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  • What are the essential qualities to be a Java programmer? [closed]

    - by Rand Mate
    I just learnt a crash course from an institute for Core and Advanced Core Concepts in Java. I asked them what are all the algorithms, I need to know? They said: In Java there are more methods, you don't need to code more as in C/C++. After finishing core concepts in Java, I just passed on with more method usages from pre-defined classes in packages. So what's the next part I have to do, if the above mentioned is perfectly true (or) false based on the current expectations of IT Java programmers market? FYI: I'm fundamentally from the Electronics background, so please do excuse my ignorance.

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  • How should a non-IT manager secure the long-term maintenance and development of essential legacy software?

    - by user105977
    I've been hunting for a place to ask this question for quite a while; maybe this is the place, although I'm afraid it's not the kind of "question with an answer" this site would prefer. We are a small, very specialized, benefits administration firm with an extremely useful, robust collection of software, some written in COBOL but most in BASIC. Two full-time consultants have ably maintained and improved this system over more than 30 years. Needless to say they will soon retire. (One of them has been desperate to retire for several years but is loyal to a fault and so hangs on despite her husband's insistence that golf should take priority.) We started down the path of converting to a system developed by one of only three firms in the country that offer the type of software we use. We now feel that although this this firm is theoretically capable of completing the conversion process, they don't have the resources to do so timely, and we have come to believe that they will be unable to offer the kind of service we need to run our business. (There's nothing like being able to set one's own priorities and having the authority to allocate one's resources as one sees fit.) Hardware is not a problem--we are able to emulate very effectively on modern servers. If COBOL and BASIC were modern languages, we'd be willing to take the risk that we could find replacements for our current consultants going forward. It seems like there ought to be a business model for an IT support firm that concentrates on legacy platforms like this and provides the programming and software development talent to support a system like ours, removing from our backs the risks of finding the right programming talent and the job of convincing younger programmers that they can have a productive, rewarding career, in part in an old, non-sexy language like BASIC. Where do I find such firms?

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  • What are the essential considerations for setting up systems in a location with unreliable power?

    - by dunxd
    I deal with a lot of remote offices located in parts of the world where the local grid power supply is unreliable. Power can go off anytime with no warning, with outages ranging from minutes to days Power fluctuation is wild, with spikes and brown outs Currently the offices will have some or all of the following: A generator, with an inverter, or some sort of manual switch A big UPS or battery array connecting a number of devices Several smaller APC UPS with computers attached Low cost Voltage Regulators sometimes connected between mains and UPS or device. I know that each of these things needs to be appropriately rated for the equipment to which it is connected (although I am not sure how to calculate the correct rating). The offices will generally have the following equipment (in varying quantities): some sort of internet connection device (VSAT router, ADSL modem, WiMax router) Cisco ASA 5505 firewall a bunch of PCs printers one server I don't seek to replace the advice of an electrician, but in some of these locations they only answer the questions you ask them, so I need to make sure I have enough understanding of the essentials to protect equipment from damage, and possibly get through some power cuts.

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  • Is there anything essential to check before powering on a self-built PC for the first time?

    - by Nick F
    I've just put together a computer for the first time. I've found plenty of info online that covered the construction, but now I'm ready - I think - to power it up I'm wondering if there are any checks that I can do to be sure that the machine is safe and ready to turn on. What are the things (if any) that I absolutely must make sure of before turning on? Just to be clear, I'm sure there are many things I could get wrong that would mean the computer won't work properly, but only a few that might cause serious damage. It's really the latter I'm asking for.

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  • What are the essential Java libraries and utilities for a returning dynamic language user?

    - by jbwiv
    Guys, Long time Java developer here, but I've spent more time working with Ruby over the past 3 years or so as far as web applications go. I really have enjoyed it, but there are concerns I've uncovered that I won't cover here. Now that I've found the Play! framework, I'm thrilled about the prospect of having a Rails-like experience with Java's speed and reliability. Aside from what Play! provides out of the box, I'm looking for recommendations on "can't miss" libraries and tools for the Java developer used to pragmatic, dynamic experiences. I've found Project Lombok, which looks like a very intriguing way to eliminate a lot of the boiler plate, unnecessary Java noise. What else should I know about? I know Google has released quite a few libraries over the past three years that I've heard mentioned on the Java Posse, but I can't recall exactly what they are. I'm sure I've missed others in my absence. So, what makes up your essential Java toolbox these days? Thanks for your answers!

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  • What are the essential COM components required for burning DVD in Windows XP using .NET?

    - by shruti
    I'm trying to burn DVD/CD through frontend C# code... i have used IMAPI2 for buring CD/DVD in windows XP..but it is giving me unhandled exception... as:- System.InvalidCastException: Unable to cast COM object of type 'IMAPI2.Interop.MsftFileSystemImageClass' to interface type 'IMAPI2.Interop.MsftFileSystemImage'. This operation failed because the QueryInterface call on the COM component for the interface with IID '{7CFF842C-7E97-4807-8304-910DD8F7C051}' failed due to the following error: No such interface supported (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE)) can anyone please help me out to solve this problem. I'm not able to solve this error. this project is working fine in Windows7 but unable to work with XP.

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  • What are the essential COM componenets required for burning DVD in c#.net in Windows XP?

    - by shruti
    im trying to burn DVD/CD through frontend C#.net code... i have used IMAPI2 for buring CD/DVD in windows XP..but it is giving me unhandeled exception... as:- System.InvalidCastException: Unable to cast COM object of type 'IMAPI2.Interop.MsftFileSystemImageClass' to interface type 'IMAPI2.Interop.MsftFileSystemImage'. This operation failed because the QueryInterface call on the COM component for the interface with IID '{7CFF842C-7E97-4807-8304-910DD8F7C051}' failed due to the following error: No such interface supported (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80004002 (E_NOINTERFACE)) can anyone plz help me out to solve this pbm...im not able to solve this error.. this project is working fine in Windows7 but unable to work with XP...???

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  • How do I completely self study computer science?

    - by Optimus
    Being a completely self taught programmer I would like it if I could better myself by self-learning computer science course taught to a typical CS grad. Finding different resources on internet has been easy, there is of course MIT open course ware, and there are Coursera courses from Stanford and other universities. There are numerous other open resources scattered around the Internet and some good books that are repeatedly recommended. I have been learning a lot but my study is heavily fragmented, which really bugs me, I would love If somewhere I could find a path I should follow and a stack I should limit myself to so that I can be sure about what essential parts of computer science I have studied and systematically approach those I haven't. The problem with Wikipedia is it doesn't tell you whats essential but insists on being a complete reference. MIT open course ware for Computer science and Electrical Engg. has a huge list of courses also not telling you what courses are essential and what optional as per person's interest/requirement. I found no mention of an order in which one should study different subjects. What I would love is to create a list that I can follow like this dummy one SUBJECTS DONE Introduction to Computer Science * Introduction to Algorithms * Discrete Mathematics Adv. Discrete Mathematics Data structures * Adv. Algorithms ... As you can clearly see I have little idea of what specific subjects computer science consists of. It would be hugely helpful even if some one pointed out essential courses from MIT Course ware ( + essential subjects not present at MIT OCW) in a recommended order of study. I'll list the Posts I already went through (and I didn't get what I was looking for there) Computer science curriculum for non-CS major? - top answer says it isn't worth studying cse How can a self-taught programmer learn more about Computer Science? - points to MIT OCW Studying computer science - what am I getting myself into? Overview of computer science, programming

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  • Mix content warning on ASPX page

    - by Amit
    Hi, We have started receiving the mixed content warning on ASPX pages on our secured site. We do not have any mix content, we load all our JS, Images, CSS and ASPX files using HTTPS. I dont know why we have started receiving these warnings now. The latest thing which we have added is the third party control for Dialog boxes from Essential Object. We are previously using their Menu control but added dialog box recently. Also we have made our application browser compatible. I feel the reason is something between these two points. Can anyone suggest any solution or any workaround if they know any or have used Essential Object controls and faced simililar issue? Essential object is saying it is not their problem. The mix content warning appears any time and not specifically when the Essential Control dialog box popsup, thats why I am bit confused. Any help is highly appriciated. Thanks.

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  • Keep user and user profile in different tables?

    - by Andrey
    I have seen in a couple of projects that developers prefer to keep essential user info in one table (email/login, password hash, screen name) and rest of the non essential user profile in another (creation date, country, etc). By non-essential I mean that this data is needed only occasionally. Obvious benefit is that if you are using ORM querying less fields is obviously good. But then you can have two entities mapped to same table and this will save you from querying stuff you don't need (while being more convenient). Does anybody know any other advantage of keeping these things in two tables?

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  • How to have game audio loop at a certain point

    - by Essential
    I have a storm in my game, and so I've made an ambient audio file which slowly grows into a storm and rain fades in, which then becomes a loopable storm audio file. Here is how I've done it: // Play intro clip and merge into main loop var introTime = stormIntro.length; AudioSource.PlayClipAtPoint( stormIntro, Vector3.zero, 0.7 ); Invoke( "StormMusic", introTime ); The way I'm currently trying to do it is get the length of the storm_intro audio clip, play the clip, and then invoke storm_loop to begin after the length of the intro has completed. This kinda works, but not really because there's occasionally a gap between the two. So how can I do it so the transition is seamless?

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  • Book Review: Murach's HTML, XHTML, and CSS

    HTML is the basic language that every web developer should master (in addition to JavaScript and XHTML) in order to get started with web development. For this purpose, a good learning material is essential as developers should practice the theories that they have mastered. Murach's HTML, XHTML, and CSS attempts to explain all the essential aspects related to basic web development in a consise manner. In this review, Anand examines the contents covered in the book and points out whether the book meets the expectations of developers.

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  • Where did my backup files go? Can they be recovered?

    - by Ken
    I just purchased a Western Digital Essential SE 1TB external hard drive from Best Buy at their recommendation. I then exchanged it for a Toshiba Canvio (I think that was the name). I have a Toshiba Qosmio X505-Q898. The Canvio locked up my computer and rewrote some kind of OS file, and erased all the restore points as well as the system image backup (according to Best Buy) just by plugging it in for the first time. Never even got to the install part or anything -- plugged it in and fried my computer. They spent about an hour and a half on my computer and got it back to a somewhat working condition and gave me access to my files. So now they say I have to back it up using my recovery disk and rewriting my OS. Enter the Essential. Brought it home last night, plugged it in and installed everything. Works perfect, no problems. Backed up everything on it. I unplugged and plugged it twice to make sure that everything was on it. Essential told me it had both the HDD and SSD backed up. So I reinstalled my OS. Plugged the Essential in and everything loads right up. Went to retrieve my files and the Western Digital has nothing on it. It shows all my music, pics, ETC. as still being on my computer and needing to be backed up, but since there are no files on my computer now. Where is this information coming from and where did my files go? It's about 810GB worth of files I've amassed over several years. Is there any way to recover data from this? I plan to contact Western Digital and Best Buy, just thought I would check here too. Any advice will be appreciated as a lot of these files are invaluable to me.

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  • 14+ Real Estate WordPress Themes

    - by Aditi
    If you are looking for a great WordPress real estate theme. Below is a list of some of the best wordpress real estate themes, so you can find one, which is the best suited for you and be at par with increasing industry demands in real estates business.We have covered only the best themes available. The Themes are flexible & can be used by anybody in real estate business. If you are realtor, agent, appraiser or realty these can be modified as per your use. Estate It is an immensely powerful and simple to manage business theme. It offers advanced SEO control, clean code and styling modification features. It has new “Properties” management facility when installed – proving it’s far more than just a WordPress theme. It offers flexible page templates, an advanced search facility that allows you to drill down into properties based on very specific criteria, Google Maps integration and smart property images management. It is a complete web solution. It also has IDX functionality due to dsIDXpress plugin integration, which allows multi-listing services. Price: $200 View Demo Download ElegantEstate It makes your WordPress blog into a full-feature real estate website. The theme makes browsing your listings easy, and adds special integration features for property info, photos, Google Maps and more. Help increase sales by establishing an elegant and professional online presence today. It has opera compatibility, Netscape compatibility, Safari compatibility, WordPress 3.0 compatibility. It comes with five color schemes, threaded comments, optional blog-style structure, Gravatar ready, firefox compatible, IE8 + IE7 + IE6 compatible, advertisement ready, widget ready sidebars, theme options page, custom thumbnail images, PSD files, valid XHTML + CSS, smooth table less design, ePanel theme options, page templates, complete localization and many more features. Price: $39 (Package includes more than 55 themes) View Demo Download Open House Open House is fully compatible with WordPress 3.0+ and a highly customizable Real Estate WordPress theme. It has Google Maps Integration with Street View. It has a professional look for Agents and Realtors both. It is best suited for all markets and countries with theme localization, translation and internationalization. It provides for English, Spanish and Portuguese language files in the Developer Package. It has custom scripts, which makes it easy to add/delete/modify listings. It also includes photo gallery with a lightbox effect, gorgeous photo fade animations and automatic Google Maps integration. The theme can be used as a single or multi-agent website with individual Agent-Realtor pages with listings and biography information, Agent photo uploader, financing calculator.There is Multi Category search for potential customers to locate the house they want. Price: $39.95 essential | $69.95 standard | $99.95 premium View Demo Download Residence Real Estate It is a WordPress 3.0+ compatible stunning real estate theme. It has a dynamic real estate framework management module for easy edit-delete-add more features options, which makes this theme super easy to customize to the market needs. It allows you to add your own labels and values in your own language and switch the theme to your own language with English and Spanish files included with the ability to add your own language. It offers Multi-Category search with breadcrumb filtered results, easy photo gallery management with drag-drop sorting of images. It allows you to build your own multi-category search section menu with custom labels-choices and unlimited dropdown menus. They have been presented in a professional module with search results in breadcrumb navigation. Price: $39.95 essential | $69.95 standard | $99.95 premium View Demo Download Smooth Smooth is a WordPress Real Estate theme. It is a complete theme, which comes with Multi Category Search, Google Maps Integration, Agent Photo and Logo uploader that offers a professional and extremely affordable solution for Realtors and Agents to showcase their properties with ease. You can add your listings with the extremely easy and flexible Dynamic Real Estate Framework, edit-add-modify-delete all features, labels and values within the WordPress administration and upload unlimited photos to your galleries with latest WordPress 3.0+ features. It is a complete solution for real estate sites. Price: $39.95 essential | $69.95 standard | $99.95 premium View Demo Download Homeowners It is another WordPress Real Estate theme, which is a fast loading optimized theme with Google Maps Integration, fully compatible with WordPress 3.0 features and all Real Estate markets. It has a professional clean look and it is full of features extremely easy to modify. It also provides for 12 new styles provided. English, Spanish and Portuguese language files are provided in the Developer Package. Homeowners WordPress Real Estate features custom scripts that make add/delete/modify listings an easy task with an included photo gallery with a lightbox effect and automatic Google Map integration with street view (New) Agents will have access only to their own listings and add the listing management for their account making this theme an ideal affordable solution for Realtors and Real Estate agencies. The theme can be used as a single or multi-agent website with individual Agent-Realtor pages with listings and biography information, Agent photo uploader, financing calculator. Multi category search has also been provided. Price: $39.95 essential | $69.95 standard | $99.95 premium View Demo Download Real Agent Real Estate This theme is a WordPress 3.0+ compatible clean grid based real estate theme. It has a dynamic real estate framework management module for easy edit-delete-add more features options. It is easy to customize according to market. It allows you to add your own labels and values in your own language switch the theme to your own language with English and Spanish files included with the ability to add your own language. Multi-Category search with breadcrumb filtered results, easy photo gallery management with drag-drop sorting of images. You can upload property photos in bulk with the native WordPress uploader and the new image editing and resizing options in WordPress 3.0+. The theme features 5 different color styles, blue, black, red, green and purple with professional layouts, logo and agent photo uploaders. This theme is best suited for individual or multiple agents both. Price: $39.95 essential | $69.95 standard | $99.95 premium View Demo Download Agent Press The AgentPress theme is an ideal solution for real estate agents. It offers multiple page templates that can be used to create a complete real estate website. You can create from single property templates to a custom homepage easily with it. It is compatible to WordPress 3.0 and 3.1. It has custom background/header, property template, 6 layout options, fixed width, threaded comments and many more features. Price: $99.95 View Demo Download Real Estate It is one of the best Real Estate themes. It offers single click auto install of the site, Allow user to pay & submit properties on your site, Multi-agent site with profiles, Strategically built real estate site with professional design, User dashboard to edit/renew their submissions, Auto generated Google Maps and Image Slideshows and many more unique features. Once the users search property as per their criteria, the properties are listed with all the necessary parameters that let them select the property of their choice. Users can also add the property to favorite so they can check the property later from their member area dashboard. Admin may display different sidebar on this page and add widgets of their choice. This theme is full of custom, dynamic widgets such as top agents, finance calculator, user login; advertise blocks, testimonials and so on. There is a property details page where users can see the actual property. The agent details is displayed with the full contact details and appropriate links so the visitor can get all info about the property being sold, seller and may contact them by filling out a simple form. The email will be sent directly to the person who listed the property. Price: $89.95 Single | $159.95 Developer View Demo Download Broker Real Estate It is also a WordPress 3.0+ compatible real estate theme. It has a featured property slideshow, dynamic real estate framework management module for easy edit-delete-add more features. You can add your own labels and values in your own language. It offers multi-category search with breadcrumb-filtered results, easy photo gallery management with drag-drop sorting of images. You can also build your own multi-category search section menu with custom labels-choices and unlimited dropdown menus. Price: $39.95 essential | $69.95 standard | $99.95 premium View Demo Download Decasa It has custom search panel that lets your user easily browse your properties by keyword search or category select drop downs. It offers the property exposé, which is a user-friendly overview over the most important details of each real estate object. You can easily add this data through a post settings meta box on the post edit screen. You can easily create a real estate image gallery. Its theme options panel makes it easy to make the basic theme settings. It supports the new WordPress post thumbnail feature. When uploading an image file the theme will automatically create all the necessary image size. You can also create your own custom menu easily and fast with drag and drop without touching any code. Price: 39 € View Demo Download RealtorPress A real estate premium WordPress theme from PremiumPress. Versatile WordPress Theme that can be used by individual agents or real estate companies. The theme allows you to easily add property listings via the custom backend admin area or import CSV spreadsheets. It features customisable search options, Google maps integration, real estate data custom field creator, image management tools and more. Price: $79 | Premium Collection: $259 (all PremiumPress themes) View Demo Download Related posts:21+ WordPress Photo Blog & Portfolio Themes 14+ WordPress Portfolio Themes Professional WordPress Business Themes

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  • Process for Securing Web Sites and Applications

    - by Aamir Hasan
    The following quick-start guide provides a detailed overview of how to configure security for IIS 6.0. Reduce the Attack Surface of the Web Server 1.       Enable only essential Windows Server 2003 components and services. 2.       Enable only essential IIS 6.0 components and services. 3.       Enable only essential Web service extensions. 4.       Enable only essential Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) types. 5.       Configure Windows Server 2003 security settings. Prevent Unauthorized Access to Web Sites and Applications 1.       Store content on a dedicated disk volume. 2.       Set IIS Web site permissions. 3.       Set IP address and domain name restrictions. 4.       Set the NTFS file system permissions. Isolate Web Sites and Applications 1.       Evaluate the effects of impersonation on application compatibility: 2·         Identify the impersonation behavior for ASP applications. 3·         Select the impersonation behavior for ASP.NET applications. 4.       Configure Web sites and applications for isolation. Configure User Authentication 1.       Configure Web site authentication. 2·         Select the Web site authentication method. 3·         Configure the Web site authentication method. 4.       Configure File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site authentication. Encrypt Confidential Data Exchanged with Clients 1.       Use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) to encrypt confidential data. 2.       Use Internet Protocol security (IPSec) or virtual private network (VPN) with remote administration. Maintain Web Site and Application Security 1.       Obtain and apply current security patches. 2.       Enable Windows Server 2003 security logs. 3.       Enable file access auditing for Web site content. 4.       Configure IIS logs. 5.       Review security policies, processes, and procedures.  Note:To secure the Web sites and applications in a Web farm, use the process described in this chapter to configure security for each server in the Web farm. Link:http://www.studentacad.com/post/2010/04/28/Process-for-Securing-Web-Sites-and-Applications.aspx

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  • What can be the reason that Google Chrome does not have print preview?

    - by eSKay
    I am not looking for a subtitute or a hack to get a print preview, but just wondering what the possible reasons could be for Google leaving this essential tool out from an excellent browser? They are adding this functionality from Chrome 6, but the question still remains - why not uptil now? Print preview is one of the essential features. There must be some good reason.

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  • http streaming using java servlet

    - by Shamik
    I have a servlet based web application which produces two sets of data. One set of data in the webpage which is essential and other set which is optional. I would like to render the essential data as fast as possible and then stream the optional data. I was thinking of writing the essential data to the output stream of HttpServletRequest and then call HttpServletRequest.flushBuffer() to commit the response to the client, but do not return from the servlet code, but instead create the optional data , write that to the outputstream again and then return from servlet code. What are the things that could go wrong in this scheme ? Is this a standard practice to achieve this goal?

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  • SilverlightShow for Jan 17-23, 2011

    - by Dave Campbell
    Check out the Top Five most popular news at SilverlightShow for Jan 17-23, 2011. Jesse Liberty's list of a dozen of absolutely essential utilities for programmers grabbed the first place in last week's SilverlightShow top news. Among the most visited news is also the collection of top picks from the "Above the Fold" list on SilverlightCream. Here's SilverlightShow top 5 news for last week: 12 Essential Utilities For Programmers 10 things that can be improved in Silverlight A Silverlight Sample Built with Self-Tracking Entities and WCF Services Exploring Ribbon Control for Silverlight (Part - 2) SilverlightCream top picks for January 10-16, 2011 Visit and bookmark SilverlightShow. Stay in the 'Light

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  • Beyond Syntax Highlighting - What other code representations are possible today?

    - by Mathieu Hélie
    Despite GUI applications having been around for 30ish years, software is still written as lines of text instructions, for various valid reasons. But we've also found that manipulating these text instructions is mind-blowingly difficult unless we apply a layer of coloring on different words to represent their syntax, thus allowing us to quickly parse through these text files without having to read the whole words. But besides the Sublime Text minimap feature, I've yet to see any innovation in visual representation of code since colors came around on CRT monitors. I can think of one obviously essential representation that modern graphics technology allows: visual hierarchies for nested structures. If we make nested text slightly smaller than its outer context, and zoom on it when the cursor is focused on the line, then we will be able to browse huge files of nested statements very quickly. This becomes even more essential as languages based on closures and anonymous functions become filled with deep statements. Has anyone attempted to implement this in a text editor? Do you know of any otherwise useful improvements in representing code text graphically?

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  • Session Report - Modern Software Development Anti-Patterns

    - by Janice J. Heiss
    In this standing-room-only session, building upon his 2011 JavaOne Rock Star “Diabolical Developer” session, Martijn Verburg, this time along with Ben Evans, identified and explored common “anti-patterns” – ways of doing things that keep developers from doing their best work. They emphasized the importance of social interaction and team communication, along with identifying certain psychological pitfalls that lead developers astray. Their emphasis was less on technical coding errors and more how to function well and to keep one’s focus on what really matters. They are the authors of the highly regarded The Well-Grounded Java Developer and are both movers and shakers in the London JUG community and on the Java Community Process. The large room was packed as they gave a fast-moving, witty presentation with lots of laughs and personal anecdotes. Below are a few of the anti-patterns they discussed.Anti-Pattern One: Conference-Driven DeliveryThe theme here is the belief that “Real pros hack code and write their slides minutes before their talks.” Their response to this anti-pattern is an expression popular in the military – PPPPPP, which stands for, “Proper preparation prevents piss-poor performance.”“Communication is very important – probably more important than the code you write,” claimed Verburg. “The more you speak in front of large groups of people the easier it gets, but it’s always important to do dry runs, to present to smaller groups. And important to be members of user groups where you can give presentations. It’s a great place to practice speaking skills; to gain new skills; get new contacts, to network.”They encouraged attendees to record themselves and listen to themselves giving a presentation. They advised them to start with a spouse or friends if need be. Learning to communicate to a group, they argued, is essential to being a successful developer. The emphasis here is that software development is a team activity and good, clear, accessible communication is essential to the functioning of software teams. Anti-Pattern Two: Mortgage-Driven Development The main theme here was that, in a period of worldwide recession and economic stagnation, people are concerned about keeping their jobs. So there is a tendency for developers to treat knowledge as power and not share what they know about their systems with their colleagues, so when it comes time to fix a problem in production, they will be the only one who knows how to fix it – and will have made themselves an indispensable cog in a machine so you cannot be fired. So developers avoid documentation at all costs, or if documentation is required, put it on a USB chip and lock it in a lock box. As in the first anti-pattern, the idea here is that communicating well with your colleagues is essential and documentation is a key part of this. Social interactions are essential. Both Verburg and Evans insisted that increasingly, year by year, successful software development is more about communication than the technical aspects of the craft. Developers who understand this are the ones who will have the most success. Anti-Pattern Three: Distracted by Shiny – Always Use the Latest Technology to Stay AheadThe temptation here is to pick out some obscure framework, try a bit of Scala, HTML5, and Clojure, and always use the latest technology and upgrade to the latest point release of everything. Don’t worry if something works poorly because you are ahead of the curve. Verburg and Evans insisted that there need to be sound reasons for everything a developer does. Developers should not bring in something simply because for some reason they just feel like it or because it’s new. They recommended a site run by a developer named Matt Raible with excellent comparison spread sheets regarding Web frameworks and other apps. They praised it as a useful tool to help developers in their decision-making processes. They pointed out that good developers sometimes make bad choices out of boredom, to add shiny things to their CV, out of frustration with existing processes, or just from a lack of understanding. They pointed out that some code may stay in a business system for 15 or 20 years, but not all code is created equal and some may change after 3 or 6 months. Developers need to know where the code they are contributing fits in. What is its likely lifespan? Anti-Pattern Four: Design-Driven Design The anti-pattern: If you want to impress your colleagues and bosses, use design patents left, right, and center – MVC, Session Facades, SOA, etc. Or the UML modeling suite from IBM, back in the day… Generate super fast code. And the more jargon you can talk when in the vicinity of the manager the better.Verburg shared a true story about a time when he was interviewing a guy for a job and asked him what his previous work was. The interviewee said that he essentially took patterns and uses an approved book of Enterprise Architecture Patterns and applied them. Verburg was dumbstruck that someone could have a job in which they took patterns from a book and applied them. He pointed out that the idea that design is a separate activity is simply wrong. He repeated a saying that he uses, “You should pay your junior developers for the lines of code they write and the things they add; you should pay your senior developers for what they take away.”He explained that by encouraging people to take things away, the code base gets simpler and reflects the actual business use cases developers are trying to solve, as opposed to the framework that is being imposed. He told another true story about a project to decommission a very long system. 98% of the code was decommissioned and people got a nice bonus. But the 2% remained on the mainframe so the 98% reduction in code resulted in zero reduction in costs, because the entire mainframe was needed to run the 2% that was left. There is an incentive to get rid of source code and subsystems when they are no longer needed. The session continued with several more anti-patterns that were equally insightful.

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