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  • On Linux, can I get 3D acceleration with a Nvidia card w/o X?

    - by anon
    I like Linux. I like OpenGL. I don't like X. On Linux, is there anyway to get 3D acceleration from my Nvidia card without X? Ideally, I'd have the kernel boot, get to a console, then somehow get into a "graphics mode", where my entire monitor is just a single OpenGL screen ... and I draw stuff to it with OpenGL. Without X. Is this possible? Thanks!

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  • Installing ArchLinux into Ubuntu 12.04 root

    - by Johnny
    Is it possible to install 2 linux distros into 1 root, so they share same uuid and guid, configs and packages + same user /home folder ? For example: I have Ubuntu and Windows 7 already in dual boot on my laptop. Could I install Arch's base, base-devel and kernel, so it won't conflict with Ubuntu on the same root folder? P.S I don't feel like repartitioning my drive again, 'cause there's very complicated hierarchy, which occupies the entire disk. =)

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  • File size limit exceeded in bash

    - by yboren
    I have tried this shell script on a SUSE 10 server, kernel 2.6.16.60, ext3 filesystem the script has problem like this: cat file | awk '{print $1" "$2" "$3}' | sort -n > result the file's size is about 3.2G, and I get such error message: File size limit exceeded in this shell, ulimit -f is unlimited after I change script into this cat file | awk '{print $1" "$2" "$3}' >tmp sort -n tmp > result the problem is gone. I don't know why, can anyone help me with an explanation?

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  • Installing Hyper-V Integration Components on Linux

    - by Lance Fisher
    Some big news this week was Microsoft released the Hyper-V integration components for Linux source code under the GPL v2. I just installed Ubuntu Server 9.04 in a Hyper-V VM with a Legacy Network Adapter. How do I install the integration components? Do I have to wait until they are included in the kernel?

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  • VLAN issues between linux kernels 2.6 / 3.3 in an ESX / Cisco environment

    - by David Griffith
    I shall attempt to explain an issue I have encountered - I have a VM running on esx 4.1 with an interface connected to VLAN800 via an access port on a cisco 3750. It runs linux - kernel 2.6.24, and has about 5 to 10 Mbit of chatter on 10.10.0.0/16 and various multicast addresses to look after. I needed to isolate certain devices from certain other devices on the network, with all of them having to talk to that one VM. No, the address space can't be separated, nor can the networks be easily vlan'd apart. The software on the VM listens to one interface only. Private vlans appear to be the way to go. So as a test, I built a bridge on the VM that globs together the vlans as needed. All good, everything works as expected. But occasionally (sigh) there's some latency that trips up a couple of profinet devices on the network because, you know, you're not really supposed to trunk real-time protocols around the place willy-nilly. I shift it to our test/backup server - works nicely, but I don't want it to be running on the test server as we muck around with that a lot. So I says to myself, "I'll put it on a new VM for testing and tweaking." I download a small linux distro with kernel 3.3, and install as a new VM with a the vlans as separate interfaces for testing. I power up the testing VM - ok. I bring up all the separate interfaces - ok. I can ping the production VM, see all sorts of traffic going past with tshark, etc. I build a bridge and put the primary vlan on it - the production VM running 2.6 immediately loses its multicast traffic - Unicast is fine. (?) I shut down the bridge - still no multicast traffic (!?) I power-cycle the production VM(!?!?) - multicast traffic returns. I trunk everything into the testing VM and create vlan interfaces under linux instead - same result, as soon as I start the bridge.... no multicast on the production VM. Ok, so I take a break and leave things alone. I decide to play with a couple of ubiquiti bullet radios - I'm testing various firmware as a side project. I flash a radio with Open-wrt-12.09. I enable a trunk on a port on a cisco on our network so I can muck around with multiple vlans and SSIDs I power up the radio and connect - ok. I create a vlan interface from the trunk.... the same vlan as the production VM wayyyyy over there, three cisco routers away. Ok. I bridge the vlan interface to the wifi interface and immediately get a phone call. The production VM has (suprise!) lost its multicast traffic. Again, nothing comes back until I power-cycle the VM. What the hell is going on?

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  • Monitor number of bytes transferred to/from IP address on port.

    - by Mike
    Can anyone recommend a linux command line tool to monitor the number of bytes transferred between the local server and a specified IP address/port. The equivalent tcpdump command would be: tcpdump -s 0 -i any -w mycapture.trc port 80 host google.com which outputs : 46 packets captured 131 packets received by filter 0 packets dropped by kernel I'd like something similar that outputs: 54 bytes out, 176 bytes in I'd like it to work on RHEL and be free/open-source. It would be good if there was an existing tool which I was just missing too!

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  • Linux software RAID6: 3 drives offline - how to force online?

    - by Ole Tange
    This is similar to 3 drives fell out of Raid6 mdadm - rebuilding? except that it is not due to a failing cable. Instead the 3rd drive fell offline during rebuild of another drive. The drive failed with: kernel: end_request: I/O error, dev sdc, sector 293732432 kernel: md/raid:md0: read error not correctable (sector 293734224 on sdc). After rebooting both these sectors and the sectors around them are fine. This leads me to believe the error is intermittent and thus the device simply took too long to error correct the sector and remap it. I expect that no data was written to the RAID after it failed. Therefore I hope that if I can kick the last failing device online that the RAID is fine and that the xfs_filesystem is OK, maybe with a few missing recent files. Taking a backup of the disks in the RAID takes 24 hours, so I would prefer that the solution works the first time. I have therefore set up a test scenario: export PRE=3 parallel dd if=/dev/zero of=/tmp/raid${PRE}{} bs=1k count=1000k ::: 1 2 3 4 5 parallel mknod /dev/loop${PRE}{} b 7 ${PRE}{} \; losetup /dev/loop${PRE}{} /tmp/raid${PRE}{} ::: 1 2 3 4 5 mdadm --create /dev/md$PRE -c 4096 --level=6 --raid-devices=5 /dev/loop${PRE}[12345] cat /proc/mdstat mkfs.xfs -f /dev/md$PRE mkdir -p /mnt/disk2 umount -l /mnt/disk2 mount /dev/md$PRE /mnt/disk2 seq 1000 | parallel -j1 mkdir -p /mnt/disk2/{}\;cp /bin/* /mnt/disk2/{}\;sleep 0.5 & mdadm --fail /dev/md$PRE /dev/loop${PRE}3 /dev/loop${PRE}4 cat /proc/mdstat # Assume reboot so no process is using the dir kill %1; sync & kill %1; sync & # Force fail one too many mdadm --fail /dev/md$PRE /dev/loop${PRE}1 parallel --tag -k mdadm -E ::: /dev/loop${PRE}? | grep Upda # loop 2,5 are newest. loop1 almost newest => force add loop1 Next step is to add loop1 back - and this is where I am stuck. After that do a xfs-consistency check. When that works, check that the solution also works on real devices (such a 4 USB sticks).

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  • How to disable Skype from using system tray (notification area) on Linux?

    - by Ivan
    I use AWN dock on Linux (which behaves much like Windows 7 panes, using one icon for launching an application and managing its windows). It loses Skype (as well as any other application) when it goes minimized to system tray (notification area). Can I disable Skype from minimizing to system tray favouring Win7-like behaviour? Skype version I use is 2.1 beta, but I would not mind reinstalling it in favour of another version. I use Arch Linux with all the latest kernel, x.org and xfce.

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  • Does QEMU's performance (still) lag VirtualBox's and is there a way to improve it without kvm?

    - by Catskul
    I've noticed several articles that have claimed that QEMU is slower than VirtualBox (without hardware assistance) but several are years old, and the newest seemed to be from last year. Is it true that QEMU is slower than VirtualBox? If so why? Are there any tricks to close the performance gap? Some of my host systems do not have virtualization support so I'm especially interested in performance tips that work without the kernel module.

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  • Google Chrome 20 fails to start in ubuntu 12.04

    - by criziot
    Several days ago Google Chrome stoped working after an update. If I start it in the terminal I can see the following output: [6:6:4528137750:FATAL:sandbox_init_linux.cc(378)] prctl(PR_SET_NO_NEW_PRIVS) failed: Invalid argument Any idea how to solve this? Chrome version: 20.0.1132.47 Ubuntu: 12.04 x64 Kernel: 3.2.0-21-generic #34-Ubuntu EDIT: It is possible to start chrome with --no-sandbox switch.

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  • Can a hard poweroff / outage / crash corrupt VMware snapshots?

    - by basic6
    Assuming a host system is running virtual machines (in VMware Workstation) and all their data is on a reliable storage (so no data corruption due to hdd failure). If that host crashes (kernel panic) while a vm is running, files on the virtual filesystem could be corrupted. But there's a snapshot (of the vm), taken before the crash. Is it safe to assume that reverting to the snapshot, the vm will be back in a clean state - or is there any way that this snapshot could have been corrupted by the crash?

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  • Two network cards latency

    - by Ross W
    I'm trying to setup a network architecture where one network is a low-latency low-bandwidth tcp control system (GBit), the other is a high-bandwidth udp (maybe tcp) network that could get saturated (GBit). If I have two NICs inside a server running Linux. What happens to the low-bandwidth/low-latency network when the high-bandwidth gets saturated. Does each Ethernet card get the same amount of priority inside the kernel or would the low-latency network suffer from the high-bandwidth being saturated?

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  • HP ProLiant DL380 G3 Running Windows Server 2000 has crashed between 6-7:30am for the past 5 days

    - by user109717
    I have a HP ProLiant DL380 G3 running Windows Server 2000 that has been crashing everyday between 6-730am. This started when I changed out a failing hard drive 6 days ago. I have looked at the scheduled tasks which does not have anything pertaining to this issue. Below are the only things I see in the system log and some of the dump files. Can this be a hardware issue if this happens at a certain time frame everyday? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks The previous system shutdown at 6:07:55 AM on 2/7/2012 was unexpected. System Information Agent: Health: The server is operational again. The server has previously been shutdown by the Automatic Server Recovery (ASR) feature and has just become operational again. [SNMP TRAP: 6025 in CPQHLTH.MIB] BugCheck 7A, {3, c0000005, 3400028, 0} Probably caused by : memory_corruption ( nt!MiMakeSystemAddressValidPfn+42 ) Followup: MachineOwner 0: kd !analyze -v * Bugcheck Analysis * * KERNEL_DATA_INPAGE_ERROR (7a) The requested page of kernel data could not be read in. Typically caused by a bad block in the paging file or disk controller error. Also see KERNEL_STACK_INPAGE_ERROR. If the error status is 0xC000000E, 0xC000009C, 0xC000009D or 0xC0000185, it means the disk subsystem has experienced a failure. If the error status is 0xC000009A, then it means the request failed because a filesystem failed to make forward progress. Arguments: Arg1: 00000003, lock type that was held (value 1,2,3, or PTE address) Arg2: c0000005, error status (normally i/o status code) Arg3: 03400028, current process (virtual address for lock type 3, or PTE) Arg4: 00000000, virtual address that could not be in-paged (or PTE contents if arg1 is a PTE address) MODULE_NAME: nt IMAGE_NAME: memory_corruption BugCheck A, {0, 2, 1, 804137d6} Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe ( nt!CcGetVirtualAddress+ba ) * Bugcheck Analysis * * IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (a) An attempt was made to access a pageable (or completely invalid) address at an interrupt request level (IRQL) that is too high. This is usually caused by drivers using improper addresses. If a kernel debugger is available get the stack backtrace. Arguments: Arg1: 00000000, memory referenced Arg2: 00000002, IRQL Arg3: 00000001, bitfield : bit 0 : value 0 = read operation, 1 = write operation bit 3 : value 0 = not an execute operation, 1 = execute operation (only on chips which support this level of status) Arg4: 804137d6, address which referenced memory MODULE_NAME: nt IMAGE_NAME: ntkrnlmp.exe

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  • constantly crash on video card

    - by Jason Paddle
    I have this problem with my graphic-card(video card). Video card constantly crash because driver stopped. This is the massage that i get: Display driver stopped responding and has recovered. Display driver NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver , Version 285.62 stopped responding and has successfully recovered. Video card : MSI GTX470 Twin Frozr Motherboard:Asus P8Z68 V-Pro Tried reinstalling drivers but doesn't help. Any ideas what can be ?

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  • Ruby on Rails tutorial problem

    - by RailAddict
    Quick question which I hope is easily answered.. I am following this tutorial: http://oreilly.com/pub/a/ruby/archive/rails.html?page=2 and all is going well until I try create a controller and view it in my browser. The server is running and it shows the default page okay (http://127.0.0.1:3000). I ran ruby script\generate controller MyTest in my command line and it generated the correct folders and files. The problem is, when I go to http://127.0.0.1:3000/My%5FTest/ it says: We're sorry, but something went wrong. We've been notified about this issue and we'll take a look at it shortly. This must be something I have overlooked somewhere. Any help is appreciated! ruby 1.8.6 rails 2.3.4 Just checked my development logs. Here is what it says: /!\ FAILSAFE /!\ Thu Sep 24 02:21:04 +0100 2009 Status: 500 Internal Server Error no such file to load -- sqlite3 C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in gem_original_require' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in require' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.4/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:156:in require' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.4/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:521:in new_constants_in' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.4/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:156:in require' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.4/lib/active_support/core_ext/kernel/requires.rb:7:in require_library_or_gem' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.4/lib/active_support/core_ext/kernel/reporting.rb:11:in silence_warnings' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activesupport-2.3.4/lib/active_support/core_ext/kernel/requires.rb:5:in require_library_or_gem' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/sqlite3_adapter.rb:10:in sqlite3_connection' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:223:in send' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:223:in new_connection' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:245:in checkout_new_connection' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:188:in checkout' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:184:in loop' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:184:in checkout' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/monitor.rb:242:in synchronize' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:183:in checkout' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:98:in connection' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:326:in retrieve_connection' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_specification.rb:123:in retrieve_connection' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_specification.rb:115:in connection' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/query_cache.rb:9:in cache' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/query_cache.rb:28:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/activerecord-2.3.4/lib/active_record/connection_adapters/abstract/connection_pool.rb:361:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rack-1.0.0/lib/rack/head.rb:9:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rack-1.0.0/lib/rack/methodoverride.rb:24:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.4/lib/action_controller/params_parser.rb:15:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.4/lib/action_controller/session/cookie_store.rb:93:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.4/lib/action_controller/failsafe.rb:26:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rack-1.0.0/lib/rack/lock.rb:11:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rack-1.0.0/lib/rack/lock.rb:11:in synchronize' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rack-1.0.0/lib/rack/lock.rb:11:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.4/lib/action_controller/dispatcher.rb:114:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.4/lib/action_controller/reloader.rb:34:in run' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/actionpack-2.3.4/lib/action_controller/dispatcher.rb:108:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-2.3.4/lib/rails/rack/static.rb:31:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rack-1.0.0/lib/rack/urlmap.rb:46:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rack-1.0.0/lib/rack/urlmap.rb:40:in each' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rack-1.0.0/lib/rack/urlmap.rb:40:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-2.3.4/lib/rails/rack/log_tailer.rb:17:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rack-1.0.0/lib/rack/content_length.rb:13:in call' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rack-1.0.0/lib/rack/handler/webrick.rb:46:in service' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/httpserver.rb:104:in service' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/httpserver.rb:65:in run' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:173:in start_thread' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:162:in start' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:162:in start_thread' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:95:in start' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:92:in each' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:92:in start' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:23:in start' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/1.8/webrick/server.rb:82:in start' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rack-1.0.0/lib/rack/handler/webrick.rb:13:in run' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/gems/1.8/gems/rails-2.3.4/lib/commands/server.rb:111 C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in gem_original_require' C:/Ruby/lib/ruby/site_ruby/1.8/rubygems/custom_require.rb:31:in `require' script/server:3 I have no idea what this means but one thing I noticed is that it says sqlite3 - I am not using that. I am using MySql. Not sure if this is the problem..

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  • How to find an entry-level job after you already have a graduate degree?

    - by Uri
    Note: I asked this question in early 2009. A couple of months later, I found a great job. I've previously updated this question with some tips for whoever ends up in a similar situation, and now cleaned it up a little for the benefit of the fresh batch of graduates. Original post: In my early 20s I abandoned a great C++ development career path in a major company to go to graduate school and get a research masters (3 years). I did another year in industrial research, and then moved to the US to attend graduate school again, getting another masters and a Ph.D in software engineering from a top school (another 6 years down the drain). I was coding the whole way throughout my degrees (core Java and Eclipse plug-ins) and working on research related to software engineering (usability of APIs). I ended up graduating the year of the recession, with a son on the way and the prospects of no healthcare. Academic jobs and industrial research jobs are quite scarce. Initially, I was naive, thinking that with my background, I could easily find a coding job. Big mistake. It turns out that I'm in a complicated position. Entry level positions are usually offered to college undergraduates. I attended my school's career fairs, but you could immediately see signs of Ph.D. aversion and overqualification issues. Some of the recruiters I spoke with explicitly told me that they wanted 20 year olds with clean slates, and some were looking for interns since they are in various forms of hiring freezes. I managed to get a couple of interviews from these career fairs and through recruiters. However, since I've been out of school for a long time and programming primarily in Java, I am also no longer proficient in C/C++ and the usual range of college-level interview questions that everyone uses. I had no problems with this when I was 19 and interviewing for my first job since a lot of what you do in C is manipulate pointers and I was coding C++ for fun and for school. Later I was routinely doing pointer manipulation on the job, and during my first masters taught college courses with data structures and C++. But even though I remember many properties of C++ well, it's been close to ten years since I regularly used C++ and pointers. As a Java developer I rarely had to work at this level, but experience in OOD and in writing good maintainable code is meaningless for C++ interviews. Reading books as a refresh and looking at sample code did not do the trick. I also looked at mid-to-senior level Java positions, but most of them focused on J2EE APIs rather than on core Java and required a certain number of years in industrial positions. Coding research tools and prior C++ experience doesn't count. So that sends me back to entry-level jobs that are posted through job-boards, and these are not common (mostly they are Monster junk), and small companies are even less likely to answer a Ph.D. compared to the giants who participate in top-10 career fairs. Even worse, in many companies initial screening is done by HR folks who really don't want to deal with anything anomalous like a Ph.D. Any tips on how I should approach this intractable position? For example, what should I write in cover letters? Note that while immigration is not an issue for me, I cannot go freelance as I need the benefits (and in particular group health insurance). During my studies I had no time to contribute to open-source projects or maintain a popular blog, so even if I invested in that now there would be no immediate benefit. Updates: In the two months after posting this I received several offers to work as a core Java developer in the financial industry and accepted one from a firm where I am working to this day. For those who find themselves in similar situations, here are my tips: Give up on trying to find an entry level positions. You can't undo time. Accept the fact that there is Ph.D. discrimination in the job market (some might say rightfully so). It is legal to discriminate based on education. No point fighting it. The most important tip is to focus on the language you are comfortable with. The sad truth about programming in a particular language is that it is not like riding a bike. If you haven't used a language in the last few years, and can't actually apply it routinely (not just as a refresher) before you start your search, it is going to be very difficult to do well in an interview. Now that I'm interviewing others, I routinely see it in folks with a mixed C++/Java background. We maintain "a shadow" of the old language but end up with a weird mix that makes it hard to interview on either. Entry-level folks are at an advantage here since they usually have one language. Memory can help you do great in a screening interview, but without recent day-to-day experience, code tests will be difficult. Despite the supposed relation, core Java programming and J2EE programming are two different things with different skillsets. If you come from academia, you likely have very little J2EE experience and may find it hard to get accepted for a J2EE job. J2EE jobs seem to have a larger list of acronyms in their requirements. In addition, from interviewing J2EE developers it seems that for many there is a focus on mastering specific APIs and architectures, whereas core Java development tends to be secondary. In the same way that I can no longer manipulate pointers well, a J2EE developer may have difficulties doing low level Java manipulation. This puts you at a relative advantage in competing for core Java jobs! If you are able to work for startups (in terms of family life and stability) or migrate to startup-rich areas such as the west coast, you can find many exciting opportunities where advanced degrees are a benefit. I've since been approached by several startups, although I had to decline. Work through a recruiter if possible. They have direct contacts with the hiring parties, allowing you to "stand out". It is better to get a clear yes/no confirmation from a recruiter on whether a company might be interested in interviewing you, than it is to send your resume and hope that someone will ever see it. Recruiters are also a great way of bypassing HR. However, also beware of recruiters. They have a vested interest and will go to various shady practices and pressure tactics. To find a good recruiter, talk to a friend who declined a job offer he got through a recruiter. A good recruiter, to me, is measured in how they handle that. Interview for the jobs that require your core strength. If you're rusty or entirely unfamiliar with a technology around which the job revolves, you're probably not a good match. Yes, you probably have the talent to master them, but most companies would want "instant gratification". I got my offers from companies that wanted core Java developer. I didn't do well on places that wanted advance C++ because I am too rusty and not up to date on recent libraries. I also didn't hear from companies that wanted lots of J2EE experience, and that's ok. Finding companies that want core Java without web is harder, but exists in specific industries (e.g., finance, defense). This requires a lot more legwork in terms of search, but these jobs do exist. There are different interview styles. Some companies focus on puzzles, some companies focus on algorithms, and some companies focus on design and coding skills. I had the most success in places where the questions were the most related to the function I would have been performing. Pick companies accordingly as well.

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  • Assembly - Read next sector of a virtual disk

    - by ali
    As any programmer in the world at least once in his/her life, I am trying to create my "revolutionary", the new and only one operating system. :D Well, I am using a virtual emulator (Oracle VM Virtual Box), for which I create a new unknwon operating system, with a vmdk disk. I like vmdk because they are just plain files, so I can paste my boot-loader over the first 512 bytes of the virtual hard disk. Now, I am trying to read the next sector of this virtual disk, on which I would paste a simple kernel that would display a message. I have two questions: Am I reading the second segment (the first -512 bytes- is occupied by the bootloader) correctly? CODE: CitesteDisc: mov bx, 0x8000 ; segment mov es, bx mov bx, 0x0000 ; offset mov ah, 0x02 ; read function mov al, 0x01 ; sectors - this might be wrong, trying to read from hd mov ch, 0x00 ; cylinder mov cl, 0x02 ; sector mov dh, 0x00 ; head mov dl, 0x80 ; drive - trying to read from hd int 0x13 ; disk int mov si, ErrorMessage ; - This will display an error message jc ShowMessage jmp [es:bx] ; buffer Here, I get the error message, after checking CF. However, if I use INT 13, 1 to get last status message, AL is 0 - so no error is saved. Am I pasting my simple kernel in the correct place inside the vmdk? What I do is pasting it after the 512th byte of the file, the first 512 bytes, as I said, are the boot-loader. The file would look like this: BE 45 7C E8 16 00 EB FE B4 0E B7 00 B3 07 CD 10 <- First sector C3 AC 08 C0 74 05 E8 EF FF EB F6 C3 B4 00 B2 80 CD 13 BE 5D 7C 72 F5 BB 00 80 8E C3 BB 00 00 B4 02 B0 06 B5 00 B1 01 B6 00 B2 07 CD 13 BE 4E 7C 72 CF 26 FF 27 57 65 6C 63 6F 6D 65 21 00 52 65 61 64 69 6E 67 20 65 72 72 6F 72 21 00 52 65 73 65 74 74 69 6E 67 20 65 72 72 6F 72 21 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 AA <- Boot-loader signature B4 0E B0 2E CD 10 EB FE 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 <- Start of the second sector 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 So, this is the way I am trying to add the kernel to the second sector. What do you think is wrong with this? Thanks!

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  • segmentation fault using BaseCode encryption

    - by Natasha Thapa
    i took the code from the links below to encrypt and decrypt a text but i get segmentation fault when trying to run this any ideas?? http://etutorials.org/Programming/secure+programming/Chapter+4.+Symmetric+Cryptography+Fundamentals/4.5+Performing+Base64+Encoding/ http://etutorials.org/Programming/secure+programming/Chapter+4.+Symmetric+Cryptography+Fundamentals/4.6+Performing+Base64+Decoding/ #include <stdlib.h> #include <string.h> #include <stdio.h> static char b64revtb[256] = { -3, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, /*0-15*/ -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, /*16-31*/ -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 62, -1, -1, -1, 63, /*32-47*/ 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, -1, -1, -1, -2, -1, -1, /*48-63*/ -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, /*64-79*/ 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, /*80-95*/ -1, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, /*96-111*/ 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, /*112-127*/ -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, /*128-143*/ -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, /*144-159*/ -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, /*160-175*/ -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, /*176-191*/ -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, /*192-207*/ -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, /*208-223*/ -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, /*224-239*/ -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1 /*240-255*/ }; unsigned char *spc_base64_encode( unsigned char *input , size_t len , int wrap ) ; unsigned char *spc_base64_decode(unsigned char *buf, size_t *len, int strict, int *err); static unsigned int raw_base64_decode(unsigned char *in, unsigned char *out, int strict, int *err); unsigned char *tmbuf = NULL; static char tmpbuffer[] ={0}; int main(void) { memset( tmpbuffer, NULL, sizeof( tmpbuffer ) ); sprintf( tmpbuffer, "%s:%s" , "username", "password" ); tmbuf = spc_base64_encode( (unsigned char *)tmpbuffer , strlen( tmpbuffer ), 0 ); printf(" The text %s has been encrytped to %s \n", tmpbuffer, tmbuf ); unsigned char *decrypt = NULL; int strict; int *err; decrypt = spc_base64_decode( tmbuf , strlen( tmbuf ), 0, err ); printf(" The text %s has been decrytped to %s \n", tmbuf , decrypt); } static char b64table[64] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ" "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" "0123456789+/"; /* Accepts a binary buffer with an associated size. * Returns a base64 encoded, NULL-terminated string. */ unsigned char *spc_base64_encode(unsigned char *input, size_t len, int wrap) { unsigned char *output, *p; size_t i = 0, mod = len % 3, toalloc; toalloc = (len / 3) * 4 + (3 - mod) % 3 + 1; if (wrap) { toalloc += len / 57; if (len % 57) toalloc++; } p = output = (unsigned char *)malloc(((len / 3) + (mod ? 1 : 0)) * 4 + 1); if (!p) return 0; while (i < len - mod) { *p++ = b64table[input[i++] >> 2]; *p++ = b64table[((input[i - 1] << 4) | (input[i] >> 4)) & 0x3f]; *p++ = b64table[((input[i] << 2) | (input[i + 1] >> 6)) & 0x3f]; *p++ = b64table[input[i + 1] & 0x3f]; i += 2; if (wrap && !(i % 57)) *p++ = '\n'; } if (!mod) { if (wrap && i % 57) *p++ = '\n'; *p = 0; return output; } else { *p++ = b64table[input[i++] >> 2]; *p++ = b64table[((input[i - 1] << 4) | (input[i] >> 4)) & 0x3f]; if (mod = = 1) { *p++ = '='; *p++ = '='; if (wrap) *p++ = '\n'; *p = 0; return output; } else { *p++ = b64table[(input[i] << 2) & 0x3f]; *p++ = '='; if (wrap) *p++ = '\n'; *p = 0; return output; } } } static unsigned int raw_base64_decode(unsigned char *in, unsigned char *out, int strict, int *err) { unsigned int result = 0, x; unsigned char buf[3], *p = in, pad = 0; *err = 0; while (!pad) { switch ((x = b64revtb[*p++])) { case -3: /* NULL TERMINATOR */ if (((p - 1) - in) % 4) *err = 1; return result; case -2: /* PADDING CHARACTER. INVALID HERE */ if (((p - 1) - in) % 4 < 2) { *err = 1; return result; } else if (((p - 1) - in) % 4 == 2) { /* Make sure there's appropriate padding */ if (*p != '=') { *err = 1; return result; } buf[2] = 0; pad = 2; result++; break; } else { pad = 1; result += 2; break; } case -1: if (strict) { *err = 2; return result; } break; default: switch (((p - 1) - in) % 4) { case 0: buf[0] = x << 2; break; case 1: buf[0] |= (x >> 4); buf[1] = x << 4; break; case 2: buf[1] |= (x >> 2); buf[2] = x << 6; break; case 3: buf[2] |= x; result += 3; for (x = 0; x < 3 - pad; x++) *out++ = buf[x]; break; } break; } } for (x = 0; x < 3 - pad; x++) *out++ = buf[x]; return result; } /* If err is non-zero on exit, then there was an incorrect padding error. We * allocate enough space for all circumstances, but when there is padding, or * there are characters outside the character set in the string (which we are * supposed to ignore), then we end up allocating too much space. You can * realloc() to the correct length if you wish. */ unsigned char *spc_base64_decode(unsigned char *buf, size_t *len, int strict, int *err) { unsigned char *outbuf; outbuf = (unsigned char *)malloc(3 * (strlen(buf) / 4 + 1)); if (!outbuf) { *err = -3; *len = 0; return 0; } *len = raw_base64_decode(buf, outbuf, strict, err); if (*err) { free(outbuf); *len = 0; outbuf = 0; } return outbuf; }

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  • A way of doing real-world test-driven development (and some thoughts about it)

    - by Thomas Weller
    Lately, I exchanged some arguments with Derick Bailey about some details of the red-green-refactor cycle of the Test-driven development process. In short, the issue revolved around the fact that it’s not enough to have a test red or green, but it’s also important to have it red or green for the right reasons. While for me, it’s sufficient to initially have a NotImplementedException in place, Derick argues that this is not totally correct (see these two posts: Red/Green/Refactor, For The Right Reasons and Red For The Right Reason: Fail By Assertion, Not By Anything Else). And he’s right. But on the other hand, I had no idea how his insights could have any practical consequence for my own individual interpretation of the red-green-refactor cycle (which is not really red-green-refactor, at least not in its pure sense, see the rest of this article). This made me think deeply for some days now. In the end I found out that the ‘right reason’ changes in my understanding depending on what development phase I’m in. To make this clear (at least I hope it becomes clear…) I started to describe my way of working in some detail, and then something strange happened: The scope of the article slightly shifted from focusing ‘only’ on the ‘right reason’ issue to something more general, which you might describe as something like  'Doing real-world TDD in .NET , with massive use of third-party add-ins’. This is because I feel that there is a more general statement about Test-driven development to make:  It’s high time to speak about the ‘How’ of TDD, not always only the ‘Why’. Much has been said about this, and me myself also contributed to that (see here: TDD is not about testing, it's about how we develop software). But always justifying what you do is very unsatisfying in the long run, it is inherently defensive, and it costs time and effort that could be used for better and more important things. And frankly: I’m somewhat sick and tired of repeating time and again that the test-driven way of software development is highly preferable for many reasons - I don’t want to spent my time exclusively on stating the obvious… So, again, let’s say it clearly: TDD is programming, and programming is TDD. Other ways of programming (code-first, sometimes called cowboy-coding) are exceptional and need justification. – I know that there are many people out there who will disagree with this radical statement, and I also know that it’s not a description of the real world but more of a mission statement or something. But nevertheless I’m absolutely sure that in some years this statement will be nothing but a platitude. Side note: Some parts of this post read as if I were paid by Jetbrains (the manufacturer of the ReSharper add-in – R#), but I swear I’m not. Rather I think that Visual Studio is just not production-complete without it, and I wouldn’t even consider to do professional work without having this add-in installed... The three parts of a software component Before I go into some details, I first should describe my understanding of what belongs to a software component (assembly, type, or method) during the production process (i.e. the coding phase). Roughly, I come up with the three parts shown below:   First, we need to have some initial sort of requirement. This can be a multi-page formal document, a vague idea in some programmer’s brain of what might be needed, or anything in between. In either way, there has to be some sort of requirement, be it explicit or not. – At the C# micro-level, the best way that I found to formulate that is to define interfaces for just about everything, even for internal classes, and to provide them with exhaustive xml comments. The next step then is to re-formulate these requirements in an executable form. This is specific to the respective programming language. - For C#/.NET, the Gallio framework (which includes MbUnit) in conjunction with the ReSharper add-in for Visual Studio is my toolset of choice. The third part then finally is the production code itself. It’s development is entirely driven by the requirements and their executable formulation. This is the delivery, the two other parts are ‘only’ there to make its production possible, to give it a decent quality and reliability, and to significantly reduce related costs down the maintenance timeline. So while the first two parts are not really relevant for the customer, they are very important for the developer. The customer (or in Scrum terms: the Product Owner) is not interested at all in how  the product is developed, he is only interested in the fact that it is developed as cost-effective as possible, and that it meets his functional and non-functional requirements. The rest is solely a matter of the developer’s craftsmanship, and this is what I want to talk about during the remainder of this article… An example To demonstrate my way of doing real-world TDD, I decided to show the development of a (very) simple Calculator component. The example is deliberately trivial and silly, as examples always are. I am totally aware of the fact that real life is never that simple, but I only want to show some development principles here… The requirement As already said above, I start with writing down some words on the initial requirement, and I normally use interfaces for that, even for internal classes - the typical question “intf or not” doesn’t even come to mind. I need them for my usual workflow and using them automatically produces high componentized and testable code anyway. To think about their usage in every single situation would slow down the production process unnecessarily. So this is what I begin with: namespace Calculator {     /// <summary>     /// Defines a very simple calculator component for demo purposes.     /// </summary>     public interface ICalculator     {         /// <summary>         /// Gets the result of the last successful operation.         /// </summary>         /// <value>The last result.</value>         /// <remarks>         /// Will be <see langword="null" /> before the first successful operation.         /// </remarks>         double? LastResult { get; }       } // interface ICalculator   } // namespace Calculator So, I’m not beginning with a test, but with a sort of code declaration - and still I insist on being 100% test-driven. There are three important things here: Starting this way gives me a method signature, which allows to use IntelliSense and AutoCompletion and thus eliminates the danger of typos - one of the most regular, annoying, time-consuming, and therefore expensive sources of error in the development process. In my understanding, the interface definition as a whole is more of a readable requirement document and technical documentation than anything else. So this is at least as much about documentation than about coding. The documentation must completely describe the behavior of the documented element. I normally use an IoC container or some sort of self-written provider-like model in my architecture. In either case, I need my components defined via service interfaces anyway. - I will use the LinFu IoC framework here, for no other reason as that is is very simple to use. The ‘Red’ (pt. 1)   First I create a folder for the project’s third-party libraries and put the LinFu.Core dll there. Then I set up a test project (via a Gallio project template), and add references to the Calculator project and the LinFu dll. Finally I’m ready to write the first test, which will look like the following: namespace Calculator.Test {     [TestFixture]     public class CalculatorTest     {         private readonly ServiceContainer container = new ServiceContainer();           [Test]         public void CalculatorLastResultIsInitiallyNull()         {             ICalculator calculator = container.GetService<ICalculator>();               Assert.IsNull(calculator.LastResult);         }       } // class CalculatorTest   } // namespace Calculator.Test       This is basically the executable formulation of what the interface definition states (part of). Side note: There’s one principle of TDD that is just plain wrong in my eyes: I’m talking about the Red is 'does not compile' thing. How could a compiler error ever be interpreted as a valid test outcome? I never understood that, it just makes no sense to me. (Or, in Derick’s terms: this reason is as wrong as a reason ever could be…) A compiler error tells me: Your code is incorrect, but nothing more.  Instead, the ‘Red’ part of the red-green-refactor cycle has a clearly defined meaning to me: It means that the test works as intended and fails only if its assumptions are not met for some reason. Back to our Calculator. When I execute the above test with R#, the Gallio plugin will give me this output: So this tells me that the test is red for the wrong reason: There’s no implementation that the IoC-container could load, of course. So let’s fix that. With R#, this is very easy: First, create an ICalculator - derived type:        Next, implement the interface members: And finally, move the new class to its own file: So far my ‘work’ was six mouse clicks long, the only thing that’s left to do manually here, is to add the Ioc-specific wiring-declaration and also to make the respective class non-public, which I regularly do to force my components to communicate exclusively via interfaces: This is what my Calculator class looks like as of now: using System; using LinFu.IoC.Configuration;   namespace Calculator {     [Implements(typeof(ICalculator))]     internal class Calculator : ICalculator     {         public double? LastResult         {             get             {                 throw new NotImplementedException();             }         }     } } Back to the test fixture, we have to put our IoC container to work: [TestFixture] public class CalculatorTest {     #region Fields       private readonly ServiceContainer container = new ServiceContainer();       #endregion // Fields       #region Setup/TearDown       [FixtureSetUp]     public void FixtureSetUp()     {        container.LoadFrom(AppDomain.CurrentDomain.BaseDirectory, "Calculator.dll");     }       ... Because I have a R# live template defined for the setup/teardown method skeleton as well, the only manual coding here again is the IoC-specific stuff: two lines, not more… The ‘Red’ (pt. 2) Now, the execution of the above test gives the following result: This time, the test outcome tells me that the method under test is called. And this is the point, where Derick and I seem to have somewhat different views on the subject: Of course, the test still is worthless regarding the red/green outcome (or: it’s still red for the wrong reasons, in that it gives a false negative). But as far as I am concerned, I’m not really interested in the test outcome at this point of the red-green-refactor cycle. Rather, I only want to assert that my test actually calls the right method. If that’s the case, I will happily go on to the ‘Green’ part… The ‘Green’ Making the test green is quite trivial. Just make LastResult an automatic property:     [Implements(typeof(ICalculator))]     internal class Calculator : ICalculator     {         public double? LastResult { get; private set; }     }         One more round… Now on to something slightly more demanding (cough…). Let’s state that our Calculator exposes an Add() method:         ...   /// <summary>         /// Adds the specified operands.         /// </summary>         /// <param name="operand1">The operand1.</param>         /// <param name="operand2">The operand2.</param>         /// <returns>The result of the additon.</returns>         /// <exception cref="ArgumentException">         /// Argument <paramref name="operand1"/> is &lt; 0.<br/>         /// -- or --<br/>         /// Argument <paramref name="operand2"/> is &lt; 0.         /// </exception>         double Add(double operand1, double operand2);       } // interface ICalculator A remark: I sometimes hear the complaint that xml comment stuff like the above is hard to read. That’s certainly true, but irrelevant to me, because I read xml code comments with the CR_Documentor tool window. And using that, it looks like this:   Apart from that, I’m heavily using xml code comments (see e.g. here for a detailed guide) because there is the possibility of automating help generation with nightly CI builds (using MS Sandcastle and the Sandcastle Help File Builder), and then publishing the results to some intranet location.  This way, a team always has first class, up-to-date technical documentation at hand about the current codebase. (And, also very important for speeding up things and avoiding typos: You have IntelliSense/AutoCompletion and R# support, and the comments are subject to compiler checking…).     Back to our Calculator again: Two more R# – clicks implement the Add() skeleton:         ...           public double Add(double operand1, double operand2)         {             throw new NotImplementedException();         }       } // class Calculator As we have stated in the interface definition (which actually serves as our requirement document!), the operands are not allowed to be negative. So let’s start implementing that. Here’s the test: [Test] [Row(-0.5, 2)] public void AddThrowsOnNegativeOperands(double operand1, double operand2) {     ICalculator calculator = container.GetService<ICalculator>();       Assert.Throws<ArgumentException>(() => calculator.Add(operand1, operand2)); } As you can see, I’m using a data-driven unit test method here, mainly for these two reasons: Because I know that I will have to do the same test for the second operand in a few seconds, I save myself from implementing another test method for this purpose. Rather, I only will have to add another Row attribute to the existing one. From the test report below, you can see that the argument values are explicitly printed out. This can be a valuable documentation feature even when everything is green: One can quickly review what values were tested exactly - the complete Gallio HTML-report (as it will be produced by the Continuous Integration runs) shows these values in a quite clear format (see below for an example). Back to our Calculator development again, this is what the test result tells us at the moment: So we’re red again, because there is not yet an implementation… Next we go on and implement the necessary parameter verification to become green again, and then we do the same thing for the second operand. To make a long story short, here’s the test and the method implementation at the end of the second cycle: // in CalculatorTest:   [Test] [Row(-0.5, 2)] [Row(295, -123)] public void AddThrowsOnNegativeOperands(double operand1, double operand2) {     ICalculator calculator = container.GetService<ICalculator>();       Assert.Throws<ArgumentException>(() => calculator.Add(operand1, operand2)); }   // in Calculator: public double Add(double operand1, double operand2) {     if (operand1 < 0.0)     {         throw new ArgumentException("Value must not be negative.", "operand1");     }     if (operand2 < 0.0)     {         throw new ArgumentException("Value must not be negative.", "operand2");     }     throw new NotImplementedException(); } So far, we have sheltered our method from unwanted input, and now we can safely operate on the parameters without further caring about their validity (this is my interpretation of the Fail Fast principle, which is regarded here in more detail). Now we can think about the method’s successful outcomes. First let’s write another test for that: [Test] [Row(1, 1, 2)] public void TestAdd(double operand1, double operand2, double expectedResult) {     ICalculator calculator = container.GetService<ICalculator>();       double result = calculator.Add(operand1, operand2);       Assert.AreEqual(expectedResult, result); } Again, I’m regularly using row based test methods for these kinds of unit tests. The above shown pattern proved to be extremely helpful for my development work, I call it the Defined-Input/Expected-Output test idiom: You define your input arguments together with the expected method result. There are two major benefits from that way of testing: In the course of refining a method, it’s very likely to come up with additional test cases. In our case, we might add tests for some edge cases like ‘one of the operands is zero’ or ‘the sum of the two operands causes an overflow’, or maybe there’s an external test protocol that has to be fulfilled (e.g. an ISO norm for medical software), and this results in the need of testing against additional values. In all these scenarios we only have to add another Row attribute to the test. Remember that the argument values are written to the test report, so as a side-effect this produces valuable documentation. (This can become especially important if the fulfillment of some sort of external requirements has to be proven). So your test method might look something like that in the end: [Test, Description("Arguments: operand1, operand2, expectedResult")] [Row(1, 1, 2)] [Row(0, 999999999, 999999999)] [Row(0, 0, 0)] [Row(0, double.MaxValue, double.MaxValue)] [Row(4, double.MaxValue - 2.5, double.MaxValue)] public void TestAdd(double operand1, double operand2, double expectedResult) {     ICalculator calculator = container.GetService<ICalculator>();       double result = calculator.Add(operand1, operand2);       Assert.AreEqual(expectedResult, result); } And this will produce the following HTML report (with Gallio):   Not bad for the amount of work we invested in it, huh? - There might be scenarios where reports like that can be useful for demonstration purposes during a Scrum sprint review… The last requirement to fulfill is that the LastResult property is expected to store the result of the last operation. I don’t show this here, it’s trivial enough and brings nothing new… And finally: Refactor (for the right reasons) To demonstrate my way of going through the refactoring portion of the red-green-refactor cycle, I added another method to our Calculator component, namely Subtract(). Here’s the code (tests and production): // CalculatorTest.cs:   [Test, Description("Arguments: operand1, operand2, expectedResult")] [Row(1, 1, 0)] [Row(0, 999999999, -999999999)] [Row(0, 0, 0)] [Row(0, double.MaxValue, -double.MaxValue)] [Row(4, double.MaxValue - 2.5, -double.MaxValue)] public void TestSubtract(double operand1, double operand2, double expectedResult) {     ICalculator calculator = container.GetService<ICalculator>();       double result = calculator.Subtract(operand1, operand2);       Assert.AreEqual(expectedResult, result); }   [Test, Description("Arguments: operand1, operand2, expectedResult")] [Row(1, 1, 0)] [Row(0, 999999999, -999999999)] [Row(0, 0, 0)] [Row(0, double.MaxValue, -double.MaxValue)] [Row(4, double.MaxValue - 2.5, -double.MaxValue)] public void TestSubtractGivesExpectedLastResult(double operand1, double operand2, double expectedResult) {     ICalculator calculator = container.GetService<ICalculator>();       calculator.Subtract(operand1, operand2);       Assert.AreEqual(expectedResult, calculator.LastResult); }   ...   // ICalculator.cs: /// <summary> /// Subtracts the specified operands. /// </summary> /// <param name="operand1">The operand1.</param> /// <param name="operand2">The operand2.</param> /// <returns>The result of the subtraction.</returns> /// <exception cref="ArgumentException"> /// Argument <paramref name="operand1"/> is &lt; 0.<br/> /// -- or --<br/> /// Argument <paramref name="operand2"/> is &lt; 0. /// </exception> double Subtract(double operand1, double operand2);   ...   // Calculator.cs:   public double Subtract(double operand1, double operand2) {     if (operand1 < 0.0)     {         throw new ArgumentException("Value must not be negative.", "operand1");     }       if (operand2 < 0.0)     {         throw new ArgumentException("Value must not be negative.", "operand2");     }       return (this.LastResult = operand1 - operand2).Value; }   Obviously, the argument validation stuff that was produced during the red-green part of our cycle duplicates the code from the previous Add() method. So, to avoid code duplication and minimize the number of code lines of the production code, we do an Extract Method refactoring. One more time, this is only a matter of a few mouse clicks (and giving the new method a name) with R#: Having done that, our production code finally looks like that: using System; using LinFu.IoC.Configuration;   namespace Calculator {     [Implements(typeof(ICalculator))]     internal class Calculator : ICalculator     {         #region ICalculator           public double? LastResult { get; private set; }           public double Add(double operand1, double operand2)         {             ThrowIfOneOperandIsInvalid(operand1, operand2);               return (this.LastResult = operand1 + operand2).Value;         }           public double Subtract(double operand1, double operand2)         {             ThrowIfOneOperandIsInvalid(operand1, operand2);               return (this.LastResult = operand1 - operand2).Value;         }           #endregion // ICalculator           #region Implementation (Helper)           private static void ThrowIfOneOperandIsInvalid(double operand1, double operand2)         {             if (operand1 < 0.0)             {                 throw new ArgumentException("Value must not be negative.", "operand1");             }               if (operand2 < 0.0)             {                 throw new ArgumentException("Value must not be negative.", "operand2");             }         }           #endregion // Implementation (Helper)       } // class Calculator   } // namespace Calculator But is the above worth the effort at all? It’s obviously trivial and not very impressive. All our tests were green (for the right reasons), and refactoring the code did not change anything. It’s not immediately clear how this refactoring work adds value to the project. Derick puts it like this: STOP! Hold on a second… before you go any further and before you even think about refactoring what you just wrote to make your test pass, you need to understand something: if your done with your requirements after making the test green, you are not required to refactor the code. I know… I’m speaking heresy, here. Toss me to the wolves, I’ve gone over to the dark side! Seriously, though… if your test is passing for the right reasons, and you do not need to write any test or any more code for you class at this point, what value does refactoring add? Derick immediately answers his own question: So why should you follow the refactor portion of red/green/refactor? When you have added code that makes the system less readable, less understandable, less expressive of the domain or concern’s intentions, less architecturally sound, less DRY, etc, then you should refactor it. I couldn’t state it more precise. From my personal perspective, I’d add the following: You have to keep in mind that real-world software systems are usually quite large and there are dozens or even hundreds of occasions where micro-refactorings like the above can be applied. It’s the sum of them all that counts. And to have a good overall quality of the system (e.g. in terms of the Code Duplication Percentage metric) you have to be pedantic on the individual, seemingly trivial cases. My job regularly requires the reading and understanding of ‘foreign’ code. So code quality/readability really makes a HUGE difference for me – sometimes it can be even the difference between project success and failure… Conclusions The above described development process emerged over the years, and there were mainly two things that guided its evolution (you might call it eternal principles, personal beliefs, or anything in between): Test-driven development is the normal, natural way of writing software, code-first is exceptional. So ‘doing TDD or not’ is not a question. And good, stable code can only reliably be produced by doing TDD (yes, I know: many will strongly disagree here again, but I’ve never seen high-quality code – and high-quality code is code that stood the test of time and causes low maintenance costs – that was produced code-first…) It’s the production code that pays our bills in the end. (Though I have seen customers these days who demand an acceptance test battery as part of the final delivery. Things seem to go into the right direction…). The test code serves ‘only’ to make the production code work. But it’s the number of delivered features which solely counts at the end of the day - no matter how much test code you wrote or how good it is. With these two things in mind, I tried to optimize my coding process for coding speed – or, in business terms: productivity - without sacrificing the principles of TDD (more than I’d do either way…).  As a result, I consider a ratio of about 3-5/1 for test code vs. production code as normal and desirable. In other words: roughly 60-80% of my code is test code (This might sound heavy, but that is mainly due to the fact that software development standards only begin to evolve. The entire software development profession is very young, historically seen; only at the very beginning, and there are no viable standards yet. If you think about software development as a kind of casting process, where the test code is the mold and the resulting production code is the final product, then the above ratio sounds no longer extraordinary…) Although the above might look like very much unnecessary work at first sight, it’s not. With the aid of the mentioned add-ins, doing all the above is a matter of minutes, sometimes seconds (while writing this post took hours and days…). The most important thing is to have the right tools at hand. Slow developer machines or the lack of a tool or something like that - for ‘saving’ a few 100 bucks -  is just not acceptable and a very bad decision in business terms (though I quite some times have seen and heard that…). Production of high-quality products needs the usage of high-quality tools. This is a platitude that every craftsman knows… The here described round-trip will take me about five to ten minutes in my real-world development practice. I guess it’s about 30% more time compared to developing the ‘traditional’ (code-first) way. But the so manufactured ‘product’ is of much higher quality and massively reduces maintenance costs, which is by far the single biggest cost factor, as I showed in this previous post: It's the maintenance, stupid! (or: Something is rotten in developerland.). In the end, this is a highly cost-effective way of software development… But on the other hand, there clearly is a trade-off here: coding speed vs. code quality/later maintenance costs. The here described development method might be a perfect fit for the overwhelming majority of software projects, but there certainly are some scenarios where it’s not - e.g. if time-to-market is crucial for a software project. So this is a business decision in the end. It’s just that you have to know what you’re doing and what consequences this might have… Some last words First, I’d like to thank Derick Bailey again. His two aforementioned posts (which I strongly recommend for reading) inspired me to think deeply about my own personal way of doing TDD and to clarify my thoughts about it. I wouldn’t have done that without this inspiration. I really enjoy that kind of discussions… I agree with him in all respects. But I don’t know (yet?) how to bring his insights into the described production process without slowing things down. The above described method proved to be very “good enough” in my practical experience. But of course, I’m open to suggestions here… My rationale for now is: If the test is initially red during the red-green-refactor cycle, the ‘right reason’ is: it actually calls the right method, but this method is not yet operational. Later on, when the cycle is finished and the tests become part of the regular, automated Continuous Integration process, ‘red’ certainly must occur for the ‘right reason’: in this phase, ‘red’ MUST mean nothing but an unfulfilled assertion - Fail By Assertion, Not By Anything Else!

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  • 3D game engine for networked world simulation / AI sandbox

    - by Martin
    More than 5 years ago I was playing with DirectSound and Direct3D and I found it really exciting although it took much time to get some good results with C++. I was a college student then. Now I have mostly enterprise development experience in C# and PHP, and I do it for living. There is really no chance to earn money with serious game development in our country. Each day more and more I find that I miss something. So I decided to spend an hour or so each day to do programming for fun. So my idea is to build a world simulation. I would like to begin with something simple - some human-like creatures that live their life - like Sims 3 but much more simple, just basic needs, basic animations, minimum graphic assets - I guess it won't be a city but just a large house for a start. The idea is to have some kind of a server application which stores the world data in MySQL database, and some client applications - body-less AI bots which simulate movement and some interactions with the world and each other. But it wouldn't be fun without 3D. So there are also 3D clients - I can enter that virtual world and see the AI bots living. When the bot enters visible area, it becomes material - loads a mesh and animations, so I can see it. When I leave, the bots lose their 3d mesh bodies again, but their virtual life still continues. With time I hope to make it like some expandable scriptable sandbox to experiment with various AI algorithms and so on. But I am not intended to create a full-blown MMORPG :D I have looked for many possible things I would need (free and open source) and now I have to make a choice: OGRE3D + enet (or RakNet). Old good C++. But won't it slow me down so much that I won't have fun any more? CrystalSpace. Formally not a game engine but very close to that. C++ again. MOgre (OGRE3D wrapper for .NET) + lidgren (networking library which is already used in some gaming projects). Good - I like C#, it is good for fast programming and also can be used for scripting. XNA seems just a framework, not an engine, so really have doubts, should I even look at XNA Game Studio :( Panda3D - full game engine with positive feedback. I really like idea to have all the toolset in one package, it has good reviews as a beginner-friendly engine...if you know Python. On the C++ side, Panda3D has almost non-existent documentation. I have 0 experience with Python, but I've heard it is easy to learn. And if it will be fun and challenging then I guess I would benefit from experience in one more programming language. Which of those would you suggest, not because of advanced features or good platform support but mostly for fun, easy workflow and expandability, and so I can create and integrate all the components I need - the server with the database, AI bots and a 3D client application?

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  • What is "elegant" code?

    - by Breton
    I see a lot of lip service and talk about the most "elegant" way to do this or that. I think if you spend enough time programming you begin to obtain a sort of intuitive feel for what it is we call "elegance". But I'm curious. Even if we can look at a bit of code, and say instinctively "That's elegant", or "That's messy", I wonder if any of us really understands what that means. Is there a precise definition for this "elegance" we keep referring to? If there is, what is it? Now, what I mean by a precise definition, is a series of statements which can be used to derive questions about a peice of code, or a program as a whole, and determine objectively, or as objectively as possible, whether that code is "elegant" or not. May I assert, that perhaps no such definition exists, and it's all just personal preference. In this case, I ask you a slightly different question: Is there a better word for "elegance", or a better set of attributes to use for judging code quality that is perhaps more objective than merely appealing to individual intuition and taste? Perhaps code quality is a matter of taste, and the answer to both of my questions is "no". But I can't help but feel that we could be doing better than just expressing wishy washy feelings about our code quality. For example, user interface design is something that to a broad range of people looks for all the world like a field of study that oughtta be 100% subjective matter of taste. But this is shockingly and brutally not the case, and there are in fact many objective measures that can be applied to a user interface to determine its quality. A series of tests could be written to give a definitive and repeatable score to user interface quality. (See GOMS, for instance). Now, okay. is Elegance simply "code quality" or is it something more? Is it something that can be measured? Or is it a matter of taste? Does our profession have room for taste? Maybe I'm asking the wrong questions altogether. Help me out here. Bonus Round If there is such a thing as elegance in code, and that concept is useful, do you think that justifies classifying the field of programming as an "Art" capital A, or merely a "craft". Or is it just an engineering field populated by a bunch of wishful thinking humans? Consider this question in the light of your thoughts about the elegance question. Please note that there is a distinction between code which is considered "art" in itself, and code that was written merely in the service of creating an artful program. When I ask this question, I ask if the code itself justifies calling programming an art. Bounty Note I liked the answers to this question so much, I think I'd like to make a photographic essay book from it. Released as a free PDF, and published on some kind of on demand printing service of course, such as "zazz" or "tiggle" or "printley" or something . I'd like some more answers, please!

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