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• What programming languages are used in different scientific domains?

  - by Semenov

  Does anyone know a of a distribution of programming language usage over scientific domains? Thanks!

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• why can't you use the debug/release version of a lib interchangeably

  - by user205834

  In C++, most of the libs come in Debug/Release versions. Question 1. What are the big difference between Debug and Release versions (e.g. what advantages do you have using one versus the other). Question 2. A lib is just has an implementation of the functions, how does a function implementation change if you are using debug/release versions? Question 3. Can you ever build your app in debug mode and use a release version of a lib? Thanks.

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• php vs python django or something else for CMS module

  - by Michael

  We're looking to develop a CMS module for our website and I need some help in choosing the language/framework for this project. Basically we need to develop a "help' module like this one from ebay http://pages.ebay.com/help/index.html which will contain a lot of static pages with nice URLs for SEO. The application must run fast using low computer resources. We have been looking to use php on a custom made mvc framework but we received advice from other sources that py/django is the exactly language/framework that we need in terms of maintainability and development speed because it was developed for exactly this kind of projects so I need an expert advice on this matter with pro and cons for each choice.

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• Will Haskell be a good choice for my task?

  - by Narzanka

  I'm starting a new project and don't know which language to use. My 'must have' requirements are: Be able to run on Windows/LinuxMacOs natively (native executable) - user should be able to just run the exe (when on Windows for example) and see the results. No runtimes/interpreters (no jvm, clr, etc) - one file download should be enough to run the application. Full unicode support. Be able to manipulate OS threads (create them, run multiple tasks in parallel on multi-core CPUs, etc). Be reasonably fast (Python level performance and better). To have some kind of standard library that does low-level, mundane tasks. Not very niche and have some community behind it to be able to ask questions. My 'nice to have' requirements are: Language should be functional It should have good string manipulation capabilities (not necessarily regex) Not extremely hard to learn I'm thinking about Haskell now but keeping in mind OCaml as well. Please advice if my choice is correct.

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• Should I be using libraries if I'm trying to learn how to program?

  - by CodeJustin.com

  I have been programming "a lot" in the past few months and at first I was trying to find the "easyest" language. Fortunately I realized that it's not about the language, it's about learning HOW to code. I ran into the Stanford lectures online (programming methodology) and I watched them all (around 23 hours total) awhile ago. Then I got into Java ME and programmed about 28.47% of a mobile RPG game (only around 2k lines of code). I feel like I learned a lot from those two experiences compared to previous ones but now that I'm moving into flash/actionscript 3.0 development and I'm finding myself learning like I did when I first started with PHP. I'm not really getting whats under the hood kind of. I'm finding myself using libraries to speed up development time which doesn't seem like a bad thing BUT I personally do not know how to write the libraries myself off hand. So should I be coding everything myself or is it ok to use libraries when you don't even know how to code them?

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• Determining where a function is defined in C#?

  - by templatetypedef

  Hey all - I am a complete novice at C# (I've never used it before) and recently needed to look over some code written in it. I spent the longest time trying to track down a nonexistent method in a class that didn't seem to be defined anywhere in the class that was using it. I later found out it was an "extension method," which I gather is a method grafted onto another class by some source. I completely understand the rationale behind this language feature and actually think it's quite nice. However, as someone without much experience in the language, it makes it harder to look up unfamiliar methods, since the method in question could be defined anywhere. My question is this: given an unfamiliar method call in C#, what's the best way for me to look up more info on it, given that it could be an extension method defined in an entirely separate class? Thanks!

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• jQuery .html() vs .text() produce different result in .hover() function

  - by Paddy

  I have a issue where in I am using the .hover() function. If I use .text() fuction to add the html (anchor tag) which I am dynamically creating, it works fine, both the functions are called as desired. But when I use the .html() function instead then the second fuction of .hover() is never been called. var i = 0; textItems = new Array(); ////I am putting the value into textItems using the jquery ajax call ////and i get its value from a .each() function. //.text() implementation $('#textArea-id').hover( function() { $('#textArea-id').text(textItems[i]); }, function() { //-->mouseout function is called here } ); //.html() implementation $('#textArea-id').hover( function() { $('#textArea-id').html(textItems[i]); }, function() { //-->mouseout function is never been called } );

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• Using Google to find programming answers (does locale matter)?

  - by Jason

  I have overseas developers working for me, and sometimes I am surprised they can't find the same resources online that I do. They are in a South America country... and Google defaults to their language/locale. What do you think about this, when using it to solve computer programs? There is very little software development done in their country (as compared to the US). Is Google skewing their results for articles in their language or posted on sites that are local to them? Should I insist that they bypass their local Google search and have them use the US version?

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• Abstract class and operator!= in c++

  - by Alessandro Teruzzi

  Hi All, I have problem implementing the operator!= in a set class deriving from an abstact one. The code looks like this: class Abstract { public: //to make the syntax easier let's use a raw pointer virtual bool operator!=(const Abstract* other) = 0; }; class Implementation { SomeObject impl_; //that already implement the operator!= public: bool operator!=(const Abstract* other) { return dynamic_cast<Implementation*>(other)->impl_ != this->impl_; } }; This code works but it has the drawback to use dynamic_cast and I need to handle error in casting operation. This is a generic problem that occur when a function of a concrete class it is trying to using some internal information (not available at the abstract class level) to perform a task. Is there any better way to solve this kind of problem? Cheers

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• The pImpl idiom and Testability

  - by Rimo

  The pImpl idiom in c++ aims to hide the implementation details (=private members) of a class from the users of that class. However it also hides some of the dependencies of that class which is usually regarded bad from a testing point of view. For example if class A hides its implementation details in Class AImpl which is only accessible from A.cpp and AImpl depends on a lot of other classes, it becomes very difficult to unit test class A since the testing framework has no access to the methods of AImpl and also no way to inject dependency into AImpl. This has been a problem for me lately and I am beginning to think that the pImpl idiom and writing testable code don't mix well. Has anyone come across this problem before? and have you found a solution?

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• PHP array performance

  - by dfo

  Hi, this is my first question on Stackoverflow, please bear with me. I'm testing an algorithm for 2d bin packing and I've chosen PHP to mock it up as it's my bread-and-butter language nowadays. As you can see on http://themworks.com/pack_v0.2/oopack.php?ol=1 it works pretty well, but you need to wait around 10-20 seconds for 100 rectangles to pack. For some hard to handle sets it would hit the php's 30s runtime limit. I did some profiling and it shows that most of the time my script goes through different parts of a small 2d array with 0's and 1's in it. It either checks if certain cell equals to 0/1 or sets it to 0/1. It can do such operations million times and each times it takes few microseconds. I guess I could use an array of booleans in a statically typed language and things would be faster. Or even make an array of 1 bit values. I'm thinking of converting the whole thing to some compiled language. Is PHP just not good for it? If I do need to convert it to let's say C++, how good are the automatic converters? My script is just a lot of for loops with basic arrays and objects manipulations. Thank you! Edit. This function gets called more than any other. It reads few properties of a very simple object, and goes through a very small part of a smallish array to check if there's any element not equal to 0. function fits($bin, $file, $x, $y) { $flag = true; $xw = $x + $file->get_width();; $yh = $y + $file->get_height(); for ($i = $x; $i < $xw; $i++) { for ($j = $y; $j < $yh; $j++) { if ($bin[$i][$j] !== 0) { $flag = false; break; } } if (!$flag) break; } return $flag; }

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• C#: Converting string to namespace

  - by Am

  Hi, I have an interface named IHarvester. There are 3 implementations of that interface, each under their own namespace: Google Yahoo Bing A HarvesterManager uses the given harvester. It knows the interface and all 3 implementations. I want some way of letting the class user say in which harvester it wants to use. And in the code select that implementation, without a switch-case implementation. Can reflection save my day? Here is the code bits: // repeat for each harvester namespace Harvester.Google { public abstract class Fetcher : BaseHarvester, IInfoHarvester {...} } public enum HarvestingSource { Google, Yahoo, Bing, } class HarvesterManager { public HarvestingSource PreferedSource {get;set;} public HarvestSomthing() { switch (PreferedSource) .... // awful... } } Thanks.

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• Sophistication of django?

  - by JMa

  Is django a sophisticated enough language to code a sophisticated website?

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• C# Why does calling an interface member from a class generate an error?

  - by Jack

  So I have an interface: interface IFoo { int Bar(); int this[int i] {get; set;} } And a class that derives from it class Foo : IFoo { public int IFoo.Bar() { //Implementation { public int IFoo.this[int i] { //Implementation } } Now, I try to do this: var fooey = new Foo(); int i = Fooey.Bar(); or this: int i = Fooey[4]; I would expect these to work properly. However, the compiler generates an error as if such members don't exist. Why is that? I am aware I can cast Foo as IFoo, but I am also aware that casting is costly to performance, which is often the reason to use interfaces in the first place. EDIT 1: These are the errors generated 'Foo' does not contain a definition for 'Bar' and no extension method 'Bar' accepting a first argument of type 'Foo' could be found (are you missing a using directive or an assembly reference?) "Cannot apply indexing to an expression of type 'Foo'"

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• Help in restructuring a project

  - by mrblah

  I have a commerce application, asp.net mvc. I want it to be extensible in the sense others can create other payment providers, as long as they adhere to the interfaces. /blah.core /blah.web /blah.Authorize.net (Implementation of a payment provider using interfaces Ipaymentconfig and paymentdata class) Now the problem is this: /blah.core - PaymentData /blah.core.interfaces - IPaymentConfig where Payment Data looks like: using blah.core; public class PaymentData { public Order Order {get;set;} } IPayment data contains classes from blah.core like the Order class. Now I want to use the actual Authorize.net implementation, so when I tried to reference it in the blah.core project I got a circular dependency error. How could I solve this problem? Many have said to break out the interfaces into their own project, but the problem is PaymentData references entities that are found in blah.core also, so there doesn't seem to be a way around this (in my head anyhow). How can I redesign this?

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• Why does gcc warn about incompatible struct assignment with a `self = [super initDesignatedInit];' c

  - by gavinbeatty

  I have the following base/derived class setup in Objective-C: @interface ASCIICodeBase : NSObject { @protected char code_[4]; } - (Base *)initWithASCIICode:(const char *)code; @end @implementation ASCIICodeBase - (ASCIICodeBase *)initWithCode:(const char *)code len:(size_t)len { if (len == 0 || len > 3) { return nil; } if (self = [super init]) { memset(code_, 0, 4); strncpy(code_, code, 3); } return self; } @end @interface CountryCode : ASCIICodeBase - (CountryCode *)initWithCode:(const char *)code; @end @implementation CountryCode - (CountryCode *)initWithCode:(const char *)code { size_t len = strlen(code); if (len != 2) { return nil; } self = [super initWithCode:code len:len]; // here return self; } @end On the line marked "here", I get the following gcc warning: warning: incompatible Objective-C types assigning 'struct ASCIICodeBase *', expected 'struct CurrencyCode *' Is there something wrong with this code or should I have the ASCIICodeBase return id? Or maybe use a cast on the "here" line?

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• How to define a method that can take arbitary arguments in java?

  - by symfony

  I'm new to this language,is there a demo? Thanks

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• So my girlfriend wants to learn to program [closed]

  - by vanstee

  Possible Duplicate: What programming language should be taught in Computer Science 101? My girlfriend hates feeling completely out of the loop when my friends and I talk about anything related to computers, so she asked me to teach her how to program. I'm pretty happy she asked, but I want to be able to teach her enough to know the basics without her completely losing interest or getting too frustrated. She is a very smart girl, probably smarter than me, but her computer related skills are pretty minimal. What language should I teach her and why?

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• Is it easier to create a chat client using java or PHP?

  - by Mendy

  first off, my goal: Create a chat client that requires the user to log in with a password. Would it be easier to create it with just HTML an PHP or java? EDIT: Sorry, I didn't mention. I have some experience in javascript. I'm afraid that is all. I could and would learn another language. So I want to know which language would be better to learn for this project? also, for the username and password login I'm guessing I would need some mySQL knowledge? Thanks.

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• Installing PhotoShop CS5 in windows XP error: (when up to 12% of the installation);

  - by Croplio

  Error Log: ---------- Exit Code: 6 -------------------------------------- Summary -------------------------------------- - 0 fatal error(s), 43 error(s), 41 warning(s) WARNING: The payload: Adobe Photoshop CS5 Core {7DFEBBA4-81E1-425B-BBAA-06E9E5BBD97E} requires a UI parent with following specification: Family: Photoshop ProductName: Adobe Photoshop CS5 Core_x64 This parent relationship is not satisfied, because this payload is not present in this session. WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure WARNING: Payload cannot be installed due to dependent operation failure ERROR: The following payload errors were found during install: ERROR: - Adobe CSXS Infrastructure CS5: Install failed ERROR: - Microsoft_VC90_ATL_x86: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe Media Player: Install failed ERROR: - Microsoft_VC90_CRT_x86: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe Photoshop CS5 Support: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe Bridge CS5: Install failed ERROR: - Microsoft_VC80_ATL_x86: Install failed ERROR: - DeviceCentral_DeviceCentral3LP-zh_CN: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe XMP Panels CS5: Install failed ERROR: - Photoshop Camera Raw: Install failed ERROR: - AdobeColorCommonSetCMYK: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe Mini Bridge CS5: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe Photoshop CS5 Chinese Language Pack_AdobePhotoshop12-zh_CN: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe ReviewPanel CS5: Install failed ERROR: - Microsoft_VC90_MFC_x86: Install failed ERROR: - Suite Shared Configuration CS5: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe Linguistics CS5: Install failed ERROR: - DeviceCentral: Failed due to Language Pack installation failure ERROR: - AdobeColorEU CS5: Install failed ERROR: - AdobeTypeSupport CS5: Install failed ERROR: - AdobeColorVideoProfilesCS CS5: Install failed ERROR: - AdobeColorCommonSetRGB: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe Photoshop CS5 Core: Failed due to Language Pack installation failure ERROR: - Adobe CSXS Extensions CS5: Install failed ERROR: - AdobeOutputModule: Install failed ERROR: - Microsoft_VC80_CRT_x86: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe WinSoft Linguistics Plugin CS5: Install failed ERROR: - AdobePDFL CS5: Install failed ERROR: - AdobeCMaps CS5: Install failed ERROR: - AdobeColorNA CS5: Install failed ERROR: - Required Common Fonts Installation: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe SwitchBoard 2.0: Install failed ERROR: - Microsoft_VC80_MFC_x86: Install failed ERROR: - AdobeColorPhotoshop CS5: Install failed ERROR: - Microsoft_VC80_MFCLOC_x86: Install failed ERROR: - PDF Settings CS5: Install failed ERROR: - Recommended Common Fonts Installation: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe Extension Manager CS5: Install failed ERROR: - AdobeColorJA CS5: Install failed ERROR: - AdobeJRE: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe ExtendScript Toolkit CS5: Install failed ERROR: - Adobe AIR: Install failed ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I hava tried many time and the issue is still there, any help will be appriciated, thanks!

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• fatal error occured while trying to sysprep the machine windows 8.1

  - by Mick

  I try do sysprep in Windows 8.1 I have create unattend.xml <settings pass="oobeSystem"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale> <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale> <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage> <UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback> <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <OEMInformation> <Manufacturer>XYZ</Manufacturer> <SupportURL>http://www.XYZ.com</SupportURL> </OEMInformation> <OOBE> <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage> <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation> <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC> </OOBE> <UserAccounts> <AdministratorPassword> <Value>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</Value> <PlainText>false</PlainText> </AdministratorPassword> <LocalAccounts> <LocalAccount wcm:action="add"> <Password> <Value>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</Value> <PlainText>false</PlainText> </Password> <Description>Admin</Description> <DisplayName>Admin</DisplayName> <Group>Administrators</Group> <Name>Admin</Name> </LocalAccount> </LocalAccounts> </UserAccounts> <WindowsFeatures> <ShowWindowsMediaPlayer>false</ShowWindowsMediaPlayer> <ShowMediaCenter>false</ShowMediaCenter> </WindowsFeatures> <RegisteredOrganization>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</RegisteredOrganization> <RegisteredOwner>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</RegisteredOwner> <TimeZone>Central European Standard Time</TimeZone> <ShowWindowsLive>false</ShowWindowsLive> </component> </settings> <settings pass="specialize"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <RegisteredOrganization>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</RegisteredOrganization> <RegisteredOwner>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</RegisteredOwner> <ProductKey>XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX</ProductKey> </component> </settings> And then I run sysprep.exe /oobe /generalize /shutdown I see this error: fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine

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• All client browsers repeatedly asking for NTLM authentication when running through local proxy server

  - by Marko

  All client browsers repeatedly asking for NTLM authentication when running through local proxy server. When pointing browsers through the local proxy to the internet, some but not all clients are being repeatedley prompted to authenticate to the proxy server. I have inspected the headers using firefox live headers as well as fiddler, and in all cases the authentication prompts happen when requesting SSL resources. an example of this would be as follows: GET http://gmail.google.com/mail/ HTTP/1.1 Accept: image/gif, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, image/pjpeg, application/x-shockwave- flash, application/x-ms-application, application/x-ms-xbap, application/vnd.ms- xpsdocument, application/xaml+xml, */* Accept-Language: en-gb User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729) Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate Proxy-Connection: Keep-Alive Host: gmail.google.com GET http://gmail.google.com/mail/ HTTP/1.1 Accept: image/gif, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, image/pjpeg, application/x-shockwave- flash, application/x-ms-application, application/x-ms-xbap, application/vnd.ms- xpsdocument, application/xaml+xml, */* Accept-Language: en-gb User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729) Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate Proxy-Connection: Keep-Alive Host: gmail.google.com Proxy-Authorization: NTLM TlRMTVNTUAABAAAAB7IIogkACQAvAAAABwAHACgAAAAFASgKAAAAD1dJTlhQMUdGTEFHU0hJUDc= GET http://gmail.google.com/mail/ HTTP/1.1 Accept: image/gif, image/jpeg, image/pjpeg, image/pjpeg, application/x-shockwave- flash, application/x-ms-application, application/x-ms-xbap, application/vnd.ms- xpsdocument, application/xaml+xml, */* Accept-Language: en-gb User-Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729) Accept-Encoding: gzip, deflate Proxy-Connection: Keep-Alive Proxy-Authorization: NTLM TlRMTVNTUAADA (more stuff goes here I cut it short) Host: gmail.google.com At this point the username and password prompt has appeared in the browser, it does not matter what is typed into this box, correct credentials, random nonsense the browser does not accept anything in this box it will continue to popup. If I press cancel, I sometimes get a http 407 error, but on other occasions I click cancel the website proceeds to download and show normally. This is repeatable with some clients running through my proxy server, but in other cases it does not happen at all. In the cases where a client computer works normally, the only difference I can see is that the 3rd request for SSL resource comes back with a 200 response, see below: CONNECT gmail.google.com:443 HTTP/1.0 User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 9.0; Windows NT 6.1; Trident/5.0; MALC) Proxy-Connection: Keep-Alive Content-Length: 0 Host: gmail.google.com Pragma: no-cache Proxy-Authorization: NTLM TlRMTVNTUAADAAAAGAAYAIAAAA A SSLv3-compatible ClientHello handshake was found. I have tried resetting user accounts as well as computer accounts in Active Directory. User accounts and passwords that are being used are correct and the passwords have been reset so they are not out of sync. I have removed the clients and even the proxy server from the domain, and rejoined them. I have installed a complete separate proxy server and get exactly the same problem when I point clients to a different proxy server on a different IP address.

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• How to obtain a random sub-datatable from another data table

  - by developerit

  Introduction In this article, I’ll show how to get a random subset of data from a DataTable. This is useful when you already have queries that are filtered correctly but returns all the rows. Analysis I came across this situation when I wanted to display a random tag cloud. I already had the query to get the keywords ordered by number of clicks and I wanted to created a tag cloud. Tags that are the most popular should have more chance to get picked and should be displayed larger than less popular ones. Implementation In this code snippet, there is everything you need. ' Min size, in pixel for the tag Private Const MIN_FONT_SIZE As Integer = 9 ' Max size, in pixel for the tag Private Const MAX_FONT_SIZE As Integer = 14 ' Basic function that retreives Tags from a DataBase Public Shared Function GetTags() As MediasTagsDataTable ' Simple call to the TableAdapter, to get the Tags ordered by number of clicks Dim dt As MediasTagsDataTable = taMediasTags.GetDataValide ' If the query returned no result, return an empty DataTable If dt Is Nothing OrElse dt.Rows.Count < 1 Then Return New MediasTagsDataTable End If ' Set the font-size of the group of data ' We are dividing our results into sub set, according to their number of clicks ' Example: 10 results -> [0,2] will get font size 9, [3,5] will get font size 10, [6,8] wil get 11, ... ' This is the number of elements in one group Dim groupLenth As Integer = CType(Math.Floor(dt.Rows.Count / (MAX_FONT_SIZE - MIN_FONT_SIZE)), Integer) ' Counter of elements in the same group Dim counter As Integer = 0 ' Counter of groups Dim groupCounter As Integer = 0 ' Loop througt the list For Each row As MediasTagsRow In dt ' Set the font-size in a custom column row.c_FontSize = MIN_FONT_SIZE + groupCounter ' Increment the counter counter += 1 ' If the group counter is less than the counter If groupLenth <= counter Then ' Start a new group counter = 0 groupCounter += 1 End If Next ' Return the new DataTable with font-size Return dt End Function ' Function that generate the random sub set Public Shared Function GetRandomSampleTags(ByVal KeyCount As Integer) As MediasTagsDataTable ' Get the data Dim dt As MediasTagsDataTable = GetTags() ' Create a new DataTable that will contains the random set Dim rep As MediasTagsDataTable = New MediasTagsDataTable ' Count the number of row in the new DataTable Dim count As Integer = 0 ' Random number generator Dim rand As New Random() While count < KeyCount Randomize() ' Pick a random row Dim r As Integer = rand.Next(0, dt.Rows.Count - 1) Dim tmpRow As MediasTagsRow = dt(r) ' Import it into the new DataTable rep.ImportRow(tmpRow) ' Remove it from the old one, to be sure not to pick it again dt.Rows.RemoveAt(r) ' Increment the counter count += 1 End While ' Return the new sub set Return rep End Function Pro’s This method is good because it doesn’t require much work to get it work fast. It is a good concept when you are working with small tables, let says less than 100 records. Con’s If you have more than 100 records, out of memory exception may occur since we are coping and duplicating rows. I would consider using a stored procedure instead.

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• VB.NET IF() Coalesce and “Expression Expected” Error

  - by Jeff Widmer

  I am trying to use the equivalent of the C# “??” operator in some VB.NET code that I am working in. This StackOverflow article for “Is there a VB.NET equivalent for C#'s ?? operator?” explains the VB.NET IF() statement syntax which is exactly what I am looking for... and I thought I was going to be done pretty quickly and could move on. But after implementing the IF() statement in my code I started to receive this error: Compiler Error Message: BC30201: Expression expected. And no matter how I tried using the “IF()” statement, whenever I tried to visit the aspx page that I was working on I received the same error. This other StackOverflow article Using VB.NET If vs. IIf in binding/rendering expression indicated that the VB.NET IF() operator was not available until VS2008 or .NET Framework 3.5.  So I checked the Web Application project properties but it was targeting the .NET Framework 3.5: So I was still not understanding what was going on, but then I noticed the version information in the detailed compiler output of the error page: This happened to be a C# project, but with an ASPX page with inline VB.NET code (yes, it is strange to have that but that is the project I am working on).  So even though the project file was targeting the .NET Framework 3.5, the ASPX page was being compiled using the .NET Framework 2.0.  But why?  Where does this get set?  How does ASP.NET know which version of the compiler to use for the inline code? For this I turned to the web.config.  Here is the system.codedom/compilers section that was in the web.config for this project: <system.codedom>     <compilers>         <compiler language="c#;cs;csharp" extension=".cs" warningLevel="4" type="Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089">             <providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v3.5" />             <providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false" />         </compiler>     </compilers> </system.codedom> Keep in mind that this is a C# web application project file but my aspx file has inline VB.NET code.  The web.config does not have any information for how to compile for VB.NET so it defaults to .NET 2.0 (instead of 3.5 which is what I need). So the web.config needed to include the VB.NET compiler option.  Here it is with both the C# and VB.NET options (I copied the VB.NET config from a new VB.NET Web Application project file).     <system.codedom>         <compilers>             <compiler language="c#;cs;csharp" extension=".cs" warningLevel="4" type="Microsoft.CSharp.CSharpCodeProvider, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089">                 <providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v3.5" />                 <providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false" />             </compiler>       <compiler language="vb;vbs;visualbasic;vbscript" extension=".vb" warningLevel="4" type="Microsoft.VisualBasic.VBCodeProvider, System, Version=2.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b77a5c561934e089">         <providerOption name="CompilerVersion" value="v3.5"/>         <providerOption name="OptionInfer" value="true"/>         <providerOption name="WarnAsError" value="false"/>       </compiler>     </compilers>     </system.codedom>   So the inline VB.NET code on my aspx page was being compiled using the .NET Framework 2.0 when it really needed to be compiled with the .NET Framework 3.5 compiler in order to take advantage of the VB.NET IF() coalesce statement.  Without the VB.NET web.config compiler option, the default is to compile using the .NET Framework 2.0 and the VB.NET IF() coalesce statement does not exist (at least in the form that I want it in).  FYI, there is an older IF statement in VB.NET 2.0 compiler which is why it is giving me the unusual “Expression Expected” error message – see this article for when VB.NET got the new updated version. EDIT (2011-06-20): I had made a wrong assumption in the first version of this blog post.  After a little more research and investigation I was able to figure out that the issue was in the web.config and not with the IIS App Pool.  Thanks to the comment from James which forced me to look into this again.

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• Is there a Telecommunications Reference Architecture?

  - by raul.goycoolea

  @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Abstract   Reference architecture provides needed architectural information that can be provided in advance to an enterprise to enable consistent architectural best practices. Enterprise Reference Architecture helps business owners to actualize their strategies, vision, objectives, and principles. It evaluates the IT systems, based on Reference Architecture goals, principles, and standards. It helps to reduce IT costs by increasing functionality, availability, scalability, etc. Telecom Reference Architecture provides customers with the flexibility to view bundled service bills online with the provision of multiple services. It provides real-time, flexible billing and charging systems, to handle complex promotions, discounts, and settlements with multiple parties. This paper attempts to describe the Reference Architecture for the Telecom Enterprises. It lays the foundation for a Telecom Reference Architecture by articulating the requirements, drivers, and pitfalls for telecom service providers. It describes generic reference architecture for telecom enterprises and moves on to explain how to achieve Enterprise Reference Architecture by using SOA.   Introduction   A Reference Architecture provides a methodology, set of practices, template, and standards based on a set of successful solutions implemented earlier. These solutions have been generalized and structured for the depiction of both a logical and a physical architecture, based on the harvesting of a set of patterns that describe observations in a number of successful implementations. It helps as a reference for the various architectures that an enterprise can implement to solve various problems. It can be used as the starting point or the point of comparisons for various departments/business entities of a company, or for the various companies for an enterprise. It provides multiple views for multiple stakeholders.   Major artifacts of the Enterprise Reference Architecture are methodologies, standards, metadata, documents, design patterns, etc.   Purpose of Reference Architecture   In most cases, architects spend a lot of time researching, investigating, defining, and re-arguing architectural decisions. It is like reinventing the wheel as their peers in other organizations or even the same organization have already spent a lot of time and effort defining their own architectural practices. This prevents an organization from learning from its own experiences and applying that knowledge for increased effectiveness.   Reference architecture provides missing architectural information that can be provided in advance to project team members to enable consistent architectural best practices.   Enterprise Reference Architecture helps an enterprise to achieve the following at the abstract level:   ·       Reference architecture is more of a communication channel to an enterprise ·       Helps the business owners to accommodate to their strategies, vision, objectives, and principles. ·       Evaluates the IT systems based on Reference Architecture Principles ·       Reduces IT spending through increasing functionality, availability, scalability, etc ·       A Real-time Integration Model helps to reduce the latency of the data updates Is used to define a single source of Information ·       Provides a clear view on how to manage information and security ·       Defines the policy around the data ownership, product boundaries, etc. ·       Helps with cost optimization across project and solution portfolios by eliminating unused or duplicate investments and assets ·       Has a shorter implementation time and cost   Once the reference architecture is in place, the set of architectural principles, standards, reference models, and best practices ensure that the aligned investments have the greatest possible likelihood of success in both the near term and the long term (TCO).     Common pitfalls for Telecom Service Providers   Telecom Reference Architecture serves as the first step towards maturity for a telecom service provider. During the course of our assignments/experiences with telecom players, we have come across the following observations – Some of these indicate a lack of maturity of the telecom service provider:   ·       In markets that are growing and not so mature, it has been observed that telcos have a significant amount of in-house or home-grown applications. In some of these markets, the growth has been so rapid that IT has been unable to cope with business demands. Telcos have shown a tendency to come up with workarounds in their IT applications so as to meet business needs. ·       Even for core functions like provisioning or mediation, some telcos have tried to manage with home-grown applications. ·       Most of the applications do not have the required scalability or maintainability to sustain growth in volumes or functionality. ·       Applications face interoperability issues with other applications in the operator's landscape. Integrating a new application or network element requires considerable effort on the part of the other applications. ·       Application boundaries are not clear, and functionality that is not in the initial scope of that application gets pushed onto it. This results in the development of the multiple, small applications without proper boundaries. ·       Usage of Legacy OSS/BSS systems, poor Integration across Multiple COTS Products and Internal Systems. Most of the Integrations are developed on ad-hoc basis and Point-to-Point Integration. ·       Redundancy of the business functions in different applications • Fragmented data across the different applications and no integrated view of the strategic data • Lot of performance Issues due to the usage of the complex integration across OSS and BSS systems   However, this is where the maturity of the telecom industry as a whole can be of help. The collaborative efforts of telcos to overcome some of these problems have resulted in bodies like the TM Forum. They have come up with frameworks for business processes, data, applications, and technology for telecom service providers. These could be a good starting point for telcos to clean up their enterprise landscape.   Industry Trends in Telecom Reference Architecture   Telecom reference architectures are evolving rapidly because telcos are facing business and IT challenges.   “The reality is that there probably is no killer application, no silver bullet that the telcos can latch onto to carry them into a 21st Century.... Instead, there are probably hundreds – perhaps thousands – of niche applications.... And the only way to find which of these works for you is to try out lots of them, ramp up the ones that work, and discontinue the ones that fail.” – Martin Creaner President & CTO TM Forum.   The following trends have been observed in telecom reference architecture:   ·       Transformation of business structures to align with customer requirements ·       Adoption of more Internet-like technical architectures. The Web 2.0 concept is increasingly being used. ·       Virtualization of the traditional operations support system (OSS) ·       Adoption of SOA to support development of IP-based services ·       Adoption of frameworks like Service Delivery Platforms (SDPs) and IP Multimedia Subsystem ·       (IMS) to enable seamless deployment of various services over fixed and mobile networks ·       Replacement of in-house, customized, and stove-piped OSS/BSS with standards-based COTS products ·       Compliance with industry standards and frameworks like eTOM, SID, and TAM to enable seamless integration with other standards-based products   Drivers of Reference Architecture   The drivers of the Reference Architecture are Reference Architecture Goals, Principles, and Enterprise Vision and Telecom Transformation. The details are depicted below diagram. @font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoCaption, li.MsoCaption, div.MsoCaption { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: rgb(79, 129, 189); font-weight: bold; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; } Figure 1. Drivers for Reference Architecture @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Today’s telecom reference architectures should seamlessly integrate traditional legacy-based applications and transition to next-generation network technologies (e.g., IP multimedia subsystems). This has resulted in new requirements for flexible, real-time billing and OSS/BSS systems and implications on the service provider’s organizational requirements and structure.   Telecom reference architectures are today expected to:   ·       Integrate voice, messaging, email and other VAS over fixed and mobile networks, back end systems ·       Be able to provision multiple services and service bundles • Deliver converged voice, video and data services ·       Leverage the existing Network Infrastructure ·       Provide real-time, flexible billing and charging systems to handle complex promotions, discounts, and settlements with multiple parties. ·       Support charging of advanced data services such as VoIP, On-Demand, Services (e.g.  Video), IMS/SIP Services, Mobile Money, Content Services and IPTV. ·       Help in faster deployment of new services • Serve as an effective platform for collaboration between network IT and business organizations ·       Harness the potential of converging technology, networks, devices and content to develop multimedia services and solutions of ever-increasing sophistication on a single Internet Protocol (IP) ·       Ensure better service delivery and zero revenue leakage through real-time balance and credit management ·       Lower operating costs to drive profitability   Enterprise Reference Architecture   The Enterprise Reference Architecture (RA) fills the gap between the concepts and vocabulary defined by the reference model and the implementation. Reference architecture provides detailed architectural information in a common format such that solutions can be repeatedly designed and deployed in a consistent, high-quality, supportable fashion. This paper attempts to describe the Reference Architecture for the Telecom Application Usage and how to achieve the Enterprise Level Reference Architecture using SOA.   • Telecom Reference Architecture • Enterprise SOA based Reference Architecture   Telecom Reference Architecture   Tele Management Forum’s New Generation Operations Systems and Software (NGOSS) is an architectural framework for organizing, integrating, and implementing telecom systems. NGOSS is a component-based framework consisting of the following elements:   ·       The enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM) is a business process framework. ·       The Shared Information Data (SID) model provides a comprehensive information framework that may be specialized for the needs of a particular organization. ·       The Telecom Application Map (TAM) is an application framework to depict the functional footprint of applications, relative to the horizontal processes within eTOM. ·       The Technology Neutral Architecture (TNA) is an integrated framework. TNA is an architecture that is sustainable through technology changes.   NGOSS Architecture Standards are:   ·       Centralized data ·       Loosely coupled distributed systems ·       Application components/re-use  ·       A technology-neutral system framework with technology specific implementations ·       Interoperability to service provider data/processes ·       Allows more re-use of business components across multiple business scenarios ·       Workflow automation   The traditional operator systems architecture consists of four layers,   ·       Business Support System (BSS) layer, with focus toward customers and business partners. Manages order, subscriber, pricing, rating, and billing information. ·       Operations Support System (OSS) layer, built around product, service, and resource inventories. ·       Networks layer – consists of Network elements and 3rd Party Systems. ·       Integration Layer – to maximize application communication and overall solution flexibility.   Reference architecture for telecom enterprises is depicted below. @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoCaption, li.MsoCaption, div.MsoCaption { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: rgb(79, 129, 189); font-weight: bold; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Figure 2. Telecom Reference Architecture   The major building blocks of any Telecom Service Provider architecture are as follows:   1. Customer Relationship Management   CRM encompasses the end-to-end lifecycle of the customer: customer initiation/acquisition, sales, ordering, and service activation, customer care and support, proactive campaigns, cross sell/up sell, and retention/loyalty.   CRM also includes the collection of customer information and its application to personalize, customize, and integrate delivery of service to a customer, as well as to identify opportunities for increasing the value of the customer to the enterprise.   The key functionalities related to Customer Relationship Management are   ·       Manage the end-to-end lifecycle of a customer request for products. ·       Create and manage customer profiles. ·       Manage all interactions with customers – inquiries, requests, and responses. ·       Provide updates to Billing and other south bound systems on customer/account related updates such as customer/ account creation, deletion, modification, request bills, final bill, duplicate bills, credit limits through Middleware. ·       Work with Order Management System, Product, and Service Management components within CRM. ·       Manage customer preferences – Involve all the touch points and channels to the customer, including contact center, retail stores, dealers, self service, and field service, as well as via any media (phone, face to face, web, mobile device, chat, email, SMS, mail, the customer's bill, etc.). ·       Support single interface for customer contact details, preferences, account details, offers, customer premise equipment, bill details, bill cycle details, and customer interactions.   CRM applications interact with customers through customer touch points like portals, point-of-sale terminals, interactive voice response systems, etc. The requests by customers are sent via fulfillment/provisioning to billing system for ordering processing.   2. Billing and Revenue Management   Billing and Revenue Management handles the collection of appropriate usage records and production of timely and accurate bills – for providing pre-bill usage information and billing to customers; for processing their payments; and for performing payment collections. In addition, it handles customer inquiries about bills, provides billing inquiry status, and is responsible for resolving billing problems to the customer's satisfaction in a timely manner. This process grouping also supports prepayment for services.   The key functionalities provided by these applications are   ·       To ensure that enterprise revenue is billed and invoices delivered appropriately to customers. ·       To manage customers’ billing accounts, process their payments, perform payment collections, and monitor the status of the account balance. ·       To ensure the timely and effective fulfillment of all customer bill inquiries and complaints. ·       Collect the usage records from mediation and ensure appropriate rating and discounting of all usage and pricing. ·       Support revenue sharing; split charging where usage is guided to an account different from the service consumer. ·       Support prepaid and post-paid rating. ·       Send notification on approach / exceeding the usage thresholds as enforced by the subscribed offer, and / or as setup by the customer. ·       Support prepaid, post paid, and hybrid (where some services are prepaid and the rest of the services post paid) customers and conversion from post paid to prepaid, and vice versa. ·       Support different billing function requirements like charge prorating, promotion, discount, adjustment, waiver, write-off, account receivable, GL Interface, late payment fee, credit control, dunning, account or service suspension, re-activation, expiry, termination, contract violation penalty, etc. ·       Initiate direct debit to collect payment against an invoice outstanding. ·       Send notification to Middleware on different events; for example, payment receipt, pre-suspension, threshold exceed, etc.   Billing systems typically get usage data from mediation systems for rating and billing. They get provisioning requests from order management systems and inquiries from CRM systems. Convergent and real-time billing systems can directly get usage details from network elements.   3. Mediation   Mediation systems transform/translate the Raw or Native Usage Data Records into a general format that is acceptable to billing for their rating purposes.   The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Mediation system in the end-to-end solution.   ·       Collect Usage Data Records from different data sources – like network elements, routers, servers – via different protocol and interfaces. ·       Process Usage Data Records – Mediation will process Usage Data Records as per the source format. ·       Validate Usage Data Records from each source. ·       Segregates Usage Data Records coming from each source to multiple, based on the segregation requirement of end Application. ·       Aggregates Usage Data Records based on the aggregation rule if any from different sources. ·       Consolidates multiple Usage Data Records from each source. ·       Delivers formatted Usage Data Records to different end application like Billing, Interconnect, Fraud Management, etc. ·       Generates audit trail for incoming Usage Data Records and keeps track of all the Usage Data Records at various stages of mediation process. ·       Checks duplicate Usage Data Records across files for a given time window.   4. Fulfillment   This area is responsible for providing customers with their requested products in a timely and correct manner. It translates the customer's business or personal need into a solution that can be delivered using the specific products in the enterprise's portfolio. This process informs the customers of the status of their purchase order, and ensures completion on time, as well as ensuring a delighted customer. These processes are responsible for accepting and issuing orders. They deal with pre-order feasibility determination, credit authorization, order issuance, order status and tracking, customer update on customer order activities, and customer notification on order completion. Order management and provisioning applications fall into this category.   The key functionalities provided by these applications are   ·       Issuing new customer orders, modifying open customer orders, or canceling open customer orders; ·       Verifying whether specific non-standard offerings sought by customers are feasible and supportable; ·       Checking the credit worthiness of customers as part of the customer order process; ·       Testing the completed offering to ensure it is working correctly; ·       Updating of the Customer Inventory Database to reflect that the specific product offering has been allocated, modified, or cancelled; ·       Assigning and tracking customer provisioning activities; ·       Managing customer provisioning jeopardy conditions; and ·       Reporting progress on customer orders and other processes to customer.   These applications typically get orders from CRM systems. They interact with network elements and billing systems for fulfillment of orders.   5. Enterprise Management   This process area includes those processes that manage enterprise-wide activities and needs, or have application within the enterprise as a whole. They encompass all business management processes that   ·       Are necessary to support the whole of the enterprise, including processes for financial management, legal management, regulatory management, process, cost, and quality management, etc.;   ·       Are responsible for setting corporate policies, strategies, and directions, and for providing guidelines and targets for the whole of the business, including strategy development and planning for areas, such as Enterprise Architecture, that are integral to the direction and development of the business;   ·       Occur throughout the enterprise, including processes for project management, performance assessments, cost assessments, etc.     (i) Enterprise Risk Management:   Enterprise Risk Management focuses on assuring that risks and threats to the enterprise value and/or reputation are identified, and appropriate controls are in place to minimize or eliminate the identified risks. The identified risks may be physical or logical/virtual. Successful risk management ensures that the enterprise can support its mission critical operations, processes, applications, and communications in the face of serious incidents such as security threats/violations and fraud attempts. Two key areas covered in Risk Management by telecom operators are:   ·       Revenue Assurance: Revenue assurance system will be responsible for identifying revenue loss scenarios across components/systems, and will help in rectifying the problems. The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Revenue Assurance system in the end-to-end solution. o   Identify all usage information dropped when networks are being upgraded. o   Interconnect bill verification. o   Identify where services are routinely provisioned but never billed. o   Identify poor sales policies that are intensifying collections problems. o   Find leakage where usage is sent to error bucket and never billed for. o   Find leakage where field service, CRM, and network build-out are not optimized.   ·       Fraud Management: Involves collecting data from different systems to identify abnormalities in traffic patterns, usage patterns, and subscription patterns to report suspicious activity that might suggest fraudulent usage of resources, resulting in revenue losses to the operator.   The key roles and responsibilities of the system component are as follows:   o   Fraud management system will capture and monitor high usage (over a certain threshold) in terms of duration, value, and number of calls for each subscriber. The threshold for each subscriber is decided by the system and fixed automatically. o   Fraud management will be able to detect the unauthorized access to services for certain subscribers. These subscribers may have been provided unauthorized services by employees. The component will raise the alert to the operator the very first time of such illegal calls or calls which are not billed. o   The solution will be to have an alarm management system that will deliver alarms to the operator/provider whenever it detects a fraud, thus minimizing fraud by catching it the first time it occurs. o   The Fraud Management system will be capable of interfacing with switches, mediation systems, and billing systems   (ii) Knowledge Management   This process focuses on knowledge management, technology research within the enterprise, and the evaluation of potential technology acquisitions.   Key responsibilities of knowledge base management are to   ·       Maintain knowledge base – Creation and updating of knowledge base on ongoing basis. ·       Search knowledge base – Search of knowledge base on keywords or category browse ·       Maintain metadata – Management of metadata on knowledge base to ensure effective management and search. ·       Run report generator. ·       Provide content – Add content to the knowledge base, e.g., user guides, operational manual, etc.   (iii) Document Management   It focuses on maintaining a repository of all electronic documents or images of paper documents relevant to the enterprise using a system.   (iv) Data Management   It manages data as a valuable resource for any enterprise. For telecom enterprises, the typical areas covered are Master Data Management, Data Warehousing, and Business Intelligence. It is also responsible for data governance, security, quality, and database management.   Key responsibilities of Data Management are   ·       Using ETL, extract the data from CRM, Billing, web content, ERP, campaign management, financial, network operations, asset management info, customer contact data, customer measures, benchmarks, process data, e.g., process inputs, outputs, and measures, into Enterprise Data Warehouse. ·       Management of data traceability with source, data related business rules/decisions, data quality, data cleansing data reconciliation, competitors data – storage for all the enterprise data (customer profiles, products, offers, revenues, etc.) ·       Get online update through night time replication or physical backup process at regular frequency. ·       Provide the data access to business intelligence and other systems for their analysis, report generation, and use.   (v) Business Intelligence   It uses the Enterprise Data to provide the various analysis and reports that contain prospects and analytics for customer retention, acquisition of new customers due to the offers, and SLAs. It will generate right and optimized plans – bolt-ons for the customers.   The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Business Intelligence system at the Enterprise Level:   ·       It will do Pattern analysis and reports problem. ·       It will do Data Analysis – Statistical analysis, data profiling, affinity analysis of data, customer segment wise usage patterns on offers, products, service and revenue generation against services and customer segments. ·       It will do Performance (business, system, and forecast) analysis, churn propensity, response time, and SLAs analysis. ·       It will support for online and offline analysis, and report drill down capability. ·       It will collect, store, and report various SLA data. ·       It will provide the necessary intelligence for marketing and working on campaigns, etc., with cost benefit analysis and predictions.   It will advise on customer promotions with additional services based on loyalty and credit history of customer   ·       It will Interface with Enterprise Data Management system for data to run reports and analysis tasks. It will interface with the campaign schedules, based on historical success evidence.   (vi) Stakeholder and External Relations Management   It manages the enterprise's relationship with stakeholders and outside entities. Stakeholders include shareholders, employee organizations, etc. Outside entities include regulators, local community, and unions. Some of the processes within this grouping are Shareholder Relations, External Affairs, Labor Relations, and Public Relations.   (vii) Enterprise Resource Planning   It is used to manage internal and external resources, including tangible assets, financial resources, materials, and human resources. Its purpose is to facilitate the flow of information between all business functions inside the boundaries of the enterprise and manage the connections to outside stakeholders. ERP systems consolidate all business operations into a uniform and enterprise wide system environment.   The key roles and responsibilities for Enterprise System are given below:   ·        It will handle responsibilities such as core accounting, financial, and management reporting. ·       It will interface with CRM for capturing customer account and details. ·       It will interface with billing to capture the billing revenue and other financial data. ·       It will be responsible for executing the dunning process. Billing will send the required feed to ERP for execution of dunning. ·       It will interface with the CRM and Billing through batch interfaces. Enterprise management systems are like horizontals in the enterprise and typically interact with all major telecom systems. E.g., an ERP system interacts with CRM, Fulfillment, and Billing systems for different kinds of data exchanges.   6. External Interfaces/Touch Points   The typical external parties are customers, suppliers/partners, employees, shareholders, and other stakeholders. External interactions from/to a Service Provider to other parties can be achieved by a variety of mechanisms, including:   ·       Exchange of emails or faxes ·       Call Centers ·       Web Portals ·       Business-to-Business (B2B) automated transactions   These applications provide an Internet technology driven interface to external parties to undertake a variety of business functions directly for themselves. These can provide fully or partially automated service to external parties through various touch points.   Typical characteristics of these touch points are   ·       Pre-integrated self-service system, including stand-alone web framework or integration front end with a portal engine ·       Self services layer exposing atomic web services/APIs for reuse by multiple systems across the architectural environment ·       Portlets driven connectivity exposing data and services interoperability through a portal engine or web application   These touch points mostly interact with the CRM systems for requests, inquiries, and responses.   7. Middleware   The component will be primarily responsible for integrating the different systems components under a common platform. It should provide a Standards-Based Platform for building Service Oriented Architecture and Composite Applications. The following lists the high-level roles and responsibilities executed by the Middleware component in the end-to-end solution.   ·       As an integration framework, covering to and fro interfaces ·       Provide a web service framework with service registry. ·       Support SOA framework with SOA service registry. ·       Each of the interfaces from / to Middleware to other components would handle data transformation, translation, and mapping of data points. ·       Receive data from the caller / activate and/or forward the data to the recipient system in XML format. ·       Use standard XML for data exchange. ·       Provide the response back to the service/call initiator. ·       Provide a tracking until the response completion. ·       Keep a store transitional data against each call/transaction. ·       Interface through Middleware to get any information that is possible and allowed from the existing systems to enterprise systems; e.g., customer profile and customer history, etc. ·       Provide the data in a common unified format to the SOA calls across systems, and follow the Enterprise Architecture directive. ·       Provide an audit trail for all transactions being handled by the component.   8. Network Elements   The term Network Element means a facility or equipment used in the provision of a telecommunications service. Such terms also includes features, functions, and capabilities that are provided by means of such facility or equipment, including subscriber numbers, databases, signaling systems, and information sufficient for billing and collection or used in the transmission, routing, or other provision of a telecommunications service.   Typical network elements in a GSM network are Home Location Register (HLR), Intelligent Network (IN), Mobile Switching Center (MSC), SMS Center (SMSC), and network elements for other value added services like Push-to-talk (PTT), Ring Back Tone (RBT), etc.   Network elements are invoked when subscribers use their telecom devices for any kind of usage. These elements generate usage data and pass it on to downstream systems like mediation and billing system for rating and billing. They also integrate with provisioning systems for order/service fulfillment.   9. 3rd Party Applications   3rd Party systems are applications like content providers, payment gateways, point of sale terminals, and databases/applications maintained by the Government.   Depending on applicability and the type of functionality provided by 3rd party applications, the integration with different telecom systems like CRM, provisioning, and billing will be done.   10. Service Delivery Platform   A service delivery platform (SDP) provides the architecture for the rapid deployment, provisioning, execution, management, and billing of value added telecom services. SDPs are based on the concept of SOA and layered architecture. They support the delivery of voice, data services, and content in network and device-independent fashion. They allow application developers to aggregate network capabilities, services, and sources of content. SDPs typically contain layers for web services exposure, service application development, and network abstraction.   SOA Reference Architecture   SOA concept is based on the principle of developing reusable business service and building applications by composing those services, instead of building monolithic applications in silos. It’s about bridging the gap between business and IT through a set of business-aligned IT services, using a set of design principles, patterns, and techniques.   In an SOA, resources are made available to participants in a value net, enterprise, line of business (typically spanning multiple applications within an enterprise or across multiple enterprises). It consists of a set of business-aligned IT services that collectively fulfill an organization’s business processes and goals. We can choreograph these services into composite applications and invoke them through standard protocols. SOA, apart from agility and reusability, enables:   ·       The business to specify processes as orchestrations of reusable services ·       Technology agnostic business design, with technology hidden behind service interface ·       A contractual-like interaction between business and IT, based on service SLAs ·       Accountability and governance, better aligned to business services ·       Applications interconnections untangling by allowing access only through service interfaces, reducing the daunting side effects of change ·       Reduced pressure to replace legacy and extended lifetime for legacy applications, through encapsulation in services   ·       A Cloud Computing paradigm, using web services technologies, that makes possible service outsourcing on an on-demand, utility-like, pay-per-usage basis   The following section represents the Reference Architecture of logical view for the Telecom Solution. The new custom built application needs to align with this logical architecture in the long run to achieve EA benefits.   Packaged implementation applications, such as ERP billing applications, need to expose their functions as service providers (as other applications consume) and interact with other applications as service consumers.   COT applications need to expose services through wrappers such as adapters to utilize existing resources and at the same time achieve Enterprise Architecture goal and objectives.   The following are the various layers for Enterprise level deployment of SOA. This diagram captures the abstract view of Enterprise SOA layers and important components of each layer. Layered architecture means decomposition of services such that most interactions occur between adjacent layers. However, there is no strict rule that top layers should not directly communicate with bottom layers.   The diagram below represents the important logical pieces that would result from overall SOA transformation. @font-face { font-family: "Arial"; }@font-face { font-family: "Courier New"; }@font-face { font-family: "Wingdings"; }@font-face { font-family: "Cambria"; }p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoCaption, li.MsoCaption, div.MsoCaption { margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; font-size: 9pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; color: rgb(79, 129, 189); font-weight: bold; }p.MsoListParagraph, li.MsoListParagraph, div.MsoListParagraph { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }p.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, li.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast, div.MsoListParagraphCxSpLast { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt 36pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman"; }div.Section1 { page: Section1; }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; } Figure 3. Enterprise SOA Reference Architecture 1.          Operational System Layer: This layer consists of all packaged applications like CRM, ERP, custom built applications, COTS based applications like Billing, Revenue Management, Fulfilment, and the Enterprise databases that are essential and contribute directly or indirectly to the Enterprise OSS/BSS Transformation.   ERP holds the data of Asset Lifecycle Management, Supply Chain, and Advanced Procurement and Human Capital Management, etc.   CRM holds the data related to Order, Sales, and Marketing, Customer Care, Partner Relationship Management, Loyalty, etc.   Content Management handles Enterprise Search and Query. Billing application consists of the following components:   ·       Collections Management, Customer Billing Management, Invoices, Real-Time Rating, Discounting, and Applying of Charges ·       Enterprise databases will hold both the application and service data, whether structured or unstructured.   MDM - Master data majorly consists of Customer, Order, Product, and Service Data.     2.          Enterprise Component Layer:   This layer consists of the Application Services and Common Services that are responsible for realizing the functionality and maintaining the QoS of the exposed services. This layer uses container-based technologies such as application servers to implement the components, workload management, high availability, and load balancing.   Application Services: This Service Layer enables application, technology, and database abstraction so that the complex accessing logic is hidden from the other service layers. This is a basic service layer, which exposes application functionalities and data as reusable services. The three types of the Application access services are:   ·       Application Access Service: This Service Layer exposes application level functionalities as a reusable service between BSS to BSS and BSS to OSS integration. This layer is enabled using disparate technology such as Web Service, Integration Servers, and Adaptors, etc.   ·       Data Access Service: This Service Layer exposes application data services as a reusable reference data service. This is done via direct interaction with application data. and provides the federated query.   ·       Network Access Service: This Service Layer exposes provisioning layer as a reusable service from OSS to OSS integration. This integration service emphasizes the need for high performance, stateless process flows, and distributed design.   Common Services encompasses management of structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data such as information services, portal services, interaction services, infrastructure services, and security services, etc.   3.          Integration Layer:   This consists of service infrastructure components like service bus, service gateway for partner integration, service registry, service repository, and BPEL processor. Service bus will carry the service invocation payloads/messages between consumers and providers. The other important functions expected from it are itinerary based routing, distributed caching of routing information, transformations, and all qualities of service for messaging-like reliability, scalability, and availability, etc. Service registry will hold all contracts (wsdl) of services, and it helps developers to locate or discover service during design time or runtime.   • BPEL processor would be useful in orchestrating the services to compose a complex business scenario or process. • Workflow and business rules management are also required to support manual triggering of certain activities within business process. based on the rules setup and also the state machine information. Application, data, and service mediation layer typically forms the overall composite application development framework or SOA Framework.   4.          Business Process Layer: These are typically the intermediate services layer and represent Shared Business Process Services. At Enterprise Level, these services are from Customer Management, Order Management, Billing, Finance, and Asset Management application domains.   5.          Access Layer: This layer consists of portals for Enterprise and provides a single view of Enterprise information management and dashboard services.   6.          Channel Layer: This consists of various devices; applications that form part of extended enterprise; browsers through which users access the applications.   7.          Client Layer: This designates the different types of users accessing the enterprise applications. The type of user typically would be an important factor in determining the level of access to applications.   8.          Vertical pieces like management, monitoring, security, and development cut across all horizontal layers Management and monitoring involves all aspects of SOA-like services, SLAs, and other QoS lifecycle processes for both applications and services surrounding SOA governance.     9.          EA Governance, Reference Architecture, Roadmap, Principles, and Best Practices:   EA Governance is important in terms of providing the overall direction to SOA implementation within the enterprise. This involves board-level involvement, in addition to business and IT executives. At a high level, this involves managing the SOA projects implementation, managing SOA infrastructure, and controlling the entire effort through all fine-tuned IT processes in accordance with COBIT (Control Objectives for Information Technology).   Devising tools and techniques to promote reuse culture, and the SOA way of doing things needs competency centers to be established in addition to training the workforce to take up new roles that are suited to SOA journey.   Conclusions   Reference Architectures can serve as the basis for disparate architecture efforts throughout the organization, even if they use different tools and technologies. Reference architectures provide best practices and approaches in the independent way a vendor deals with technology and standards. Reference Architectures model the abstract architectural elements for an enterprise independent of the technologies, protocols, and products that are used to implement an SOA. Telecom enterprises today are facing significant business and technology challenges due to growing competition, a multitude of services, and convergence. Adopting architectural best practices could go a long way in meeting these challenges. The use of SOA-based architecture for communication to each of the external systems like Billing, CRM, etc., in OSS/BSS system has made the architecture very loosely coupled, with greater flexibility. Any change in the external systems would be absorbed at the Integration Layer without affecting the rest of the ecosystem. The use of a Business Process Management (BPM) tool makes the management and maintenance of the business processes easy, with better performance in terms of lead time, quality, and cost. Since the Architecture is based on standards, it will lower the cost of deploying and managing OSS/BSS applications over their lifecycles.

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