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• Pathfinding results in false path costs that are too high

  - by user2144536

  I'm trying to implement pathfinding in a game I'm programming using this method. I'm implementing it with recursion but some of the values after the immediate circle of tiles around the player are way off. For some reason I cannot find the problem with it. This is a screen cap of the problem: The pathfinding values are displayed in the center of every tile. Clipped blocks are displayed with the value of 'c' because the values were too high and were covering up the next value. The red circle is the first value that is incorrect. The code below is the recursive method. //tileX is the coordinates of the current tile, val is the current pathfinding value, used[][] is a boolean //array to keep track of which tiles' values have already been assigned public void pathFind(int tileX, int tileY, int val, boolean[][] used) { //increment pathfinding value int curVal = val + 1; //set current tile to true if it hasn't been already used[tileX][tileY] = true; //booleans to know which tiles the recursive call needs to be used on boolean topLeftUsed = false, topUsed = false, topRightUsed = false, leftUsed = false, rightUsed = false, botomLeftUsed = false, botomUsed = false, botomRightUsed = false; //set value of top left tile if necessary if(tileX - 1 >= 0 && tileY - 1 >= 0) { //isClipped(int x, int y) returns true if the coordinates givin are in a tile that can't be walked through (IE walls) //occupied[][] is an array that keeps track of which tiles have an enemy in them // //if the tile is not clipped and not occupied set the pathfinding value if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] == false && !(used[tileX - 1][tileY - 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] = curVal; topLeftUsed = true; used[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] = true; } //if it is occupied set it to an arbitrary high number so enemies find alternate routes if the best is clogged if(occupied[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] = 1000000000; //if it is clipped set it to an arbitrary higher number so enemies don't travel through walls if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] = 2000000000; } //top middle if(tileY - 1 >= 0 ) { if(isClipped(tileX * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX][tileY - 1] == false && !(used[tileX][tileY - 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY - 1] = curVal; topUsed = true; used[tileX][tileY - 1] = true; } if(occupied[tileX][tileY - 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY - 1] = 1000000000; if(isClipped(tileX * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY - 1] = 2000000000; } //top right if(tileX + 1 <= used.length && tileY - 1 >= 0) { if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] == false && !(used[tileX + 1][tileY - 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] = curVal; topRightUsed = true; used[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] = true; } if(occupied[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] = 2000000000; } //left if(tileX - 1 >= 0) { if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX - 1][tileY] == false && !(used[tileX - 1][tileY])) { pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY] = curVal; leftUsed = true; used[tileX - 1][tileY] = true; } if(occupied[tileX - 1][tileY] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY] = 2000000000; } //right if(tileX + 1 <= used.length) { if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX + 1][tileY] == false && !(used[tileX + 1][tileY])) { pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY] = curVal; rightUsed = true; used[tileX + 1][tileY] = true; } if(occupied[tileX + 1][tileY] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY] = 2000000000; } //botom left if(tileX - 1 >= 0 && tileY + 1 <= used[0].length) { if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] == false && !(used[tileX - 1][tileY + 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] = curVal; botomLeftUsed = true; used[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] = true; } if(occupied[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] = 2000000000; } //botom middle if(tileY + 1 <= used[0].length) { if(isClipped((tileX) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX][tileY + 1] == false && !(used[tileX][tileY + 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY + 1] = curVal; botomUsed = true; used[tileX][tileY + 1] = true; } if(occupied[tileX][tileY + 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY + 1] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY + 1] = 2000000000; } //botom right if(tileX + 1 <= used.length && tileY + 1 <= used[0].length) { if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] == false && !(used[tileX + 1][tileY + 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] = curVal; botomRightUsed = true; used[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] = true; } if(occupied[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] = 2000000000; } //call the method on the tiles that need it if(tileX - 1 >= 0 && tileY - 1 >= 0 && topLeftUsed) pathFind(tileX - 1, tileY - 1, curVal, used); if(tileY - 1 >= 0 && topUsed) pathFind(tileX , tileY - 1, curVal, used); if(tileX + 1 <= used.length && tileY - 1 >= 0 && topRightUsed) pathFind(tileX + 1, tileY - 1, curVal, used); if(tileX - 1 >= 0 && leftUsed) pathFind(tileX - 1, tileY, curVal, used); if(tileX + 1 <= used.length && rightUsed) pathFind(tileX + 1, tileY, curVal, used); if(tileX - 1 >= 0 && tileY + 1 <= used[0].length && botomLeftUsed) pathFind(tileX - 1, tileY + 1, curVal, used); if(tileY + 1 <= used[0].length && botomUsed) pathFind(tileX, tileY + 1, curVal, used); if(tileX + 1 <= used.length && tileY + 1 <= used[0].length && botomRightUsed) pathFind(tileX + 1, tileY + 1, curVal, used); }

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• DTracing TCP congestion control

  - by user12820842

  In a previous post, I showed how we can use DTrace to probe TCP receive and send window events. TCP receive and send windows are in effect both about flow-controlling how much data can be received - the receive window reflects how much data the local TCP is prepared to receive, while the send window simply reflects the size of the receive window of the peer TCP. Both then represent flow control as imposed by the receiver. However, consider that without the sender imposing flow control, and a slow link to a peer, TCP will simply fill up it's window with sent segments. Dealing with multiple TCP implementations filling their peer TCP's receive windows in this manner, busy intermediate routers may drop some of these segments, leading to timeout and retransmission, which may again lead to drops. This is termed congestion, and TCP has multiple congestion control strategies. We can see that in this example, we need to have some way of adjusting how much data we send depending on how quickly we receive acknowledgement - if we get ACKs quickly, we can safely send more segments, but if acknowledgements come slowly, we should proceed with more caution. More generally, we need to implement flow control on the send side also. Slow Start and Congestion Avoidance From RFC2581, let's examine the relevant variables: "The congestion window (cwnd) is a sender-side limit on the amount of data the sender can transmit into the network before receiving an acknowledgment (ACK). Another state variable, the slow start threshold (ssthresh), is used to determine whether the slow start or congestion avoidance algorithm is used to control data transmission" Slow start is used to probe the network's ability to handle transmission bursts both when a connection is first created and when retransmission timers fire. The latter case is important, as the fact that we have effectively lost TCP data acts as a motivator for re-probing how much data the network can handle from the sending TCP. The congestion window (cwnd) is initialized to a relatively small value, generally a low multiple of the sending maximum segment size. When slow start kicks in, we will only send that number of bytes before waiting for acknowledgement. When acknowledgements are received, the congestion window is increased in size until cwnd reaches the slow start threshold ssthresh value. For most congestion control algorithms the window increases exponentially under slow start, assuming we receive acknowledgements. We send 1 segment, receive an ACK, increase the cwnd by 1 MSS to 2*MSS, send 2 segments, receive 2 ACKs, increase the cwnd by 2*MSS to 4*MSS, send 4 segments etc. When the congestion window exceeds the slow start threshold, congestion avoidance is used instead of slow start. During congestion avoidance, the congestion window is generally updated by one MSS for each round-trip-time as opposed to each ACK, and so cwnd growth is linear instead of exponential (we may receive multiple ACKs within a single RTT). This continues until congestion is detected. If a retransmit timer fires, congestion is assumed and the ssthresh value is reset. It is reset to a fraction of the number of bytes outstanding (unacknowledged) in the network. At the same time the congestion window is reset to a single max segment size. Thus, we initiate slow start until we start receiving acknowledgements again, at which point we can eventually flip over to congestion avoidance when cwnd ssthresh. Congestion control algorithms differ most in how they handle the other indication of congestion - duplicate ACKs. A duplicate ACK is a strong indication that data has been lost, since they often come from a receiver explicitly asking for a retransmission. In some cases, a duplicate ACK may be generated at the receiver as a result of packets arriving out-of-order, so it is sensible to wait for multiple duplicate ACKs before assuming packet loss rather than out-of-order delivery. This is termed fast retransmit (i.e. retransmit without waiting for the retransmission timer to expire). Note that on Oracle Solaris 11, the congestion control method used can be customized. See here for more details. In general, 3 or more duplicate ACKs indicate packet loss and should trigger fast retransmit . It's best not to revert to slow start in this case, as the fact that the receiver knew it was missing data suggests it has received data with a higher sequence number, so we know traffic is still flowing. Falling back to slow start would be excessive therefore, so fast recovery is used instead. Observing slow start and congestion avoidance The following script counts TCP segments sent when under slow start (cwnd ssthresh). #!/usr/sbin/dtrace -s #pragma D option quiet tcp:::connect-request / start[args[1]-cs_cid] == 0/ { start[args[1]-cs_cid] = 1; } tcp:::send / start[args[1]-cs_cid] == 1 && args[3]-tcps_cwnd tcps_cwnd_ssthresh / { @c["Slow start", args[2]-ip_daddr, args[4]-tcp_dport] = count(); } tcp:::send / start[args[1]-cs_cid] == 1 && args[3]-tcps_cwnd args[3]-tcps_cwnd_ssthresh / { @c["Congestion avoidance", args[2]-ip_daddr, args[4]-tcp_dport] = count(); } As we can see the script only works on connections initiated since it is started (using the start[] associative array with the connection ID as index to set whether it's a new connection (start[cid] = 1). From there we simply differentiate send events where cwnd ssthresh (congestion avoidance). Here's the output taken when I accessed a YouTube video (where rport is 80) and from an FTP session where I put a large file onto a remote system. # dtrace -s tcp_slow_start.d ^C ALGORITHM RADDR RPORT #SEG Slow start 10.153.125.222 20 6 Slow start 138.3.237.7 80 14 Slow start 10.153.125.222 21 18 Congestion avoidance 10.153.125.222 20 1164 We see that in the case of the YouTube video, slow start was exclusively used. Most of the segments we sent in that case were likely ACKs. Compare this case - where 14 segments were sent using slow start - to the FTP case, where only 6 segments were sent before we switched to congestion avoidance for 1164 segments. In the case of the FTP session, the FTP data on port 20 was predominantly sent with congestion avoidance in operation, while the FTP session relied exclusively on slow start. For the default congestion control algorithm - "newreno" - on Solaris 11, slow start will increase the cwnd by 1 MSS for every acknowledgement received, and by 1 MSS for each RTT in congestion avoidance mode. Different pluggable congestion control algorithms operate slightly differently. For example "highspeed" will update the slow start cwnd by the number of bytes ACKed rather than the MSS. And to finish, here's a neat oneliner to visually display the distribution of congestion window values for all TCP connections to a given remote port using a quantization. In this example, only port 80 is in use and we see the majority of cwnd values for that port are in the 4096-8191 range. # dtrace -n 'tcp:::send { @q[args[4]-tcp_dport] = quantize(args[3]-tcps_cwnd); }' dtrace: description 'tcp:::send ' matched 10 probes ^C 80 value ------------- Distribution ------------- count -1 | 0 0 |@@@@@@ 5 1 | 0 2 | 0 4 | 0 8 | 0 16 | 0 32 | 0 64 | 0 128 | 0 256 | 0 512 | 0 1024 | 0 2048 |@@@@@@@@@ 8 4096 |@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ 23 8192 | 0

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• MapReduce in DryadLINQ and PLINQ

  - by JoshReuben

  MapReduce See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapreduce The MapReduce pattern aims to handle large-scale computations across a cluster of servers, often involving massive amounts of data. "The computation takes a set of input key/value pairs, and produces a set of output key/value pairs. The developer expresses the computation as two Func delegates: Map and Reduce. Map - takes a single input pair and produces a set of intermediate key/value pairs. The MapReduce function groups results by key and passes them to the Reduce function. Reduce - accepts an intermediate key I and a set of values for that key. It merges together these values to form a possibly smaller set of values. Typically just zero or one output value is produced per Reduce invocation. The intermediate values are supplied to the user's Reduce function via an iterator." the canonical MapReduce example: counting word frequency in a text file.     MapReduce using DryadLINQ see http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/projects/dryadlinq/ and http://connect.microsoft.com/Dryad DryadLINQ provides a simple and straightforward way to implement MapReduce operations. This The implementation has two primary components: A Pair structure, which serves as a data container. A MapReduce method, which counts word frequency and returns the top five words. The Pair Structure - Pair has two properties: Word is a string that holds a word or key. Count is an int that holds the word count. The structure also overrides ToString to simplify printing the results. The following example shows the Pair implementation. public struct Pair { private string word; private int count; public Pair(string w, int c) { word = w; count = c; } public int Count { get { return count; } } public string Word { get { return word; } } public override string ToString() { return word + ":" + count.ToString(); } } The MapReduce function  that gets the results. the input data could be partitioned and distributed across the cluster. 1. Creates a DryadTable<LineRecord> object, inputTable, to represent the lines of input text. For partitioned data, use GetPartitionedTable<T> instead of GetTable<T> and pass the method a metadata file. 2. Applies the SelectMany operator to inputTable to transform the collection of lines into collection of words. The String.Split method converts the line into a collection of words. SelectMany concatenates the collections created by Split into a single IQueryable<string> collection named words, which represents all the words in the file. 3. Performs the Map part of the operation by applying GroupBy to the words object. The GroupBy operation groups elements with the same key, which is defined by the selector delegate. This creates a higher order collection, whose elements are groups. In this case, the delegate is an identity function, so the key is the word itself and the operation creates a groups collection that consists of groups of identical words. 4. Performs the Reduce part of the operation by applying Select to groups. This operation reduces the groups of words from Step 3 to an IQueryable<Pair> collection named counts that represents the unique words in the file and how many instances there are of each word. Each key value in groups represents a unique word, so Select creates one Pair object for each unique word. IGrouping.Count returns the number of items in the group, so each Pair object's Count member is set to the number of instances of the word. 5. Applies OrderByDescending to counts. This operation sorts the input collection in descending order of frequency and creates an ordered collection named ordered. 6. Applies Take to ordered to create an IQueryable<Pair> collection named top, which contains the 100 most common words in the input file, and their frequency. Test then uses the Pair object's ToString implementation to print the top one hundred words, and their frequency.   public static IQueryable<Pair> MapReduce( string directory, string fileName, int k) { DryadDataContext ddc = new DryadDataContext("file://" + directory); DryadTable<LineRecord> inputTable = ddc.GetTable<LineRecord>(fileName); IQueryable<string> words = inputTable.SelectMany(x => x.line.Split(' ')); IQueryable<IGrouping<string, string>> groups = words.GroupBy(x => x); IQueryable<Pair> counts = groups.Select(x => new Pair(x.Key, x.Count())); IQueryable<Pair> ordered = counts.OrderByDescending(x => x.Count); IQueryable<Pair> top = ordered.Take(k);   return top; }   To Test: IQueryable<Pair> results = MapReduce(@"c:\DryadData\input", "TestFile.txt", 100); foreach (Pair words in results) Debug.Print(words.ToString());   Note: DryadLINQ applications can use a more compact way to represent the query: return inputTable         .SelectMany(x => x.line.Split(' '))         .GroupBy(x => x)         .Select(x => new Pair(x.Key, x.Count()))         .OrderByDescending(x => x.Count)         .Take(k);     MapReduce using PLINQ The pattern is relevant even for a single multi-core machine, however. We can write our own PLINQ MapReduce in a few lines. the Map function takes a single input value and returns a set of mapped values àLINQ's SelectMany operator. These are then grouped according to an intermediate key à LINQ GroupBy operator. The Reduce function takes each intermediate key and a set of values for that key, and produces any number of outputs per key à LINQ SelectMany again. We can put all of this together to implement MapReduce in PLINQ that returns a ParallelQuery<T> public static ParallelQuery<TResult> MapReduce<TSource, TMapped, TKey, TResult>( this ParallelQuery<TSource> source, Func<TSource, IEnumerable<TMapped>> map, Func<TMapped, TKey> keySelector, Func<IGrouping<TKey, TMapped>, IEnumerable<TResult>> reduce) { return source .SelectMany(map) .GroupBy(keySelector) .SelectMany(reduce); } the map function takes in an input document and outputs all of the words in that document. The grouping phase groups all of the identical words together, such that the reduce phase can then count the words in each group and output a word/count pair for each grouping: var files = Directory.EnumerateFiles(dirPath, "*.txt").AsParallel(); var counts = files.MapReduce( path => File.ReadLines(path).SelectMany(line => line.Split(delimiters)), word => word, group => new[] { new KeyValuePair<string, int>(group.Key, group.Count()) });

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• Exception Handling And Other Contentious Political Topics

  - by Justin Jones

  So about three years ago, around the time of my last blog post, I promised a friend I would write this post. Keeping promises is a good thing, and this is my first step towards easing back into regular blogging. I fully expect him to return from Pennsylvania to buy me a beer over this. However, it’s been an… ahem… eventful three years or so, and blogging, unfortunately, got pushed to the back burner on my priority list, along with a few other career minded activities. Now that the personal drama of the past three years is more or less resolved, it’s time to put a few things back on the front burner. What I consider to be proper exception handling practices is relatively well known these days. There are plenty of blog posts out there already on this topic which more or less echo my opinions on this topic. I’ll try to include a few links at the bottom of the post. Several years ago I had an argument with a co-worker who posited that exceptions should be caught at every level and logged. This might seem like sanity on the surface, but the resulting error log looked something like this: Error: System.SomeException Followed by small stack trace. Error: System.SomeException Followed by slightly bigger stack trace. Error: System.SomeException Followed by slightly bigger stack trace. Error: System.SomeException Followed by slightly bigger stack trace. Error: System.SomeException Followed by slightly bigger stack trace. Error: System.SomeException Followed by slightly bigger stack trace. Error: System.SomeException Followed by slightly bigger stack trace. Error: System.SomeException Followed by slightly bigger stack trace.   These were all the same exception. The problem with this approach is that the error log, if you run any kind of analytics on in, becomes skewed depending on how far up the stack trace your exception was thrown. To mitigate this problem, we came up with the concept of the “PreLoggedException”. Basically, we would log the exception at the very top level and subsequently throw the exception back up the stack encapsulated in this pre-logged type, which our logging system knew to ignore. Now the error log looked like this: Error: System.SomeException Followed by small stack trace. Much cleaner, right? Well, there’s still a problem. When your exception happens in production and you go about trying to figure out what happened, you’ve lost more or less all context for where and how this exception was thrown, because all you really know is what method it was thrown in, but really nothing about who was calling the method or why. What gives you this clue is the entire stack trace, which we’re losing here. I believe that was further mitigated by having the logging system pull a system stack trace and add it to the log entry, but what you’re actually getting is the stack for how you got to the logging code. You’re still losing context about the actual error. Not to mention you’re executing a whole slew of catch blocks which are sloooooooowwwww……… In other words, we started with a bad idea and kept band-aiding it until it didn’t suck quite so bad. When I argued for not catching exceptions at every level but rather catching them following a certain set of rules, my co-worker warned me “do yourself a favor, never express that view in any future interviews.” I suppose this is my ultimate dismissal of that advice, but I’m not too worried. My approach for exception handling follows three basic rules: Only catch an exception if 1. You can do something about it. 2. You can add useful information to it. 3. You’re at an application boundary. Here’s what that means: 1. Only catch an exception if you can do something about it. We’ll start with a trivial example of a login system that uses a file. Please, never actually do this in production code, it’s just concocted example. So if our code goes to open a file and the file isn’t there, we get a FileNotFound exception. If the calling code doesn’t know what to do with this, it should bubble up. However, if we know how to create the file from scratch we can create the file and continue on our merry way. When you run into situations like this though, What should really run through your head is “How can I avoid handling an exception at all?” In this case, it’s a trivial matter to simply check for the existence of the file before trying to open it. If we detect that the file isn’t there, we can accomplish the same thing without having to handle in in a catch block. 2. Only catch an exception if you can do something about it. Continuing with the poorly thought out file based login system we contrived in part 1, if the code calls a Login(…) method and the FileNotFound exception is thrown higher up the stack, the code that calls Login must account for a FileNotFound exception. This is kind of counterintuitive because the calling code should not need to know the internals of the Login method, and the data file is an implementation detail. What makes more sense, assuming that we didn’t implement any of the good advice from step 1, is for Login to catch the FileNotFound exception and wrap it in a new exception. For argument’s sake we’ll say LoginSystemFailureException. (Sorry, couldn’t think of anything better at the moment.) This gives us two stack traces, preserving the original stack trace in the inner exception, and also is much more informative to the calling code. 3. Only catch an exception if you’re at an application boundary. At some point we have to catch all the exceptions, even the ones we don’t know what to do with. WinForms, ASP.Net, and most other UI technologies have some kind of built in mechanism for catching unhandled exceptions without fatally terminating the application. It’s still a good idea to somehow gracefully exit the application in this case if possible though, because you can no longer be sure what state your application is in, but nothing annoys a user more than an application just exploding. These unhandled exceptions need to be logged, and this is a good place to catch them. Ideally you never want this option to be exercised, but code as though it will be. When you log these exceptions, give them a “Fatal” status (e.g. Log4Net) and make sure these bugs get handled in your next release. That’s it in a nutshell. If you do it right each exception will only get logged once and with the largest stack trace possible which will make those 2am emergency severity 1 debugging sessions much shorter and less frustrating. Here’s a few people who also have interesting things to say on this topic:  http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ericlippert/archive/2008/09/10/vexing-exceptions.aspx http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/9538/Exception-Handling-Best-Practices-in-NET I know there’s more but I can’t find them at the moment.

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• Advice for a distracted, unhappy, recently graduated programmer? [closed]

  - by Re-Invent

  I graduated 4 months ago. I had offers from a few good places to work at. At the same time I wanted to stick to building a small software business of my own, still have some ideas with good potential, some half done projects frozen in my github. But due to social pressures, I chose a job, the pay is great, but I am half-passionate about it. A small team of smart folks building useful product, working out contracts across the world. I've started finding it extremely boring. Boring to the extent that I skip 2-3 days a week together not doing work. Neither do I spend that time progressing any of my own projects. Yes, I feel stupid at the way I'm wasting time, but I don't understand exactly why is it happening. It's as if all the excitement has been drained. What can I do about it? Long version: School - I was in third standard. Only students, 6th grade had access to computer labs. I once peeked into the lab from the little door opening. No hard-disks, MS DOS on 5 1/2 inch floppies. I asked a senior student to play some sound in BASIC. He used PLAY to compose a tune. Boy! I was so excited, I was jumping from within. Back home, asked my brother to teach me some programming. We bought a book "MODERN All About GW-BASIC for Schools & Colleges". The book had everything, right from printing, to taking input, file i/o, game programming, machine level support, etc. I was in 6th standard, wrote my first game - a wheel of fortune, rotated the wheel by manipulating 16 color palette's definition. Got internet soon, got hooked to QuickBasic programming community. Made some more games "007 in Danger", "Car Crush 2" for submission to allbasiccode archives. I was extremely excited about all this. My interests now swayed into "hacking" (computer security). Taught myself some perl, found it annoying, learnt PHP and a bit of SQL. Also taught myself Visual Basic one of the winters and wrote a pacman clone with Direct X. By the time I was in 10th standard, I created some evil tools using visual basic, php and mysql and eventually landed myself into an unpaid side-job at a government facility, building evil tools for them. It was a dream come true for crackers of that time. And so was I, still very excited. Things changed soon, last two years of school were not so great as I was balancing preps for college, work at govt. and studies for school at same time. College - College was opposite of all I had wished it to be. I imagined it to be a place where I'd spend my 4 years building something awesome. It was rather an epitome of rote learning, attendance, rules, busy schedules, ban on personal laptops, hardly any hackers surrounding you and shit like that. We had to take permissions to even introduce some cultural/creative activities in our annual schedule. The labs won't be open on weekends because the lab employees had to have their leaves. Yes, a horrible place for someone like me. I still managed to pull out a project with a friend over 2 months. Showed it to people high in the academia hierarchy. They were immensely impressed, we proposed to allow personal computers for students. They made up half-assed reasons and didn't agree. We felt frustrated. And so on, I still managed to teach myself new languages, do new projects of my own, do an intern at the same govt. facility, start a small business for sometime, give a talk at a conference I'm passionate about, win game-dev and hacking contest at most respected colleges, solve good deal of programming contest problems, etc. At the same time I was not content with all these restrictions, great emphasis on rote learning, and sheer wastage of time due to college. I never felt I was overdoing, but now I feel I burnt myself out. During my last days at college, I did an intern at a bigco. While I spent my time building prototypes for certain LBS, the other interns around me, even a good friend, was just skipping time. I thought maybe, in a few weeks he would put in some serious efforts at work assigned to him, but all he did was to find creative ways to skip work, hide his face from manager, engage people in talks if they try to question his progress, etc. I tried a few time to get him on track, but it seems all he wanted was to "not to work hard at all and still reap the fruits". I don't know how others take such people, but I find their vicinity very very poisonous to one's own motivation and productivity. Over that, the place where I come from, HRs don't give much value to what have you done past 4 years. So towards the end of out intern, we all were offered work at the bigco, but the slacker, even after not writing more than 200 lines of code was made a much better offer. I felt enraged instantly - "Is this how the corp world treats someone who does fruitful, if not extra-ordinary work form them for past 6 months?". Yes, I did try to negotiate and debate. The bigcos seem blind due to departmentalization of responsibilities and many layers of management. I decided not to be in touch with any characters of that depressing play. Probably the busy time I had at college, ignoring friends, ignoring fun and squeezing every bit of free time for myself is also responsible. Probably this is what has drained all my willingness to work for anyone. I find my day job boring, at the same time I with to maintain it for financial reasons. I feel a bit burnt out, unsatisfied and at the same time an urge to quit working for someone else and start finishing my frozen side-projects (which may be profitable). Though I haven't got much to support myself with food, office, internet bills, etc in savings. I still have my day job, but I don't find it very interesting, even though the pay is higher than the slacker, I don't find money to be a great motivator here. I keep comparing myself to my past version. I wonder how to get rid of this and reboot myself back to the way I was in school days - excited about it, tinkering, building, learning new things daily, and NOT BORED?

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• How do I increase moving speed of body?

  - by Siddharth

  How to move ball speedily on the screen using box2d in libGDX? package com.badlogic.box2ddemo; import com.badlogic.gdx.ApplicationListener; import com.badlogic.gdx.Gdx; import com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.GL10; import com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.Texture; import com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.Sprite; import com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.SpriteBatch; import com.badlogic.gdx.graphics.g2d.TextureRegion; import com.badlogic.gdx.math.Matrix4; import com.badlogic.gdx.math.Vector2; import com.badlogic.gdx.physics.box2d.Body; import com.badlogic.gdx.physics.box2d.BodyDef; import com.badlogic.gdx.physics.box2d.BodyDef.BodyType; import com.badlogic.gdx.physics.box2d.Box2DDebugRenderer; import com.badlogic.gdx.physics.box2d.CircleShape; import com.badlogic.gdx.physics.box2d.Fixture; import com.badlogic.gdx.physics.box2d.FixtureDef; import com.badlogic.gdx.physics.box2d.PolygonShape; import com.badlogic.gdx.physics.box2d.World; public class Box2DDemo implements ApplicationListener { private SpriteBatch batch; private TextureRegion texture; private World world; private Body groundDownBody, groundUpBody, groundLeftBody, groundRightBody, ballBody; private BodyDef groundBodyDef1, groundBodyDef2, groundBodyDef3, groundBodyDef4, ballBodyDef; private PolygonShape groundDownPoly, groundUpPoly, groundLeftPoly, groundRightPoly; private CircleShape ballPoly; private Sprite sprite; private FixtureDef fixtureDef; private Vector2 ballPosition; private Box2DDebugRenderer renderer; Vector2 vector2; @Override public void create() { texture = new TextureRegion(new Texture( Gdx.files.internal("img/red_ring.png"))); sprite = new Sprite(texture); sprite.setOrigin(sprite.getWidth() / 2, sprite.getHeight() / 2); batch = new SpriteBatch(); world = new World(new Vector2(0.0f, 0.0f), false); groundBodyDef1 = new BodyDef(); groundBodyDef1.type = BodyType.StaticBody; groundBodyDef1.position.x = 0.0f; groundBodyDef1.position.y = 0.0f; groundDownBody = world.createBody(groundBodyDef1); groundBodyDef2 = new BodyDef(); groundBodyDef2.type = BodyType.StaticBody; groundBodyDef2.position.x = 0f; groundBodyDef2.position.y = Gdx.graphics.getHeight(); groundUpBody = world.createBody(groundBodyDef2); groundBodyDef3 = new BodyDef(); groundBodyDef3.type = BodyType.StaticBody; groundBodyDef3.position.x = 0f; groundBodyDef3.position.y = 0f; groundLeftBody = world.createBody(groundBodyDef3); groundBodyDef4 = new BodyDef(); groundBodyDef4.type = BodyType.StaticBody; groundBodyDef4.position.x = Gdx.graphics.getWidth(); groundBodyDef4.position.y = 0f; groundRightBody = world.createBody(groundBodyDef4); groundDownPoly = new PolygonShape(); groundDownPoly.setAsBox(480.0f, 10f); fixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); fixtureDef.density = 0f; fixtureDef.restitution = 1f; fixtureDef.friction = 0f; fixtureDef.shape = groundDownPoly; fixtureDef.filter.groupIndex = 0; groundDownBody.createFixture(fixtureDef); groundUpPoly = new PolygonShape(); groundUpPoly.setAsBox(480.0f, 10f); fixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); fixtureDef.friction = 0f; fixtureDef.restitution = 0f; fixtureDef.density = 0f; fixtureDef.shape = groundUpPoly; fixtureDef.filter.groupIndex = 0; groundUpBody.createFixture(fixtureDef); groundLeftPoly = new PolygonShape(); groundLeftPoly.setAsBox(10f, 320f); fixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); fixtureDef.friction = 0f; fixtureDef.restitution = 0f; fixtureDef.density = 0f; fixtureDef.shape = groundLeftPoly; fixtureDef.filter.groupIndex = 0; groundLeftBody.createFixture(fixtureDef); groundRightPoly = new PolygonShape(); groundRightPoly.setAsBox(10f, 320f); fixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); fixtureDef.friction = 0f; fixtureDef.restitution = 0f; fixtureDef.density = 0f; fixtureDef.shape = groundRightPoly; fixtureDef.filter.groupIndex = 0; groundRightBody.createFixture(fixtureDef); ballPoly = new CircleShape(); ballPoly.setRadius(16f); fixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); fixtureDef.shape = ballPoly; fixtureDef.density = 1f; fixtureDef.friction = 1f; fixtureDef.restitution = 1f; ballBodyDef = new BodyDef(); ballBodyDef.type = BodyType.DynamicBody; ballBodyDef.position.x = (int) 200; ballBodyDef.position.y = (int) 200; ballBody = world.createBody(ballBodyDef); ballBody.setLinearVelocity(200f, 200f); // ballBody.applyLinearImpulse(new Vector2(250f, 250f), // ballBody.getLocalCenter()); ballBody.createFixture(fixtureDef); renderer = new Box2DDebugRenderer(true, false, false); } @Override public void dispose() { ballPoly.dispose(); groundLeftPoly.dispose(); groundUpPoly.dispose(); groundDownPoly.dispose(); groundRightPoly.dispose(); world.destroyBody(ballBody); world.dispose(); } @Override public void pause() { } @Override public void render() { world.step(1f/30f, 3, 3); Gdx.gl.glClearColor(1f, 1f, 1f, 1f); Gdx.gl.glClear(GL10.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT); batch.begin(); vector2 = ballBody.getLinearVelocity(); System.out.println("X=" + vector2.x + " Y=" + vector2.y); ballPosition = ballBody.getPosition(); renderer.render(world,batch.getProjectionMatrix()); // int preX = (int) (vector2.x / Math.abs(vector2.x)); // int preY = (int) (vector2.y / Math.abs(vector2.y)); // // if (Math.abs(vector2.x) == 0.0f) // ballBody1.setLinearVelocity(1.4142137f, vector2.y); // else if (Math.abs(vector2.x) < 1.4142137f) // ballBody1.setLinearVelocity(preX * 5, vector2.y); // // if (Math.abs(vector2.y) == 0.0f) // ballBody1.setLinearVelocity(vector2.x, 1.4142137f); // else if (Math.abs(vector2.y) < 1.4142137f) // ballBody1.setLinearVelocity(vector2.x, preY * 5); batch.draw(sprite, (ballPosition.x - (texture.getRegionWidth() / 2)), (ballPosition.y - (texture.getRegionHeight() / 2))); batch.end(); } @Override public void resize(int arg0, int arg1) { } @Override public void resume() { } } I implement above code but I can not achieve higher moving speed of the ball

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, September 28, 2012

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Friday, September 28, 2012Popular ReleasesWPUtils: WPUtils 1.2: Just fixed an issue related to isolated storage path for ChoosePhotoBehavior. Specifically CreateDirectory method only accepts relative path, but was given a "/photos/" path which would result in exception. Please make sure you have this fix if you are using ChoosePhotoBehavior! NOTE: Windows Phone SDK 7.1 or higher is required.TFS Timesheets: TFS Timesheets 2.0: New features: Visual Studio 2012 support Bug fixes: Scaling mode inherited rather than font scalingCRM 2011 Visual Ribbon Editor: Visual Ribbon Editor 1.1 Beta: Visual Ribbon Editor 1.1 Beta What's New: Fixed scrolling issue in UnHide dialog Added support for connecting via ADFS / IFD Added support for more than one action for a button Added support for empty StringParameter for Javascript functions Fixed bug in rule CrmClientTypeRule when selecting Outlook option Extended Prefix field in New Button dialogFree Aspx Image Gallery: Free Aspx Image Gallery Release V1: This is first basic release of my free aspx image gallery project. It is free to use and modify by the user without any need of providing any credit to me.Simple Microsoft Excel Document Converter (Convert To XLS, XLSX, PDF, XPS): ExcelDocConverter 0.1 Beta: Initial Release Microsoft Excel Documents Converter. Microsoft Excel 1997-2003 (XLS) Microsoft Excel 2007/2010 (XLSX) Portable Document Format (PDF) Microsoft XPS Document (XPS) Difference between NET2.0 and NET3.5 This program uses .NET Framework runtime library to run. Basically, they are no differences. Only the runtime library version is different. For older computers, i.e. Windows XP, might not have .NET Framework 3.5 installed, then use NET2.0 in stead. But, some Windows XP SP2 mig...Office File Properties: Office File Properties 3.3.1: Bug fix. Convert file extension to lowercase before checking.LoBDb.NET: LoBDb.NET 1.0.9: Centido.Core library: 1) SQL Server script bug fix: an error when changing the MaxLength property of an indexed string column or when changing the Precision-Scale properties of a decimal column. LobDb.NET Manager: 1) Changing the Precision, Scale, Default Value, Minimum and Maximum properties of a decimal column now enables the Save button. 2) The MaxLength property of a string column and the Precision+Scale values of a decimal column are now displayed in the column list. 3) Changing the Min...Chaos games: Chaos games: Small app for generating fractals using chaos gamesVisual Studio Icon Patcher: Version 1.5.2: This version contains no new images from v1.5.1 Contains the following improvements: Better support for detecting the installed languages The extract & inject commands won’t run if Visual Studio is running You may now run in extract or inject mode The p/invoke code was cleaned up based on Code Analysis recommendations When a p/invoke method fails the Win32 error message is now displayed Error messages use red text Status messages use green textMCEBuddy 2.x: MCEBuddy 2.2.16: Changelog for 2.2.16 (32bit and 64bit) Now a standalone remote client also available to control the Engine remotely. 1. Added support for remote connections for status and configuration. MCEBuddy now uses port 23332. The remote server name, remote server port and local server port can be updated from the MCEBuddy.conf file BUT the Service or GUI needs to be restarted (i.e. reboot or restart service or restart program) for it to take effect. Refer to documentation for more details http://mce...ZXing.Net: ZXing.Net 0.9.0.0: On the way to a release 1.0 the API should be stable now with this version. sync with rev. 2393 of the java version improved api better Unity support Windows RT binaries Windows CE binaries new Windows Service demo new WPF demo WindowsCE Hotfix: Fixes an error with ISO8859-1 encoding and scannning of QR-Codes. The hotfix is only needed for the WindowsCE platform.SSIS GoogleAnalyticsSource: Version 1.1 Alpha 2: The component uses now the Google API V2.4 including the management API.MVC Bootstrap: MVC Boostrap 0.5.1: A small demo site, based on the default ASP.NET MVC 3 project template, showing off some of the features of MVC Bootstrap. This release uses Entity Framework 5 for data access and Ninject 3 for dependency injection. If you download and use this project, please give some feedback, good or bad!menu4web: menu4web 1.0 - free javascript menu for web sites: menu4web 1.0 has been tested with all major browsers: Firefox, Chrome, IE, Opera and Safari. Minified m4w.js library is less than 9K. Includes 21 menu examples of different styles. Can be freely distributed under The MIT License (MIT).Rawr: Rawr 5.0.0: This is the Downloadable WPF version of Rawr!For web-based version see http://elitistjerks.com/rawr.php You can find the version notes at: http://rawr.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=VersionNotes Rawr Addon (NOT UPDATED YET FOR MOP)We now have a Rawr Official Addon for in-game exporting and importing of character data hosted on Curse. The Addon does not perform calculations like Rawr, it simply shows your exported Rawr data in wow tooltips and lets you export your character to Rawr (including ba...Coevery - Free CRM: Coevery 1.0.0.26: The zh-CN issue has been solved. We also add a project management module.VidCoder: 1.4.1 Beta: Updated to HandBrake 4971. This should fix some issues with stuck PGS subtitles. Fixed build break which prevented pre-compiled XML serializers from showing up. Fixed problem where a preset would get errantly marked as modified when re-opening the encode settings window or importing a new preset.JSLint for Visual Studio 2010: 1.4.0: VS2012 support is alphaBlackJumboDog: Ver5.7.2: 2012.09.23 Ver5.7.2 (1)InetTest?? (2)HTTP?????????????????100???????????Player Framework by Microsoft: Player Framework for Windows 8 (Preview 6): IMPORTANT: List of breaking changes from preview 5 Added separate samples download with .vsix dependencies instead of source dependencies Support for FreeWheel SmartXML ad responses Support for Smooth Streaming SDK DownloaderPlugins Support for VMAP and TTML polling for live scenarios Support for custom smooth streaming byte stream and scheme handlers Support for new play time and position tracking plugin Added IsLiveChanged event Added AdaptivePlugin.MaxBitrate property Add...New ProjectsChaos games: Small app to generating fractals using chaos gamesDocument Digitalization System: This system will allow the users with on one or more PCs to digitalize pdf files and store it or export it to other file formats.ExternalTokenAnalysisOffline: SPUser?UserToken????????????????。FinalProjectSeniorProject: ***Unfinished*** Senior project build GL Ponpes Selamat Kendal: Aplikasi Akuntansi Sekolah Pondok Pesantren Modern Selamat KendalHealth Care Manager: One of keynote planned for the Brazzaville Microsoft event coming soon.Orchard Commerce History with PayPal: Project expands on Nwazet.Commerce module (and is required for this module to work). Adds a purchase history, product role associations, and PayPal.PDF.NET: PWMIS ?????? Ver 4.5 ???? SMS Egypt: This project is intended to make it easy for people to send SMS to their customers using SMS gateways inside and outside Egypt. Strong Caml: Use the familiar CAML syntax, but now do it in strongly-typed, dynamic code. Just follow Visual Studio's IntelliSense, and your CAML query can't go wrong!TrainingFrameWork: TrainingFrameWork

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• BI Applications overview

  - by sv744

  Welcome to Oracle BI applications blog! This blog will talk about various features, general roadmap, description of functionality and implementation steps related to Oracle BI applications. In the first post we start with an overview of the BI apps and will delve deeper into some of the topics below in the upcoming weeks and months. If there are other topics you would like us to talk about, pl feel free to provide feedback on that. The Oracle BI applications are a set of pre-built applications that enable pervasive BI by providing role-based insight for each functional area, including sales, service, marketing, contact center, finance, supplier/supply chain, HR/workforce, and executive management. For example, Sales Analytics includes role-based applications for sales executives, sales management, as well as front-line sales reps, each of whom have different needs. The applications integrate and transform data from a range of enterprise sources—including Siebel, Oracle, PeopleSoft, SAP, and others—into actionable intelligence for each business function and user role. This blog  starts with the key benefits and characteristics of Oracle BI applications. In a series of subsequent blogs, each of these points will be explained in detail. Why BI apps? Demonstrate the value of BI to a business user, show reports / dashboards / model that can answer their business questions as part of the sales cycle. Demonstrate technical feasibility of BI project and significantly lower risk and improve success Build Vs Buy benefit Don’t have to start with a blank sheet of paper. Help consolidate disparate systems Data integration in M&A situations Insulate BI consumers from changes in the OLTP Present OLTP data and highlight issues of poor data / missing data – and improve data quality and accuracy Prebuilt Integrations BI apps support prebuilt integrations against leading ERP sources: Fusion Applications, E- Business Suite, Peoplesoft, JD Edwards, Siebel, SAP Co-developed with inputs from functional experts in BI and Applications teams. Out of the box dimensional model to source model mappings Multi source and Multi Instance support Rich Data Model    BI apps have a very rich dimensionsal data model built over 10 years that incorporates best practises from BI modeling perspective as well as reflect the source system complexities  Thanks for reading a long post, and be on the lookout for future posts.  We will look forward to your valuable feedback on these topics as well as suggestions on what other topics would you like us to cover. I Conformed dimensional model across all business subject areas allows cross functional reporting, e.g. customer / supplier 360 Over 360 fact tables across 7 product areas CRM – 145, SCM – 47, Financials – 28, Procurement – 20, HCM – 27, Projects – 18, Campus Solutions – 21, PLM - 56 Supported by 300 physical dimensions Support for extensive calendars; Gregorian, enterprise and ledger based Conformed data model and metrics for real time vs warehouse based reporting  Multi-tenant enabled Extensive BI related transformations BI apps ETL and data integration support various transformations required for dimensional models and reporting requirements. All these have been distilled into common patterns and abstracted logic which can be readily reused across different modules Slowly Changing Dimension support Hierarchy flattening support Row / Column Hybrid Hierarchy Flattening As Is vs. As Was hierarchy support Currency Conversion :-  Support for 3 corporate, CRM, ledger and transaction currencies UOM conversion Internationalization / Localization Dynamic Data translations Code standardization (Domains) Historical Snapshots Cycle and process lifecycle computations Balance Facts Equalization of GL accounting chartfields/segments Standardized values for categorizing GL accounts Reconciliation between GL and subledgers to track accounted/transferred/posted transactions to GL Materialization of data only available through costly and complex APIs e.g. Fusion Payroll, EBS / Fusion Accruals Complex event Interpretation of source data – E.g. o    What constitutes a transfer o    Deriving supervisors via position hierarchy o    Deriving primary assignment in PSFT o    Categorizing and transposition to measures of Payroll Balances to specific metrics to support side by side comparison of measures of for example Fixed Salary, Variable Salary, Tax, Bonus, Overtime Payments. o    Counting of Events – E.g. converting events to fact counters so that for example the number of hires can easily be added up and compared alongside the total transfers and terminations. Multi pass processing of multiple sources e.g. headcount, salary, promotion, performance to allow side to side comparison. Adding value to data to aid analysis through banding, additional domain classifications and groupings to allow higher level analytical reporting and data discovery Calculation of complex measures examples: o    COGs, DSO, DPO, Inventory turns  etc o    Transfers within a Hierarchy or out of / into a hierarchy relative to view point in hierarchy. Configurability and Extensibility support  BI apps offer support for extensibility for various entities as automated extensibility or part of extension methodology Key Flex fields and Descriptive Flex support  Extensible attribute support (JDE)  Conformed Domains ETL Architecture BI apps offer a modular adapter architecture which allows support of multiple product lines into a single conformed model Multi Source Multi Technology Orchestration – creates load plan taking into account task dependencies and customers deployment to generate a plan based on a customers of multiple complex etl tasks Plan optimization allowing parallel ETL tasks Oracle: Bit map indexes and partition management High availability support    Follow the sun support. TCO BI apps support several utilities / capabilities that help with overall total cost of ownership and ensure a rapid implementation Improved cost of ownership – lower cost to deploy On-going support for new versions of the source application Task based setups flows Data Lineage Functional setup performed in Web UI by Functional person Configuration Test to Production support Security BI apps support both data and object security enabling implementations to quickly configure the application as per the reporting security needs Fine grain object security at report / dashboard and presentation catalog level Data Security integration with source systems  Extensible to support external data security rules Extensive Set of KPIs Over 7000 base and derived metrics across all modules Time series calculations (YoY, % growth etc) Common Currency and UOM reporting Cross subject area KPIs (analyzing HR vs GL data, drill from GL to AP/AR, etc) Prebuilt reports and dashboards 3000+ prebuilt reports supporting a large number of industries Hundreds of role based dashboards Dynamic currency conversion at dashboard level Highly tuned Performance The BI apps have been tuned over the years for both a very performant ETL and dashboard performance. The applications use best practises and advanced database features to enable the best possible performance. Optimized data model for BI and analytic queries Prebuilt aggregates& the ability for customers to create their own aggregates easily on warehouse facts allows for scalable end user performance Incremental extracts and loads Incremental Aggregate build Automatic table index and statistics management Parallel ETL loads Source system deletes handling Low latency extract with Golden Gate Micro ETL support Bitmap Indexes Partitioning support Modularized deployment, start small and add other subject areas seamlessly Source Specfic Staging and Real Time Schema Support for source specific operational reporting schema for EBS, PSFT, Siebel and JDE Application Integrations The BI apps also allow for integration with source systems as well as other applications that provide value add through BI and enable BI consumption during operational decision making Embedded dashboards for Fusion, EBS and Siebel applications Action Link support Marketing Segmentation Sales Predictor Dashboard Territory Management External Integrations The BI apps data integration choices include support for loading extenral data External data enrichment choices : UNSPSC, Item class etc. Extensible Spend Classification Broad Deployment Choices Exalytics support Databases :  Oracle, Exadata, Teradata, DB2, MSSQL ETL tool of choice : ODI (coming), Informatica Extensible and Customizable Extensible architecture and Methodology to add custom and external content Upgradable across releases

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• How to implement smooth flocking

  - by Craig

  I'm working on a simple survival game, avoid the big guy and chase the the small guys to stay alive for as long as possible. I have taken the chase and evade example from MSDN create and drawn 20 mice on the screen. I want the small guys to flock when they arent evading. They are doing this, but it isnt as smooth as I would like it to be. How do i make the movement smoother? Its very jittery.# Below is what I have going at the moment, flocking code is within the IF statement, when it isnt set to evading. Any help would be greatly appreciated! :) namespace ChaseAndEvade { class MouseSprite { public enum MouseAiState { // evading the cat Evading, // the mouse can't see the "cat", and it's wandering around. Wander } // how fast can the mouse move? public float MaxMouseSpeed = 4.5f; // and how fast can it turn? public float MouseTurnSpeed = 0.20f; // MouseEvadeDistance controls the distance at which the mouse will flee from // cat. If the mouse is further than "MouseEvadeDistance" pixels away, he will // consider himself safe. public float MouseEvadeDistance = 100.0f; // this constant is similar to TankHysteresis. The value is larger than the // tank's hysteresis value because the mouse is faster than the tank: with a // higher velocity, small fluctuations are much more visible. public float MouseHysteresis = 60.0f; public Texture2D mouseTexture; public Vector2 mouseTextureCenter; public Vector2 mousePosition; public MouseAiState mouseState = MouseAiState.Wander; public float mouseOrientation; public Vector2 mouseWanderDirection; int separationImpact = 4; int cohesionImpact = 6; int alignmentImpact = 2; int sensorDistance = 50; public void UpdateMouse(Vector2 position, MouseSprite [] mice, int numberMice, int index) { Vector2 catPosition = position; int enemies = numberMice; // first, calculate how far away the mouse is from the cat, and use that // information to decide how to behave. If they are too close, the mouse // will switch to "active" mode - fleeing. if they are far apart, the mouse // will switch to "idle" mode, where it roams around the screen. // we use a hysteresis constant in the decision making process, as described // in the accompanying doc file. float distanceFromCat = Vector2.Distance(mousePosition, catPosition); // the cat is a safe distance away, so the mouse should idle: if (distanceFromCat > MouseEvadeDistance + MouseHysteresis) { mouseState = MouseAiState.Wander; } // the cat is too close; the mouse should run: else if (distanceFromCat < MouseEvadeDistance - MouseHysteresis) { mouseState = MouseAiState.Evading; } // if neither of those if blocks hit, we are in the "hysteresis" range, // and the mouse will continue doing whatever it is doing now. // the mouse will move at a different speed depending on what state it // is in. when idle it won't move at full speed, but when actively evading // it will move as fast as it can. this variable is used to track which // speed the mouse should be moving. float currentMouseSpeed; // the second step of the Update is to change the mouse's orientation based // on its current state. if (mouseState == MouseAiState.Evading) { // If the mouse is "active," it is trying to evade the cat. The evasion // behavior is accomplished by using the TurnToFace function to turn // towards a point on a straight line facing away from the cat. In other // words, if the cat is point A, and the mouse is point B, the "seek // point" is C. // C // B // A Vector2 seekPosition = 2 * mousePosition - catPosition; // Use the TurnToFace function, which we introduced in the AI Series 1: // Aiming sample, to turn the mouse towards the seekPosition. Now when // the mouse moves forward, it'll be trying to move in a straight line // away from the cat. mouseOrientation = ChaseAndEvadeGame.TurnToFace(mousePosition, seekPosition, mouseOrientation, MouseTurnSpeed); // set currentMouseSpeed to MaxMouseSpeed - the mouse should run as fast // as it can. currentMouseSpeed = MaxMouseSpeed; } else { // if the mouse isn't trying to evade the cat, it should just meander // around the screen. we'll use the Wander function, which the mouse and // tank share, to accomplish this. mouseWanderDirection and // mouseOrientation are passed by ref so that the wander function can // modify them. for more information on ref parameters, see // http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/14akc2c7(VS.80).aspx ChaseAndEvadeGame.Wander(mousePosition, ref mouseWanderDirection, ref mouseOrientation, MouseTurnSpeed); // if the mouse is wandering, it should only move at 25% of its maximum // speed. currentMouseSpeed = .25f * MaxMouseSpeed; Vector2 separate = Vector2.Zero; Vector2 moveCloser = Vector2.Zero; Vector2 moveAligned = Vector2.Zero; // What the AI does when it sees other AIs for (int j = 0; j < enemies; j++) { if (index != j) { // Calculate a vector towards another AI Vector2 separation = mice[index].mousePosition - mice[j].mousePosition; // Only react if other AI is within a certain distance if ((separation.Length() < this.sensorDistance) & (separation.Length()> 0) ) { moveAligned += mice[j].mouseWanderDirection; float distance = Math.Abs(separation.Length()); if (distance == 0) distance = 1; moveCloser += mice[j].mousePosition; separation.Normalize(); separate += separation / distance; } } } if (moveAligned.LengthSquared() != 0) { moveAligned.Normalize(); } if (moveCloser.LengthSquared() != 0) { moveCloser.Normalize(); } moveCloser /= enemies; mice[index].mousePosition += (separate * separationImpact) + (moveCloser * cohesionImpact) + (moveAligned * alignmentImpact); } // The final step is to move the mouse forward based on its current // orientation. First, we construct a "heading" vector from the orientation // angle. To do this, we'll use Cosine and Sine to tell us the x and y // components of the heading vector. See the accompanying doc for more // information. Vector2 heading = new Vector2( (float)Math.Cos(mouseOrientation), (float)Math.Sin(mouseOrientation)); // by multiplying the heading and speed, we can get a velocity vector. the // velocity vector is then added to the mouse's current position, moving him // forward. mousePosition += heading * currentMouseSpeed; } } }

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• Simplifying Human Capital Management with Mobile Applications

  - by HCM-Oracle

  By Aaron Green If you're starting to think 'mobility' is a recurring theme in your reading, you'd be right. For those who haven't started to build organisational capabilities to leverage it, it's fair to say you're late to the party. The good news: better late than never. Research firm eMarketer says the worldwide smartphone audience will total 1.75 billion this year, while communications technology and services provider Ericsson suggests smartphones will triple to 5.6 billion globally by 2019. It should be no surprise, smart phone adoption is reaching the farthest corners of the globe; the subsequent impact of enterprise applications enabled by these devices is driving business performance improvement and will continue to do so. Companies using advanced workforce analytics can add significantly to the bottom line, while impacting customer satisfaction, quality and productivity. It's a statement that makes most business leaders sit forward in their chairs. Achieving these three standards is like sipping The Golden Elixir for the business world. No-one would argue their importance. So what are 'advanced workforce analytics?' Simply, they're unprecedented access to workforce trends and performance markers. Many are made possible by a mobile world and the enterprise applications that come with it on smart devices. Some refer to it as 'the consumerisation of IT'. As this phenomenon has matured and become more widely appreciated it has impacted the spectrum of functional units within an enterprise differently, but powerfully. Whether it's sales, HR, marketing, IT, or operations, all have benefited from a more mobile approach. It has been the catalyst for improvement in, and management of, the employee experience. The net result of which is happier customers. The obvious benefits but the lesser realised impact Most people understand that mobility allows for greater efficiency and productivity, collaboration and flexibility, but how that translates into business outcomes within the various functional groups is lesser known. In actuality mobility has helped galvanise partnerships between cross-functional groups within the enterprise. Where in some quarters it was once feared mobility could fragment a workforce, its rallying cry of support is coming from what you might describe as an unlikely source - HR. As the bedrock of an enterprise, it is conceivable HR might contemplate the possible negative impact of a mobile workforce that no-longer sits in an office, at the same desks every day. After all, who would know what they were doing or saying? How would they collaborate? It's reasonable to see why HR might have a legitimate claim to try and retain as much 'perceived control' as possible. The reality however is mobility has emancipated human capital and its management. Mobility and enterprise applications are expediting decision making. Google calls it Zero Moment of Truth, or ZMOT. It enables smoother operation and can contribute to faster growth. From a collaborative perspective, with the growing use of enterprise social media, which in many cases is being driven by HR, workforce planning and the tangible impact of change is much easier to map. This in turn provides a platform from which individuals and teams can thrive. With more agility and ability to anticipate, staff satisfaction and retention is higher, and real time feedback constant. The management team can save time, energy and costs with more accurate data, which is then intelligently applied across the workforce to truly engage with staff, customers and partners. From a human capital management (HCM) perspective, mobility can help you close the loop on true talent management. It can enhance what managers can offer and what employees can provide in return. It can create nested relationships and powerful partnerships. IT and HR - partners and stewards of mobility One effect of enterprise mobility is an evolution in the nature of the relationship between HR and IT from one of service provision to partnership. The reason for the dynamic shift is largely due to the 'bring your own device' (BYOD) movement, which is transitioning to a 'bring your own application' (BYOA) scenario. As enterprise technology has in some ways reverse-engineered its solutions to help manage this situation, the partnership between IT (the functional owner) and HR (the strategic enabler) is deeply entrenched. And it has to be. The CIO and the HR leader are faced with compliance and regulatory issues and concerns around information security and personal privacy on a daily basis, complicated by global reach and varied domestic legislation. There are tens of thousands of new mobile apps entering the market each month and, unlike many consumer applications which get downloaded but are often never opened again after initial perusal, enterprise applications are being relied upon by functional groups, not least by HR to enhance people management. It requires a systematic approach across all applications in use within the enterprise in order to ensure they're used to best effect. No turning back, and no desire to With real time analytics on performance and the ability for immediate feedback, there is no turning back for managers. In my experience with Oracle, our customers' operational efficiency is at record levels. It's clear as a result of the combination of individual KPIs and organisational goals, CIOs have been able to give HR leaders the ability to build predictive models that feed into an enterprise organisations' evolving strategy. It also helps them ensure regulatory compliance much more easily. Once an arduous task, with mobile enabled automation and quality data, compliance is simpler. Their world has changed for the better. For the CIO, mobility also assists them to optimise performance. While it doesn't come without challenges, mobile-enabled applications and the native experience users have with them means employees don't need high-level technical expertise to train users. It reduces the training and engagement required from the IT team so they can focus on other things that deliver value to the bottom line; all the while lowering the cost of assets and related maintenance work by simplifying processes. Rewards of a mobile enterprise outweigh risks With mobile tools allowing us to increasingly integrate our personal and professional lives, terms like "office hours" are becoming irrelevant, so work/life balance is a cultural must. Enterprises are expected to offer tools that enable workers to access information from anywhere, at any time, from any device. Employees want simplicity and convenience but it doesn't stop at private enterprise. This is a societal shift. Governments, which traditionally have been known to be slower to adopt newer technology, are also offering support for local businesses to go mobile. Several state government websites have advice on how to create mobile apps and more. And as recently as last week the Victorian Minister for Technology Gordon Rich-Phillips unveiled his State government's ICT roadmap for the next two years, which details an increased use of the public cloud, as well as mobile communications, and improved access to online data-sets. Tech giants are investing significantly in solutions designed to simplify mobile deployment and enablement. The mobility trend is creating a wave of change in the industry and driving transformation in the enterprise. If you're not on that wave, the business risk continues to rise as your competitiveness drops. Aaron is the Vice President of HCM Strategy at Oracle Corporation where he is responsible for researching and identifying emerging trends in the practice of Human Resources and works to deliver industry-leading technology solutions. Other responsibilities include, ownership of Oracle's innovative HCM solutions across JAPAC and enabling organisations to transform and modernise their workforce tools. Follow him on Twitter @aaronjgreen

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• Character jump animation is not working when i hit the space bar

  - by muzzy

  i am having an issue with my game in XNA. My jump sprite sheet for my character does not trigger when i hit the space bar. I cant seem to find the problem. Please help me. I am also put the code below to make things easier. namespace WindowsGame4 { public class Game1 : Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Game { GraphicsDeviceManager graphics; SpriteBatch spriteBatch; // start of new code Texture2D playerWalk; // sprite sheet of walk cycle (14 frames) Texture2D idle; // idle animation Texture2D jump; // jump animation Vector2 playerPos; // to hold x and y position info for the player Point frameDimensions; // to hold width and height values for the frames int presentFrame; // to record which frame we are on at any given time int noOfFrames; // to hold the total number of frames in the spritesheet int elapsedTime; // to know how long each frame has been shown int frameDuration; // to hold info about how long each frame should be shown SpriteEffects flipDirection; // SpriteEffects object int speed; //rate of movement int upMovement; int downMovement; int rightMovement; int leftMovement; int jumpApex; string state; //this is going to be "idle","walking" or "jumping". KeyboardState previousKeyboardState; Vector2 originalPlayerPos; Vector2 movementDirection; Vector2 movementSpeed; public Game1() { graphics = new GraphicsDeviceManager(this); Content.RootDirectory = "Content"; } protected override void Initialize() { // textures will be defined in the LoadContent() method playerPos = new Vector2(0, 200); // starting position for the player is at the left of the screen, and a Y position of 200 frameDimensions = new Point(55, 65); // each frame in the idle sprite sheet is 55 wide by 65 high presentFrame = 0; // start at frame 0 noOfFrames = 5; // there are 5 frames in the idle cycle elapsedTime = 0; // set elapsed time to start at 0 frameDuration = 80; // 80 milliseconds is how long each frame will show for (the higher the number, the slower the animation) flipDirection = SpriteEffects.None; // set the value of flipDirection to none speed = 200; upMovement = -2; downMovement = 2; rightMovement = 1; leftMovement = -1; jumpApex = 100; state = "idle"; previousKeyboardState = Keyboard.GetState(); originalPlayerPos = Vector2.Zero; movementDirection = Vector2.Zero; movementSpeed = Vector2.Zero; base.Initialize(); } protected override void LoadContent() { spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice); playerWalk = Content.Load<Texture2D>("sprites/walkSmall"); // load the walk cycle spritesheet idle = Content.Load<Texture2D>("sprites/idleCycle"); // load the idle cycle sprite sheet jump = Content.Load<Texture2D>("sprites/jump"); // load the jump cycle sprite sheet } protected override void UnloadContent() // we're not using this method at the moment { } protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime) // Update method - used it to call a number of other methods { if (Keyboard.GetState().IsKeyDown(Keys.Escape)) { this.Exit(); // Exit the game if the Escape key is pressed } KeyboardState presentKeyboardState = Keyboard.GetState(); UpdateMovement(presentKeyboardState, gameTime); UpdateIdle(presentKeyboardState, gameTime); UpdateJump(presentKeyboardState); UpdateAnimation(gameTime); playerPos += movementDirection * movementSpeed * (float)gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.TotalSeconds; previousKeyboardState = presentKeyboardState; base.Update(gameTime); } private void UpdateAnimation(GameTime gameTime) { elapsedTime += gameTime.ElapsedGameTime.Milliseconds; if (elapsedTime > frameDuration) { elapsedTime -= frameDuration; elapsedTime = elapsedTime - frameDuration; presentFrame++; if (presentFrame > noOfFrames) if (state != "jumping") { presentFrame = 0; } else { presentFrame = 8; } } } protected void UpdateMovement(KeyboardState presentKeyboardState, GameTime gameTime) { if (state == "idle") { movementSpeed = Vector2.Zero; movementDirection = Vector2.Zero; if (presentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Left)) { state = "walking"; movementSpeed.X = speed; movementDirection.X = leftMovement; flipDirection = SpriteEffects.FlipHorizontally; } if (presentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Right)) { state = "walking"; movementSpeed.X = speed; movementDirection.X = rightMovement; flipDirection = SpriteEffects.None; } } } private void UpdateIdle(KeyboardState presentKeyboardState, GameTime gameTime) { if ((presentKeyboardState.IsKeyUp(Keys.Left) && previousKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Left) || presentKeyboardState.IsKeyUp(Keys.Right) && previousKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Right) && state != "jumping")) { state = "idle"; } } private void UpdateJump(KeyboardState presentKeyboardState) { if (state == "walking" || state == "idle") { if (presentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Space) && !presentKeyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Space)) { presentFrame = 1; DoJump(); } } if (state == "jumping") { if (originalPlayerPos.Y - playerPos.Y > jumpApex) { movementDirection.Y = downMovement; } if (playerPos.Y > originalPlayerPos.Y) { playerPos.Y = originalPlayerPos.Y; state = "idle"; movementDirection = Vector2.Zero; } } } private void DoJump() { if (state != "jumping") { state = "jumping"; originalPlayerPos = playerPos; movementDirection.Y = upMovement; movementSpeed = new Vector2(speed, speed); } } protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime) // Draw method { GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue); spriteBatch.Begin(); // begin the spritebatch if (state == "walking") { noOfFrames = 14; frameDimensions = new Point(55, 65); Vector2 playerWalkPos = new Vector2(playerPos.X, playerPos.Y - 28); spriteBatch.Draw(playerWalk, playerWalkPos, new Rectangle((presentFrame * frameDimensions.X), 0, frameDimensions.X, frameDimensions.Y), Color.White, 0, Vector2.Zero, 1, flipDirection, 0); } if (state == "idle") { noOfFrames = 5; frameDimensions = new Point(55, 65); Vector2 idlePos = new Vector2(playerPos.X, playerPos.Y - 28); spriteBatch.Draw(idle, idlePos, new Rectangle((presentFrame * frameDimensions.X), 0, frameDimensions.X, frameDimensions.Y), Color.White, 0, Vector2.Zero, 1, flipDirection, 0); } if (state == "jumping") { noOfFrames = 9; frameDimensions = new Point(55, 92); Vector2 jumpPos = new Vector2(playerPos.X, playerPos.Y - 28); spriteBatch.Draw(jump, jumpPos, new Rectangle((presentFrame * frameDimensions.X), 0, frameDimensions.X, frameDimensions.Y), Color.White, 0, Vector2.Zero, 1, flipDirection, 0); } spriteBatch.End(); // end the spritebatch commands base.Draw(gameTime); } } }

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• PASS: SQLRally Thoughts

  - by Bill Graziano

  The PASS Board recently decided that we wouldn’t put another US-based SQLRally on the calendar until we had a chance to review the program. I wanted to provide some of my thinking around this. Keep in mind that this is the opinion of one Board member. The Board committed to complete two SQLRally events to determine if an event modeled between SQL Saturday and the Summit was viable. We’ve completed the two events and now it’s time to step back and review the program. This is my seventh year on the PASS Board. Over that time people have asked me why PASS does certain things. Many, many times my answer has been “Because that’s the way we did it last year”. And I am tired of giving that answer. We need to take a step back and review the US-based SQLRally before we schedule another one. It would be irresponsible for me as a Board member to commit resources to this without validating that what we’re doing makes sense for the organization and our members. I have no doubt that this was a great event for the attendees. We just need to validate it’s the best use of our resources. Please keep in mind that we haven’t cancelled the event. We’ve just said we need to review it before scheduling another one. My opinion is that some fairly serious changes are needed to the model before we consider it again – IF we do it again. I’ve come to that conclusion after speaking with the Dallas organizers, our HQ team, our Marketing team, other Board members (including one of the Orlando organizers), attendees in Orlando and Dallas and visiting other similar events. I should point out that their views aren’t unanimous on nearly any part of this event -- which is one of the reasons I want to take some time and think about this before continuing. I think it’s helpful to look at the original goals of what we were trying to accomplish. Andy Warren wrote these up in August of 2010. My summary of these goals and some thoughts on each one is below. Many of these thoughts revolve around the growth of SQL Saturdays. In the two years since that document was written these events have grown significantly. The largest SQL Saturdays are now over 500 people which mean they are nearly the same size as our recent SQLRally. Our goals included: Geographic diversity. We wanted an event in an area of the country that was away from any given Summit location. I think that’s still a valid goal. But we also have SQL Saturdays all over the country. What does SQLRally bring to this that SQLSaturday doesn’t? Speaker growth. One of the stated goals was to build a “farm club” for speakers. This gives us a way for speakers to work up to speaking at Summit by speaking in front of larger crowds. What does SQLRally bring to this that the larger SQL Saturdays aren’t providing? Pre-Conference speakers is one obvious answer here. Lower price. On a per-day basis, SQLRally is roughly 1/4th the price of the Summit. We wanted a way for people to experience something Summit-like at a lower price point. The challenge is that we are very budget constrained at that lower price point. International Event Model.  (I need to write more about this but I’m out of time.  I’ll cover it in the next installment.) There are a number of things I really like about SQLRally. I love the smaller conferences. They give me a chance to meet more people than at something the size of Summit. I like the two day format. That gives you two evenings to be at social events with people. Seeing someone a second day is a great way to build a bond with that person. That’s more difficult to do at a SQL Saturday. We also need to talk about the financial aspects of the event. Last year generated a small $17,000 profit on revenues of $200,000. Percentage-wise that’s reasonable but on an absolute basis it’s not a huge amount in our budget. We think this year will lose between $30,000 and $50,000 and take roughly 1,000 hours of HQ time. We don’t have detailed financials back yet but that’s our best guess at this point. Part of that was driven by using a convention center instead of a hotel. Until we get detailed financials back we won’t have the full picture around the financial impact. This event also takes time and mindshare from our Marketing team. This may sound like a small thing but please don’t underestimate it. Our original vision for this was something that would take very little time from our Marketing team and just a few mentions in the Connector. It turned out to need more than that. And all those mentions and emails take up space we could use to talk about other events and other programs. Last I wanted to talk about some of the things I’m thinking about. I don’t think it’s as simple as saying if we just fix “X” it all gets better. Is this that much better of an event than SQL Saturdays? What if we gave a few SQL Saturdays some extra resources? When SQL Saturdays were around 250 people that wasn’t as viable. With some of those events over 500 we need to reconsider this. We need to get back to a hotel venue. That will help with cost and networking. Is this the best use of the 1,000 HQ hours that we invested in the event? Is our price-point correct? I’m leaning toward raising our price closer to Summit on a per-day basis. I think this will let us put on a higher quality event and alleviate much of the budget pressure. Should growing speakers be a focus? Having top-line pre-conference speakers helps market the event. It will also have an impact on pricing and overall profit. We should also ask if it actually does grow speakers. How many of these people will eventually register for Summit? Attend chapters? Is SQLRally a driver into PASS or is it something that chapters, etc. drive people to? Should we have one paid day and one free instead of two paid days? This is a very interesting model that is used by SQLBits in the UK. This gives you the two day aspect as well as offering options for paid and free attendees. I’m very intrigued by this. Should we focus on a topic? Buried in the minutes is a discussion of whether PASS should have a Business Analytics conference separate from Summit. This is an interesting question to consider. Would making SQLRally be focused on a particular topic make it more attractive? Would that even be a SQLRally? Can PASS effectively manage the two events? (FYI - Probably not.) Would it help differentiate it from Summit and SQL Saturday? These are all questions that I think should be asked and answered before we do this event again. And we can’t do that if we don’t take time to have the discussion. I wanted to get this published before I take off for a few days of vacation. When I get back I’d like to write more about why the international events are different and talk about where we go from here.

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• Clouds Everywhere But not a Drop of Rain – Part 3

  - by sxkumar

  I was sharing with you how a broad-based transformation such as cloud will increase agility and efficiency of an organization if process re-engineering is part of the plan.  I have also stressed on the key enterprise requirements such as “broad and deep solutions, “running your mission critical applications” and “automated and integrated set of capabilities”. Let me walk you through some key cloud attributes such as “elasticity” and “self-service” and what they mean for an enterprise class cloud. I will also talk about how we at Oracle have taken a very enterprise centric view to developing cloud solutions and how our products have been specifically engineered to address enterprise cloud needs. Cloud Elasticity and Enterprise Applications Requirements Easy and quick scalability for a short-period of time is the signature of cloud based solutions. It is this elasticity that allows you to dynamically redistribute your resources according to business priorities, helps increase your overall resource utilization, and reduces operational costs by allowing you to get the most out of your existing investment. Most public clouds are offering a instant provisioning mechanism of compute power (CPU, RAM, Disk), customer pay for the instance-hours(and bandwidth) they use, adding computing resources at peak times and removing them when they are no longer needed. This type of “just-in-time” serving of compute resources is well known for mid-tiers “state less” servers such as web application servers and web servers that just need another machine to start and run on it but what does it really mean for an enterprise application and its underlying data? Most enterprise applications are not as quite as “state less” and justifiably so. As such, how do you take advantage of cloud elasticity and make it relevant for your enterprise apps? This is where Cloud meets Grid Computing. At Oracle, we have invested enormous amount of time, energy and resources in creating enterprise grid solutions. All our technology products offer built-in elasticity via clustering and dynamic scaling. With products like Real Application Clusters (RAC), Automatic Storage Management, WebLogic Clustering, and Coherence In-Memory Grid, we allow all your enterprise applications to benefit from Cloud elasticity –both vertically and horizontally - without requiring any application changes. A number of technology vendors take a rather simplistic route of starting up additional or removing unneeded VM as the "Cloud Scale-Out" solution. While this may work for stateless mid-tier servers where load balancers can handle the addition and remove of instances transparently but following a similar approach for the database tier - often called as "database sharding" - requires significant application modification and typically does not work with off the shelf packaged applications. Technologies like Oracle Database Real Application Clusters, Automatic Storage Management, etc. on the other hand bring the benefits of incremental scalability and on-demand elasticity to ANY application by providing a simplified abstraction layers where the application does not need deal with data spread over multiple database instances. Rather they just talk to a single database and the database software takes care of aggregating resources across multiple hardware components. It is the technologies like these that truly make a cloud solution relevant for enterprises.  For customers who are looking for a next generation hardware consolidation platform, our engineered systems (e.g. Exadata, Exalogic) not only provide incredible amount of performance and capacity, they also reduce the data center complexity and simplify operations. Assemble, Deploy and Manage Enterprise Applications for Cloud Products like Oracle Virtual assembly builder (OVAB) resolve the complex problem of bringing the cloud speed to complex multi-tier applications. With assemblies, you can not only provision all components of a multi-tier application and wire them together by push of a button, other aspects of application lifecycle, such as real-time application testing, scale-up/scale-down, performance and availability monitoring, etc., are also automated using Oracle Enterprise Manager.  An essential criteria for an enterprise cloud to succeed is the ability to ensure business service levels especially when business users have either full visibility on the usage cost with a “show back” or a “charge back”. With Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c, we have created the most comprehensive cloud management solution in the industry that is capable of managing business service levels “applications-to-disk” in a enterprise private cloud – all from a single console. It is the only cloud management platform in the industry that allows you to deliver infrastructure, platform and application cloud services out of the box. Moreover, it offers integrated and complete lifecycle management of the cloud - including planning and set up, service delivery, operations management, metering and chargeback, etc .  Sounds unbelievable? Well, just watch this space for more details on how Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c is the nerve center of Oracle Cloud! Our cloud solution portfolio is also the broadest and most deep in the industry  - covering public, private, hybrid, Infrastructure, platform and applications clouds. It is no coincidence therefore that the Oracle Cloud today offers the most comprehensive set of public cloud services in the industry.  And to a large part, this has been made possible thanks to our years on investment in creating cloud enabling technologies.  Summary  But the intent of this blog post isn't to dwell on how great our solutions are (these are just some examples to illustrate how we at Oracle have approached this problem space). Rather it is to help you ask the right questions before you embark on your cloud journey.  So to summarize, here are the key takeaways.       It is critical that you are clear on why you are building the cloud. Successful organizations keep business benefits as the first and foremost cloud objective. On the other hand, those who approach this purely as a technology project are more likely to fail. Think about where you want to be in 3-5 years before you get started. Your long terms objectives should determine what your first step ought to be. As obvious as it may seem, more people than not make the first move without knowing where they are headed.  Don’t make the mistake of equating cloud to virtualization and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). Spinning a VM on-demand will give some short term relief to your IT staff but is unlikely to solve your larger business problems. As such, even if IaaS is your first step towards a more comprehensive cloud, plan the roadmap around those higher level services before you begin. And ask your vendors on how they are going to be your partners in this journey. Capabilities like self-service access and chargeback/showback are absolutely critical if you really expect your cloud to be transformational. Your business won't see the full benefits of the cloud until it empowers them with same kind of control and transparency that they are used to while using a public cloud service.  Evaluate the benefits of integration, as opposed to blindly following the best-of-breed strategy. Integration is a huge challenge and more so in a cloud environment. There are enormous costs associated with stitching a solution out of disparate components and even more in maintaining it. Hope you found these ideas helpful. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts and experiences.

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• Different Not Automatically Implies Better

  - by Alois Kraus

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/akraus1/archive/2013/11/05/154556.aspxRecently I was digging deeper why some WCF hosted workflow application did consume quite a lot of memory although it did basically only load a xaml workflow. The first tool of choice is Process Explorer or even better Process Hacker (has more options and the best feature copy&paste does work). The three most important numbers of a process with regards to memory are Working Set, Private Working Set and Private Bytes. Working set is the currently consumed physical memory (parts can be shared between processes e.g. loaded dlls which are read only) Private Working Set is the physical memory needed by this process which is not shareable Private Bytes is the number of non shareable which is only visible in the current process (e.g. all new, malloc, VirtualAlloc calls do create private bytes) When you have a bigger workflow it can consume under 64 bit easily 500MB for a 1-2 MB xaml file. This does not look very scalable. Under 64 bit the issue is excessive private bytes consumption and not the managed heap. The picture is quite different for 32 bit which looks a bit strange but it seems that the hosted VB compiler is a lot less memory hungry under 32 bit. I did try to repro the issue with a medium sized xaml file (400KB) which does contain 1000 variables and 1000 if which can be represented by C# code like this: string Var1; string Var2; ... string Var1000; if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(Var1) ) { Console.WriteLine(“Var1”); } if (!String.IsNullOrEmpty(Var2) ) { Console.WriteLine(“Var2”); } ....   Since WF is based on VB.NET expressions you are bound to the hosted VB.NET compiler which does result in (x64) 140 MB of private bytes which is ca. 140 KB for each if clause which is quite a lot if you think about the actually present functionality. But there is hope. .NET 4.5 does allow now C# expressions for WF which is a major step forward for all C# lovers. I did create some simple patcher to “cross compile” my xaml to C# expressions. Lets look at the result: C# Expressions VB Expressions x86 x86 On my home machine I have only 32 bit which gives you quite exactly half of the memory consumption under 64 bit. C# expressions are 10 times more memory hungry than VB.NET expressions! I wanted to do more with less memory but instead it did consume a magnitude more memory. That is surprising to say the least. The workflow does initialize in about the same time under x64 and x86 where the VB code does it in 2s whereas the C# version needs 18s. Also nearly ten times slower. That is a too high price to pay for any bigger sized xaml workflow to convert from VB.NET to C# expressions. If I do reduce the number of expressions to 500 then it does need 400MB which is about half of the memory. It seems that the cost per if does rise linear with the number of total expressions in a xaml workflow.  Expression Language Cost per IF Startup Time C# 1000 Ifs x64 1,5 MB 18s C# 500 Ifs x64 750 KB 9s VB 1000 Ifs x64 140 KB 2s VB 500 Ifs x64 70 KB 1s Now we can directly compare two MS implementations. It is clear that the VB.NET compiler uses the same underlying structure but it has much higher offset compared to the highly inefficient C# expression compiler. I have filed a connect bug here with a harsher wording about recent advances in memory consumption. The funniest thing is that one MS employee did give an Azure AppFabric demo around early 2011 which was so slow that he needed to investigate with xperf. He was after startup time and the call stacks with regards to VB.NET expression compilation were remarkably similar. In fact I only found this post by googling for parts of my call stacks. … “C# expressions will be coming soon to WF, and that will have different performance characteristics than VB” … What did he know Jan 2011 what I did no know until today? ;-). He knew that C# expression will come but that they will not be automatically have better footprint. It is about time to fix that. In its current state C# expressions are not usable for bigger workflows. That also explains the headline for today. You can cheat startup time by prestarting workflows so that the demo looks nice and snappy but it does hurt scalability a lot since you do need much more memory than necessary. I did find the stacks by enabling virtual allocation tracking within XPerf which is still the best tool out there. But first you need to look at your process to check where the memory is hiding: For the C# Expression compiler you do not need xperf. You can directly dump the managed heap and check with a profiler of your choice. But if the allocations are happening on the Private Data ( VirtualAlloc ) you can find it with xperf. There is a nice video on channel 9 explaining VirtualAlloc tracking it in greater detail. If your data allocations are on the Heap it does mean that the C/C++ runtime did create a heap for you where all malloc, new calls do allocate from it. You can enable heap tracing with xperf and full call stack support as well which is doable via xperf like it is shown also on channel 9. Or you can use WPRUI directly: To make “Heap Usage” it work you need to set for your executable the tracing flags (before you start it). For example devenv.exe HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Image File Execution Options\devenv.exe DWORD TracingFlags 1 Do not forget to disable it after you did complete profiling the process or it will impact the startup time quite a lot. You can with xperf attach directly to a running process and collect heap allocation information from a gone wild process. Very handy if you need to find out what a process was doing which has arrived in a funny state. “VirtualAlloc usage” does work without explicitly enabling stuff for a specific process and is always on machine wide. I had issues on my Windows 7 machines with the call stack collection and the latest Windows 8.1 Performance Toolkit. I was told that WPA from Windows 8.0 should work fine but I do not want to downgrade.

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• Part 3 of 4 : Tips/Tricks for Silverlight Developers.

  - by mbcrump

  Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 I wanted to create a series of blog post that gets right to the point and is aimed specifically at Silverlight Developers. The most important things I want this series to answer is : What is it?  Why do I care? How do I do it? I hope that you enjoy this series. Let’s get started: Tip/Trick #11) What is it? Underline Text in a TextBlock. Why do I care? I’ve seen people do some crazy things to get underlined text in a Silverlight Application. In case you didn’t know there is a property for that. How do I do it: On a TextBlock you have a property called TextDecorations. You can easily set this property in XAML or CodeBehind with the following snippet: <UserControl x:Class="SilverlightApplication19.MainPage" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400"> <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White"> <TextBlock Name="txtTB" Text="MichaelCrump.NET" TextDecorations="Underline" /> </Grid> </UserControl> or you can do it in CodeBehind… txtTB.TextDecorations = TextDecorations.Underline;   Tip/Trick #12) What is it? Get the browser information from a Silverlight Application. Why do I care? This will allow you to program around certain browser conditions that otherwise may not be aware of. How do I do it: It is very easy to extract Browser Information out a Silverlight Application by using the BrowserInformation class. You can copy/paste this code snippet to have access to all of them. string strBrowserName = HtmlPage.BrowserInformation.Name; string strBrowserMinorVersion = HtmlPage.BrowserInformation.BrowserVersion.Minor.ToString(); string strIsCookiesEnabled = HtmlPage.BrowserInformation.CookiesEnabled.ToString(); string strPlatform = HtmlPage.BrowserInformation.Platform; string strProductName = HtmlPage.BrowserInformation.ProductName; string strProductVersion = HtmlPage.BrowserInformation.ProductVersion; string strUserAgent = HtmlPage.BrowserInformation.UserAgent; string strBrowserVersion = HtmlPage.BrowserInformation.BrowserVersion.ToString(); string strBrowserMajorVersion = HtmlPage.BrowserInformation.BrowserVersion.Major.ToString(); Tip/Trick #13) What is it? Always check the minRuntimeVersion after creating a new Silverlight Application. Why do I care? Whenever you create a new Silverlight Application and host it inside of an ASP.net website you will notice Visual Studio generates some code for you as shown below. The minRuntimeVersion value is set by the SDK installed on your system. Be careful, if you are playing with beta’s like “Lightswitch” because you will have a higher version of the SDK installed. So when you create a new Silverlight 4 project and deploy it your customers they will get a prompt telling them they need to upgrade Silverlight. They also will not be able to upgrade to your version because its not released to the public yet. How do I do it: Open up the .aspx or .html file Visual Studio generated and look for the line below. Make sure it matches whatever version you are actually targeting. Tip/Trick #14) What is it? The VisualTreeHelper class provides useful methods for involving nodes in a visual tree. Why do I care? It’s nice to have the ability to “walk” a visual tree or to get the rendered elements of a ListBox. I have it very useful for debugging my Silverlight application. How do I do it: Many examples exist on the web, but say that you have a huge Silverlight application and want to find the parent object of a control.  In the code snippet below, we would get 3 MessageBoxes with (StackPanel first, Grid second and UserControl Third). This is a tiny application, but imagine how helpful this would be on a large project. <UserControl x:Class="SilverlightApplication18.MainPage" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml/presentation" xmlns:x="http://schemas.microsoft.com/winfx/2006/xaml" xmlns:d="http://schemas.microsoft.com/expression/blend/2008" xmlns:mc="http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/markup-compatibility/2006" mc:Ignorable="d" d:DesignHeight="300" d:DesignWidth="400"> <Grid x:Name="LayoutRoot" Background="White"> <StackPanel> <Button Content="Button" Height="23" Name="button1" VerticalAlignment="Top" Width="75" Click="button1_Click" /> </StackPanel> </Grid> </UserControl> private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { DependencyObject obj = button1; while ((obj = VisualTreeHelper.GetParent(obj)) != null) { MessageBox.Show(obj.GetType().ToString()); } } Tip/Trick #15) What is it? Add ChildWindows to your Silverlight Application. Why do I care? ChildWindows are a great way to direct a user attention to a particular part of your application. This could be used when saving or entering data. How do I do it: Right click your Silverlight Application and click Add then New Item. Select Silverlight Child Window as shown below. Add an event and call the ChildWindow with the following snippet below: private void button1_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { ChildWindow1 cw = new ChildWindow1(); cw.Show(); } Your main application can still process information but this screen forces the user to select an action before proceeding. The code behind of the ChildWindow will look like the following: namespace SilverlightApplication18 { public partial class ChildWindow1 : ChildWindow { public ChildWindow1() { InitializeComponent(); } private void OKButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { this.DialogResult = true; //TODO: Add logic to save what the user entered. } private void CancelButton_Click(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e) { this.DialogResult = false; } } } Thanks for reading and please come back for Part 4.  Subscribe to my feed CodeProject

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• Having trouble with pathfinding

  - by user2144536

  I'm trying to implement pathfinding in a game I'm programming using this method. I'm implementing it with recursion but some of the values after the immediate circle of tiles around the player are way off. For some reason I cannot find the problem with it. This is a screen cap of the problem: The pathfinding values are displayed in the center of every tile. Clipped blocks are displayed with the value of 'c' because the values were too high and were covering up the next value. The red circle is the first value that is incorrect. The code below is the recursive method. //tileX is the coordinates of the current tile, val is the current pathfinding value, used[][] is a boolean //array to keep track of which tiles' values have already been assigned public void pathFind(int tileX, int tileY, int val, boolean[][] used) { //increment pathfinding value int curVal = val + 1; //set current tile to true if it hasn't been already used[tileX][tileY] = true; //booleans to know which tiles the recursive call needs to be used on boolean topLeftUsed = false, topUsed = false, topRightUsed = false, leftUsed = false, rightUsed = false, botomLeftUsed = false, botomUsed = false, botomRightUsed = false; //set value of top left tile if necessary if(tileX - 1 >= 0 && tileY - 1 >= 0) { //isClipped(int x, int y) returns true if the coordinates givin are in a tile that can't be walked through (IE walls) //occupied[][] is an array that keeps track of which tiles have an enemy in them // //if the tile is not clipped and not occupied set the pathfinding value if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] == false && !(used[tileX - 1][tileY - 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] = curVal; topLeftUsed = true; used[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] = true; } //if it is occupied set it to an arbitrary high number so enemies find alternate routes if the best is clogged if(occupied[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] = 1000000000; //if it is clipped set it to an arbitrary higher number so enemies don't travel through walls if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY - 1] = 2000000000; } //top middle if(tileY - 1 >= 0 ) { if(isClipped(tileX * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX][tileY - 1] == false && !(used[tileX][tileY - 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY - 1] = curVal; topUsed = true; used[tileX][tileY - 1] = true; } if(occupied[tileX][tileY - 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY - 1] = 1000000000; if(isClipped(tileX * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY - 1] = 2000000000; } //top right if(tileX + 1 <= used.length && tileY - 1 >= 0) { if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] == false && !(used[tileX + 1][tileY - 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] = curVal; topRightUsed = true; used[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] = true; } if(occupied[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY - 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY - 1] = 2000000000; } //left if(tileX - 1 >= 0) { if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX - 1][tileY] == false && !(used[tileX - 1][tileY])) { pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY] = curVal; leftUsed = true; used[tileX - 1][tileY] = true; } if(occupied[tileX - 1][tileY] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY] = 2000000000; } //right if(tileX + 1 <= used.length) { if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX + 1][tileY] == false && !(used[tileX + 1][tileY])) { pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY] = curVal; rightUsed = true; used[tileX + 1][tileY] = true; } if(occupied[tileX + 1][tileY] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY] = 2000000000; } //botom left if(tileX - 1 >= 0 && tileY + 1 <= used[0].length) { if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] == false && !(used[tileX - 1][tileY + 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] = curVal; botomLeftUsed = true; used[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] = true; } if(occupied[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX - 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX - 1][tileY + 1] = 2000000000; } //botom middle if(tileY + 1 <= used[0].length) { if(isClipped((tileX) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX][tileY + 1] == false && !(used[tileX][tileY + 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY + 1] = curVal; botomUsed = true; used[tileX][tileY + 1] = true; } if(occupied[tileX][tileY + 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY + 1] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX][tileY + 1] = 2000000000; } //botom right if(tileX + 1 <= used.length && tileY + 1 <= used[0].length) { if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == false && occupied[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] == false && !(used[tileX + 1][tileY + 1])) { pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] = curVal; botomRightUsed = true; used[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] = true; } if(occupied[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] = 1000000000; if(isClipped((tileX + 1) * 50 + 25, (tileY + 1) * 50 + 25) == true) pathFindingValues[tileX + 1][tileY + 1] = 2000000000; } //call the method on the tiles that need it if(tileX - 1 >= 0 && tileY - 1 >= 0 && topLeftUsed) pathFind(tileX - 1, tileY - 1, curVal, used); if(tileY - 1 >= 0 && topUsed) pathFind(tileX , tileY - 1, curVal, used); if(tileX + 1 <= used.length && tileY - 1 >= 0 && topRightUsed) pathFind(tileX + 1, tileY - 1, curVal, used); if(tileX - 1 >= 0 && leftUsed) pathFind(tileX - 1, tileY, curVal, used); if(tileX + 1 <= used.length && rightUsed) pathFind(tileX + 1, tileY, curVal, used); if(tileX - 1 >= 0 && tileY + 1 <= used[0].length && botomLeftUsed) pathFind(tileX - 1, tileY + 1, curVal, used); if(tileY + 1 <= used[0].length && botomUsed) pathFind(tileX, tileY + 1, curVal, used); if(tileX + 1 <= used.length && tileY + 1 <= used[0].length && botomRightUsed) pathFind(tileX + 1, tileY + 1, curVal, used); }

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• Java EE 7 Survey Results!

  - by reza_rahman

  On November 8th, the Java EE EG posted a survey to gather broad community feedback on a number of critical open issues. For reference, you can find the original survey here. We kept the survey open for about three weeks until November 30th. To our delight, over 1100 developers took time out of their busy lives to let their voices be heard! The results of the survey were sent to the EG on December 12th. The subsequent EG discussion is available here. The exact summary sent to the EG is available here. We would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one the individuals who took the survey. It is very appreciated, encouraging and worth it's weight in gold. In particular, I tried to capture just some of the high-quality, intelligent, thoughtful and professional comments in the summary to the EG. I highly encourage you to continue to stay involved, perhaps through the Adopt-a-JSR program. We would also like to sincerely thank java.net, JavaLobby, TSS and InfoQ for helping spread the word about the survey. Below is a brief summary of the results... APIs to Add to Java EE 7 Full/Web Profile The first question asked which of the four new candidate APIs (WebSocket, JSON-P, JBatch and JCache) should be added to the Java EE 7 Full and Web profile respectively. As the following graph shows, there was significant support for adding all the new APIs to the full profile: Support is relatively the weakest for Batch 1.0, but still good. A lot of folks saw WebSocket 1.0 as a critical technology with comments such as this one: "A modern web application needs Web Sockets as first class citizens" While it is clearly seen as being important, a number of commenters expressed dissatisfaction with the lack of a higher-level JSON data binding API as illustrated by this comment: "How come we don't have a Data Binding API for JSON" JCache was also seen as being very important as expressed with comments like: "JCache should really be that foundational technology on which other specs have no fear to depend on" The results for the Web Profile is not surprising. While there is strong support for adding WebSocket 1.0 and JSON-P 1.0 to the Web Profile, support for adding JCache 1.0 and Batch 1.0 is relatively weak. There was actually significant opposition to adding Batch 1. 0 (with 51.8% casting a 'No' vote). Enabling CDI by Default The second question asked was whether CDI should be enabled in Java EE environments by default. A significant majority of 73.3% developers supported enabling CDI, only 13.8% opposed. Comments such as these two reflect a strong general support for CDI as well as a desire for better Java EE alignment with CDI: "CDI makes Java EE quite valuable!" "Would prefer to unify EJB, CDI and JSF lifecycles" There is, however, a palpable concern around the performance impact of enabling CDI by default as exemplified by this comment: "Java EE projects in most cases use CDI, hence it is sensible to enable CDI by default when creating a Java EE application. However, there are several issues if CDI is enabled by default: scanning can be slow - not all libs use CDI (hence, scanning is not needed)" Another significant concern appears to be around backwards compatibility and conflict with other JSR 330 implementations like Spring: "I am leaning towards yes, however can easily imagine situations where errors would be caused by automatically activating CDI, especially in cases of backward compatibility where another DI engine (such as Spring and the like) happens to use the same mechanics to inject dependencies and in that case there would be an overlap in injections and probably an uncertain outcome" Some commenters such as this one attempt to suggest solutions to these potential issues: "If you have Spring in use and use javax.inject.Inject then you might get some unexpected behavior that could be equally confusing. I guess there will be a way to switch CDI off. I'm tempted to say yes but am cautious for this reason" Consistent Usage of @Inject The third question was around using CDI/JSR 330 @Inject consistently vs. allowing JSRs to create their own injection annotations. A slight majority of 53.3% developers supported using @Inject consistently across JSRs. 28.8% said using custom injection annotations is OK, while 18.0% were not sure. The vast majority of commenters were strongly supportive of CDI and general Java EE alignment with CDI as illistrated by these comments: "Dependency Injection should be standard from now on in EE. It should use CDI as that is the DI mechanism in EE and is quite powerful. Having a new JSR specific DI mechanism to deal with just means more reflection, more proxies. JSRs should also be constructed to allow some of their objects Injectable. @Inject @TransactionalCache or @Inject @JMXBean etc...they should define the annotations and stereotypes to make their code less procedural. Dog food it. If there is a shortcoming in CDI for a JSR fix it and we will all be grateful" "We're trying to make this a comprehensive platform, right? Injection should be a fundamental part of the platform; everything else should build on the same common infrastructure. Each-having-their-own is just a recipe for chaos and having to learn the same thing 10 different ways" Expanding the Use of @Stereotype The fourth question was about expanding CDI @Stereotype to cover annotations across Java EE beyond just CDI. A significant majority of 62.3% developers supported expanding the use of @Stereotype, only 13.3% opposed. A majority of commenters supported the idea as well as the theme of general CDI/Java EE alignment as expressed in these examples: "Just like defining new types for (compositions of) existing classes, stereotypes can help make software development easier" "This is especially important if many EJB services are decoupled from the EJB component model and can be applied via individual annotations to Java EE components. @Stateless is a nicely compact annotation. Code will not improve if that will have to be applied in the future as @Transactional, @Pooled, @Secured, @Singlethreaded, @...." Some, however, expressed concerns around increased complexity such as this commenter: "Could be very convenient, but I'm afraid if it wouldn't make some important class annotations less visible" Expanding Interceptor Use The final set of questions was about expanding interceptors further across Java EE... A very solid 96.3% of developers wanted to expand interceptor use to all Java EE components. 35.7% even wanted to expand interceptors to other Java EE managed classes. Most developers (54.9%) were not sure if there is any place that injection is supported that should not support interceptors. 32.8% thought any place that supports injection should also support interceptors. Only 12.2% were certain that there are places where injection should be supported but not interceptors. The comments reflected the diversity of opinions, generally supportive of interceptors: "I think interceptors are as fundamental as injection and should be available anywhere in the platform" "The whole usage of interceptors still needs to take hold in Java programming, but it is a powerful technology that needs some time in the Sun. Basically it should become part of Java SE, maybe the next step after lambas?" A distinct chain of thought separated interceptors from filters and listeners: "I think that the Servlet API already provides a rich set of possibilities to hook yourself into different Servlet container events. I don't find a need to 'pollute' the Servlet model with the Interceptors API"

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• Problem Implementing Texture on Libgdx Mesh of Randomized Terrain

  - by BrotherJack

  I'm having problems understanding how to apply a texture to a non-rectangular object. The following code creates textures such as this: from the debug renderer I think I've got the physical shape of the "earth" correct. However, I don't know how to apply a texture to it. I have a 50x50 pixel image (in the environment constructor as "dirt.png"), that I want to apply to the hills. I have a vague idea that this seems to involve the mesh class and possibly a ShapeRenderer, but the little i'm finding online is just confusing me. Bellow is code from the class that makes and regulates the terrain and the code in a separate file that is supposed to render it (but crashes on the mesh.render() call). Any pointers would be appreciated. public class Environment extends Actor{ Pixmap sky; public Texture groundTexture; Texture skyTexture; double tankypos; //TODO delete, temp public Tank etank; //TODO delete, temp int destructionRes; // how wide is a static pixel private final float viewWidth; private final float viewHeight; private ChainShape terrain; public Texture dirtTexture; private World world; public Mesh terrainMesh; private static final String LOG = Environment.class.getSimpleName(); // Constructor public Environment(Tank tank, FileHandle sfileHandle, float w, float h, int destructionRes) { world = new World(new Vector2(0, -10), true); this.destructionRes = destructionRes; sky = new Pixmap(sfileHandle); viewWidth = w; viewHeight = h; skyTexture = new Texture(sky); terrain = new ChainShape(); genTerrain((int)w, (int)h, 6); Texture tankSprite = new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("TankSpriteBase.png")); Texture turretSprite = new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("TankSpriteTurret.png")); tank = new Tank(0, true, tankSprite, turretSprite); Rectangle tankrect = new Rectangle(300, (int)tankypos, 44, 45); tank.setRect(tankrect); BodyDef terrainDef = new BodyDef(); terrainDef.type = BodyType.StaticBody; terrainDef.position.set(0, 0); Body terrainBody = world.createBody(terrainDef); FixtureDef fixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); fixtureDef.shape = terrain; terrainBody.createFixture(fixtureDef); BodyDef tankDef = new BodyDef(); Rectangle rect = tank.getRect(); tankDef.type = BodyType.DynamicBody; tankDef.position.set(0,0); tankDef.position.x = rect.x; tankDef.position.y = rect.y; Body tankBody = world.createBody(tankDef); FixtureDef tankFixture = new FixtureDef(); PolygonShape shape = new PolygonShape(); shape.setAsBox(rect.width*WORLD_TO_BOX, rect.height*WORLD_TO_BOX); fixtureDef.shape = shape; dirtTexture = new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("dirt.png")); etank = tank; } private void genTerrain(int w, int h, int hillnessFactor){ int width = w; int height = h; Random rand = new Random(); //min and max bracket the freq's of the sin/cos series //The higher the max the hillier the environment int min = 1; //allocating horizon for screen width Vector2[] horizon = new Vector2[width+2]; horizon[0] = new Vector2(0,0); double[] skyline = new double[width]; //TODO skyline necessary as an array? //ratio of amplitude of screen height to landscape variation double r = (int) 2.0/5.0; //number of terms to be used in sine/cosine series int n = 4; int[] f = new int[n*2]; //calculating omegas for sine series for(int i = 0; i < n*2 ; i ++){ f[i] = rand.nextInt(hillnessFactor - min + 1) + min; } //amp is the amplitude of the series int amp = (int) (r*height); double lastPoint = 0.0; for(int i = 0 ; i < width; i ++){ skyline[i] = 0; for(int j = 0; j < n; j++){ skyline[i] += ( Math.sin( (f[j]*Math.PI*i/height) ) + Math.cos(f[j+n]*Math.PI*i/height) ); } skyline[i] *= amp/(n*2); skyline[i] += (height/2); skyline[i] = (int)skyline[i]; //TODO Possible un-necessary float to int to float conversions tankypos = skyline[i]; horizon[i+1] = new Vector2((float)i, (float)skyline[i]); if(i == width) lastPoint = skyline[i]; } horizon[width+1] = new Vector2(800, (float)lastPoint); terrain.createChain(horizon); terrain.createLoop(horizon); //I have no idea if the following does anything useful :( terrainMesh = new Mesh(true, (width+2)*2, (width+2)*2, new VertexAttribute(Usage.Position, (width+2)*2, "a_position")); float[] vertices = new float[(width+2)*2]; short[] indices = new short[(width+2)*2]; for(int i=0; i < (width+2); i+=2){ vertices[i] = horizon[i].x; vertices[i+1] = horizon[i].y; indices[i] = (short)i; indices[i+1] = (short)(i+1); } terrainMesh.setVertices(vertices); terrainMesh.setIndices(indices); } Here is the code that is (supposed to) render the terrain. @Override public void render(float delta) { Gdx.gl.glClearColor(1, 1, 1, 1); Gdx.gl.glClear(GL10.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT); // tell the camera to update its matrices. camera.update(); // tell the SpriteBatch to render in the // coordinate system specified by the camera. backgroundStage.draw(); backgroundStage.act(delta); uistage.draw(); uistage.act(delta); batch.begin(); debugRenderer.render(this.ground.getWorld(), camera.combined); batch.end(); //Gdx.graphics.getGL10().glEnable(GL10.GL_TEXTURE_2D); ground.dirtTexture.bind(); ground.terrainMesh.render(GL10.GL_TRIANGLE_FAN); //I'm particularly lost on this ground.step(); }

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• Increase moving speed of body

  - by Siddharth

  How to move ball speedily on the screen using box2d in libGDX? public class Box2DDemo implements ApplicationListener { private SpriteBatch batch; private TextureRegion texture; private World world; private Body groundDownBody, groundUpBody, groundLeftBody, groundRightBody, ballBody; private BodyDef groundBodyDef1, groundBodyDef2, groundBodyDef3, groundBodyDef4, ballBodyDef; private PolygonShape groundDownPoly, groundUpPoly, groundLeftPoly, groundRightPoly; private CircleShape ballPoly; private Sprite sprite; private FixtureDef fixtureDef; private Vector2 ballPosition; private Box2DDebugRenderer renderer; Vector2 vector2; @Override public void create() { texture = new TextureRegion(new Texture( Gdx.files.internal("img/red_ring.png"))); sprite = new Sprite(texture); sprite.setOrigin(sprite.getWidth() / 2, sprite.getHeight() / 2); batch = new SpriteBatch(); world = new World(new Vector2(0.0f, -10.0f), false); groundBodyDef1 = new BodyDef(); groundBodyDef1.type = BodyType.StaticBody; groundBodyDef1.position.x = 0.0f; groundBodyDef1.position.y = 0.0f; groundDownBody = world.createBody(groundBodyDef1); groundBodyDef2 = new BodyDef(); groundBodyDef2.type = BodyType.StaticBody; groundBodyDef2.position.x = 0f; groundBodyDef2.position.y = Gdx.graphics.getHeight(); groundUpBody = world.createBody(groundBodyDef2); groundBodyDef3 = new BodyDef(); groundBodyDef3.type = BodyType.StaticBody; groundBodyDef3.position.x = 0f; groundBodyDef3.position.y = 0f; groundLeftBody = world.createBody(groundBodyDef3); groundBodyDef4 = new BodyDef(); groundBodyDef4.type = BodyType.StaticBody; groundBodyDef4.position.x = Gdx.graphics.getWidth(); groundBodyDef4.position.y = 0f; groundRightBody = world.createBody(groundBodyDef4); groundDownPoly = new PolygonShape(); groundDownPoly.setAsBox(480.0f, 10f); fixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); fixtureDef.density = 0f; fixtureDef.restitution = 1f; fixtureDef.friction = 0f; fixtureDef.shape = groundDownPoly; fixtureDef.filter.groupIndex = 0; groundDownBody.createFixture(fixtureDef); groundUpPoly = new PolygonShape(); groundUpPoly.setAsBox(480.0f, 10f); fixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); fixtureDef.friction = 0f; fixtureDef.restitution = 0f; fixtureDef.density = 0f; fixtureDef.shape = groundUpPoly; fixtureDef.filter.groupIndex = 0; groundUpBody.createFixture(fixtureDef); groundLeftPoly = new PolygonShape(); groundLeftPoly.setAsBox(10f, 320f); fixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); fixtureDef.friction = 0f; fixtureDef.restitution = 0f; fixtureDef.density = 0f; fixtureDef.shape = groundLeftPoly; fixtureDef.filter.groupIndex = 0; groundLeftBody.createFixture(fixtureDef); groundRightPoly = new PolygonShape(); groundRightPoly.setAsBox(10f, 320f); fixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); fixtureDef.friction = 0f; fixtureDef.restitution = 0f; fixtureDef.density = 0f; fixtureDef.shape = groundRightPoly; fixtureDef.filter.groupIndex = 0; groundRightBody.createFixture(fixtureDef); ballPoly = new CircleShape(); ballPoly.setRadius(16f); fixtureDef = new FixtureDef(); fixtureDef.shape = ballPoly; fixtureDef.density = 1f; fixtureDef.friction = 1f; fixtureDef.restitution = 1f; ballBodyDef = new BodyDef(); ballBodyDef.type = BodyType.DynamicBody; ballBodyDef.position.x = (int) 200; ballBodyDef.position.y = (int) 200; ballBody = world.createBody(ballBodyDef); // ballBody.setLinearVelocity(200f, 200f); // ballBody.applyLinearImpulse(new Vector2(250f, 250f), // ballBody.getLocalCenter()); ballBody.createFixture(fixtureDef); renderer = new Box2DDebugRenderer(true, false, false); } @Override public void dispose() { ballPoly.dispose(); groundLeftPoly.dispose(); groundUpPoly.dispose(); groundDownPoly.dispose(); groundRightPoly.dispose(); world.destroyBody(ballBody); world.dispose(); } @Override public void pause() { } @Override public void render() { world.step(1f/30f, 3, 3); Gdx.gl.glClearColor(1f, 1f, 1f, 1f); Gdx.gl.glClear(GL10.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT); batch.begin(); vector2 = ballBody.getLinearVelocity(); System.out.println("X=" + vector2.x + " Y=" + vector2.y); ballPosition = ballBody.getPosition(); renderer.render(world,batch.getProjectionMatrix()); // int preX = (int) (vector2.x / Math.abs(vector2.x)); // int preY = (int) (vector2.y / Math.abs(vector2.y)); // // if (Math.abs(vector2.x) == 0.0f) // ballBody1.setLinearVelocity(1.4142137f, vector2.y); // else if (Math.abs(vector2.x) < 1.4142137f) // ballBody1.setLinearVelocity(preX * 5, vector2.y); // // if (Math.abs(vector2.y) == 0.0f) // ballBody1.setLinearVelocity(vector2.x, 1.4142137f); // else if (Math.abs(vector2.y) < 1.4142137f) // ballBody1.setLinearVelocity(vector2.x, preY * 5); batch.draw(sprite, (ballPosition.x - (texture.getRegionWidth() / 2)), (ballPosition.y - (texture.getRegionHeight() / 2))); batch.end(); } @Override public void resize(int arg0, int arg1) { } @Override public void resume() { } } I implement above code but I can not achieve higher moving speed of the ball

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• Rails3 server and bundler error: uninitialized constant Bundler (NameError)

  - by .yandex.rurap-kasta

  I just install rails 3 and all gems that it need, but when I try to start server, it says about problem in boot script. [rap-kasta@acerAspire testR3]$ script/rails server /home/rap-kasta/tmp/testR3/config/boot.rb:7:in `rescue in <top (required)>': uninitialized constant Bundler (NameError) from /home/rap-kasta/tmp/testR3/config/boot.rb:2:in `<top (required)>' from script/rails:9:in `require' from script/rails:9:in `<main> So, I tried to reinstall Bundler, install "pre"-version (but really it has version number lower then i install by gem install bundler Now there are next gems in system: abstract (1.0.0) actionmailer (3.0.0.beta, 2.3.5, 2.3.4) actionpack (3.0.0.beta, 2.3.5, 2.3.4) activemodel (3.0.0.beta) activerecord (3.0.0.beta, 2.3.5, 2.3.4) activeresource (3.0.0.beta, 2.3.5, 2.3.4) activesupport (3.0.0.beta, 2.3.5, 2.3.4) arel (0.2.1, 0.2.pre) builder (2.1.2) bundler (0.9.5) erubis (2.6.5) fxri (0.3.7) fxruby (1.6.20) i18n (0.3.3) jemini (2010.1.24, 2010.1.5) mail (2.1.2) memcache-client (1.7.8) mime-types (1.16) mysql (2.8.1) nifty-generators (0.3.2, 0.3.0) rack (1.1.0, 1.0.1, 1.0.0) rack-mount (0.5.1, 0.4.0) rack-openid (0.2.3, 0.2.2) rack-test (0.5.3) rails (3.0.0.beta, 2.3.5, 2.3.4) railties (3.0.0.beta) rake (0.8.7) rawr (1.3.8) RedCloth (4.2.2) ruby-mysql (3.0.2) ruby-openid (2.1.7) rubygems-update (1.3.5) rubyzip (0.9.4, 0.9.1) rubyzip2 (2.0.1) sqlite3-ruby (1.2.5) text-format (1.0.0) text-hyphen (1.0.0) thor (0.13.2, 0.13.1) tzinfo (0.3.16) Also, there is same error with rails console and similar with bundle check: [rap-kasta@acerAspire testR3]$ bundle check /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/bundler-0.9.5/bin/bundle:12:in `rescue in <top (required)>': uninitialized constant Bundler::BundlerError (NameError) from /usr/lib/ruby/gems/1.9.1/gems/bundler-0.9.5/bin/bundle:10:in `<top (required)>' from /usr/bin/bundle:19:in `load' from /usr/bin/bundle:19:in `<main>'

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• System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80070008): Not enough storage is available to process

  - by Darryl Braaten

  I am trying to diagnose this exception. "System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80070008): Not enough storage is available to process this command. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070008) at System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingServices.AllocateUninitializedObject(RuntimeType objectType) at System.Runtime.Remoting.RemotingServices.AllocateUninitializedObject(Type objectType) at System.Runtime.Remoting.Activation.ActivationServices.CreateInstance(Type serverType) at System.Runtime.Remoting.Activation.ActivationServices.IsCurrentContextOK(Type serverType, Object[] props, Boolean bNewObj) at Oracle.DataAccess.Client.CThreadPool..ctor() at Oracle.DataAccess.Client.OracleCommand.set_CommandTimeout(Int32 value) ... It does not look like any of the normal types of "storage" have hit any limits. The application is using about 400MB of memory, 70 threads, 2000 handles and the hard drive has many GB free. The machine is running Windows 2003 Enterprise server with 16GB of RAM so memory shouldn't be an issue. The application is running as a windows service so there are no GDI objects being used. Running out of GDI handles is a common cause of this exception. Database connections, commands & readers are all all wrapped with using blocks so they should be getting cleaned up correctly.

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• Encryption is hard: AES encryption to Hex

  - by Rob Cameron

  So, I've got an app at work that encrypts a string using ColdFusion. ColdFusion's bulit-in encryption helpers make it pretty simple: encrypt('string_to_encrypt','key','AES','HEX') What I'm trying to do is use Ruby to create the same encrypted string as this ColdFusion script is creating. Unfortunately encryption is the most confusing computer science subject known to man. I found a couple helper methods that use the openssl library and give you a really simple encryption/decryption method. Here's the resulting string: "\370\354D\020\357A\227\377\261G\333\314\204\361\277\250" Which looks unicode-ish to me. I've tried several libraries to convert this to hex but they all say it contains invalid characters. Trying to unpack it results in this: string = "\370\354D\020\357A\227\377\261G\333\314\204\361\277\250" string.unpack('U') ArgumentError: malformed UTF-8 character from (irb):19:in `unpack' from (irb):19 At the end of the day it's supposed to look like this (the output of the ColdFusion encrypt method): F8E91A689565ED24541D2A0109F201EF Of course that's assuming that all the padding, initialization vectors, salts, cypher types and a million other possible differences all line up. Here's the simple script I'm using to encrypt/decrypt: def aes(m,k,t) (aes = OpenSSL::Cipher::Cipher.new('aes-256-cbc').send(m)).key = Digest::SHA256.digest(k) aes.update(t) << aes.final end def encrypt(key, text) aes(:encrypt, key, text) end def decrypt(key, text) aes(:decrypt, key, text) end Any help? Maybe just a simple option I can pass to OpenSSL::Cipher::Cipher that will tell it to hex-encode the final string?

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• WCF ChannelFactory caching

  - by Myles J

  I've just read this great article on WCF ChannelFactory caching by Wenlong Dong. My question is simply how can you actually prove that the ChannelFactory is in fact being cached between calls? I've followed the rules regarding the ClientBase’s constructors. We are using the following overloaded constructor on our object that inherits from ClientBase: ClientBase(string endpointConfigurationName, EndpointAddress remoteAddress); In the article mentioned above it is stated that: For these constructors, all arguments (including default ones) are in the following list: · InstanceContext callbackInstance · string endpointConfigurationName · EndpointAddress remoteAddress As long as these three arguments are the same when ClientBase is constructed, we can safely assume that the same ChannelFactory can be used. Fortunately, String and EndpointAddress types are immutable, i.e., we can make simple comparison to determine whether two arguments are the same. For InstanceContext, we can use Object reference comparison. The type EndpointTrait is thus used as the key of the MRU cache. To test the ChannelFactory cache theory we are checking the Hashcode in the ClientBase constructor e.g. var testHash = RuntimeHelpers.GetHashCode(base.ChannelFactory); The hash value is different between calls which makes us think that the ChannelFactory isn't actually cached. Any thoughts? Regards Myles

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• Make a Perl-style regex interpreter behave like a basic or extended regex interpreter

  - by Barry Brown

  I am writing a tool to help students learn regular expressions. I will probably be writing it in Java. The idea is this: the student types in a regular expression and the tool shows which parts of a text will get matched by the regex. Simple enough. But I want to support several different regex "flavors" such as: Basic regular expressions (think: grep) Extended regular expressions (think: egrep) A subset of Perl regular expressions, including the character classes \w, \s, etc. Sed-style regular expressions Java has the java.util.Regex class, but it supports only Perl-style regular expressions, which is a superset of the basic and extended REs. What I think I need is a way to take any given regular expression and escape the meta-characters that aren't part of a given flavor. Then I could give it to the Regex object and it would behave as if it was written for the selected RE interpreter. For example, given the following regex: ^\w+[0-9]{5}-(\d{4})?$ As a basic regular expression, it would be interpreted as: ^\\w\+[0-9]\{5\}-\(\\d\{4\}\)\?$ As an extended regular expression, it would be: ^\\w+[0-9]{5}-(\\d{4})?$ And as a Perl-style regex, it would be the same as the original expression. Is there a "regular expression for regular expressions" than I could run through a regex search-and-replace to quote the non-meta characters? What else could I do? Are there alternative Java classes I could use?

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• How to Authenticate to Active Directory Services (ADs) using .NET 3.5 / C#

  - by Ranger Pretzel

  After much struggling, I've figured out how to authenticate to my company's Active Directory using just 2 lines of code with the Domain, Username, and Password in .NET 2.0 (in C#): // set domain, username, password, and security parameters DirectoryEntry entry = new DirectoryEntry("LDAP://" + domain, username, password, AuthenticationTypes.Secure | AuthenticationTypes.SecureSocketsLayer); // force Bind to AD server to authenticate object obj = entry.NativeObject; If the 2nd line throws an exception, then the credentials and/or parameters were bad. (Specific reason can be found in the exception.) If no exception, then the credentials are good. Trying to do this in .NET 3.5 looks like it should be easy, but has me at a roadblock instead. Specifically, I've been working with this example: PrincipalContext domainContext = new PrincipalContext(ContextType.Domain, domain); using (domainContext) { return domainContext.ValidateCredentials(UserName, Password); } Unfortunately, this doesn't work for me as I don't have both ContextOptions set to Sealed/Secure and SSL (like I did above in the .NET 2.0 code.) There is an alternate constructor for PrincipalContext that allows setting the ContextOptions, but this also requires supplying a Distinguished Name (DN) of a Container Object and I don't know exactly what mine is or how I would find out. public PrincipalContext(ContextType contextType, string name, string container, ContextOptions options); // container: // The container on the store to use as the root of the context. All queries // are performed under this root, and all inserts are performed into this container. // For System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.ContextType.Domain and System.DirectoryServices.AccountManagement.ContextType.ApplicationDirectory // context types, this parameter is the distinguished name of a container object. Any suggestions?

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