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  • Precising definition of programming paradigm

    - by Kazark
    Wikipedia defines programming paradigm thus: a fundamental style of computer programming which is echoed in the descriptive text of the paradigms tag on this site. I find this a disappointing definition. Anyone who knows the words programming and paradigm could do about that well without knowing anything else about it. There are many styles of computer programming at many level of abstraction; within any given programming paradigm, multiple styles are possible. For example, Bob Martin says in Clean Code (13), Consider this book a description of the Object Mentor School of Clean Code. The techniques and teachings within are the way that we practice our art. We are willing to claim that if you follow these teachings, you will enjoy the benefits that we have enjoyed, and you will learn to write code that is clean and professional. But don't make the mistake of thinking that we are somehow "right" in any absolute sense. Thus Bob Martin is not claiming to have the correct style of Object-Oriented programming, even though he, if anyone, might have some claim to doing so. But even within his school of programming, we might have different styles of formatting the code (K&R, etc). There are many styles of programming at many levels. Sp how can we define programming paradigm rigorously, to distinguish it from other categories of programming styles? Fundamental is somewhat helpful, but not specific. How can we define the phrase in a way that will communicate more than the separate meanings of each of the two words—in other words, how can we define it in a way that will provide additional meaning for someone who speaks English but isn't familiar with a variety of paradigms?

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  • What is the precise definition of programming paradigm?

    - by Kazark
    Wikipedia defines programming paradigm thus: a fundamental style of computer programming which is echoed in the descriptive text of the paradigms tag on this site. I find this a disappointing definition. Anyone who knows the words programming and paradigm could do about that well without knowing anything else about it. There are many styles of computer programming at many level of abstraction; within any given programming paradigm, multiple styles are possible. For example, Bob Martin says in Clean Code (13), Consider this book a description of the Object Mentor School of Clean Code. The techniques and teachings within are the way that we practice our art. We are willing to claim that if you follow these teachings, you will enjoy the benefits that we have enjoyed, and you will learn to write code that is clean and professional. But don't make the mistake of thinking that we are somehow "right" in any absolute sense. Thus Bob Martin is not claiming to have the correct style of Object-Oriented programming, even though he, if anyone, might have some claim to doing so. But even within his school of programming, we might have different styles of formatting the code (K&R, etc). There are many styles of programming at many levels. So how can we define programming paradigm rigorously, to distinguish it from other categories of programming styles? Fundamental is somewhat helpful, but not specific. How can we define the phrase in a way that will communicate more than the separate meanings of each of the two words—in other words, how can we define it in a way that will provide additional meaning for someone who speaks English but isn't familiar with a variety of paradigms?

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  • Wordnik Accelerator

    - by prabhpreet
    Wow, creating IE Accelerators is superbly easy. If you want to learn how to create one, go here (some MSDN blog) and the MSDN documentation (clearly written). I was fed up of dictionary.com bringing all those popups and the stupid definitions of Google's dictionary. So I decided to scratch my own itch. I randomly stumbled on the site called Wordnik and it provides with all examples plus definitions plus lots more for words and its popup-free (as far as I know). So I decided to write and accelerator. Here is the source code (Yes, this is it): <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <os:openServiceDescription xmlns:os="http://www.microsoft.com/schemas/openservicedescription/1.0"> <os:homepageUrl>http://www.wordnik.com</os:homepageUrl> <os:display> <os:name>View on Wordnik</os:name> <os:description>Looking up words on an awesome word site called Wordnik </os:description> <os:icon>http://www.wordnik.com/favicon.ico</os:icon> </os:display> <os:activity category="Define"> <os:activityAction context="selection"> <os:execute method="get" action="http://www.wordnik.com/words/{selection}" ></os:execute> </os:activityAction> </os:activity> </os:openServiceDescription> That’s it. To get it, go here. Enjoy!

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  • Overloading methods that do logically different things, does this break any major principles?

    - by siva.k
    This is something that's been bugging me for a bit now. In some cases you see code that is a series of overloads, but when you look at the actual implementation you realize they do logically different things. However writing them as overloads allows the caller to ignore this and get the same end result. But would it be more sound to name the methods more explicitly then to write them as overloads? public void LoadWords(string filePath) { var lines = File.ReadAllLines(filePath).ToList(); LoadWords(lines); } public void LoadWords(IEnumerable<string> words) { // loads words into a List<string> based on some filters } Would these methods better serve future developers to be named as LoadWordsFromFile() and LoadWordsFromEnumerable()? It seems unnecessary to me, but if that is better what programming principle would apply here? On the flip side it'd make it so you didn't need to read the signatures to see exactly how you can load the words, which as Uncle Bob says would be a double take. But in general is this type of overloading to be avoided then?

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  • Stylecop 4.7.38.0 has been released

    - by TATWORTH
    Stylecop  4.7.38.0 has been released at http://stylecop.codeplex.com/releases/view/79972The release notes follow:Move Registry functions into common Utils class. Styling fixes.Dictionary updatesStyling fixes.Update Styling.Styling fixes.Update docs.Spelling fixes in our own source.Add solution specific spellings to our own Settings.StyleCopDeploy more up to date spelling checkers and dictionaries.Update our own StyleCop and dictionaries for analyzing our own build.Update the custom dictionaries.Update the spellchecker to work for 32 or 64 bit processes.Update latex parser.Update the latex parser for $$...$$Fix the latex parser to allow any char between $ and $Add a new tab to the settings editor to add/remove spelling words. Ignore words starting and ending with a '$'. Add support for our own recognized words in the settings file. If the spelling library can't load then dont analyse the spellings and fail gracefully.Fix for 7398. Insert the correct type-name in the example for summary.Fix for 7396. Added new tests. All doc elements to end with <c> elements and not be reported for lack of white-space or too short.

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  • How to compute a unicode string which bidirectional representation is specified?

    - by valdo
    Hello, fellows. I have a rather pervert question. Please forgive me :) There's an official algorithm that describes how bidirectional unicode text should be presented. http://www.unicode.org/reports/tr9/tr9-15.html I receive a string (from some 3rd-party source), which contains latin/hebrew characters, as well as digits, white-spaces, punctuation symbols and etc. The problem is that the string that I receive is already in the representation form. I.e. - the sequence of characters that I receive should just be presented from left to right. Now, my goal is to find the unicode string which representation is exactly the same. Means - I need to pass that string to another entity; it would then render this string according to the official algorithm, and the result should be the same. Assuming the following: The default text direction (of the rendering entity) is RTL. I don't want to inject "special unicode characters" that explicitly override the text direction (such as RLO, RLE, etc.) I suspect there may exist several solutions. If so - I'd like to preserve the RTL-looking of the string as much as possible. The string usually consists of hebrew words mostly. I'd like to preserve the correct order of those words, and characters inside those words. Whereas other character sequences may (and should) be transposed. One naive way to solve this is just to swap the whole string (this takes care of the hebrew words), and then swap inside it sequences of non-hebrew characters. This however doesn't always produce correct results, because actual rules of representation are rather complex. The only comprehensive algorithm that I see so far is brute-force check. The string can be divided into sequences of same-class characters. Those sequences may be joined in random order, plus any of them may be reversed. I can check all those combinations to obtain the correct result. Plus this technique may be optimized. For instance the order of hebrew words is known, so we only have to check different combinations of their "joining" sequences. Any better ideas? If you have an idea, not necessarily the whole solution - it's ok. I'll appreciate any idea. Thanks in advance.

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  • BufferedReader no longer buffering after a while?

    - by BobTurbo
    Sorry I can't post code but I have a bufferedreader with 50000000 bytes set as the buffer size. It works as you would expect for half an hour, the HDD light flashing every two minutes or so, reading in the big chunk of data, and then going quiet again as the CPU processes it. But after about half an hour (this is a very big file), the HDD starts thrashing as if it is reading one byte at a time. It is still in the same loop and I think I checked free ram to rule out swapping (heap size is default). Probably won't get any helpful answers, but worth a try. OK I have changed heap size to 768mb and still nothing. There is plenty of free memory and java.exe is only using about 300mb. Now I have profiled it and heap stays at about 200MB, well below what is available. CPU stays at 50%. Yet the HDD starts thrashing like crazy. I have.. no idea. I am going to rewrite the whole thing in c#, that is my solution. Here is the code (it is just a throw-away script, not pretty): BufferedReader s = null; HashMap<String, Integer> allWords = new HashMap<String, Integer>(); HashSet<String> pageWords = new HashSet<String>(); long[] pageCount = new long[78592]; long pages = 0; Scanner wordFile = new Scanner(new BufferedReader(new FileReader("allWords.txt"))); while (wordFile.hasNext()) { allWords.put(wordFile.next(), Integer.parseInt(wordFile.next())); } s = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("wikipedia/enwiki-latest-pages-articles.xml"), 50000000); StringBuilder words = new StringBuilder(); String nextLine = null; while ((nextLine = s.readLine()) != null) { if (a.matcher(nextLine).matches()) { continue; } else if (b.matcher(nextLine).matches()) { continue; } else if (c.matcher(nextLine).matches()) { continue; } else if (d.matcher(nextLine).matches()) { nextLine = s.readLine(); if (e.matcher(nextLine).matches()) { if (f.matcher(s.readLine()).matches()) { pageWords.addAll(Arrays.asList(words.toString().toLowerCase().split("[^a-zA-Z]"))); words.setLength(0); pages++; for (String word : pageWords) { if (allWords.containsKey(word)) { pageCount[allWords.get(word)]++; } else if (!word.isEmpty() && allWords.containsKey(word.substring(0, word.length() - 1))) { pageCount[allWords.get(word.substring(0, word.length() - 1))]++; } } pageWords.clear(); } } } else if (g.matcher(nextLine).matches()) { continue; } words.append(nextLine); words.append(" "); }

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  • Problem with Precision floating point operation in C

    - by Microkernel
    Hi Guys, For one of my course project I started implementing "Naive Bayesian classifier" in C. My project is to implement a document classifier application (especially Spam) using huge training data. Now I have problem implementing the algorithm because of the limitations in the C's datatype. ( Algorithm I am using is given here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_spam_filtering ) PROBLEM STATEMENT: The algorithm involves taking each word in a document and calculating probability of it being spam word. If p1, p2 p3 .... pn are probabilities of word-1, 2, 3 ... n. The probability of doc being spam or not is calculated using Here, probability value can be very easily around 0.01. So even if I use datatype "double" my calculation will go for a toss. To confirm this I wrote a sample code given below. #define PROBABILITY_OF_UNLIKELY_SPAM_WORD (0.01) #define PROBABILITY_OF_MOSTLY_SPAM_WORD (0.99) int main() { int index; long double numerator = 1.0; long double denom1 = 1.0, denom2 = 1.0; long double doc_spam_prob; /* Simulating FEW unlikely spam words */ for(index = 0; index < 162; index++) { numerator = numerator*(long double)PROBABILITY_OF_UNLIKELY_SPAM_WORD; denom2 = denom2*(long double)PROBABILITY_OF_UNLIKELY_SPAM_WORD; denom1 = denom1*(long double)(1 - PROBABILITY_OF_UNLIKELY_SPAM_WORD); } /* Simulating lot of mostly definite spam words */ for (index = 0; index < 1000; index++) { numerator = numerator*(long double)PROBABILITY_OF_MOSTLY_SPAM_WORD; denom2 = denom2*(long double)PROBABILITY_OF_MOSTLY_SPAM_WORD; denom1 = denom1*(long double)(1- PROBABILITY_OF_MOSTLY_SPAM_WORD); } doc_spam_prob= (numerator/(denom1+denom2)); return 0; } I tried Float, double and even long double datatypes but still same problem. Hence, say in a 100K words document I am analyzing, if just 162 words are having 1% spam probability and remaining 99838 are conspicuously spam words, then still my app will say it as Not Spam doc because of Precision error (as numerator easily goes to ZERO)!!!. This is the first time I am hitting such issue. So how exactly should this problem be tackled?

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  • Preoblem with Precision floating point operation in C

    - by Microkernel
    Hi Guys, For one of my course project I started implementing "Naive Bayesian classifier" in C. My project is to implement a document classifier application (especially Spam) using huge training data. Now I have problem implementing the algorithm because of the limitations in the C's datatype. ( Algorithm I am using is given here, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayesian_spam_filtering ) PROBLEM STATEMENT: The algorithm involves taking each word in a document and calculating probability of it being spam word. If p1, p2 p3 .... pn are probabilities of word-1, 2, 3 ... n. The probability of doc being spam or not is calculated using Here, probability value can be very easily around 0.01. So even if I use datatype "double" my calculation will go for a toss. To confirm this I wrote a sample code given below. #define PROBABILITY_OF_UNLIKELY_SPAM_WORD (0.01) #define PROBABILITY_OF_MOSTLY_SPAM_WORD (0.99) int main() { int index; long double numerator = 1.0; long double denom1 = 1.0, denom2 = 1.0; long double doc_spam_prob; /* Simulating FEW unlikely spam words */ for(index = 0; index < 162; index++) { numerator = numerator*(long double)PROBABILITY_OF_UNLIKELY_SPAM_WORD; denom2 = denom2*(long double)PROBABILITY_OF_UNLIKELY_SPAM_WORD; denom1 = denom1*(long double)(1 - PROBABILITY_OF_UNLIKELY_SPAM_WORD); } /* Simulating lot of mostly definite spam words */ for (index = 0; index < 1000; index++) { numerator = numerator*(long double)PROBABILITY_OF_MOSTLY_SPAM_WORD; denom2 = denom2*(long double)PROBABILITY_OF_MOSTLY_SPAM_WORD; denom1 = denom1*(long double)(1- PROBABILITY_OF_MOSTLY_SPAM_WORD); } doc_spam_prob= (numerator/(denom1+denom2)); return 0; } I tried Float, double and even long double datatypes but still same problem. Hence, say in a 100K words document I am analyzing, if just 162 words are having 1% spam probability and remaining 99838 are conspicuously spam words, then still my app will say it as Not Spam doc because of Precision error (as numerator easily goes to ZERO)!!!. This is the first time I am hitting such issue. So how exactly should this problem be tackled?

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  • SEO non-English domain name advice

    - by Dominykas Mostauskis
    I'm starting a website, that is meant for a non-English region, using an alphabet that is a bit different than that of English. Current plan is as follows. The website name, and the domain name, will be in the local language (not English); however, domain name will be spelled in the English alphabet, while the website's title will be the same word(s), but spelled properly with accents. E.g.: 'www.litterat.fr' and 'Littérat'. Does the difference between domain name and website name character use influence the site's SEO? Is it better, SEO-wise, to choose a name that can be spelled the same way in the English alphabet? From my experience, when searching online, invariably, the English alphabet is used, no matter the language, so people will still be searching 'litterat' (without accents and such). Edit: To sum up: Things have been said about IDN (Internationalized domain name). To make it simple, they are second-level domain names that contain language specific characters (LSP)(e.g. www.café.fr). Here you can check what top-level domains support what LSPs. Check initall's answer for more info on using LSPs in paths and queries. To answer my question about how and if search engines relate keywords spelled with and without language specific characters: Google can potentially tell that series and séries is the same keyword. However, (most relevant for words that are spelled differently across languages and have different meanings, like séries), for Google to make the connection (or lack thereof) between e and é, it has to deduce two things: Language that you are searching in. Language of your query. You can specify it manually through Advanced search or it guesses it, sometimes. I presume it can guess it wrong too. The more keywords specific to this language you use the higher Google's chance to guess the language. Language of the crawled document, against which the ASCII version of the word will be compared (in this example – series). Again, check initall's answer for how to help Google in understanding what language your document is in. Once it has that it can tell whether or not these two spellings should be treated as the same keyword. Google has to understand that even though you're not using french (in this example) specific characters, you're searching in French. The reason why I used the french word séries in this example, is that it demonstrates this very well. You have it in French and you have it in English without the accent. So if your search query is ambiguous like our series, unless Google has something more to go on, it will presume that there's no correlation between your search and séries in French documents. If you augment your query to series romantiques (try it), Google will understand that you're searching in French and among your results you'll see séries as well. But this does not always work, you should test it out with your keywords first. For example, if you search series francaises, it will associate francaises with françaises, but it will not associate series with séries. It depends on the words. Note: worth stressing that this problem is very relevant to words that, written in plain ASCII, might have some other meanings in other languages, it is less relevant to words that can be, by a distinct margin, just some one language. Tip: I've noticed that sometimes even if my non-accented search query doesn't get associated with the properly spelled word in a document (especially if it's the title or an important keyword in the doc), it still comes up. I followed the link, did a Ctrl-F search for my non-accented search query and found nothing, then checked the meta-tags in the source and you had the page's title in both accented and non-accented forms. So if you have meta-tags that can be spelled with language specific characters and without, put in both. Footnote: I hope this helps. If you have anything to add or correct, go ahead.

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  • Why Apple’s New SDK Limitation is So Offensive

    - by TStewartDev
    I am not an Apple fanboy, nor have I ever been. However, I have owned a Mac, an iPod, and an iPhone in my lifetime, and for more than a decade, I have defended Apple against the untruths that the haters so enjoy spewing. I encouraged my wife to buy a MacBook when she needed a new laptop two years ago, and I often recommend them to my friends and relatives. I have proudly and happily used my first generation iPhone for nearly three years. Now, for the first time in well over ten years, I find myself ready to swear off Apple and encourage everyone I know to do the same. I was disappointed when Apple wouldn't allow native apps, but I still bought the iPhone. I've stomached their ambiguous app approval process even though it's apparent that Steve may just reject your app because he doesn't like you or feels threatened by you (I'm still lamenting the rejection of the Google Voice app). But, as a developer, I can no longer tolerate Apple's terms and the kind of totalitarian control they indicate Apple wants. In case you are not already familiar, Apple has dictated in their OS 4.0 SDK license agreement (the now infamous Section 3.3.1) that all apps developed for the iPhone must be coded in C, C++, or Objective C, and moreover, that using any cross-compiling platforms is a violation of the agreement. For those of you who aren't developers, let me try to illustrate why this angers those of us who are. Imagine you're a professional writer. You've had articles published in some journals and magazines, and you've got a couple popular books out there, too. You've got an idea for a new book, and so you take it to your publisher. Your publisher agrees that it's a good idea. "But," says the publisher, "we want to hold our books to a tighter standard so that our readers get the experience we want them to have. Therefore, from now on, all our writers may only use words from this list of the 10,000 most common English words. Furthermore, if you cite any other works or quote anyone, they must comply with that same list, or you'll have to rewrite the entire work as well in case our readers want to look up your citation." What do you do? If your work is a children's book, this probably isn't a big deal to you. If it's an autobiography, textbook, or even a novel, though, you're going to have a lot of trouble describing your content with only common words. It's going to take you longer to complete your book, too, since you'll be looking up less common words frequently to see if you can use them. You could always go to another publisher, but this one has the best ability to distribute your book. The next largest distributor can only do a quarter as much. You could abandon the project altogether, but then everyone loses. Isn't this a silly scenario? Who would put such a limitation on writers? Yet this is very much what Apple is doing. They are using their dominant position in the market to coerce developers to write their apps exclusively for the iPhone OS by making it too expensive to write for multiple platforms. It is at least a threefold attack, striking at Adobe who is set to release a compiler that lets Flash source be compiled to iPhone binaries; striking at Google whose Android platform stands the best chance at the moment of providing serious competition to the iPhone; and reinforcing their own strong position by keeping popular apps exclusively to iPhone. And while developers are already very upset about this, the sad fact is that most of us will cave and give in to Apple because consumers don't know any better. They will continue to buy Apple's toy forcing developers to play Apple's maniacal game in order to make any money, at least until Steve Jobs decides he doesn't like them or he intends to release a competing application (bye-bye OpenFeint). Apple has been kept in check on the desktop front by a very dominant Microsoft, but I'm afraid that their success with iPods, iTunes, and iPhones has created a monster that we may have to bear until it is slain by an anti-trust suit or dies with the retirement of Steve Jobs.

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  • Zen and the Art of File and Folder Organization

    - by Mark Virtue
    Is your desk a paragon of neatness, or does it look like a paper-bomb has gone off? If you’ve been putting off getting organized because the task is too huge or daunting, or you don’t know where to start, we’ve got 40 tips to get you on the path to zen mastery of your filing system. For all those readers who would like to get their files and folders organized, or, if they’re already organized, better organized—we have compiled a complete guide to getting organized and staying organized, a comprehensive article that will hopefully cover every possible tip you could want. Signs that Your Computer is Poorly Organized If your computer is a mess, you’re probably already aware of it.  But just in case you’re not, here are some tell-tale signs: Your Desktop has over 40 icons on it “My Documents” contains over 300 files and 60 folders, including MP3s and digital photos You use the Windows’ built-in search facility whenever you need to find a file You can’t find programs in the out-of-control list of programs in your Start Menu You save all your Word documents in one folder, all your spreadsheets in a second folder, etc Any given file that you’re looking for may be in any one of four different sets of folders But before we start, here are some quick notes: We’re going to assume you know what files and folders are, and how to create, save, rename, copy and delete them The organization principles described in this article apply equally to all computer systems.  However, the screenshots here will reflect how things look on Windows (usually Windows 7).  We will also mention some useful features of Windows that can help you get organized. Everyone has their own favorite methodology of organizing and filing, and it’s all too easy to get into “My Way is Better than Your Way” arguments.  The reality is that there is no perfect way of getting things organized.  When I wrote this article, I tried to keep a generalist and objective viewpoint.  I consider myself to be unusually well organized (to the point of obsession, truth be told), and I’ve had 25 years experience in collecting and organizing files on computers.  So I’ve got a lot to say on the subject.  But the tips I have described here are only one way of doing it.  Hopefully some of these tips will work for you too, but please don’t read this as any sort of “right” way to do it. At the end of the article we’ll be asking you, the reader, for your own organization tips. Why Bother Organizing At All? For some, the answer to this question is self-evident. And yet, in this era of powerful desktop search software (the search capabilities built into the Windows Vista and Windows 7 Start Menus, and third-party programs like Google Desktop Search), the question does need to be asked, and answered. I have a friend who puts every file he ever creates, receives or downloads into his My Documents folder and doesn’t bother filing them into subfolders at all.  He relies on the search functionality built into his Windows operating system to help him find whatever he’s looking for.  And he always finds it.  He’s a Search Samurai.  For him, filing is a waste of valuable time that could be spent enjoying life! It’s tempting to follow suit.  On the face of it, why would anyone bother to take the time to organize their hard disk when such excellent search software is available?  Well, if all you ever want to do with the files you own is to locate and open them individually (for listening, editing, etc), then there’s no reason to ever bother doing one scrap of organization.  But consider these common tasks that are not achievable with desktop search software: Find files manually.  Often it’s not convenient, speedy or even possible to utilize your desktop search software to find what you want.  It doesn’t work 100% of the time, or you may not even have it installed.  Sometimes its just plain faster to go straight to the file you want, if you know it’s in a particular sub-folder, rather than trawling through hundreds of search results. Find groups of similar files (e.g. all your “work” files, all the photos of your Europe holiday in 2008, all your music videos, all the MP3s from Dark Side of the Moon, all your letters you wrote to your wife, all your tax returns).  Clever naming of the files will only get you so far.  Sometimes it’s the date the file was created that’s important, other times it’s the file format, and other times it’s the purpose of the file.  How do you name a collection of files so that they’re easy to isolate based on any of the above criteria?  Short answer, you can’t. Move files to a new computer.  It’s time to upgrade your computer.  How do you quickly grab all the files that are important to you?  Or you decide to have two computers now – one for home and one for work.  How do you quickly isolate only the work-related files to move them to the work computer? Synchronize files to other computers.  If you have more than one computer, and you need to mirror some of your files onto the other computer (e.g. your music collection), then you need a way to quickly determine which files are to be synced and which are not.  Surely you don’t want to synchronize everything? Choose which files to back up.  If your backup regime calls for multiple backups, or requires speedy backups, then you’ll need to be able to specify which files are to be backed up, and which are not.  This is not possible if they’re all in the same folder. Finally, if you’re simply someone who takes pleasure in being organized, tidy and ordered (me! me!), then you don’t even need a reason.  Being disorganized is simply unthinkable. Tips on Getting Organized Here we present our 40 best tips on how to get organized.  Or, if you’re already organized, to get better organized. Tip #1.  Choose Your Organization System Carefully The reason that most people are not organized is that it takes time.  And the first thing that takes time is deciding upon a system of organization.  This is always a matter of personal preference, and is not something that a geek on a website can tell you.  You should always choose your own system, based on how your own brain is organized (which makes the assumption that your brain is, in fact, organized). We can’t instruct you, but we can make suggestions: You may want to start off with a system based on the users of the computer.  i.e. “My Files”, “My Wife’s Files”, My Son’s Files”, etc.  Inside “My Files”, you might then break it down into “Personal” and “Business”.  You may then realize that there are overlaps.  For example, everyone may want to share access to the music library, or the photos from the school play.  So you may create another folder called “Family”, for the “common” files. You may decide that the highest-level breakdown of your files is based on the “source” of each file.  In other words, who created the files.  You could have “Files created by ME (business or personal)”, “Files created by people I know (family, friends, etc)”, and finally “Files created by the rest of the world (MP3 music files, downloaded or ripped movies or TV shows, software installation files, gorgeous desktop wallpaper images you’ve collected, etc).”  This system happens to be the one I use myself.  See below:  Mark is for files created by meVC is for files created by my company (Virtual Creations)Others is for files created by my friends and familyData is the rest of the worldAlso, Settings is where I store the configuration files and other program data files for my installed software (more on this in tip #34, below). Each folder will present its own particular set of requirements for further sub-organization.  For example, you may decide to organize your music collection into sub-folders based on the artist’s name, while your digital photos might get organized based on the date they were taken.  It can be different for every sub-folder! Another strategy would be based on “currentness”.  Files you have yet to open and look at live in one folder.  Ones that have been looked at but not yet filed live in another place.  Current, active projects live in yet another place.  All other files (your “archive”, if you like) would live in a fourth folder. (And of course, within that last folder you’d need to create a further sub-system based on one of the previous bullet points). Put some thought into this – changing it when it proves incomplete can be a big hassle!  Before you go to the trouble of implementing any system you come up with, examine a wide cross-section of the files you own and see if they will all be able to find a nice logical place to sit within your system. Tip #2.  When You Decide on Your System, Stick to It! There’s nothing more pointless than going to all the trouble of creating a system and filing all your files, and then whenever you create, receive or download a new file, you simply dump it onto your Desktop.  You need to be disciplined – forever!  Every new file you get, spend those extra few seconds to file it where it belongs!  Otherwise, in just a month or two, you’ll be worse off than before – half your files will be organized and half will be disorganized – and you won’t know which is which! Tip #3.  Choose the Root Folder of Your Structure Carefully Every data file (document, photo, music file, etc) that you create, own or is important to you, no matter where it came from, should be found within one single folder, and that one single folder should be located at the root of your C: drive (as a sub-folder of C:\).  In other words, do not base your folder structure in standard folders like “My Documents”.  If you do, then you’re leaving it up to the operating system engineers to decide what folder structure is best for you.  And every operating system has a different system!  In Windows 7 your files are found in C:\Users\YourName, whilst on Windows XP it was C:\Documents and Settings\YourName\My Documents.  In UNIX systems it’s often /home/YourName. These standard default folders tend to fill up with junk files and folders that are not at all important to you.  “My Documents” is the worst offender.  Every second piece of software you install, it seems, likes to create its own folder in the “My Documents” folder.  These folders usually don’t fit within your organizational structure, so don’t use them!  In fact, don’t even use the “My Documents” folder at all.  Allow it to fill up with junk, and then simply ignore it.  It sounds heretical, but: Don’t ever visit your “My Documents” folder!  Remove your icons/links to “My Documents” and replace them with links to the folders you created and you care about! Create your own file system from scratch!  Probably the best place to put it would be on your D: drive – if you have one.  This way, all your files live on one drive, while all the operating system and software component files live on the C: drive – simply and elegantly separated.  The benefits of that are profound.  Not only are there obvious organizational benefits (see tip #10, below), but when it comes to migrate your data to a new computer, you can (sometimes) simply unplug your D: drive and plug it in as the D: drive of your new computer (this implies that the D: drive is actually a separate physical disk, and not a partition on the same disk as C:).  You also get a slight speed improvement (again, only if your C: and D: drives are on separate physical disks). Warning:  From tip #12, below, you will see that it’s actually a good idea to have exactly the same file system structure – including the drive it’s filed on – on all of the computers you own.  So if you decide to use the D: drive as the storage system for your own files, make sure you are able to use the D: drive on all the computers you own.  If you can’t ensure that, then you can still use a clever geeky trick to store your files on the D: drive, but still access them all via the C: drive (see tip #17, below). If you only have one hard disk (C:), then create a dedicated folder that will contain all your files – something like C:\Files.  The name of the folder is not important, but make it a single, brief word. There are several reasons for this: When creating a backup regime, it’s easy to decide what files should be backed up – they’re all in the one folder! If you ever decide to trade in your computer for a new one, you know exactly which files to migrate You will always know where to begin a search for any file If you synchronize files with other computers, it makes your synchronization routines very simple.   It also causes all your shortcuts to continue to work on the other machines (more about this in tip #24, below). Once you’ve decided where your files should go, then put all your files in there – Everything!  Completely disregard the standard, default folders that are created for you by the operating system (“My Music”, “My Pictures”, etc).  In fact, you can actually relocate many of those folders into your own structure (more about that below, in tip #6). The more completely you get all your data files (documents, photos, music, etc) and all your configuration settings into that one folder, then the easier it will be to perform all of the above tasks. Once this has been done, and all your files live in one folder, all the other folders in C:\ can be thought of as “operating system” folders, and therefore of little day-to-day interest for us. Here’s a screenshot of a nicely organized C: drive, where all user files are located within the \Files folder:   Tip #4.  Use Sub-Folders This would be our simplest and most obvious tip.  It almost goes without saying.  Any organizational system you decide upon (see tip #1) will require that you create sub-folders for your files.  Get used to creating folders on a regular basis. Tip #5.  Don’t be Shy About Depth Create as many levels of sub-folders as you need.  Don’t be scared to do so.  Every time you notice an opportunity to group a set of related files into a sub-folder, do so.  Examples might include:  All the MP3s from one music CD, all the photos from one holiday, or all the documents from one client. It’s perfectly okay to put files into a folder called C:\Files\Me\From Others\Services\WestCo Bank\Statements\2009.  That’s only seven levels deep.  Ten levels is not uncommon.  Of course, it’s possible to take this too far.  If you notice yourself creating a sub-folder to hold only one file, then you’ve probably become a little over-zealous.  On the other hand, if you simply create a structure with only two levels (for example C:\Files\Work) then you really haven’t achieved any level of organization at all (unless you own only six files!).  Your “Work” folder will have become a dumping ground, just like your Desktop was, with most likely hundreds of files in it. Tip #6.  Move the Standard User Folders into Your Own Folder Structure Most operating systems, including Windows, create a set of standard folders for each of its users.  These folders then become the default location for files such as documents, music files, digital photos and downloaded Internet files.  In Windows 7, the full list is shown below: Some of these folders you may never use nor care about (for example, the Favorites folder, if you’re not using Internet Explorer as your browser).  Those ones you can leave where they are.  But you may be using some of the other folders to store files that are important to you.  Even if you’re not using them, Windows will still often treat them as the default storage location for many types of files.  When you go to save a standard file type, it can become annoying to be automatically prompted to save it in a folder that’s not part of your own file structure. But there’s a simple solution:  Move the folders you care about into your own folder structure!  If you do, then the next time you go to save a file of the corresponding type, Windows will prompt you to save it in the new, moved location. Moving the folders is easy.  Simply drag-and-drop them to the new location.  Here’s a screenshot of the default My Music folder being moved to my custom personal folder (Mark): Tip #7.  Name Files and Folders Intelligently This is another one that almost goes without saying, but we’ll say it anyway:  Do not allow files to be created that have meaningless names like Document1.doc, or folders called New Folder (2).  Take that extra 20 seconds and come up with a meaningful name for the file/folder – one that accurately divulges its contents without repeating the entire contents in the name. Tip #8.  Watch Out for Long Filenames Another way to tell if you have not yet created enough depth to your folder hierarchy is that your files often require really long names.  If you need to call a file Johnson Sales Figures March 2009.xls (which might happen to live in the same folder as Abercrombie Budget Report 2008.xls), then you might want to create some sub-folders so that the first file could be simply called March.xls, and living in the Clients\Johnson\Sales Figures\2009 folder. A well-placed file needs only a brief filename! Tip #9.  Use Shortcuts!  Everywhere! This is probably the single most useful and important tip we can offer.  A shortcut allows a file to be in two places at once. Why would you want that?  Well, the file and folder structure of every popular operating system on the market today is hierarchical.  This means that all objects (files and folders) always live within exactly one parent folder.  It’s a bit like a tree.  A tree has branches (folders) and leaves (files).  Each leaf, and each branch, is supported by exactly one parent branch, all the way back to the root of the tree (which, incidentally, is exactly why C:\ is called the “root folder” of the C: drive). That hard disks are structured this way may seem obvious and even necessary, but it’s only one way of organizing data.  There are others:  Relational databases, for example, organize structured data entirely differently.  The main limitation of hierarchical filing structures is that a file can only ever be in one branch of the tree – in only one folder – at a time.  Why is this a problem?  Well, there are two main reasons why this limitation is a problem for computer users: The “correct” place for a file, according to our organizational rationale, is very often a very inconvenient place for that file to be located.  Just because it’s correctly filed doesn’t mean it’s easy to get to.  Your file may be “correctly” buried six levels deep in your sub-folder structure, but you may need regular and speedy access to this file every day.  You could always move it to a more convenient location, but that would mean that you would need to re-file back to its “correct” location it every time you’d finished working on it.  Most unsatisfactory. A file may simply “belong” in two or more different locations within your file structure.  For example, say you’re an accountant and you have just completed the 2009 tax return for John Smith.  It might make sense to you to call this file 2009 Tax Return.doc and file it under Clients\John Smith.  But it may also be important to you to have the 2009 tax returns from all your clients together in the one place.  So you might also want to call the file John Smith.doc and file it under Tax Returns\2009.  The problem is, in a purely hierarchical filing system, you can’t put it in both places.  Grrrrr! Fortunately, Windows (and most other operating systems) offers a way for you to do exactly that:  It’s called a “shortcut” (also known as an “alias” on Macs and a “symbolic link” on UNIX systems).  Shortcuts allow a file to exist in one place, and an icon that represents the file to be created and put anywhere else you please.  In fact, you can create a dozen such icons and scatter them all over your hard disk.  Double-clicking on one of these icons/shortcuts opens up the original file, just as if you had double-clicked on the original file itself. Consider the following two icons: The one on the left is the actual Word document, while the one on the right is a shortcut that represents the Word document.  Double-clicking on either icon will open the same file.  There are two main visual differences between the icons: The shortcut will have a small arrow in the lower-left-hand corner (on Windows, anyway) The shortcut is allowed to have a name that does not include the file extension (the “.docx” part, in this case) You can delete the shortcut at any time without losing any actual data.  The original is still intact.  All you lose is the ability to get to that data from wherever the shortcut was. So why are shortcuts so great?  Because they allow us to easily overcome the main limitation of hierarchical file systems, and put a file in two (or more) places at the same time.  You will always have files that don’t play nice with your organizational rationale, and can’t be filed in only one place.  They demand to exist in two places.  Shortcuts allow this!  Furthermore, they allow you to collect your most often-opened files and folders together in one spot for convenient access.  The cool part is that the original files stay where they are, safe forever in their perfectly organized location. So your collection of most often-opened files can – and should – become a collection of shortcuts! If you’re still not convinced of the utility of shortcuts, consider the following well-known areas of a typical Windows computer: The Start Menu (and all the programs that live within it) The Quick Launch bar (or the Superbar in Windows 7) The “Favorite folders” area in the top-left corner of the Windows Explorer window (in Windows Vista or Windows 7) Your Internet Explorer Favorites or Firefox Bookmarks Each item in each of these areas is a shortcut!  Each of those areas exist for one purpose only:  For convenience – to provide you with a collection of the files and folders you access most often. It should be easy to see by now that shortcuts are designed for one single purpose:  To make accessing your files more convenient.  Each time you double-click on a shortcut, you are saved the hassle of locating the file (or folder, or program, or drive, or control panel icon) that it represents. Shortcuts allow us to invent a golden rule of file and folder organization: “Only ever have one copy of a file – never have two copies of the same file.  Use a shortcut instead” (this rule doesn’t apply to copies created for backup purposes, of course!) There are also lesser rules, like “don’t move a file into your work area – create a shortcut there instead”, and “any time you find yourself frustrated with how long it takes to locate a file, create a shortcut to it and place that shortcut in a convenient location.” So how to we create these massively useful shortcuts?  There are two main ways: “Copy” the original file or folder (click on it and type Ctrl-C, or right-click on it and select Copy):  Then right-click in an empty area of the destination folder (the place where you want the shortcut to go) and select Paste shortcut: Right-drag (drag with the right mouse button) the file from the source folder to the destination folder.  When you let go of the mouse button at the destination folder, a menu pops up: Select Create shortcuts here. Note that when shortcuts are created, they are often named something like Shortcut to Budget Detail.doc (windows XP) or Budget Detail – Shortcut.doc (Windows 7).   If you don’t like those extra words, you can easily rename the shortcuts after they’re created, or you can configure Windows to never insert the extra words in the first place (see our article on how to do this). And of course, you can create shortcuts to folders too, not just to files! Bottom line: Whenever you have a file that you’d like to access from somewhere else (whether it’s convenience you’re after, or because the file simply belongs in two places), create a shortcut to the original file in the new location. Tip #10.  Separate Application Files from Data Files Any digital organization guru will drum this rule into you.  Application files are the components of the software you’ve installed (e.g. Microsoft Word, Adobe Photoshop or Internet Explorer).  Data files are the files that you’ve created for yourself using that software (e.g. Word Documents, digital photos, emails or playlists). Software gets installed, uninstalled and upgraded all the time.  Hopefully you always have the original installation media (or downloaded set-up file) kept somewhere safe, and can thus reinstall your software at any time.  This means that the software component files are of little importance.  Whereas the files you have created with that software is, by definition, important.  It’s a good rule to always separate unimportant files from important files. So when your software prompts you to save a file you’ve just created, take a moment and check out where it’s suggesting that you save the file.  If it’s suggesting that you save the file into the same folder as the software itself, then definitely don’t follow that suggestion.  File it in your own folder!  In fact, see if you can find the program’s configuration option that determines where files are saved by default (if it has one), and change it. Tip #11.  Organize Files Based on Purpose, Not on File Type If you have, for example a folder called Work\Clients\Johnson, and within that folder you have two sub-folders, Word Documents and Spreadsheets (in other words, you’re separating “.doc” files from “.xls” files), then chances are that you’re not optimally organized.  It makes little sense to organize your files based on the program that created them.  Instead, create your sub-folders based on the purpose of the file.  For example, it would make more sense to create sub-folders called Correspondence and Financials.  It may well be that all the files in a given sub-folder are of the same file-type, but this should be more of a coincidence and less of a design feature of your organization system. Tip #12.  Maintain the Same Folder Structure on All Your Computers In other words, whatever organizational system you create, apply it to every computer that you can.  There are several benefits to this: There’s less to remember.  No matter where you are, you always know where to look for your files If you copy or synchronize files from one computer to another, then setting up the synchronization job becomes very simple Shortcuts can be copied or moved from one computer to another with ease (assuming the original files are also copied/moved).  There’s no need to find the target of the shortcut all over again on the second computer Ditto for linked files (e.g Word documents that link to data in a separate Excel file), playlists, and any files that reference the exact file locations of other files. This applies even to the drive that your files are stored on.  If your files are stored on C: on one computer, make sure they’re stored on C: on all your computers.  Otherwise all your shortcuts, playlists and linked files will stop working! Tip #13.  Create an “Inbox” Folder Create yourself a folder where you store all files that you’re currently working on, or that you haven’t gotten around to filing yet.  You can think of this folder as your “to-do” list.  You can call it “Inbox” (making it the same metaphor as your email system), or “Work”, or “To-Do”, or “Scratch”, or whatever name makes sense to you.  It doesn’t matter what you call it – just make sure you have one! Once you have finished working on a file, you then move it from the “Inbox” to its correct location within your organizational structure. You may want to use your Desktop as this “Inbox” folder.  Rightly or wrongly, most people do.  It’s not a bad place to put such files, but be careful:  If you do decide that your Desktop represents your “to-do” list, then make sure that no other files find their way there.  In other words, make sure that your “Inbox”, wherever it is, Desktop or otherwise, is kept free of junk – stray files that don’t belong there. So where should you put this folder, which, almost by definition, lives outside the structure of the rest of your filing system?  Well, first and foremost, it has to be somewhere handy.  This will be one of your most-visited folders, so convenience is key.  Putting it on the Desktop is a great option – especially if you don’t have any other folders on your Desktop:  the folder then becomes supremely easy to find in Windows Explorer: You would then create shortcuts to this folder in convenient spots all over your computer (“Favorite Links”, “Quick Launch”, etc). Tip #14.  Ensure You have Only One “Inbox” Folder Once you’ve created your “Inbox” folder, don’t use any other folder location as your “to-do list”.  Throw every incoming or created file into the Inbox folder as you create/receive it.  This keeps the rest of your computer pristine and free of randomly created or downloaded junk.  The last thing you want to be doing is checking multiple folders to see all your current tasks and projects.  Gather them all together into one folder. Here are some tips to help ensure you only have one Inbox: Set the default “save” location of all your programs to this folder. Set the default “download” location for your browser to this folder. If this folder is not your desktop (recommended) then also see if you can make a point of not putting “to-do” files on your desktop.  This keeps your desktop uncluttered and Zen-like: (the Inbox folder is in the bottom-right corner) Tip #15.  Be Vigilant about Clearing Your “Inbox” Folder This is one of the keys to staying organized.  If you let your “Inbox” overflow (i.e. allow there to be more than, say, 30 files or folders in there), then you’re probably going to start feeling like you’re overwhelmed:  You’re not keeping up with your to-do list.  Once your Inbox gets beyond a certain point (around 30 files, studies have shown), then you’ll simply start to avoid it.  You may continue to put files in there, but you’ll be scared to look at it, fearing the “out of control” feeling that all overworked, chaotic or just plain disorganized people regularly feel. So, here’s what you can do: Visit your Inbox/to-do folder regularly (at least five times per day). Scan the folder regularly for files that you have completed working on and are ready for filing.  File them immediately. Make it a source of pride to keep the number of files in this folder as small as possible.  If you value peace of mind, then make the emptiness of this folder one of your highest (computer) priorities If you know that a particular file has been in the folder for more than, say, six weeks, then admit that you’re not actually going to get around to processing it, and move it to its final resting place. Tip #16.  File Everything Immediately, and Use Shortcuts for Your Active Projects As soon as you create, receive or download a new file, store it away in its “correct” folder immediately.  Then, whenever you need to work on it (possibly straight away), create a shortcut to it in your “Inbox” (“to-do”) folder or your desktop.  That way, all your files are always in their “correct” locations, yet you still have immediate, convenient access to your current, active files.  When you finish working on a file, simply delete the shortcut. Ideally, your “Inbox” folder – and your Desktop – should contain no actual files or folders.  They should simply contain shortcuts. Tip #17.  Use Directory Symbolic Links (or Junctions) to Maintain One Unified Folder Structure Using this tip, we can get around a potential hiccup that we can run into when creating our organizational structure – the issue of having more than one drive on our computer (C:, D:, etc).  We might have files we need to store on the D: drive for space reasons, and yet want to base our organized folder structure on the C: drive (or vice-versa). Your chosen organizational structure may dictate that all your files must be accessed from the C: drive (for example, the root folder of all your files may be something like C:\Files).  And yet you may still have a D: drive and wish to take advantage of the hundreds of spare Gigabytes that it offers.  Did you know that it’s actually possible to store your files on the D: drive and yet access them as if they were on the C: drive?  And no, we’re not talking about shortcuts here (although the concept is very similar). By using the shell command mklink, you can essentially take a folder that lives on one drive and create an alias for it on a different drive (you can do lots more than that with mklink – for a full rundown on this programs capabilities, see our dedicated article).  These aliases are called directory symbolic links (and used to be known as junctions).  You can think of them as “virtual” folders.  They function exactly like regular folders, except they’re physically located somewhere else. For example, you may decide that your entire D: drive contains your complete organizational file structure, but that you need to reference all those files as if they were on the C: drive, under C:\Files.  If that was the case you could create C:\Files as a directory symbolic link – a link to D:, as follows: mklink /d c:\files d:\ Or it may be that the only files you wish to store on the D: drive are your movie collection.  You could locate all your movie files in the root of your D: drive, and then link it to C:\Files\Media\Movies, as follows: mklink /d c:\files\media\movies d:\ (Needless to say, you must run these commands from a command prompt – click the Start button, type cmd and press Enter) Tip #18. Customize Your Folder Icons This is not strictly speaking an organizational tip, but having unique icons for each folder does allow you to more quickly visually identify which folder is which, and thus saves you time when you’re finding files.  An example is below (from my folder that contains all files downloaded from the Internet): To learn how to change your folder icons, please refer to our dedicated article on the subject. Tip #19.  Tidy Your Start Menu The Windows Start Menu is usually one of the messiest parts of any Windows computer.  Every program you install seems to adopt a completely different approach to placing icons in this menu.  Some simply put a single program icon.  Others create a folder based on the name of the software.  And others create a folder based on the name of the software manufacturer.  It’s chaos, and can make it hard to find the software you want to run. Thankfully we can avoid this chaos with useful operating system features like Quick Launch, the Superbar or pinned start menu items. Even so, it would make a lot of sense to get into the guts of the Start Menu itself and give it a good once-over.  All you really need to decide is how you’re going to organize your applications.  A structure based on the purpose of the application is an obvious candidate.  Below is an example of one such structure: In this structure, Utilities means software whose job it is to keep the computer itself running smoothly (configuration tools, backup software, Zip programs, etc).  Applications refers to any productivity software that doesn’t fit under the headings Multimedia, Graphics, Internet, etc. In case you’re not aware, every icon in your Start Menu is a shortcut and can be manipulated like any other shortcut (copied, moved, deleted, etc). With the Windows Start Menu (all version of Windows), Microsoft has decided that there be two parallel folder structures to store your Start Menu shortcuts.  One for you (the logged-in user of the computer) and one for all users of the computer.  Having two parallel structures can often be redundant:  If you are the only user of the computer, then having two parallel structures is totally redundant.  Even if you have several users that regularly log into the computer, most of your installed software will need to be made available to all users, and should thus be moved out of the “just you” version of the Start Menu and into the “all users” area. To take control of your Start Menu, so you can start organizing it, you’ll need to know how to access the actual folders and shortcut files that make up the Start Menu (both versions of it).  To find these folders and files, click the Start button and then right-click on the All Programs text (Windows XP users should right-click on the Start button itself): The Open option refers to the “just you” version of the Start Menu, while the Open All Users option refers to the “all users” version.  Click on the one you want to organize. A Windows Explorer window then opens with your chosen version of the Start Menu selected.  From there it’s easy.  Double-click on the Programs folder and you’ll see all your folders and shortcuts.  Now you can delete/rename/move until it’s just the way you want it. Note:  When you’re reorganizing your Start Menu, you may want to have two Explorer windows open at the same time – one showing the “just you” version and one showing the “all users” version.  You can drag-and-drop between the windows. Tip #20.  Keep Your Start Menu Tidy Once you have a perfectly organized Start Menu, try to be a little vigilant about keeping it that way.  Every time you install a new piece of software, the icons that get created will almost certainly violate your organizational structure. So to keep your Start Menu pristine and organized, make sure you do the following whenever you install a new piece of software: Check whether the software was installed into the “just you” area of the Start Menu, or the “all users” area, and then move it to the correct area. Remove all the unnecessary icons (like the “Read me” icon, the “Help” icon (you can always open the help from within the software itself when it’s running), the “Uninstall” icon, the link(s)to the manufacturer’s website, etc) Rename the main icon(s) of the software to something brief that makes sense to you.  For example, you might like to rename Microsoft Office Word 2010 to simply Word Move the icon(s) into the correct folder based on your Start Menu organizational structure And don’t forget:  when you uninstall a piece of software, the software’s uninstall routine is no longer going to be able to remove the software’s icon from the Start Menu (because you moved and/or renamed it), so you’ll need to remove that icon manually. Tip #21.  Tidy C:\ The root of your C: drive (C:\) is a common dumping ground for files and folders – both by the users of your computer and by the software that you install on your computer.  It can become a mess. There’s almost no software these days that requires itself to be installed in C:\.  99% of the time it can and should be installed into C:\Program Files.  And as for your own files, well, it’s clear that they can (and almost always should) be stored somewhere else. In an ideal world, your C:\ folder should look like this (on Windows 7): Note that there are some system files and folders in C:\ that are usually and deliberately “hidden” (such as the Windows virtual memory file pagefile.sys, the boot loader file bootmgr, and the System Volume Information folder).  Hiding these files and folders is a good idea, as they need to stay where they are and are almost never needed to be opened or even seen by you, the user.  Hiding them prevents you from accidentally messing with them, and enhances your sense of order and well-being when you look at your C: drive folder. Tip #22.  Tidy Your Desktop The Desktop is probably the most abused part of a Windows computer (from an organization point of view).  It usually serves as a dumping ground for all incoming files, as well as holding icons to oft-used applications, plus some regularly opened files and folders.  It often ends up becoming an uncontrolled mess.  See if you can avoid this.  Here’s why… Application icons (Word, Internet Explorer, etc) are often found on the Desktop, but it’s unlikely that this is the optimum place for them.  The “Quick Launch” bar (or the Superbar in Windows 7) is always visible and so represents a perfect location to put your icons.  You’ll only be able to see the icons on your Desktop when all your programs are minimized.  It might be time to get your application icons off your desktop… You may have decided that the Inbox/To-do folder on your computer (see tip #13, above) should be your Desktop.  If so, then enough said.  Simply be vigilant about clearing it and preventing it from being polluted by junk files (see tip #15, above).  On the other hand, if your Desktop is not acting as your “Inbox” folder, then there’s no reason for it to have any data files or folders on it at all, except perhaps a couple of shortcuts to often-opened files and folders (either ongoing or current projects).  Everything else should be moved to your “Inbox” folder. In an ideal world, it might look like this: Tip #23.  Move Permanent Items on Your Desktop Away from the Top-Left Corner When files/folders are dragged onto your desktop in a Windows Explorer window, or when shortcuts are created on your Desktop from Internet Explorer, those icons are always placed in the top-left corner – or as close as they can get.  If you have other files, folders or shortcuts that you keep on the Desktop permanently, then it’s a good idea to separate these permanent icons from the transient ones, so that you can quickly identify which ones the transients are.  An easy way to do this is to move all your permanent icons to the right-hand side of your Desktop.  That should keep them separated from incoming items. Tip #24.  Synchronize If you have more than one computer, you’ll almost certainly want to share files between them.  If the computers are permanently attached to the same local network, then there’s no need to store multiple copies of any one file or folder – shortcuts will suffice.  However, if the computers are not always on the same network, then you will at some point need to copy files between them.  For files that need to permanently live on both computers, the ideal way to do this is to synchronize the files, as opposed to simply copying them. We only have room here to write a brief summary of synchronization, not a full article.  In short, there are several different types of synchronization: Where the contents of one folder are accessible anywhere, such as with Dropbox Where the contents of any number of folders are accessible anywhere, such as with Windows Live Mesh Where any files or folders from anywhere on your computer are synchronized with exactly one other computer, such as with the Windows “Briefcase”, Microsoft SyncToy, or (much more powerful, yet still free) SyncBack from 2BrightSparks.  This only works when both computers are on the same local network, at least temporarily. A great advantage of synchronization solutions is that once you’ve got it configured the way you want it, then the sync process happens automatically, every time.  Click a button (or schedule it to happen automatically) and all your files are automagically put where they’re supposed to be. If you maintain the same file and folder structure on both computers, then you can also sync files depend upon the correct location of other files, like shortcuts, playlists and office documents that link to other office documents, and the synchronized files still work on the other computer! Tip #25.  Hide Files You Never Need to See If you have your files well organized, you will often be able to tell if a file is out of place just by glancing at the contents of a folder (for example, it should be pretty obvious if you look in a folder that contains all the MP3s from one music CD and see a Word document in there).  This is a good thing – it allows you to determine if there are files out of place with a quick glance.  Yet sometimes there are files in a folder that seem out of place but actually need to be there, such as the “folder art” JPEGs in music folders, and various files in the root of the C: drive.  If such files never need to be opened by you, then a good idea is to simply hide them.  Then, the next time you glance at the folder, you won’t have to remember whether that file was supposed to be there or not, because you won’t see it at all! To hide a file, simply right-click on it and choose Properties: Then simply tick the Hidden tick-box:   Tip #26.  Keep Every Setup File These days most software is downloaded from the Internet.  Whenever you download a piece of software, keep it.  You’ll never know when you need to reinstall the software. Further, keep with it an Internet shortcut that links back to the website where you originally downloaded it, in case you ever need to check for updates. See tip #33 below for a full description of the excellence of organizing your setup files. Tip #27.  Try to Minimize the Number of Folders that Contain Both Files and Sub-folders Some of the folders in your organizational structure will contain only files.  Others will contain only sub-folders.  And you will also have some folders that contain both files and sub-folders.  You will notice slight improvements in how long it takes you to locate a file if you try to avoid this third type of folder.  It’s not always possible, of course – you’ll always have some of these folders, but see if you can avoid it. One way of doing this is to take all the leftover files that didn’t end up getting stored in a sub-folder and create a special “Miscellaneous” or “Other” folder for them. Tip #28.  Starting a Filename with an Underscore Brings it to the Top of a List Further to the previous tip, if you name that “Miscellaneous” or “Other” folder in such a way that its name begins with an underscore “_”, then it will appear at the top of the list of files/folders. The screenshot below is an example of this.  Each folder in the list contains a set of digital photos.  The folder at the top of the list, _Misc, contains random photos that didn’t deserve their own dedicated folder: Tip #29.  Clean Up those CD-ROMs and (shudder!) Floppy Disks Have you got a pile of CD-ROMs stacked on a shelf of your office?  Old photos, or files you archived off onto CD-ROM (or even worse, floppy disks!) because you didn’t have enough disk space at the time?  In the meantime have you upgraded your computer and now have 500 Gigabytes of space you don’t know what to do with?  If so, isn’t it time you tidied up that stack of disks and filed them into your gorgeous new folder structure? So what are you waiting for?  Bite the bullet, copy them all back onto your computer, file them in their appropriate folders, and then back the whole lot up onto a shiny new 1000Gig external hard drive! Useful Folders to Create This next section suggests some useful folders that you might want to create within your folder structure.  I’ve personally found them to be indispensable. The first three are all about convenience – handy folders to create and then put somewhere that you can always access instantly.  For each one, it’s not so important where the actual folder is located, but it’s very important where you put the shortcut(s) to the folder.  You might want to locate the shortcuts: On your Desktop In your “Quick Launch” area (or pinned to your Windows 7 Superbar) In your Windows Explorer “Favorite Links” area Tip #30.  Create an “Inbox” (“To-Do”) Folder This has already been mentioned in depth (see tip #13), but we wanted to reiterate its importance here.  This folder contains all the recently created, received or downloaded files that you have not yet had a chance to file away properly, and it also may contain files that you have yet to process.  In effect, it becomes a sort of “to-do list”.  It doesn’t have to be called “Inbox” – you can call it whatever you want. Tip #31.  Create a Folder where Your Current Projects are Collected Rather than going hunting for them all the time, or dumping them all on your desktop, create a special folder where you put links (or work folders) for each of the projects you’re currently working on. You can locate this folder in your “Inbox” folder, on your desktop, or anywhere at all – just so long as there’s a way of getting to it quickly, such as putting a link to it in Windows Explorer’s “Favorite Links” area: Tip #32.  Create a Folder for Files and Folders that You Regularly Open You will always have a few files that you open regularly, whether it be a spreadsheet of your current accounts, or a favorite playlist.  These are not necessarily “current projects”, rather they’re simply files that you always find yourself opening.  Typically such files would be located on your desktop (or even better, shortcuts to those files).  Why not collect all such shortcuts together and put them in their own special folder? As with the “Current Projects” folder (above), you would want to locate that folder somewhere convenient.  Below is an example of a folder called “Quick links”, with about seven files (shortcuts) in it, that is accessible through the Windows Quick Launch bar: See tip #37 below for a full explanation of the power of the Quick Launch bar. Tip #33.  Create a “Set-ups” Folder A typical computer has dozens of applications installed on it.  For each piece of software, there are often many different pieces of information you need to keep track of, including: The original installation setup file(s).  This can be anything from a simple 100Kb setup.exe file you downloaded from a website, all the way up to a 4Gig ISO file that you copied from a DVD-ROM that you purchased. The home page of the software manufacturer (in case you need to look up something on their support pages, their forum or their online help) The page containing the download link for your actual file (in case you need to re-download it, or download an upgraded version) The serial number Your proof-of-purchase documentation Any other template files, plug-ins, themes, etc that also need to get installed For each piece of software, it’s a great idea to gather all of these files together and put them in a single folder.  The folder can be the name of the software (plus possibly a very brief description of what it’s for – in case you can’t remember what the software does based in its name).  Then you would gather all of these folders together into one place, and call it something like “Software” or “Setups”. If you have enough of these folders (I have several hundred, being a geek, collected over 20 years), then you may want to further categorize them.  My own categorization structure is based on “platform” (operating system): The last seven folders each represents one platform/operating system, while _Operating Systems contains set-up files for installing the operating systems themselves.  _Hardware contains ROMs for hardware I own, such as routers. Within the Windows folder (above), you can see the beginnings of the vast library of software I’ve compiled over the years: An example of a typical application folder looks like this: Tip #34.  Have a “Settings” Folder We all know that our documents are important.  So are our photos and music files.  We save all of these files into folders, and then locate them afterwards and double-click on them to open them.  But there are many files that are important to us that can’t be saved into folders, and then searched for and double-clicked later on.  These files certainly contain important information that we need, but are often created internally by an application, and saved wherever that application feels is appropriate. A good example of this is the “PST” file that Outlook creates for us and uses to store all our emails, contacts, appointments and so forth.  Another example would be the collection of Bookmarks that Firefox stores on your behalf. And yet another example would be the customized settings and configuration files of our all our software.  Granted, most Windows programs store their configuration in the Registry, but there are still many programs that use configuration files to store their settings. Imagine if you lost all of the above files!  And yet, when people are backing up their computers, they typically only back up the files they know about – those that are stored in the “My Documents” folder, etc.  If they had a hard disk failure or their computer was lost or stolen, their backup files would not include some of the most vital files they owned.  Also, when migrating to a new computer, it’s vital to ensure that these files make the journey. It can be a very useful idea to create yourself a folder to store all your “settings” – files that are important to you but which you never actually search for by name and double-click on to open them.  Otherwise, next time you go to set up a new computer just the way you want it, you’ll need to spend hours recreating the configuration of your previous computer! So how to we get our important files into this folder?  Well, we have a few options: Some programs (such as Outlook and its PST files) allow you to place these files wherever you want.  If you delve into the program’s options, you will find a setting somewhere that controls the location of the important settings files (or “personal storage” – PST – when it comes to Outlook) Some programs do not allow you to change such locations in any easy way, but if you get into the Registry, you can sometimes find a registry key that refers to the location of the file(s).  Simply move the file into your Settings folder and adjust the registry key to refer to the new location. Some programs stubbornly refuse to allow their settings files to be placed anywhere other then where they stipulate.  When faced with programs like these, you have three choices:  (1) You can ignore those files, (2) You can copy the files into your Settings folder (let’s face it – settings don’t change very often), or (3) you can use synchronization software, such as the Windows Briefcase, to make synchronized copies of all your files in your Settings folder.  All you then have to do is to remember to run your sync software periodically (perhaps just before you run your backup software!). There are some other things you may decide to locate inside this new “Settings” folder: Exports of registry keys (from the many applications that store their configurations in the Registry).  This is useful for backup purposes or for migrating to a new computer Notes you’ve made about all the specific customizations you have made to a particular piece of software (so that you’ll know how to do it all again on your next computer) Shortcuts to webpages that detail how to tweak certain aspects of your operating system or applications so they are just the way you like them (such as how to remove the words “Shortcut to” from the beginning of newly created shortcuts).  In other words, you’d want to create shortcuts to half the pages on the How-To Geek website! Here’s an example of a “Settings” folder: Windows Features that Help with Organization This section details some of the features of Microsoft Windows that are a boon to anyone hoping to stay optimally organized. Tip #35.  Use the “Favorite Links” Area to Access Oft-Used Folders Once you’ve created your great new filing system, work out which folders you access most regularly, or which serve as great starting points for locating the rest of the files in your folder structure, and then put links to those folders in your “Favorite Links” area of the left-hand side of the Windows Explorer window (simply called “Favorites” in Windows 7):   Some ideas for folders you might want to add there include: Your “Inbox” folder (or whatever you’ve called it) – most important! The base of your filing structure (e.g. C:\Files) A folder containing shortcuts to often-accessed folders on other computers around the network (shown above as Network Folders) A folder containing shortcuts to your current projects (unless that folder is in your “Inbox” folder) Getting folders into this area is very simple – just locate the folder you’re interested in and drag it there! Tip #36.  Customize the Places Bar in the File/Open and File/Save Boxes Consider the screenshot below: The highlighted icons (collectively known as the “Places Bar”) can be customized to refer to any folder location you want, allowing instant access to any part of your organizational structure. Note:  These File/Open and File/Save boxes have been superseded by new versions that use the Windows Vista/Windows 7 “Favorite Links”, but the older versions (shown above) are still used by a surprisingly large number of applications. The easiest way to customize these icons is to use the Group Policy Editor, but not everyone has access to this program.  If you do, open it up and navigate to: User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Explorer > Common Open File Dialog If you don’t have access to the Group Policy Editor, then you’ll need to get into the Registry.  Navigate to: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft  \ Windows \ CurrentVersion \ Policies \ comdlg32 \ Placesbar It should then be easy to make the desired changes.  Log off and log on again to allow the changes to take effect. Tip #37.  Use the Quick Launch Bar as a Application and File Launcher That Quick Launch bar (to the right of the Start button) is a lot more useful than people give it credit for.  Most people simply have half a dozen icons in it, and use it to start just those programs.  But it can actually be used to instantly access just about anything in your filing system: For complete instructions on how to set this up, visit our dedicated article on this topic. Tip #38.  Put a Shortcut to Windows Explorer into Your Quick Launch Bar This is only necessary in Windows Vista and Windows XP.  The Microsoft boffins finally got wise and added it to the Windows 7 Superbar by default. Windows Explorer – the program used for managing your files and folders – is one of the most useful programs in Windows.  Anyone who considers themselves serious about being organized needs instant access to this program at any time.  A great place to create a shortcut to this program is in the Windows XP and Windows Vista “Quick Launch” bar: To get it there, locate it in your Start Menu (usually under “Accessories”) and then right-drag it down into your Quick Launch bar (and create a copy). Tip #39.  Customize the Starting Folder for Your Windows 7 Explorer Superbar Icon If you’re on Windows 7, your Superbar will include a Windows Explorer icon.  Clicking on the icon will launch Windows Explorer (of course), and will start you off in your “Libraries” folder.  Libraries may be fine as a starting point, but if you have created yourself an “Inbox” folder, then it would probably make more sense to start off in this folder every time you launch Windows Explorer. To change this default/starting folder location, then first right-click the Explorer icon in the Superbar, and then right-click Properties:Then, in Target field of the Windows Explorer Properties box that appears, type %windir%\explorer.exe followed by the path of the folder you wish to start in.  For example: %windir%\explorer.exe C:\Files If that folder happened to be on the Desktop (and called, say, “Inbox”), then you would use the following cleverness: %windir%\explorer.exe shell:desktop\Inbox Then click OK and test it out. Tip #40.  Ummmmm…. No, that’s it.  I can’t think of another one.  That’s all of the tips I can come up with.  I only created this one because 40 is such a nice round number… Case Study – An Organized PC To finish off the article, I have included a few screenshots of my (main) computer (running Vista).  The aim here is twofold: To give you a sense of what it looks like when the above, sometimes abstract, tips are applied to a real-life computer, and To offer some ideas about folders and structure that you may want to steal to use on your own PC. Let’s start with the C: drive itself.  Very minimal.  All my files are contained within C:\Files.  I’ll confine the rest of the case study to this folder: That folder contains the following: Mark: My personal files VC: My business (Virtual Creations, Australia) Others contains files created by friends and family Data contains files from the rest of the world (can be thought of as “public” files, usually downloaded from the Net) Settings is described above in tip #34 The Data folder contains the following sub-folders: Audio:  Radio plays, audio books, podcasts, etc Development:  Programmer and developer resources, sample source code, etc (see below) Humour:  Jokes, funnies (those emails that we all receive) Movies:  Downloaded and ripped movies (all legal, of course!), their scripts, DVD covers, etc. Music:  (see below) Setups:  Installation files for software (explained in full in tip #33) System:  (see below) TV:  Downloaded TV shows Writings:  Books, instruction manuals, etc (see below) The Music folder contains the following sub-folders: Album covers:  JPEG scans Guitar tabs:  Text files of guitar sheet music Lists:  e.g. “Top 1000 songs of all time” Lyrics:  Text files MIDI:  Electronic music files MP3 (representing 99% of the Music folder):  MP3s, either ripped from CDs or downloaded, sorted by artist/album name Music Video:  Video clips Sheet Music:  usually PDFs The Data\Writings folder contains the following sub-folders: (all pretty self-explanatory) The Data\Development folder contains the following sub-folders: Again, all pretty self-explanatory (if you’re a geek) The Data\System folder contains the following sub-folders: These are usually themes, plug-ins and other downloadable program-specific resources. The Mark folder contains the following sub-folders: From Others:  Usually letters that other people (friends, family, etc) have written to me For Others:  Letters and other things I have created for other people Green Book:  None of your business Playlists:  M3U files that I have compiled of my favorite songs (plus one M3U playlist file for every album I own) Writing:  Fiction, philosophy and other musings of mine Mark Docs:  Shortcut to C:\Users\Mark Settings:  Shortcut to C:\Files\Settings\Mark The Others folder contains the following sub-folders: The VC (Virtual Creations, my business – I develop websites) folder contains the following sub-folders: And again, all of those are pretty self-explanatory. Conclusion These tips have saved my sanity and helped keep me a productive geek, but what about you? What tips and tricks do you have to keep your files organized?  Please share them with us in the comments.  Come on, don’t be shy… Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Fix For When Windows Explorer in Vista Stops Showing File NamesWhy Did Windows Vista’s Music Folder Icon Turn Yellow?Print or Create a Text File List of the Contents in a Directory the Easy WayCustomize the Windows 7 or Vista Send To MenuAdd Copy To / Move To on Windows 7 or Vista Right-Click Menu TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows Track Daily Goals With 42Goals Video Toolbox is a Superb Online Video Editor Fun with 47 charts and graphs Tomorrow is Mother’s Day Check the Average Speed of YouTube Videos You’ve Watched OutlookStatView Scans and Displays General Usage Statistics

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  • Setting System.Drawing.Color through .NET COM Interop

    - by Maxim
    I am trying to use Aspose.Words library through COM Interop. There is one critical problem: I cannot set color. It is supposed to work by assigning to DocumentBuilder.Font.Color, but when I try to do it I get OLE error 0x80131509. My problem is pretty much like this one: http://bit.ly/cuvWfc update: Code Sample: from win32com.client import Dispatch Doc = Dispatch("Aspose.Words.Document") Builder = Dispatch("Aspose.Words.DocumentBuilder") Builder.Document = Doc print Builder.Font.Size print Builder.Font.Color Result: 12.0 Traceback (most recent call last): File "aaa.py", line 6, in <module> print Builder.Font.Color File "D:\Python26\lib\site-packages\win32com\client\dynamic.py", line 501, in __getattr__ ret = self._oleobj_.Invoke(retEntry.dispid,0,invoke_type,1) pywintypes.com_error: (-2146233079, 'OLE error 0x80131509', None, None) Using something like Font.Color = 0xff0000 fails with same error message While this code works ok: using Aspose.Words; namespace ConsoleApplication1 { class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { Document doc = new Document(); DocumentBuilder builder = new DocumentBuilder(doc); builder.Font.Color = System.Drawing.Color.Blue; builder.Write("aaa"); doc.Save("c:\\1.doc"); } } } So it looks like COM Interop problem.

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  • Code Golf: Quickly Build List of Keywords from Text, Including # of Instances

    - by Jonathan Sampson
    I've already worked out this solution for myself with PHP, but I'm curious how it could be done differently - better even. The two languages I'm primarily interested in are PHP and Javascript, but I'd be interested in seeing how quickly this could be done in any other major language today as well (mostly C#, Java, etc). Return only words with an occurrence greater than X Return only words with a length greater than Y Ignore common terms like "and, is, the, etc" Feel free to strip punctuation prior to processing (ie. "John's" becomes "John") Return results in a collection/array Extra Credit Keep Quoted Statements together, (ie. "They were 'too good to be true' apparently")Where 'too good to be true' would be the actual statement Extra-Extra Credit Can your script determine words that should be kept together based upon their frequency of being found together? This being done without knowing the words beforehand. Example: "The fruit fly is a great thing when it comes to medical research. Much study has been done on the fruit fly in the past, and has lead to many breakthroughs. In the future, the fruit fly will continue to be studied, but our methods may change." Clearly the word here is "fruit fly," which is easy for us to find. Can your search'n'scrape script determine this too? Source text: http://sampsonresume.com/labs/c.txt Answer Format It would be great to see the results of your code, output, in addition to how long the operation lasted.

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  • Problem: Sorting for GridView/ObjectDataSource changes depending on page

    - by user148298
    I have a GridView tied to an ObjectDataSource using paging. The paging works fine, except that the sort order changes depending on which page of the results is being viewed. This causes items to reappear on subsequent pages among other issues. I traced the problem to my DAL, which reads a page at a time and then sorts it. Obviously the sorting is going to change as the result set size changes. Is there an improvement to this algorithm. I would like to use a datareader if possible: [System.ComponentModel.DataObjectMethod(System.ComponentModel.DataObjectMethodType.Select)] public static WordsCollection LoadForCriteria(string sqlCriteria, int maximumRows, int startRowIndex, string sortExpression) { //DEFAULT SORT EXPRESSION if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(sortExpression)) sortExpression = "OrderBy"; //CREATE THE DYNAMIC SQL TO LOAD OBJECT StringBuilder selectQuery = new StringBuilder(); selectQuery.Append("SELECT"); if (maximumRows > 0) selectQuery.Append(" TOP " + (startRowIndex + maximumRows).ToString()); selectQuery.Append(" " + Words.GetColumnNames(string.Empty)); selectQuery.Append(" FROM sw_Words"); string whereClause = string.IsNullOrEmpty(sqlCriteria) ? string.Empty : " WHERE " + sqlCriteria; selectQuery.Append(whereClause); selectQuery.Append(" ORDER BY " + sortExpression); Database database = Token.Instance.Database; DbCommand selectCommand = database.GetSqlStringCommand(selectQuery.ToString()); //EXECUTE THE COMMAND WordsCollection results = new WordsCollection(); int thisIndex = 0; int rowCount = 0; using (IDataReader dr = database.ExecuteReader(selectCommand)) { while (dr.Read() && ((maximumRows < 1) || (rowCount < maximumRows))) { if (thisIndex >= startRowIndex) { Words varWords = new Words(); Words.LoadDataReader(varWords, dr); results.Add(varWords); rowCount++; } thisIndex++; } dr.Close(); } return results; }

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  • "<" operator error

    - by Nona Urbiz
    Why is the ( i < UniqueWords.Count ) expression valid in the for loop, but returns "CS0019 Operator '<' cannot be applied to operands of type 'int' and 'method group'" error when placed in my if? They are both string arrays, previously declared. for (int i = 0;i<UniqueWords.Count;i++){ Occurrences[i] = Words.Where(x => x.Equals(UniqueWords[i])).Count(); Keywords[i] = UniqueWords[i]; if (i<UniqueURLs.Count) {rURLs[i] = UniqueURLs[i];} } EDITED to add declarations: List<string> Words = new List<string>(); List<string> URLs = new List<string>(); //elements added like so. . . . Words.Add (referringWords); //these are strings URLs.Add (referringURL); UniqueWords = Words.Distinct().ToList(); UniqueURLs = URLs.Distinct().ToList(); SOLVED. thank you, parentheses were needed for method .Count() I still do not fully understand why they are not always necessary. Jon Skeet, thanks, I guess I don't understand what exactly the declarations are either then? You wanted the actual values assigned? They are pulled from an external source, but are strings. I get it! Thanks. (the ()'s at least.)

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  • Printing Arrays from Structs

    - by Carlll
    I've been stumped for a few hours on an exercise where I must use functions to build up an array inside a struct and print it. In my current program, it compiles but crashes upon running. #define LIM 10 typedef char letters[LIM]; typedef struct { int counter; letters words[LIM]; } foo; int main(int argc, char **argv){ foo apara; structtest(apara, LIM); print_struct(apara); } int structtest(foo *p, int limit){ p->counter = 0; int i =0; for(i; i< limit ;i++){ strcpy(p->words[p->counter], "x"); //only filling arrays with 'x' as an example p->counter ++; } return; I do believe it's due to my incorrect usage/combination of pointers. I've tried adjusting them, but either an 'incompatible types' error is produced, or the array is seemingly blank } void print_struct(foo p){ printf(p.words); } I haven't made it successfully up to the print_struct stage, but I'm unsure whether p.words is the correct item to be calling. In the output, I would expect the function to return an array of x's. I apologize in advance if I've made some sort of grievous "I should already know this" C mistake. Thanks for your help.

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  • permutations gone wrong

    - by vbNewbie
    I have written code to implement an algorithm I found on string permutations. What I have is an arraylist of words ( up to 200) and I need to permutate the list in levels of 5. Basically group the string words in fives and permutated them. What I have takes the first 5 words generates the permutations and ignores the rest of the arraylist? Any ideas appreciated. Private Function permute(ByVal chunks As ArrayList, ByVal k As Long) As ArrayList ReDim ItemUsed(k) pno = 0 Permutate(k, 1) Return chunks End Function Private Shared Sub Permutate(ByVal K As Long, ByVal pLevel As Long) Dim i As Long, Perm As String Perm = pString ' Save the current Perm ' for each value currently available For i = 1 To K If Not ItemUsed(i) Then If pLevel = 1 Then pString = chunks.Item(i) 'pString = inChars(i) Else pString = pString & chunks.Item(i) 'pString += inChars(i) End If If pLevel = K Then 'got next Perm pno = pno + 1 SyncLock outfile outfile.WriteLine(pno & " = " & pString & vbCrLf) End SyncLock outfile.Flush() Exit Sub End If ' Mark this item unavailable ItemUsed(i) = True ' gen all Perms at next level Permutate(K, pLevel + 1) ' Mark this item free again ItemUsed(i) = False ' Restore the current Perm pString = Perm End If Next K above is = to 5 for the number of words in one permutation but when I change the for loop to the arraylist size I get an error of index out of bounds

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  • SQL with Regular Expressions vs Indexes with Logical Merging Functions

    - by geeko
    Hello Lads, I am trying to develop a complex textual search engine. I have thousands of textual pages from many books. I need to search pages that contain specified complex logical criterias. These criterias can contain virtually any compination of the following: A: Full words. B: Word roots (semilar to stems; i.e. all words with certain key letters). C: Word templates (in some languages are filled in certain templates to form various part of speech such as adjactives, past/present verbs...). D: Logical connectives: AND/OR/XOR/NOT/IF/IFF and parentheses to state priorities. Now, would it be faster to have the pages' full text in database (not indexed) and search though them all using SQL and Regular Expressions ? Or would it be better to construct indexes of word/root/template-page-location tuples. Hence, we can boost searching for individual words/roots/templates. However, it gets tricky as we interdouce logical connectives into our query. I thought of doing the following steps in such cases: 1: Seperately search for each individual words/roots/templates in the specified query. 2: On priority bases, we merge two result lists (from step 1) at a time depedning on the logical connective For example, if we are searching for "he AND (is OR was)": 1: We shall search for "he", "is" and "was" seperately and get result lists for each word. 2: Merge the result lists of "is" and "was" using the merging function OR-MERGE 3: Merge the merged result list from the OR-MERGE function with the one of "he" using the merging function AND-MERGE The result of step 3 is then returned as the result of the specified query. What do you think gurues ? Which is faster ? Any better ideas ? Thank you all in advance.

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  • dynamically created arrays

    - by DevAno1
    My task consists of two parts. First I have to create globbal char array of 100 elements, and insert some text to it using cin. Afterwards calculate amount of chars, and create dedicated array with the length of the inputted text. I was thinking about following solution : char[100]inputData; int main() { cin >> inputData >> endl; int length=0; for(int i=0; i<100; i++) { while(inputData[i] == "\0") { ++count; } } char c = new char[count]; Am I thinking good ? Second part of the task is to introduce in the first program dynamically created array of pointers to all inserted words. Adding a new word should print all the previous words and if there is no space for next words, size of the inputData array should be increased twice. And to be honest this is a bit too much for me. How I can create pointers to words specifically ? And how can I increase the size of global array without loosing its content ? With some temporary array ?

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  • How do I locate a particular word in a text file using .NET

    - by cmrhema
    I am sending mails (in asp.net ,c#), having a template in text file (.txt) like below User Name :<User Name> Address : <Address>. I used to replace the words within the angle brackets in the text file using the below code StreamReader sr; sr = File.OpenText(HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath(txt)); copy = sr.ReadToEnd(); sr.Close(); //close the reader copy = copy.Replace(word.ToUpper(),"#" + word.ToUpper()); //remove the word specified UC //save new copy into existing text file FileInfo newText = new FileInfo(HttpContext.Current.Server.MapPath(txt)); StreamWriter newCopy = newText.CreateText(); newCopy.WriteLine(copy); newCopy.Write(newCopy.NewLine); newCopy.Close(); Now I have a new problem, the user will be adding new words within an angle, say for eg, they will be adding <Salary>. In that case i have to read out and find the word <Salary>. In other words, I have to find all the words, that are located with the angle brackets (<). How do I do that?

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  • Can you recommend a full-text search engine?

    - by Jen
    Can you recommend a full-text search engine? (Preferably open source) I have a database of many (though relatively short) HTML documents. I want users to be able to search this database by entering one or more search words in my C++ desktop application. Hence, I’m looking for a fast full-text search solution to integrate with my app. Ideally, it should: Skip common words, such as the, of, and, etc. Support stemming, i.e. search for run also finds documents containing runner, running and ran. Be able to update its index in the background as new documents are added to the database. Be able to provide search word suggestions (like Google Suggest) Have a well-documented API To illustrate, assume the database has just two documents: Document 1: This is a test of text search. Document 2: Testing is fun. The following words should be in the index: fun, search, test, testing, text. If the user types t in the search box, I want the application to be able to suggest test, testing and text (Ideally, the application should be able to query the search engine for the 10 most common search words starting with t). A search for testing should return both documents. Other points: I don't need multi-user support I don't need support for complex queries The database resides on the user's computer, so the indexing should be performed locally. Can you suggest a C or C++ based solution? (I’ve briefly reviewed CLucene and Xapian, but I’m not sure if either will address my needs, especially querying the search word indexes for the suggest feature).

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  • adapting combination code for larger list

    - by vbNewbie
    I have the following code to generate combinations of string for a small list and would like to adapt this for a large list of over 300 string words.Can anyone suggest how to alter this code or to use a different method. Public Class combinations Public Shared Sub main() Dim myAnimals As String = "cat dog horse ape hen mouse" Dim myAnimalCombinations As String() = BuildCombinations(myAnimals) For Each combination As String In myAnimalCombinations 'Look on the Output Tab for the results! Console.WriteLine("(" & combination & ")") Next combination Console.ReadLine() End Sub Public Shared Function BuildCombinations(ByVal inputString As String) As String() 'Separate the sentence into useable words. Dim wordsArray As String() = inputString.Split(" ".ToCharArray) 'A plase to store the results as we build them Dim returnArray() As String = New String() {""} 'The 'combination level' that we're up to Dim wordDistance As Integer = 1 'Go through all the combination levels... For wordDistance = 1 To wordsArray.GetUpperBound(0) 'Go through all the words at this combination level... For wordIndex As Integer = 0 To wordsArray.GetUpperBound(0) - wordDistance 'Get the first word of this combination level Dim combination As New System.Text.StringBuilder(wordsArray(wordIndex)) 'And all all the remaining words a this combination level For combinationIndex As Integer = 1 To wordDistance combination.Append(" " & wordsArray(wordIndex + combinationIndex)) Next combinationIndex 'Add this combination to the results returnArray(returnArray.GetUpperBound(0)) = combination.ToString 'Add a new row to the results, ready for the next combination ReDim Preserve returnArray(returnArray.GetUpperBound(0) + 1) Next wordIndex Next wordDistance 'Get rid of the last, blank row. ReDim Preserve returnArray(returnArray.GetUpperBound(0) - 1) 'Return combinations to the calling method. Return returnArray End Function End Class

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  • Is this a variation of the traveling salesman problem?

    - by Ville Koskinen
    I'm interested in a function of two word lists, which would return an order agnostic edit distance between them. That is, the arguments would be two lists of (let's say space delimited) words and return value would be the minimum sum of the edit (or Levenshtein) distances of the words in the lists. Distance between "cat rat bat" and "rat bat cat" would be 0. Distance between "cat rat bat" and "fat had bad" would be the same as distance between "rat bat cat" and "had fat bad", 4. In the case the number of words in the lists are not the same, the shorter list would be padded with 0-length words. My intuition (which hasn't been nurtured with computer science classes) does not find any other solution than to use brute force: |had|fat|bad| a solution ---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ cat| 2 | 1 | 2 | | | 1 | | ---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ rat| 2 | 1 | 2 | | 3 | | | ---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ bat| 2 | 1 | 1 | | | | 4 | ---+---+---+---+ +---+---+---+ Starting from the first row, pick a column and go to the next rows without ever revisiting a column you have already visited. Do this over and over again until you've tried all combinations. To me this sounds a bit like the traveling salesman problem. Is it, and how would you solve my particular problem?

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  • How to mix Grammar (Rules) & Dictation (Free speech) with SpeechRecognizer in C#

    - by Lee Englestone
    I really like Microsofts latest speech recognition (and SpeechSynthesis) offerings. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms554855.aspx http://estellasays.blogspot.com/2009/04/speech-recognition-in-cnet.html However I feel like I'm somewhat limited when using grammars. Don't get me wrong grammars are great for telling the speech recognition exactly what words / phrases to look out for, however what if I want it to recognise something i've not given it a heads up about? Or I want to parse a phrase which is half pre-determined command name and half random words? For example.. Scenario A - I say "Google [Oil Spill]" and I want it to open Google with search results for the term in brackets which could be anything. Scenario B - I say "Locate [Manchester]" and I want it to search for Manchester in Google Maps or anything else non pre-determined I want it to know that 'Google' and 'Locate' are commands and what comes after it are parameters (and could be anything). Question : Does anyone know how to mix the use of pre-determined grammars (words the speech recognition should recognise) and words not in its pre-determined grammar? Code fragments.. using System.Speech.Recognition; ... ... SpeechRecognizer rec = new SpeechRecognizer(); rec.SpeechRecognized += rec_SpeechRecognized; var c = new Choices(); c.Add("search"); var gb = new GrammarBuilder(c); var g = new Grammar(gb); rec.LoadGrammar(g); rec.Enabled = true; ... ... void rec_SpeechRecognized(object sender, SpeechRecognizedEventArgs e) { if (e.Result.Text == "search") { string query = "How can I get a word not defined in Grammar recognised and passed into here!"; launchGoogle(query); } } ... ... private void launchGoogle(string term) { Process.Start("IEXPLORE", "google.com?q=" + term); }

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