Call for Spec Leads 20 December

    - by Heather VanCura
    The JCP Program will be hosting a Spec Lead call on 20 December on the topic of developing a Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK).  A Technology Compatibility Kit is a required output of a JSR at Final Release, along with the Specification and Reference Implementation (RI).   The TCK must test all aspects of a specification that impact how compatible an implementation of that specification would be, such as the public API and all mandatory elements of the specification. The Reference Implementation is required to pass the TCK. A vendor's implementation of a specification is only considered compatible if the implementation passes the TCK fully and completely.  The TCK is used to test implementations of the Final Specification to make sure that they are fully compatible. The call will be recorded and posted on the JCP.org multimedia page along with any related materials.   Invitation details for the online meeting:Topic: SL Call: Developing a TCK Date: Thursday, December 20, 2012 Time: 9:30 am, Pacific Standard Time (San Francisco, GMT-08:00) Meeting Number: 804 390 892 Meeting Password: 2222 ------------------------------------------------------- To join the audio conference -------------------------------------------------------     +1 (866) 682-4770 (US)     Conference code: 945-4597    Security code: 52775 ("JCPSL" on your phone handset)     For global access numbers see http://www.intercall.com/oracle/access_numbers.htm         Or +1 (408) 774-4073

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  • Customized Computer Science Degree - What other field would mesh well with computer science?

    - by sailtheworld
    So here's my situation: I have seven years of experience with web development. I can do PHP, MySQL, OOP, all of that stuff. I would like to make the argument that I have enough technical experience to go out in the real world and get a well-paying, full-time job if I were to drop out right now (I've had a number of job offers recently, and I have already gotten a lot of actual job experience), but I would like to stay in school and get a degree for a number of reasons ranging from the social aspects to the fact that I just want to have a BS in one thing or another as it seems to be important to have one for a lot of jobs, even when it doesn't have anything to do with the job. With that said, it makes little sense for me to major in Computer Science, because that would be like studying everything I already know. I don't want to major in something COMPLETELY different, because that would be contrary to my career goals. I am considering trying to find some interdisciplinary, customized degree of sorts that allows me to combine my current skills with a new education. I'm thinking maybe buisness or even psychology (interface design?). Could I get some ideas for what to major in and tips on who I might talk to? Thanks!

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  • How to encourage domain experts familiar only with C into a C++ opensource project [closed]

    - by paperjam
    Possible Duplicate: How to persuade C fanatics to work on my C++ open source project? I am launching an open-source project into a space where a lot of development is done Linux-kernel-style, i.e. C-language with a low-level mindset. My project is broad and complex and uses aspects of the C++ language and libraries, including the Boost library to best effect for simple, slightly syntactically sweetened, elegant and well structured high level code. We are using C++ templates too to avoid duplication of code and for static polymorphism in code specialisation for performance. Many of the experts in this field are well used to pure C-language projects. How can I persuade them to contribute to my idiomatic C++ based project? I have no objection to C-language subcomponents or the use of a C-like subset for parts of the project so that might be part of the answer. This is a rewritten and retagged rehash of my previous question that was closed. Apologies to those who read and answered for it not being constructive. I hope this new question is viewed as constructive. Please note that this is not a language advocacy question and please keep answers in that spirit.

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  • Bikeshedding: Placeholders in strings

    - by dotancohen
    I find that I sometimes use placeholders in strings, like this: $ cat example-apache <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName ##DOMAIN_NAME## ServerAlias www.##DOMAIN_NAME## DocumentRoot /var/www/##DOMAIN_NAME##/public_html </VirtualHost> Now I am sure that it is a minor issue if the placeholder is ##DOMAIN_NAME##, !!DOMAIN_NAME!!, {{DOMAIN_NAME}}, or some other variant. However, I now need to standardize with other developers on a project, and we all have a vested interest in having our own placeholder format made standard in the organization. Are there any good reasons for choosing any of these, or others? I am trying to quantify these considerations: Aesthetics and usability. For example, __dict__ may be hard to read as we don't know how many underscores are in there. Compatibility. Will some language try to do something funny with {} syntax in a string (such as PHP does with "Welcome to {$siteName} today!")? Actually, I know that PHP and Python won't, but others? Will a C++ preprocessor choke on ## format? If I need to store the value in some SQL engine, will it not consider something a comment? Any other pitfalls to be wary of? Maintainability. Will the new guy mistake ##SOME_PLACEHOLDER## as a language construct? The unknown. Surely the wise folk here will think of other aspects of this decision that I have not thought of. I might be bikeshedding this, but if there are real issues that might be lurking then I would certainly like to know about them before mandating that our developers adhere to a potentially-problematic convention.

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  • Securing a Cloud-Based Data Center

    - by Orgad Kimchi
    No doubt, with all the media reports about stolen databases and private information, a major concern when committing to a public or private cloud must be preventing unauthorized access of data and applications. In this article, we discuss the security features of Oracle Solaris 11 that provide a bullet-proof cloud environment. As an example, we show how the Oracle Solaris Remote Lab implementation utilizes these features to provide a high level of security for its users. Note: This is the second article in a series on cloud building with Oracle Solaris 11. See Part 1 here.  When we build a cloud, the following aspects related to the security of the data and applications in the cloud become a concern: • Sensitive data must be protected from unauthorized access while residing on storage devices, during transmission between servers and clients, and when it is used by applications. • When a project is completed, all copies of sensitive data must be securely deleted and the original data must be kept permanently secure. • Communications between users and the cloud must be protected to prevent exposure of sensitive information from “man in a middle attacks.” • Limiting the operating system’s exposure protects against malicious attacks and penetration by unauthorized users or automated “bots” and “rootkits” designed to gain privileged access. • Strong authentication and authorization procedures further protect the operating system from tampering. • Denial of Service attacks, whether they are started intentionally by hackers or accidentally by other cloud users, must be quickly detected and deflected, and the service must be restored. In addition to the security features in the operating system, deep auditing provides a trail of actions that can identify violations,issues, and attempts to penetrate the security of the operating system. Combined, these threats and risks reinforce the need for enterprise-grade security solutions that are specifically designed to protect cloud environments. With Oracle Solaris 11, the security of any cloud is ensured. This article explains how.

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  • What is an effective way to familiarize yourself with a new application in a new language? [closed]

    - by codeninja
    Possible Duplicate: How do I pick up a new language quickly, given I know several others? I started a new job working on an application I'm vaguely familar with, and it's in PERL! I come from a PHP and Java background, so while I understand the basics, there are lot of nuances in PERL that make it troublesome. updated < Im supposed to be a UI developer, but the smallness of the office requires me to learn and do a lot more than just javascript. So that was slightly unexpected in some aspects and I'm just thinking about what approach to take with this /updated So far I've been sifting through the code to understand what each part does, printed out copies of code and try to lookup APIs I'm not familiar with, and so I dunno how effective this process is -- I feel like it's gonna take some time -- and I dont want my new employers to feel like I'm not being productive. Anyone have some ideas or approaches for this kind of situation? I read some of the questions about learning new languages, but I'm curious to see if anyone's had experience with this with PERL.

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  • Placeholders in strings

    - by dotancohen
    I find that I sometimes use placeholders in strings, like this: $ cat example-apache <VirtualHost *:80> ServerName ##DOMAIN_NAME## ServerAlias www.##DOMAIN_NAME## DocumentRoot /var/www/##DOMAIN_NAME##/public_html </VirtualHost> Now I am sure that it is a minor issue if the placeholder is ##DOMAIN_NAME##, !!DOMAIN_NAME!!, {{DOMAIN_NAME}}, or some other variant. However, I now need to standardize with other developers on a project, and we all have a vested interest in having our own placeholder format made standard in the organization. Are there any good reasons for choosing any of these, or others? I am trying to quantify these considerations: Aesthetics and usability. For example, __dict__ may be hard to read as we don't know how many underscores are in there. Compatibility. Will some language try to do something funny with {} syntax in a string (such as PHP does with "Welcome to {$siteName} today!")? Actually, I know that PHP and Python won't, but others? Will a C++ preprocessor choke on ## format? If I need to store the value in some SQL engine, will it not consider something a comment? Any other pitfalls to be wary of? Maintainability. Will the new guy mistake ##SOME_PLACEHOLDER## as a language construct? The unknown. Surely the wise folk here will think of other aspects of this decision that I have not thought of. I might be bikeshedding this, but if there are real issues that might be lurking then I would certainly like to know about them before mandating that our developers adhere to a potentially-problematic convention.

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  • Partner Spotlight: Compasso

    - by Joe Diemer
    EVERY MONDAY at 2 PM Eastern Time (USA) Join Compasso, one of Oracle's Enterprise Manager partners that is Specialized in Application Quality Management, for a series of presentations focused on Oracle end to end performance management. The objective is to provide a comprehensive overview of Oracle's Enterprise Manager 12c software.  Attendees will learn how Oracle can provide a complete end to end management  solution, for not only for Oracle Databases, but also other aspects of the Oracle technology, such as Middleware and Oracle applications.  Key areas include: 1. Next-Generation Management Framework which cover: Better performance and scalability Modular, extensible architecture Easier to manage and diagnose Enhanced security Web 2.0 UI 2. Enhanced Application-to-Disk Management End-to-end application performance management Fusion Applications management Exadata and Exalogic management 3. Complete Lifecycle Management for Enterprise Private Cloud Self-service provisioning Policy based resource and workload management Chargeback There are two ways you can sign up: 1. Call Nicole Wakefield of Compasso at +1 (971) 245-5042 2. Email [email protected] with Subject Line of "Monday Enterprise Manager Presentations" WebEx Conference details will be provided with your confirmation For more information about partner opportunities with Enterprise Manager, including becoming Specialized, click here. For more information about Compasso, click here.

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  • &ldquo;Why do transactional messages all have the same priority?&rdquo;

    - by John Breakwell
    I answered this question on the MSMQ forum on MSDN and thought it worth sharing here. The poster wanted to know why all transactional messages have a fixed priority of zero (instead of 0 through 7). They wanted the guaranteed delivery of messages to a queue but wanted to assign different levels of priority. Some aspects of MSMQ were defined way back in the last century and this is one of them. If I remember right, the reason was to avoid the following scenario: You have a single transaction of 3 messages (a, b and c) with priorities 5, 3 and 4 respectively. The messages are sent in order a,b,c The messages arrive in the queue and are arranged in order a,c,b to reflect priority order This breaks the guaranteed order part of the transaction.  I know that very few people send more than one message in a transaction but that is a scenario that MSMQ has to be able to handle; for the majority, including yourself, this scenario is irrelevant which is why you are surprised by the absence of transactional priorities. The options, therefore, available to the Microsoft developers were to: Implement code that allowed you to send messages with variable priority as long as any messages within the same transaction were the same priority, or Define a set priority for all transactional messages As you can understand, option 1 would be a complicated arrangement with all the necessary enforcement, error handling, user education and documentation, etc. Sure, it would have been possible to implement option 1 but I expect the product group decided to invest the development time in some other aspect of MSMQ. Now, with five versions out there, it would be confusing to change how the product operates, in addition to potentially breaking exisiting systems that have been working fine for years. So, balancing cost and risk against customer demand, I would not expect this feature to ever change.

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  • How does process of updating code with Continous Integration work?

    - by BleakCabalist
    I want to draw a model of process of updating the source code with the use of Continous Integration. The main issue is I don't really understand how it works when there are several programmers working on various aspects of the code at the same time. I can't visualize it in my mind. Here's what I know but I might be wrong: New code is sent to repository. Continous Integration server asks Version Control System if there is a new code in repository. If there is than CIS executes tests on the code. If tests show there are problems than CIS orders VCS to revert back to working wersion of the code and communicates it to programmer. If tests are passed positively it compiles the repository code and makes new build of a game? New build is made not after ever single change, but at the end of the day I believe? Are my assumptions above correct? If yes, does it also work when there are several programmers updating repository at once? Is this enough to draw a model of the process in your opinions or did I miss something? Also, what software would I need for above process? Can you guys give examples for CIS software and VCS software and whatever else I need? Does CIS software perform code tests or do I need another tool for that and integrate it with CIS? Is there a repository software?

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  • Programming ... where to start?

    - by agnesb
    For the last 4 months, I've working tirelessly on a project with my partner, who is a super programmer. He did 100% of the whole mechanism that makes our site work. My job is to take care of the cosmetic aspects of the site ... thus I should say I am good enough at CSS and html. However, since we are using Drupal to build our site, from time to time, I need his help in order to figure out how to do the customization. Sometimes, I got frustrated. I know that as a partner, I should know a little bit on how to program. However, during the crunch time when you have to deliver lightning fast (we have our site built from scratch to finish in 4 weeks ... and you are all welcome to come join the fun! It's a site for programmers!) there is no time to learn from the basics. All I can do is to pick up whatever I need at the moment. Now the site is launched, I am thinking it should be time to do some learning. So, where should I start? My partner always said I need to start with Python. What's your take on this? Thanks.

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  • How complex/straightforward should my programming challenge response in an interview be? [closed]

    - by atraudes
    I've had a couple of interviews for programmer positions in the past couple of weeks, and just about all of them have presented me with programming challenges. Write a program with XX language that can solve XX puzzle or problem, etc. I've had no problem answering the questions. What I'm unsure about is what the depth and breadth my response should be. What would an ideal response look like? How much oomph and time should I spend on elements of the code that aren't crucial to it running (Comments, Javadoc, error handling, etc.)? What if I have 1 hour/6 hours/a whole weekend to spend on it? What are the most important aspects of my response to the interviewer? What's worked for you in the past or what worked on you as an interviewer? I'm definitely one of those folks that can go all out on a project and make it truly shine, but I don't want to give them the impression that I'm going to waste their time and money on stuff they may not want or care about. I have a sneaking feeling there is no "wrong" way to respond to the challenge; each response has a redeeming quality about it, and the goals of the interview are subjective. Regardless, I would love your thoughts and input on this.

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  • Differences Between NHibernate and Entity Framework

    - by Ricardo Peres
    Introduction NHibernate and Entity Framework are two of the most popular O/RM frameworks on the .NET world. Although they share some functionality, there are some aspects on which they are quite different. This post will describe this differences and will hopefully help you get started with the one you know less. Mind you, this is a personal selection of features to compare, it is by no way an exhaustive list. History First, a bit of history. NHibernate is an open-source project that was first ported from Java’s venerable Hibernate framework, one of the first O/RM frameworks, but nowadays it is not tied to it, for example, it has .NET specific features, and has evolved in different ways from those of its Java counterpart. Current version is 3.3, with 3.4 on the horizon. It currently targets .NET 3.5, but can be used as well in .NET 4, it only makes no use of any of its specific functionality. You can find its home page at NHForge. Entity Framework 1 came out with .NET 3.5 and is now on its second major version, despite being version 4. Code First sits on top of it and but came separately and will also continue to be released out of line with major .NET distributions. It is currently on version 4.3.1 and version 5 will be released together with .NET Framework 4.5. All versions will target the current version of .NET, at the time of their release. Its home location is located at MSDN. Architecture In NHibernate, there is a separation between the Unit of Work and the configuration and model instances. You start off by creating a Configuration object, where you specify all global NHibernate settings such as the database and dialect to use, the batch sizes, the mappings, etc, then you build an ISessionFactory from it. The ISessionFactory holds model and metadata that is tied to a particular database and to the settings that came from the Configuration object, and, there will typically be only one instance of each in a process. Finally, you create instances of ISession from the ISessionFactory, which is the NHibernate representation of the Unit of Work and Identity Map. This is a lightweight object, it basically opens and closes a database connection as required and keeps track of the entities associated with it. ISession objects are cheap to create and dispose, because all of the model complexity is stored in the ISessionFactory and Configuration objects. As for Entity Framework, the ObjectContext/DbContext holds the configuration, model and acts as the Unit of Work, holding references to all of the known entity instances. This class is therefore not lightweight as its NHibernate counterpart and it is not uncommon to see examples where an instance is cached on a field. Mappings Both NHibernate and Entity Framework (Code First) support the use of POCOs to represent entities, no base classes are required (or even possible, in the case of NHibernate). As for mapping to and from the database, NHibernate supports three types of mappings: XML-based, which have the advantage of not tying the entity classes to a particular O/RM; the XML files can be deployed as files on the file system or as embedded resources in an assembly; Attribute-based, for keeping both the entities and database details on the same place at the expense of polluting the entity classes with NHibernate-specific attributes; Strongly-typed code-based, which allows dynamic creation of the model and strongly typing it, so that if, for example, a property name changes, the mapping will also be updated. Entity Framework can use: Attribute-based (although attributes cannot express all of the available possibilities – for example, cascading); Strongly-typed code mappings. Database Support With NHibernate you can use mostly any database you want, including: SQL Server; SQL Server Compact; SQL Server Azure; Oracle; DB2; PostgreSQL; MySQL; Sybase Adaptive Server/SQL Anywhere; Firebird; SQLLite; Informix; Any through OLE DB; Any through ODBC. Out of the box, Entity Framework only supports SQL Server, but a number of providers exist, both free and commercial, for some of the most used databases, such as Oracle and MySQL. See a list here. Inheritance Strategies Both NHibernate and Entity Framework support the three canonical inheritance strategies: Table Per Type Hierarchy (Single Table Inheritance), Table Per Type (Class Table Inheritance) and Table Per Concrete Type (Concrete Table Inheritance). Associations Regarding associations, both support one to one, one to many and many to many. However, NHibernate offers far more collection types: Bags of entities or values: unordered, possibly with duplicates; Lists of entities or values: ordered, indexed by a number column; Maps of entities or values: indexed by either an entity or any value; Sets of entities or values: unordered, no duplicates; Arrays of entities or values: indexed, immutable. Querying NHibernate exposes several querying APIs: LINQ is probably the most used nowadays, and really does not need to be introduced; Hibernate Query Language (HQL) is a database-agnostic, object-oriented SQL-alike language that exists since NHibernate’s creation and still offers the most advanced querying possibilities; well suited for dynamic queries, even if using string concatenation; Criteria API is an implementation of the Query Object pattern where you create a semi-abstract conceptual representation of the query you wish to execute by means of a class model; also a good choice for dynamic querying; Query Over offers a similar API to Criteria, but using strongly-typed LINQ expressions instead of strings; for this, although more refactor-friendlier that Criteria, it is also less suited for dynamic queries; SQL, including stored procedures, can also be used; Integration with Lucene.NET indexer is available. As for Entity Framework: LINQ to Entities is fully supported, and its implementation is considered very complete; it is the API of choice for most developers; Entity-SQL, HQL’s counterpart, is also an object-oriented, database-independent querying language that can be used for dynamic queries; SQL, of course, is also supported. Caching Both NHibernate and Entity Framework, of course, feature first-level cache. NHibernate also supports a second-level cache, that can be used among multiple ISessionFactorys, even in different processes/machines: Hashtable (in-memory); SysCache (uses ASP.NET as the cache provider); SysCache2 (same as above but with support for SQL Server SQL Dependencies); Prevalence; SharedCache; Memcached; Redis; NCache; Appfabric Caching. Out of the box, Entity Framework does not have any second-level cache mechanism, however, there are some public samples that show how we can add this. ID Generators NHibernate supports different ID generation strategies, coming from the database and otherwise: Identity (for SQL Server, MySQL, and databases who support identity columns); Sequence (for Oracle, PostgreSQL, and others who support sequences); Trigger-based; HiLo; Sequence HiLo (for databases that support sequences); Several GUID flavors, both in GUID as well as in string format; Increment (for single-user uses); Assigned (must know what you’re doing); Sequence-style (either uses an actual sequence or a single-column table); Table of ids; Pooled (similar to HiLo but stores high values in a table); Native (uses whatever mechanism the current database supports, identity or sequence). Entity Framework only supports: Identity generation; GUIDs; Assigned values. Properties NHibernate supports properties of entity types (one to one or many to one), collections (one to many or many to many) as well as scalars and enumerations. It offers a mechanism for having complex property types generated from the database, which even include support for querying. It also supports properties originated from SQL formulas. Entity Framework only supports scalars, entity types and collections. Enumerations support will come in the next version. Events and Interception NHibernate has a very rich event model, that exposes more than 20 events, either for synchronous pre-execution or asynchronous post-execution, including: Pre/Post-Load; Pre/Post-Delete; Pre/Post-Insert; Pre/Post-Update; Pre/Post-Flush. It also features interception of class instancing and SQL generation. As for Entity Framework, only two events exist: ObjectMaterialized (after loading an entity from the database); SavingChanges (before saving changes, which include deleting, inserting and updating). Tracking Changes For NHibernate as well as Entity Framework, all changes are tracked by their respective Unit of Work implementation. Entities can be attached and detached to it, Entity Framework does, however, also support self-tracking entities. Optimistic Concurrency Control NHibernate supports all of the imaginable scenarios: SQL Server’s ROWVERSION; Oracle’s ORA_ROWSCN; A column containing date and time; A column containing a version number; All/dirty columns comparison. Entity Framework is more focused on Entity Framework, so it only supports: SQL Server’s ROWVERSION; Comparing all/some columns. Batching NHibernate has full support for insertion batching, but only if the ID generator in use is not database-based (for example, it cannot be used with Identity), whereas Entity Framework has no batching at all. Cascading Both support cascading for collections and associations: when an entity is deleted, their conceptual children are also deleted. NHibernate also offers the possibility to set the foreign key column on children to NULL instead of removing them. Flushing Changes NHibernate’s ISession has a FlushMode property that can have the following values: Auto: changes are sent to the database when necessary, for example, if there are dirty instances of an entity type, and a query is performed against this entity type, or if the ISession is being disposed; Commit: changes are sent when committing the current transaction; Never: changes are only sent when explicitly calling Flush(). As for Entity Framework, changes have to be explicitly sent through a call to AcceptAllChanges()/SaveChanges(). Lazy Loading NHibernate supports lazy loading for Associated entities (one to one, many to one); Collections (one to many, many to many); Scalar properties (thing of BLOBs or CLOBs). Entity Framework only supports lazy loading for: Associated entities; Collections. Generating and Updating the Database Both NHibernate and Entity Framework Code First (with the Migrations API) allow creating the database model from the mapping and updating it if the mapping changes. Extensibility As you can guess, NHibernate is far more extensible than Entity Framework. Basically, everything can be extended, from ID generation, to LINQ to SQL transformation, HQL native SQL support, custom column types, custom association collections, SQL generation, supported databases, etc. With Entity Framework your options are more limited, at least, because practically no information exists as to what can be extended/changed. It features a provider model that can be extended to support any database. Integration With Other Microsoft APIs and Tools When it comes to integration with Microsoft technologies, it will come as no surprise that Entity Framework offers the best support. For example, the following technologies are fully supported: ASP.NET (through the EntityDataSource); ASP.NET Dynamic Data; WCF Data Services; WCF RIA Services; Visual Studio (through the integrated designer). Documentation This is another point where Entity Framework is superior: NHibernate lacks, for starters, an up to date API reference synchronized with its current version. It does have a community mailing list, blogs and wikis, although not much used. Entity Framework has a number of resources on MSDN and, of course, several forums and discussion groups exist. Conclusion Like I said, this is a personal list. I may come as a surprise to some that Entity Framework is so behind NHibernate in so many aspects, but it is true that NHibernate is much older and, due to its open-source nature, is not tied to product-specific timeframes and can thus evolve much more rapidly. I do like both, and I chose whichever is best for the job I have at hands. I am looking forward to the changes in EF5 which will add significant value to an already interesting product. So, what do you think? Did I forget anything important or is there anything else worth talking about? Looking forward for your comments!

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  • The Inkremental Architect&acute;s Napkin - #4 - Make increments tangible

    - by Ralf Westphal
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/theArchitectsNapkin/archive/2014/06/12/the-inkremental-architectacutes-napkin---4---make-increments-tangible.aspxThe driver of software development are increments, small increments, tiny increments. With an increment being a slice of the overall requirement scope thin enough to implement and get feedback from a product owner within 2 days max. Such an increment might concern Functionality or Quality.[1] To make such high frequency delivery of increments possible, the transition from talking to coding needs to be as easy as possible. A user story or some other documentation of what´s supposed to get implemented until tomorrow evening at latest is one side of the medal. The other is where to put the logic in all of the code base. To implement an increment, only logic statements are needed. Functionality like Quality are just about expressions and control flow statements. Think of Assembler code without the CALL/RET instructions. That´s all is needed. Forget about functions, forget about classes. To make a user happy none of that is really needed. It´s just about the right expressions and conditional executions paths plus some memory allocation. Automatic function inlining of compilers which makes it clear how unimportant functions are for delivering value to users at runtime. But why then are there functions? Because they were invented for optimization purposes. We need them for better Evolvability and Production Efficiency. Nothing more, nothing less. No software has become faster, more secure, more scalable, more functional because we gathered logic under the roof of a function or two or a thousand. Functions make logic easier to understand. Functions make us faster in producing logic. Functions make it easier to keep logic consistent. Functions help to conserve memory. That said, functions are important. They are even the pivotal element of software development. We can´t code without them - whether you write a function yourself or not. Because there´s always at least one function in play: the Entry Point of a program. In Ruby the simplest program looks like this:puts "Hello, world!" In C# more is necessary:class Program { public static void Main () { System.Console.Write("Hello, world!"); } } C# makes the Entry Point function explicit, not so Ruby. But still it´s there. So you can think of logic always running in some function. Which brings me back to increments: In order to make the transition from talking to code as easy as possible, it has to be crystal clear into which function you should put the logic. Product owners might be content once there is a sticky note a user story on the Scrum or Kanban board. But developers need an idea of what that sticky note means in term of functions. Because with a function in hand, with a signature to run tests against, they have something to focus on. All´s well once there is a function behind whose signature logic can be piled up. Then testing frameworks can be used to check if the logic is correct. Then practices like TDD can help to drive the implementation. That´s why most code katas define exactly how the API of a solution should look like. It´s a function, maybe two or three, not more. A requirement like “Write a function f which takes this as parameters and produces such and such output by doing x” makes a developer comfortable. Yes, there are all kinds of details to think about, like which algorithm or technology to use, or what kind of state and side effects to consider. Even a single function not only must deliver on Functionality, but also on Quality and Evolvability. Nevertheless, once it´s clear which function to put logic in, you have a tangible starting point. So, yes, what I´m suggesting is to find a single function to put all the logic in that´s necessary to deliver on a the requirements of an increment. Or to put it the other way around: Slice requirements in a way that each increment´s logic can be located under the roof of a single function. Entry points Of course, the logic of a software will always be spread across many, many functions. But there´s always an Entry Point. That´s the most important function for each increment, because that´s the root to put integration or even acceptance tests on. A batch program like the above hello-world application only has a single Entry Point. All logic is reached from there, regardless how deep it´s nested in classes. But a program with a user interface like this has at least two Entry Points: One is the main function called upon startup. The other is the button click event handler for “Show my score”. But maybe there are even more, like another Entry Point being a handler for the event fired when one of the choices gets selected; because then some logic could check if the button should be enabled because all questions got answered. Or another Entry Point for the logic to be executed when the program is close; because then the choices made should be persisted. You see, an Entry Point to me is a function which gets triggered by the user of a software. With batch programs that´s the main function. With GUI programs on the desktop that´s event handlers. With web programs that´s handlers for URL routes. And my basic suggestion to help you with slicing requirements for Spinning is: Slice them in a way so that each increment is related to only one Entry Point function.[2] Entry Points are the “outer functions” of a program. That´s where the environment triggers behavior. That´s where hardware meets software. Entry points always get called because something happened to hardware state, e.g. a key was pressed, a mouse button clicked, the system timer ticked, data arrived over a wire.[3] Viewed from the outside, software is just a collection of Entry Point functions made accessible via buttons to press, menu items to click, gestures, URLs to open, keys to enter. Collections of batch processors I´d thus say, we haven´t moved forward since the early days of software development. We´re still writing batch programs. Forget about “event-driven programming” with its fancy GUI applications. Software is just a collection of batch processors. Earlier it was just one per program, today it´s hundreds we bundle up into applications. Each batch processor is represented by an Entry Point as its root that works on a number of resources from which it reads data to process and to which it writes results. These resources can be the keyboard or main memory or a hard disk or a communication line or a display. Together many batch processors - large and small - form applications the user perceives as a single whole: Software development that way becomes quite simple: just implement one batch processor after another. Well, at least in principle ;-) Features Each batch processor entered through an Entry Point delivers value to the user. It´s an increment. Sometimes its logic is trivial, sometimes it´s very complex. Regardless, each Entry Point represents an increment. An Entry Point implemented thus is a step forward in terms of Agility. At the same time it´s a tangible unit for developers. Therefore, identifying the more or less numerous batch processors in a software system is a rewarding task for product owners and developers alike. That´s where user stories meet code. In this example the user story translates to the Entry Point triggered by clicking the login button on a dialog like this: The batch then retrieves what has been entered via keyboard, loads data from a user store, and finally outputs some kind of response on the screen, e.g. by displaying an error message or showing the next dialog. This is all very simple, but you see, there is not just one thing happening, but several. Get input (email address, password) Load user for email address If user not found report error Check password Hash password Compare hash to hash stored in user Show next dialog Viewed from 10,000 feet it´s all done by the Entry Point function. And of course that´s technically possible. It´s just a bunch of logic and calling a couple of API functions. However, I suggest to take these steps as distinct aspects of the overall requirement described by the user story. Such aspects of requirements I call Features. Features too are increments. Each provides some (small) value of its own to the user. Each can be checked individually by a product owner. Instead of implementing all the logic behind the Login() entry point at once you can move forward increment by increment, e.g. First implement the dialog, let the user enter any credentials, and log him/her in without any checks. Features 1 and 4. Then hard code a single user and check the email address. Features 2 and 2.1. Then check password without hashing it (or use a very simple hash like the length of the password). Features 3. and 3.2 Replace hard coded user with a persistent user directoy, but a very simple one, e.g. a CSV file. Refinement of feature 2. Calculate the real hash for the password. Feature 3.1. Switch to the final user directory technology. Each feature provides an opportunity to deliver results in a short amount of time and get feedback. If you´re in doubt whether you can implement the whole entry point function until tomorrow night, then just go for a couple of features or even just one. That´s also why I think, you should strive for wrapping feature logic into a function of its own. It´s a matter of Evolvability and Production Efficiency. A function per feature makes the code more readable, since the language of requirements analysis and design is carried over into implementation. It makes it easier to apply changes to features because it´s clear where their logic is located. And finally, of course, it lets you re-use features in different context (read: increments). Feature functions make it easier for you to think of features as Spinning increments, to implement them independently, to let the product owner check them for acceptance individually. Increments consist of features, entry point functions consist of feature functions. So you can view software as a hierarchy of requirements from broad to thin which map to a hierarchy of functions - with entry points at the top.   I like this image of software as a self-similar structure on many levels of abstraction where requirements and code match each other. That to me is true agile design: the core tenet of Agility to move forward in increments is carried over into implementation. Increments on paper are retained in code. This way developers can easily relate to product owners. Elusive and fuzzy requirements are not tangible. Software production is moving forward through requirements one increment at a time, and one function at a time. In closing Product owners and developers are different - but they need to work together towards a shared goal: working software. So their notions of software need to be made compatible, they need to be connected. The increments of the product owner - user stories and features - need to be mapped straightforwardly to something which is relevant to developers. To me that´s functions. Yes, functions, not classes nor components nor micro services. We´re talking about behavior, actions, activities, processes. Their natural representation is a function. Something has to be done. Logic has to be executed. That´s the purpose of functions. Later, classes and other containers are needed to stay on top of a growing amount of logic. But to connect developers and product owners functions are the appropriate glue. Functions which represent increments. Can there always be such a small increment be found to deliver until tomorrow evening? I boldly say yes. Yes, it´s always possible. But maybe you´ve to start thinking differently. Maybe the product owner needs to start thinking differently. Completion is not the goal anymore. Neither is checking the delivery of an increment through the user interface of a software. Product owners need to become comfortable using test beds for certain features. If it´s hard to slice requirements thin enough for Spinning the reason is too little knowledge of something. Maybe you don´t yet understand the problem domain well enough? Maybe you don´t yet feel comfortable with some tool or technology? Then it´s time to acknowledge this fact. Be honest about your not knowing. And instead of trying to deliver as a craftsman officially become a researcher. Research an check back with the product owner every day - until your understanding has grown to a level where you are able to define the next Spinning increment. ? Sometimes even thin requirement slices will cover several Entry Points, like “Add validation of email addresses to all relevant dialogs.” Validation then will it put into a dozen functons. Still, though, it´s important to determine which Entry Points exactly get affected. That´s much easier, if strive for keeping the number of Entry Points per increment to 1. ? If you like call Entry Point functions event handlers, because that´s what they are. They all handle events of some kind, whether that´s palpable in your code or note. A public void btnSave_Click(object sender, EventArgs e) {…} might look like an event handler to you, but public static void Main() {…} is one also - for then event “program started”. ?

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