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• SQL Authority News – FalafelCON 2014: 2 days with the Best Developers in the World

  - by Pinal Dave

  I love presenting at various forums on various technologies. I am extremely excited that I got invited to speak at Falafel Conference 2014 in San Francisco. I will present two technology sessions on SQL Server. If you are into web development or if you just want to attend a conference with the best of the industry speakers, this may be the right conference for you. What set apart this conference from other conference is technology presented as well as speakers. Usually one has to attend very expensive and high scale event when they have to hear good speakers. At this conference, you will find quite a many industry legends are available to present on the bleeding edge technology. Here are few of the reasons why I believe you should attend this conference: Choose from four tracks covering Web, Mobile development and testing, Sitefinity, and Automated Testing, or attend sessions from all four! Learn from the best developers and testers in the business in an intimate setting. Surround yourself with your peers and the opportunity to network Learn about the latest platforms and technologies including Kendo UI, AngularJS, ASP.NET MVC, WebAPI, and more! Here are the details for the sessions which I am going to present at Falafel Conference. Secrets of SQL Server: Database Worst Practices Abstract: Chances are you have heard, or even uttered, this expression. This demo-oriented session will show many examples where database professionals were dumbfounded by their own mistakes, and could even bring back memories of your own early DBA days. The goal of this session is to expose the small details that can be dangerous to the production environment and SQL Server as a whole, as well as talk about worst practices and how to avoid them. Shedding light on some of these perils and the tricks to avoid them may even save your current job. After attending this session, Developers will only need 60 seconds to improve performance of their database server in their SharePoint implementation. We will have a quiz during the session to keep the conversation alive. Developers will walk out with scripts and knowledge that can be applied to their servers, immediately post the session. Additionally, all attendees of the session will have access to learning material presented in the session. The Unsung Hero Abstract: Slow Running Queries are the most common problem that developers face while working with SQL Server. While it is easy to blame the SQL Server for unsatisfactory performance, however the issue often persists with the way queries have been written, and how Indexes has been set up. The session will focus on the ways of identifying problems that slow down SQL Server, and Indexing tricks to fix them. Developers will walk out with scripts and knowledge that can be applied to their servers, immediately post the session. Register Now! I have learned from the Falafel Team that they are running out of tickets and soon they will close the registration.  For next 10 days the price for the registration is only USD 149. Trust me, you can’t get such a world class training and networking opportunity at such a low price. Click to Register Here! Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, T SQL

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• XNA Moddable Game - Architecture Design and Reflection

  - by David K

  I've decided to embark on an XNA moddable game project of a simple rogue style. For all purposes of this question, I'm going to not be using a scripting engine, but rather allow modders to directly compile assemblies that are loaded by the game at run time. I know about the security problems this may raise. So in order to expose the moddable content, I have gone about creating a generic project in XNA called MyModel. This contains a number of interfaces that all inherit from IPlugin, such as IGameSystem, IRenderingSystem, IHud, IInputSystem etc. Then I've created another project called MyRogueModel. This references MyModel project, and holds interfaces such as IMonster, IPlayer, IDungeonGenerator, IInventorySystem. More rogue specific interfaces, but again, all interfaces in this project inherit from IPlugin. Then finally, I've created another project called MyRogueGame, that references both MyModel and MyRogueModel projects. This project will be the game that you run and play. Here I have put the actual implementation of the Monster, DungeonGenerator, InputSystem and RenderingSystem classes. This project will also scan the mods directory during run time and load any IPlugins it finds using reflection and override anything it finds from the default. For example if it finds a new implementation of the DungeonGenerator it will use that one instead. Now my question is, in order to get this far, I have effectively 2 projects that contain nothing but interfaces... which seems a little... strange ? For people to create mods for the game, I would give them both the MyModel and MyRogueModel assemblies in which they would reference. I'm not sure whether this is the right way to do it, but my reasoning goes as follows : If I write 1 input system, I can use it in any game I write. If I create 3 rogue like games, and a modder writes 1 rendering system, that modder could use the rendering system for all 3 games, because it all comes from the MyModel project. I come from a more web based C# role, so having empty interface projects doesn't seem wrong, its just something I haven't done before. Before I embark on something that might be crazy, I'd just like to know whether this is a foolish idea and whether there's a better (or established) design principle I should be following ?

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• JavaOne: Parleys.com, Spring Vs. Java EE and HTML5 tooling

  - by delabassee

  Parleys.com, a 2012 Duke's Choice Award winner, is an E-Learning platform that host content from different sources (conferences, JUGs meetings, etc.). There is a lot of technical content available for online but also offline consumption, including many sessions on Java EE. Parleys has just released, for free, all the Devoxx 2011 sessions (video and slides sync'ed!). From a technical point of view, Parleys.com is interesting as they have switched from Spring to Java EE 6 to avoid being locked in a proprietary framework. During the GlassFish Community BoF, Stephan Janssen (Parleys.com and Devoxx founder) also presented how GlassFish is used to support 2000 concurrent Parleys users over a cluster of 2 GlassFish instances. Talking about Java EE and/or Spring, Harshad Oak has posted an update on the 'Spring Vs. Java EE' panel discussion that took place on Tuesday. As Arun said standards such as Java EE does not necessarily refrain innovation: "JBoss Forge & Arquillian from RedHat are great examples of innovation in the JavaEE community. Standardization is important but innovation does continue even within that framework." Simplicity, productivity along with HTML5 are the driving themes of Java EE 7. In terms of simplicity and productivity, the developer experience can also be improved by the tooling. Every NetBeans release comes with a large set of improvements, the just released NetBeans 7.3 beta is no exception. The goal of ‘NB 7.3’s Project Easel’ is to improve HTML5 development, something that will be handy for Java EE 7 developers. Project Easel can, for example, communicate directly to Chrome's WebKit engine, this feature was shown during Sunday's Technical Keynote at the end of the Java EE section. In this beta release, Chrome and the embedded JavaFX browser are the only supported browsers but the NetBeans team plan to add support, over time, for other WebKit based browsers. NetBans 7.3 beta NetBeans 7.3 screenscasts Today (i.e. Wednesday 3rd) is also the final exhibition day, so make sure to visit the Java EE and the GlassFish pods on the Java DEMOgrounds (Hilton Grand Ballroom, 9:30 am - 5:00 pm). Finally, here are some Java EE and GlassFish related activities worth attending today if you are at JavaOne : Wednesday October 3rd Time Title Location 8:30-9:30am What's New in Servlet 3.1: An Overview Parc 55 Mission 8:30-9:30am Bean Validation 1.1: What's New Under the Hood Parc 55Cyril Magnin II/III 10:00-11:00am JSR 353: Java API for JSON Processing Parc 55 Mission 10:00-12:00pm Tutorial : Integrating Your Service into the GlassFish PaaS Platform Parc 55 Devisidero 11:30-12:30pm What's New in JSF: A Complete Tour of JSF 2.2 Parc 55Cyril Magnin I 11:30-12:30pm Best of Both Worlds: Java Persistence with NoSQL and SQL Parc 55 Mission 1:00-2:00pm Sharding Middleware to Achieve Elasticity and High Availability in the Cloud Parc 55Market Street 1:00-2:00pm Pimp My RESTful Java Applications Parc 55Cyril Magnin I 3:00-4:00pm Migrating Spring to Java EE Parc 55Cyril Magnin II/III 4:30-5:30pm JavaEE.Next(): Java EE 7, 8, and Beyond Parc 55Cyril Magnin II/III 4:30-5:30pm HTML5 WebSocket and Java Parc 55Cyril Magnin I 4:30-5:30pm Easy Middleware for Your Embedded Device Nikko Ballroom II/III

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• Designing a completely new database/gui solution for my compnay

  - by user1277304

  I'm no expert when it come to everything Visual Studio 2010 and utilizing SQL server 2008. I'm sure some of my personal projects I've built for personal use would get laughed off the face of the planet, but SQLCe has been the solution I was looking for those home type of projects. And they work, flawlessly. Now I feel it's time to step up to the big league. I want to develop a complete, unified and module based solution for my company that I'm working for. We're still using stuff from the 80s for goodness sake! I use Excel and query the ancient database on my own because I can't stand the GUI. Nothing against people of age, but the IDE our programmers are using is from the stone age, and they use APL of all things with it. I've yet to see a radio button control anywhere in the GUI where it would make sense. Anyway, I want to do this right from the ground up. I'm by no means a newbie when it comes to programming in .NET 2010, however, I want the entire solution to be professionally done. I want version control, test projects, project flow, SQL 2008 integration and all the bells and whistles that come with that. I know for a fact that if we had something like that running, not only would development costs and time be slashed four fold, but the possibilities for expansion and performance would sky rocket. (Between the GUI an our DB engine, it can only use ONE CORE! ONE! It's 2012 for goodness sake!) Our business is growing and our current ancient solution just can't keep up, and I'd hate to see our business go down in flames because our programmer is stuck in the 80's and refuses to use anything current. So I ask you guys, the experts and know-it-alls, where do I start? Are there any gems of good books out there in the haystack of all "This for dummies" type of deals? I already have several people backing me in this endeavor, and while it may seem brash to just usurp the current programmers, I'm doing this for the company as a whole.

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• SQL SERVER – Last Two Days to Get FREE Book – Joes 2 Pros Certification 70-433

  - by pinaldave

  Earlier this week we announced that we will be giving away FREE SQL Wait Stats book to everybody who will get SQL Server Joes 2 Pros Combo Kit. We had a fantastic response to the contest. We got an overwhelming response to the offer. We knew there would be a great response but we want to honestly say thank you to all of you for making it happen. Rick and I want to make sure that we express our special thanks to all of you who are reading our books. The offer is still on and there are two more days to avail this offer. We want to make sure that everybody who buys our most selling combo kits, we will send our other most popular SQL Wait Stats book. Please read all the details of the offer here. The books are great resources for anyone who wants to learn SQL Server from fundamentals and eventually go on the certification path of 70-433. Exam 70-433 contains following important subject and the book covers the subject of fundamental. If you are taking the exam or not taking the exam – this book is for every SQL Developer to learn the subject from fundamentals.  Create and alter tables. Create and alter views. Create and alter indexes. Create and modify constraints. Implement data types. Implement partitioning solutions. Create and alter stored procedures. Create and alter user-defined functions (UDFs). Create and alter DML triggers. Create and alter DDL triggers. Create and deploy CLR-based objects. Implement error handling. Manage transactions. Query data by using SELECT statements. Modify data by using INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE statements. Return data by using the OUTPUT clause. Modify data by using MERGE statements. Implement aggregate queries. Combine datasets. INTERSECT, EXCEPT Implement subqueries. Implement CTE (common table expression) queries. Apply ranking functions. Control execution plans. Manage international considerations. Integrate Database Mail. Implement full-text search. Implement scripts by using Windows PowerShell and SQL Server Management Objects (SMOs). Implement Service Broker solutions. Track data changes. Data capture Retrieve relational data as XML. Transform XML data into relational data. Manage XML data. Capture execution plans. Collect output from the Database Engine Tuning Advisor. Collect information from system metadata. Availability of Book USA - Amazon | India - Flipkart | Indiaplaza Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Joes 2 Pros, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Moving from Silverlight 4 Beta to RC - Part 1

  The other day I had finished up my Task-It Webinar, written a few blog posts, and knew the time had come to move from my Silverlight 4 Beta environment up to the latest RC (release candidate) bits that were released last Monday. What disappointed me when I went to the Silverlight 4 Information Page is that it told me what to install, but not what to uninstall first. Uninstalling I'm not entirely sure if I had to uninstall anything, or if installing the new stuff would just work, but in poking around the web I found posts stating that you must uninstall the following items first. Unfortunately I'm going by memory here and have not been able to find my way back to the magic page I found in the myriad of posts that I went through: Microsoft VisualStudio Beta 2 Microsoft .NET Framework 4 Extended (apparently this must be done *before* the next one) Microsoft .NET Framework Client Profile Microsoft Silverlight 4 Tools for Visual Studio 2010 WCF RIA Services Preview for Visual Studio 2010 While I was at it, I removed a bunch of other stuff, like Blend 3, Blend 4, the SDK's associated with them, and a bunch other stuff that was old. Of course, I didn't really want/need to keep any Silverlight 3 stuff around as I am developing Task-It in Silverlight 4. If I need a Silverlight 3 environment at some point I'll set it up in a virtual environment. NOTE: One thing that I did not uninstall is the Microsoft Silverlight 4 Toolkit November 2009. The reason is that they have not released the March version yet, so if you uninstall this, youll end up having to reinstall it. Installing OK, now that I had all of that old stuff off my machine, now it was time to get the new stuff. For this part I liked Tim Heuer's post, A Guide to What has Changed in Silverlight 4 RC better than the Silverlight 4 Information Page. VisualStudio 2010 RC - I installed Ultimate, but you may not need that version. No harm, it's free for now anyway. I downloaded the .exe and the 3 .rar files, then ran the .exe. I then extracted the contents of the ISO (using WinZip) to a new directory, and now had Setup.exe, a bunch of .cab files and some other assorted stuff. I simply ran Setup.exe and chose custom install (only because I wanted to uncheck Visual C++...I don't really have a need for that) Silverlight 4 Tools for Visual Studio 2010 - As mentioned in Tim's blog post, this installs this installs Silverlight developer runtime, SDK, tools, and this installs Silverlight developer runtime, SDK, tools, and WCF RIA Services. WCF RIA Services Toolkit March 2010 - I'm not sure if/when I'll need any of this stuff, but no harm in installing it anyway. Expression Blend 4 beta - Only if you plan to use Blend, which I do. Windows Phone Developer Tools - Only if you are interested in playing with Windows Phone 7 development. Wrap Up Hopefully I got those steps right. If anyone finds anything I've missed, please just add a comment to this post and I'll update it accordingly.Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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• Code Coverage for Maven Integrated in NetBeans IDE 7.2

  - by Geertjan

  In NetBeans IDE 7.2, JaCoCo is supported natively, i.e., out of the box, as a code coverage engine for Maven projects, since Cobertura does not work with JDK 7 language constructs. (Although, note that Cobertura is supported as well in NetBeans IDE 7.2.) It isn't part of NetBeans IDE 7.2 Beta, so don't even try there; you need some development build from after that. I downloaded the latest development build today. To enable JaCoCo features in NetBeans IDE, you need do no different to what you'd do when enabling JaCoCo in Maven itself, which is rather wonderful. In both cases, all you need to do is add this to the "plugins" section of your POM: <plugin> <groupId>org.jacoco</groupId> <artifactId>jacoco-maven-plugin</artifactId> <version>0.5.7.201204190339</version> <executions> <execution> <goals> <goal>prepare-agent</goal> </goals> </execution> <execution> <id>report</id> <phase>prepare-package</phase> <goals> <goal>report</goal> </goals> </execution> </executions> </plugin> Now you're done and ready to examine the code coverage of your tests, whether they are JUnit or TestNG. At this point, i.e., for no other reason than that you added the above snippet into your POM, you will have a new Code Coverage menu when you right-click on the project node: If you click Show Report above, the Code Coverage Report window opens. Here, once you've run your tests, you can actually see how many classes have been covered by your tests, which is pretty useful since 100% tests passing doesn't mean much when you've only tested one class, as you can see very graphically below: Then, when you click the bars in the Code Coverage Report window, the class under test is shown, with the methods for which tests exist highlighted in green and those that haven't been covered in red: (Note: Of course, striving for 100% code coverage is a bit nonsensical. For example, writing tests for your getters and setters may not be the most useful way to spend one's time. But being able to measure, and visualize, code coverage is certainly useful regardless of the percentage you're striving to achieve.) Best of all about all this is that everything you see above is available out of the box in NetBeans IDE 7.2. Take a look at what else NetBeans IDE 7.2 brings for the first time to the world of Maven: http://wiki.netbeans.org/NewAndNoteworthyNB72#Maven

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• 3D terrain map with Hexagon Grids (XNA)

  - by Rob

  I'm working on a hobby project (I'm a web/backend developer by day) and I want to create a 3D Tile (terrain) engine. I'm using XNA, but I can use MonoGame, OpenGL, or straight DirectX, so the answer does not have to be XNA specific. I'm more looking for some high level advice on how to approach this problem. I know about creating height maps and such, there are thousands of references out there on the net for that, this is a bit more specific. I'm more concerned with is the approach to get a 3D hexagon tile grid out of my terrain (since the terrain, and all 3d objects, are basically triangles). The first approach I thought about is to basically draw the triangles on the screen in the following order (blue numbers) to give me the triangles for terrain (black triangles) and then make hexes out of the triangles (red hex). http://screencast.com/t/ebrH2g5V This approach seems complicated to me since i'm basically having to draw 4 different types of triangles. The next approach I thought of was to use the existing triangles like I did for a square grid and get my hexes from 6 triangles as follows http://screencast.com/t/w9b7qKzVJtb8 This seems like the easier approach to me since there are only 2 types of triangles (i would have to play with the heights and widths to get a "perfect" hexagon, but the idea is the same. So I'm looking for: 1) Any suggestions on which approach I should take, and why. 2) How would I translate mouse position to a hexagon grid position (especially when moving the camera around), for example in the second image if the mouse pointer were the green circle, how would I determine to highlight that hexagon and then translating that into grid coordinates (assuming it is 0,0)? 3) Any references, articles, books, etc - to get me going in the right direction. Note: I've done hex grid's and mouse-grid coordinate conversion before in 2d. looking for some pointers on how to do the same in 3d. The result I would like to achieve is something similar to the following: http :// www. youtube .com / watch?v=Ri92YkyC3fw (sorry about the youtube link, but it will only let me post 2 links in this post... same rep problem i mention below...) Thanks for any help! P.S. Sorry for not posting the images inline, I apparently don't have enough rep on this stack exchange site.

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• Bullet Physics - Casting a ray straight down from a rigid body (first person camera)

  - by Hydrocity

  I've implemented a first person camera using Bullet--it's a rigid body with a capsule shape. I've only been using Bullet for a few days and physics engines are new to me. I use btRigidBody::setLinearVelocity() to move it and it collides perfectly with the world. The only problem is the Y-value moves freely, which I temporarily solved by setting the Y-value of the translation vector to zero before the body is moved. This works for all cases except when falling from a height. When the body drops off a tall object, you can still glide around since the translate vector's Y-value is being set to zero, until you stop moving and fall to the ground (the velocity is only set when moving). So to solve this I would like to try casting a ray down from the body to determine the Y-value of the world, and checking the difference between that value and the Y-value of the camera body, and disable or slow down movement if the difference is large enough. I'm a bit stuck on simply casting a ray and determining the Y-value of the world where it struck. I've implemented this callback: struct AllRayResultCallback : public btCollisionWorld::RayResultCallback{ AllRayResultCallback(const btVector3& rayFromWorld, const btVector3& rayToWorld) : m_rayFromWorld(rayFromWorld), m_rayToWorld(rayToWorld), m_closestHitFraction(1.0){} btVector3 m_rayFromWorld; btVector3 m_rayToWorld; btVector3 m_hitNormalWorld; btVector3 m_hitPointWorld; float m_closestHitFraction; virtual btScalar addSingleResult(btCollisionWorld::LocalRayResult& rayResult, bool normalInWorldSpace) { if(rayResult.m_hitFraction < m_closestHitFraction) m_closestHitFraction = rayResult.m_hitFraction; m_collisionObject = rayResult.m_collisionObject; if(normalInWorldSpace){ m_hitNormalWorld = rayResult.m_hitNormalLocal; } else{ m_hitNormalWorld = m_collisionObject->getWorldTransform().getBasis() * rayResult.m_hitNormalLocal; } m_hitPointWorld.setInterpolate3(m_rayFromWorld, m_rayToWorld, m_closestHitFraction); return 1.0f; } }; And in the movement function, I have this code: btVector3 from(pos.x, pos.y + 1000, pos.z); // pos is the camera's rigid body position btVector3 to(pos.x, 0, pos.z); // not sure if 0 is correct for Y AllRayResultCallback callback(from, to); Base::getSingletonPtr()->m_btWorld->rayTest(from, to, callback); So I have the callback.m_hitPointWorld vector, which seems to just show the position of the camera each frame. I've searched Google for examples of casting rays, as well as the Bullet documentation, and it's been hard to just find an example. An example is really all I need. Or perhaps there is some method in Bullet to keep the rigid body on the ground? I'm using Ogre3D as a rendering engine, and casting a ray down is quite straightforward with that, however I want to keep all the ray casting within Bullet for simplicity. Could anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks.

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• A proposal for #DAX Code Formatting #ssas #powerpivot #tabular

  - by Marco Russo (SQLBI)

  I recently published a set of rules for DAX code formatting. The following is an example of what I obtain: CALCULATE (     SUMX (         Orders,         Orders[Amount]     ),     FILTER (         ALL ( Customers ),         CALCULATE (             COUNTROWS ( Sales ),             ALL ( Calendar[Date] )         ) > 42 + 8 – 25 * ( 3 - 1 )             + 2 – 1 + 2 – 1             + CALCULATE (                   2 + 2 – 2                   + 2 - 2               )             – CALCULATE ( 4 )     ) ) The goal is to improve code readability and I look forward to implement a code formatting feature in DAX Studio. The DAX Editor already supports the rules described in the article. I am also considering whether to add a rule specific for ADDCOLUMNS / SUMMARIZE because I would like to see the “pairs” of arguments to define a column in the same row or with a special indentation rule (DAX expression for a column is indented in the line following the column name). EVALUATE CALCULATETABLE (        CALCULATETABLE (         SUMMARIZE (             Audience,             'Date'[Year],             Individuals[Gender],             Individuals[AgeRange],             "Num of Rows", FORMAT (COUNTROWS (Audience), "#,#"),             "Weighted Mean Age",                 SUMX (Audience, Audience[Weight] * Audience[Age]) / SUM (Audience[Weight])         ),         SUMMARIZE (             BridgeIndividualsTargets,             Individuals[ID_Individual]         ),         Audience[Weight] > 0        ),        Targets[Target] = "Maschi",     'Date'[Year] = 2010,     'Date'[MonthName] = "January" ) I would like to get feedback for that – you can use comments here or comments in original article. Thanks!

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• OpenGL position from depth is wrong

  - by CoffeeandCode

  My engine is currently implemented using a deferred rendering technique, and today I decided to change it up a bit. First I was storing 5 textures as so: DEPTH24_STENCIL8 - Depth and stencil RGBA32F - Position RGBA10_A2 - Normals RGBA8 x 2 - Specular & Diffuse I decided to minimize it and reconstruct positions from the depth buffer. Trying to figure out what is wrong with my method currently has not been fun :/ Currently I get this: which changes whenever I move the camera... weird Vertex shader really simple #version 150 layout(location = 0) in vec3 position; layout(location = 1) in vec2 uv; out vec2 uv_f; void main(){ uv_f = uv; gl_Position = vec4(position, 1.0); } Fragment shader Where the fun (and not so fun) stuff happens #version 150 uniform sampler2D depth_tex; uniform sampler2D normal_tex; uniform sampler2D diffuse_tex; uniform sampler2D specular_tex; uniform mat4 inv_proj_mat; uniform vec2 nearz_farz; in vec2 uv_f; ... other uniforms and such ... layout(location = 3) out vec4 PostProcess; vec3 reconstruct_pos(){ float z = texture(depth_tex, uv_f).x; vec4 sPos = vec4(uv_f * 2.0 - 1.0, z, 1.0); sPos = inv_proj_mat * sPos; return (sPos.xyz / sPos.w); } void main(){ vec3 pos = reconstruct_pos(); vec3 normal = texture(normal_tex, uv_f).rgb; vec3 diffuse = texture(diffuse_tex, uv_f).rgb; vec4 specular = texture(specular_tex, uv_f); ... do lighting ... PostProcess = vec4(pos, 1.0); // Just for testing } Rendering code probably nothing wrong here, seeing as though it always worked before this->gbuffer->bind(); gl::Clear(gl::COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | gl::DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT); gl::Enable(gl::DEPTH_TEST); gl::Enable(gl::CULL_FACE); ... bind geometry shader and draw models and shiz ... gl::Disable(gl::DEPTH_TEST); gl::Disable(gl::CULL_FACE); gl::Enable(gl::BLEND); ... bind textures and lighting shaders shown above then draw each light ... gl::BindFramebuffer(gl::FRAMEBUFFER, 0); gl::Clear(gl::COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | gl::DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT); gl::Disable(gl::BLEND); ... bind screen shaders and draw quad with PostProcess texture ... Rinse_and_repeat(); // not actually a function ;) Why are my positions being output like they are?

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• What is the difference between development and R&D?

  - by MainMa

  I was asked by a colleague to explain clearly the difference between ordinary development and research and development (R&D) and was unable to do it. After reading Wikipedia, I still don't have the precise answer. According to Wikipedia (slightly modified): There are two primary models: In one model, the primary function is to develop new products; in the other model, the primary function is to discover and create new knowledge about scientific and technological topics for the purpose of uncovering and enabling development of valuable new products, processes, and services. The first model is confusing. Does it mean that development (not R&D) consists exclusively in adding new features to a product, solving bugs and doing maintenance? What if something which was previously developed as a new feature becomes a separate product? The second model is less confusing, but still, how to qualify whether something is new knowledge or existent knowledge which is just rediscovered? Later, Wikipedia adds that ordinary development is different from R&D because of its: nearly immediate profit or immediate improvement. It's still not clear enough. How to qualify "nearly immediate profit"? What if a task has an immediate profit but requires heavy research? Or if it is basic but has uncertain profit, like the enforcement of a common style over the codebase? For example, does it belong to development or R&D to: Develop an engine which abstracts the access to the database, simplifying and shortening enormously the code of other applications (existent or ones which will be written in future) which should access to the database? Establish a new service-oriented architecture for the entire organization of company resources, in order to move from a bunch of separate and autonomous applications to a set of well-organized, interconnected web services, like what is used by Amazon? Design a new communication protocol to allow faster replication of data between two data centers of the company? Conceive a new type of software testing while working on a specific product, knowing that this type of testing will improve/simplify the testing process? Prove that Functional programming is more appropriate than OOP for a specific application, based on evidence, logic and previous experience? Enhance the existent application by adding gestures on tactile screens, after doing studies and testing that shows that those gestures improve the productivity of the users by a ratio of at least 1.4 for a precise set of tasks? Find a way to strongly enhance the Power usage effectiveness (PUE) of a data center? Create a Domain-Specific Language (DSL)? In short, how could I determine whether I'm doing R&D while working on something?

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• Cloud service and IM protocol advice, for a backend to group chat mobile app

  - by Jonathan

  Overview I’m going to develop an app on Android and iOS. It will allow users to set up group ‘chat rooms’ and talk on chat rooms set up by other users. The service needs to be highly scalable, such that it could accommodate a massive increase in users overnight (we can only dream). Chat requirements The chat protocol used should be flexible: it should allow me to determine who can view/post on ‘chat rooms’ based on certain other factors, as determined by the first poster/creator of the particular ‘chat room’. It should also allow for users to simply install the app and begin using the service, after only providing a simple nickname (which could be changed later). Chat protocol plans Having looked around I think the XMPP protocol is the best candidate. In particular the Multi-user chat extension looks like what I’ll need. Would this be most suited to my requirements, or do you know another potential solution? Cloud service I have been deciding between Amazon Web Services, Google App Engine and Windows Azure. I’m coming to the conclusion that Azure will be best, as it is easier to manage than AWS (ease of scalability will be a key factor in the design), I think it may be less restricted than GAE, plus Azure will soon have toolkits to allow easy interfacing with both Android and iOS phones. Is this the decision you would have made, or would you recommend/look into other cloud services? General project philosophy I have only recently started looking into this project’s feasibility, and am no expert on any of its aspects. So wherever possible I will leave the actual implementations to experts, i.e. choosing a higher-level cloud service, using a well-documented plugin of a, proven reliable, group chat protocol etc. My background I have some programming knowledge from a computer science degree. Main languages I’ve used have been Java and Python, but I don’t want this to affect design decisions for the project. The most appropriate languages for the task should be used, i.e. I don’t mind learning a lot of new skills (my current programming levels are relatively basic anyway). Thank you Thanks for reading, and any advice you have about any aspect would be greatly appreciated :-)

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• How to deploy global managed beans

  - by frank.nimphius

  v\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} o\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} w\:* {behavior:url(#default#VML);} .shape {behavior:url(#default#VML);} Normal 0 false false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} "Global managed" beans is the term I use in this post to describe beans that are used across applications. Global managed beans contain helper - or utility - methods like or instead of JSFUtils and ADFUtils. The difference between global managed beans and static helper classes like JSFUtis and ADFUtils is that they are EL accessible, providing reusable functionality that is ready to use on UI components and - if accessed from Java - in other managed beans. For example, the ADF Faces page template (af:pageTemplate) allows you to define attributes for the consuming page to pass in object references or strings into it. It does not have method attributes that allow command components contained in a template to invoke listeners in managed beans and the ADF binding layer, or to execute actions. To create templates that provide global button or menu functionality, like logon, logout, print etc., an option for developers is to deployed managed beans with the ADF Faces page templates. To deploy a managed bean with a page template, create an ADF library from the project containing the template definition and import this ADF library into the target project using the Resource palette. When importing an ADF library, all its content is added to the project, including page template definitions, managed bean sources and configurations. More about page templates http://download.oracle.com/docs/cd/E17904_01/apirefs.1111/e12419/tagdoc/af_pageTemplate.html Another use-case for globally configured managed beans is for creating helper methods to be used in many applications. Instead of creating a base managed bean class that then is extended by all managed beans used in applications, you can deploy a managed bean in a JAR file and add the faces-config.xml file with the managed bean configuration to the JAR's META-INF folder as shown below. Using a globally configured managed bean allows you to use Expression Language in the UI to access common functionality but also use Java in application specific managed beans. Storing the faces-config.xml file in the JAR file META-INF directory automatically makes it available when the JAR file is found in the class path of an application.

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• What are the drawbacks of sending XML to browsers and let them apply XSLT?

  - by MainMa

  Context Working as a freelance developer, I often made websites completely based on XSLT. In other words, on every request, an XML file is generated, containing everything we need to know about the page content: the name of the user currently logged in, the top menu entries, if this menu is dynamic/configurable, the text to display in a specific area of the page, etc. Then XSL process (caches, etc.) it to HTML/XHTML page to send to the browser. It has a good point to make it easier to create small-scale websites, especially with PHP. It is a sort of template engine, but which I prefer to other template engines because it's much more powerful than most of template engines, and because I know it better and like it. It is also possible, when need, to give an access to raw XML data on demand for an automated access, without the need to create separate APIs. Of course, it will fail completely on any medium-scale or large-scale website, since, even with good caching techniques, XSL still degrades overall website performance and requires more CPU serverside. Question Modern browsers have the ability to take an XML file and to transform it with an associated XSL file declared in XML like <?xml-stylesheet href="demo.xslt" type="text/xsl"?>. Firefox 3 can do it. Internet Explorer 8 can do it too. It means that it is possible to migrate XSL processing from the server to the client side for 50% of users (according on browser statistics on several websites where I may want to implement this). It means that those 50% of users will receive only the XML file at each request, thus reducing their and server's bandwidth (XML file being much shorter than its processed HTML analog), and reducing server's CPU usage. What are the drawbacks of this technique? I thought about several ones, but it doesn't apply in this situation: Difficult implementation and the need to choose, based on the browser request, when to send raw XML and when to transform it to HTML instead. Obviously, the system will not be much more difficult then the actual one. The only change to make is to add XSL file link to every XML, and to add a browser check. More IO and bandwidth usage, since the XSLT file will be downloaded by the browsers, instead of being cached by the server. I don't think it will be a problem, since XSLT file will be cached by the browsers (like images, or CSS, or JavaScript files are cached actually). Possibly some problems on client side, like maybe problems when saving a page in some browsers. Difficulty to debug code: it is impossible to obtain an HTML source the browser is actually using, since the only displayed source is the downloaded XML. On the other hand, I rarely go look at HTML code on client side, and in most cases, it is unusable directly (whitespace being removed).

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• MS in Computer Science after BE in electronics

  - by Abhinav

  I am doing my 3rd year Bachelors in Electronics and Electrical Communication but from the first year I have been interested in Computer Science. But at that time it was just my hobby. But in second year when I joined robotics my love for computer science rose. I with my team came in top three in 2 National Competition (Technical fests of different IITs) where we used Image Processing, Hardware interfacing etc. But then I realised that Computer Science is not just about coding. I took many lectures from online free schools like Udacity, Coursera in subjects related to Artificial Intelligence, Building a Search Engine, Design and Analysis of Algorithm, Programming a Robotic Car, Programming Languages, Machine Learning, Software Engineering as a Service, WebApps Engineering, Compilers, Applied Crypotography etc. I also did some courses in Core and Advanced Java in my second year from training institute. I will also be taking course in Statistics, Databases, Discrete Mathematics from 25th June. Now I realized how vast is the field of Computer Science and how efficient you become on deciding algorithms and classifying problems into different subfields which have been thoroughly researched so you don't always do brute force thing or naive programming. Now this field has become kind of passion for me. Adding to the fact I am also doing my 6 months internship in software field in Texas Instruments where I am working on Automation and Algorithms. I also have some 5-6 good college level projects in Softwares and Robotics. I also like Electronics but only some fields like Operating System(this subject was there in Electronics also), Micro Processor, Digital, Computer Architecture, DSPs etc. I really want to pursue MS in some field of Computer Science. I am giving GRE in October/November. Till now I have good CG of around 9.4/10 and my 1 year in college is still left. Do I have any chance that some good University in US will consider me for MS in field related to computer science or Robotics. Also Can you suggest somethings that I can do during this 1 year to increase my chances for MS or should I apply for EECS(Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) and then I can shift more towards Computer Science as my major option. My main aim is to do Phd after Ms in CS if I am able to do that somehow. I know that I have to put much extra effort to understand things in MS than CS undergraduates but I will do that with my full dedication, also when I communicate with my college CS students or during my internship period I didn't feel that I am missing very much stuff that they know and was very comfortable during my internship with software employees.

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• How to export 3D models that consist of several parts (eg. turret on a tank)?

  - by Will

  What are the standard alternatives for the mechanics of attaching turrets and such to 3D models for use in-game? I don't mean the logic, but rather the graphics aspects. My naive approach is to extend the MD2-like format that I'm using (blender-exported using a script) to include a new set of properties for a mesh that: is anchored in another 'parent' mesh. The anchor is a point and normal in the parent mesh and a point and normal in the child mesh; these will always be colinear, giving the child rotation but not translation relative to the parent point. has a normal that is aligned with a 'target'. Classically this target is the enemy that is being engaged, but it might be some other vector e.g. 'the wind' (for sails and flags (and smoke, which is a particle system but the same principle applies)) or 'upwards' (e.g. so bodies of riders bend properly when riding a horse up an incline etc). that the anchor and target alignments have maximum and minimum and a speed coeff. there is game logic for multiple turrets and on a model and deciding which engages which enemy. 'primary' and 'secondary' or 'target0' ... 'targetN' or some such annotation will be there. So to illustrate, a classic tank would be made from three meshes; a main body mesh, a turret mesh that is anchored to the top of the main body so it can spin only horizontally and a barrel mesh that is anchored to the front of the turret and can only move vertically within some bounds. And there might be a forth flag mesh on top of the turret that is aligned with 'wind' where wind is a function the engine solves that merges environment's wind angle with angle the vehicle is travelling in an velocity, or something fancy. This gives each mesh one degree of freedom relative to its parent. Things with multiple degrees of freedom can be modelled by zero-vertex connecting meshes perhaps? This is where I think the approach I outlined begins to feel inelegant, yet perhaps its still a workable system? This is why I want to know how it is done in professional games ;) Are there better approaches? Are there formats that already include this information? Is this routine?

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• Is it ok to initialize an RB_ConstraintActor in PostBeginPlay?

  - by Almo

  I have a KActorSpawnable subclass that acts weird. In PostBeginPlay, I initialize an RB_ConstraintActor; the default is not to allow rotation. If I create one in the editor, it's fine, and won't rotate. If I spawn one, it rotates. Here's the class: class QuadForceKActor extends KActorSpawnable placeable; var(Behavior) bool bConstrainRotation; var(Behavior) bool bConstrainX; var(Behavior) bool bConstrainY; var(Behavior) bool bConstrainZ; var RB_ConstraintActor PhysicsConstraintActor; simulated event PostBeginPlay() { Super.PostBeginPlay(); PhysicsConstraintActor = Spawn(class'RB_ConstraintActorSpawnable', self, '', Location, rot(0, 0, 0)); if(bConstrainRotation) { PhysicsConstraintActor.ConstraintSetup.bSwingLimited = true; PhysicsConstraintActor.ConstraintSetup.bTwistLimited = true; } SetLinearConstraints(bConstrainX, bConstrainY, bConstrainZ); PhysicsConstraintActor.InitConstraint(self, None); } function SetLinearConstraints(bool InConstrainX, bool InConstrainY, bool InConstrainZ) { if(InConstrainX) { PhysicsConstraintActor.ConstraintSetup.LinearXSetup.bLimited = 1; } else { PhysicsConstraintActor.ConstraintSetup.LinearXSetup.bLimited = 0; } if(InConstrainY) { PhysicsConstraintActor.ConstraintSetup.LinearYSetup.bLimited = 1; } else { PhysicsConstraintActor.ConstraintSetup.LinearYSetup.bLimited = 0; } if(InConstrainZ) { PhysicsConstraintActor.ConstraintSetup.LinearZSetup.bLimited = 1; } else { PhysicsConstraintActor.ConstraintSetup.LinearZSetup.bLimited = 0; } } DefaultProperties { bConstrainRotation=true bConstrainX=false bConstrainY=false bConstrainZ=false bSafeBaseIfAsleep=false bNoEncroachCheck=false } Here's the code I use to spawn one. It's a subclass of the one above, but it doesn't reference the constraint at all. local QuadForceKCreateBlock BlockActor; BlockActor = spawn(class'QuadForceKCreateBlock', none, 'PowerCreate_Block', BlockLocation(), m_PreparedRotation, , false); BlockActor.SetDuration(m_BlockDuration); BlockActor.StaticMeshComponent.SetNotifyRigidBodyCollision(true); BlockActor.StaticMeshComponent.ScriptRigidBodyCollisionThreshold = 0.001; BlockActor.StaticMeshComponent.SetStaticMesh(m_ValidCreationBlock.StaticMesh); BlockActor.StaticMeshComponent.AddImpulse(m_InitialVelocity); I used to initialize an RB_ConstraintActor where I spawned it from the outside. This worked, which is why I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with the other code in QuadForceKCreateBlock. I then added the internal constraint in QuadForceKActor for other purposes. When I realized I had two constraints on the CreateBlock doing the same thing, I removed the constraint code from the place where I spawn it. Then it started rotating. Is there a reason I should not be initializing an RB_ConstraintActor in PostBeginPlay? I feel like there's some basic thing about how the engine works that I'm missing.

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• Wireframing: A Day In the Life of UX Workshop at Oracle

  - by ultan o'broin

  The Oracle Applications User Experience team's Day in the Life (DITL) of User Experience (UX) event was run in Oracle's Redwood Shores HQ for Oracle Usability Advisory Board (OUAB) members. I was charged with putting together a wireframing session, together with Director of Financial Applications User Experience, Scott Robinson (@scottrobinson). Example of stunning new wireframing visuals we used on the DITL events. We put on a lively show, explaining the basics of wireframing, the concepts, what it is and isn't, considerations on wireframing tool choice, and then imparting some tips and best practices. But the real energy came when the OUAB customers and partners in the room were challenge to do some wireframing of their own. Wireframing is about bringing your business and product use cases to life in real UX visual terms, by creating a low-fidelity drawing to iterate and agree on in advance of prototyping and coding what is to be finally built and rolled out for users. All the best people wireframe. Leonardo da Vinci used "cartoons" on some great works, tracing outlines first and using red ochre or charcoal dropped through holes in the tracing parchment onto the canvas to outline the subject. (Image distributed under Wikimedia commons license) Wireframing an application's user experience design enables you to: Obtain stakeholder buy-in. Enable faster iteration of different designs. Determine the task flow navigation paths (in Oracle Fusion Applications navigation is linked with user roles). Develop a content strategy (readability, search engine optimization (SEO) of content, and so on) Lay out the pages, widgets, groups of features, and so on. Apply usability heuristics early (no replacement for usability testing, but a great way to do some heavy-lifting up front). Decide upstream which functional user experience design patterns to apply (out of the box solutions that expedite productivity). Assess which Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) or equivalent technology components can be used (again, developer productivity is enhanced downstream). We ran a lively hands-on exercise where teams wireframed a choice of application scenarios using the time-honored tools of pen and paper. Scott worked the floor like a pro, pointing out great use of features, best practices, innovations, and making sure that the whole concept of wireframing, the gestalt, transferred. "We need more buttons!" The cry of the energized. Not quite. The winning wireframe session (online shopping scenario) from the Applications UX DITL event shown. Great fun, great energy, and great teamwork were evident in the room. Naturally, there were prizes for the best wireframe. Well, actually, prizes were handed out to the other attendees too! An exciting, slightly different aspect to delivery of this session made the wireframing event one of the highlights of the day. And definitely, something we will repeat again when we get the chance. Thanks to everyone who attended, contributed, and helped organize.

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• How to deal with Warning : "Uncommittable transaction is detected at the end of the batch. The trans

  - by VishnuTiwariBlog

  Hi, If you are integrating with SQL Server and dealing with batch messages, you may encounter this problem. And this is evitable. The reason is the contention of resources. If your batch contains four messages and all the four messages have to be updated to SQL Server and then at the same time four process will contend for SQL server table and resources and the obvious result will be, few of your transaction will be left uncomitted and if you are not handling dehydration [not modifying the default property of the Dehydration] then your orchestration will dehydrate and will go for retry. If retry is set for every five minutes then after five minutes Port will send the message to the database. Reason for writing this post was as I did not want to see so many DEHYDRATED messages. And this was happening as Host Throttling was not set. Thus as soon as the BizTalk Process finds that SQL resources are unavailable it will go and dehydrate that process and process will go for retry. The contension of resources is unavoidable though we can fine tune the Dehydration setting. If you increase the time that an orchestration can be blocked at a subscription before being dehydrated, possibly you will give more time BizTalk Engine to handle to SQL resource availability. At least I solve the problem by fine tuning the Dehydration properties. Below is the section of config info which you need to add to the BTSNTsvc.exe.config.   <?xml version="1.0" ?> <configuration>        <configSections>               <section name="xlangs" type="Microsoft.XLANGs.BizTalk.CrossProcess.XmlSerializationConfigurationSectionHandler, Microsoft.XLANGs.BizTalk.CrossProcess" />        </configSections>        <runtime>               <assemblyBinding xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1">                      <probing privatePath="BizTalk Assemblies;Developer Tools;Tracking" />               </assemblyBinding>        </runtime>        <xlangs>               <Configuration>                      <Dehydration MaxThreshold="1800" MinThreshold="1" ConstantThreshold="-1">                             <VirtualMemoryThrottlingCriteria OptimalUsage="900" MaximalUsage="1300" IsActive="true" />                             <PrivateMemoryThrottlingCriteria OptimalUsage="50" MaximalUsage="350" IsActive="true" />                             <PhysicalMemoryThrottlingCriteria OptimalUsage="50" MaximalUsage="350" IsActive="false" />                      </Dehydration>               </Configuration>        </xlangs> </configuration>

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• How to resolve concurrent ramp collisions in 2d platformer?

  - by Shaun Inman

  A bit about the physics engine: Bodies are all rectangles. Bodies are sorted at the beginning of every update loop based on the body-in-motion's horizontal and vertical velocity (to avoid sticky walls/floors). Solid bodies are resolved by testing the body-in-motion's new X with the old Y and adjusting if necessary before testing the new X with the new Y, again adjusting if necessary. Works great. Ramps (rectangles with a flag set indicating bottom-left, bottom-right, etc) are resolved by calculating the ratio of penetration along the x-axis and setting a new Y accordingly (with some checks to make sure the body-in-motion isn't attacking from the tall or flat side, in which case the ramp is treated as a normal rectangle). This also works great. Side-by-side ramps, eg. \/ and /\, work fine but things get jittery and unpredictable when a top-down ramp is directly above a bottom-up ramp, eg. < or > or when a bottom-up ramp runs right up to the ceiling/top-down ramp runs right down to the floor. I've been able to lock it down somewhat by detecting whether the body-in-motion hadFloor when also colliding with a top-down ramp or hadCeiling when also colliding with a bottom-up ramp then resolving by calculating the ratio of penetration along the y-axis and setting the new X accordingly (the opposite of the normal behavior). But as soon as the body-in-motion jumps the hasFloor flag becomes false, the first ramp resolution pushes the body into collision with the second ramp and collision resolution becomes jittery again for a few frames. I'm sure I'm making this more complicated than it needs to be. Can anyone recommend a good resource that outlines the best way to address this problem? (Please don't recommend I use something like Box2d or Chipmunk. Also, "redesign your levels" isn't an answer; the body-in-motion may at times be riding another body-in-motion, eg. a platform, that pushes it into a ramp so I'd like to be able to resolve this properly.) Thanks!

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• Designing a completly new database/gui solution for my compnay

  - by user1277304

  I'm no expert when it come to Everything Visual Studio 2010 and utilizing SQL server 2008. I'm sure some of my personal projects I've built for personal use would get laughed off the face of the planet, but SQLCe has been the solution I was looking for those home type of projects. And they work, flawlessly. Now I feel it's time to step up to the big league. I want to develop a complete, unified and module based solution for my compnay that I'm working for. We're still using stuff from the 80s for goodness sake! I use Excel and query the ancient database on my own because I can't stand the GUI. Nothing against people of age, but the IDE our programmers are using is from the stone age, and they use APL of all things with it. I've yet to see a radio buttton control anywhere in the GUI where it would make sense. Anyway, I want to do this right from the ground up. I'm by no means a newbie when it comes to programming in .NET 2010, however, I want the entire solution to be professionaly done. I want version control, test projects, project flow, SQL 2008 integration and all the bells and whistles that come with that. I know for a fact that if we had something like that runnning, not only would development costs and time be slashed four fold, but the possibilities for expansion and performance would sky rocket. (Between the GUI an our DB engine, it can only use ONE CORE! ONE! It's 2012 for goodness sake!) Our buisness is growing and our current ancient solution just can't keep up, and I'd hate to see our buisness go down in flames because our programmer is stuck in the 80's and refuses to use anything current. So I ask you guys, the experts and know-it-alls, where do I start? Are there any gems of good books out there in the haystack of all "This for dummies" type of deals? I already have several people backing me in this endevour, and while it may seem brash to just usurp the current programmers, I'm doing this for the company as a whole. Thank you guys for your time.

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• Java EE 7 Roadmap

  - by Linda DeMichiel

  The Java EE 6 Platform, released in December 2009, has seen great uptake from the community with its POJO-based programming model, lightweight Web Profile, and extension points. There are now 13 Java EE 6 compliant appserver implementations today! When we announced the Java EE 7 JSR back in early 2011, our plans were that we would release it by Q4 2012. This target date was slightly over three years after the release of Java EE 6, but at the same time it meant that we had less than two years to complete a fairly comprehensive agenda — to continue to invest in significant enhancements in simplification, usability, and functionality in updated versions of the JSRs that are currently part of the platform; to introduce new JSRs that reflect emerging needs in the community; and to add support for use in cloud environments. We have since announced a minor adjustment in our dates (to the spring of 2013) in order to accommodate the inclusion of JSRs of importance to the community, such as Web Sockets and JSON-P. At this point, however, we have to make a choice. Despite our best intentions, our progress has been slow on the cloud side of our agenda. Partially this has been due to a lack of maturity in the space for provisioning, multi-tenancy, elasticity, and the deployment of applications in the cloud. And partially it is due to our conservative approach in trying to get things "right" in view of limited industry experience in the cloud area when we started this work. Because of this, we believe that providing solid support for standardized PaaS-based programming and multi-tenancy would delay the release of Java EE 7 until the spring of 2014 — that is, two years from now and over a year behind schedule. In our opinion, that is way too long. We have therefore proposed to the Java EE 7 Expert Group that we adjust our course of action — namely, stick to our current target release dates, and defer the remaining aspects of our agenda for PaaS enablement and multi-tenancy support to Java EE 8. Of course, we continue to believe that Java EE is well-suited for use in the cloud, although such use might not be quite ready for full standardization. Even today, without Java EE 7, Java EE vendors such as Oracle, Red Hat, IBM, and CloudBees have begun to offer the ability to run Java EE applications in the cloud. Deferring the remaining cloud-oriented aspects of our agenda has several important advantages: It allows Java EE Platform vendors to gain more experience with their implementations in this area and thus helps us avoid risks entailed by trying to standardize prematurely in an emerging area. It means that the community won't need to wait longer for those features that are ready at the cost of those features that need more time. Because we have already laid some of the infrastructure for cloud support in Java EE 7, including resource definition metadata, improved security configuration, JPA schema generation, etc., it will allow us to expedite a Java EE 8 release. We therefore plan to target the Java EE 8 Platform release for the spring of 2015. This shift in the scope of Java EE 7 allows us to better retain our focus on enhancements in simplification and usability and to deliver on schedule those features that have been most requested by developers. These include the support for HTML 5 in the form of Web Sockets and JSON-P; the simplified JMS 2.0 APIs; improved Managed Bean alignment, including transactional interceptors; the JAX-RS 2.0 client API; support for method-level validation; a much more comprehensive expression language; and more. We feel strongly that this is the right thing to do, and we hope that you will support us in this proposed direction.

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• Ideas for time-keeping in a webbased RPG?

  - by ashy_32bit

  I'm assigned a task of doing the preliminary research stuff for a web-based MMO RPG. Now my buggiest problem here is "web based" vs "MMO RPG". I did some research about time keeping systems and I'm totally confused as how exactly something as real-time as an MMO-RPG can work on some pull-only (unidirectional) platform like HTTP. I know there is also a turn-based alternative to time keeping but can it work in an MMO setting ? EDIT: Take a battle for example, player A (human) wants to attack Player B (also human) in the open. How does it work when when player A issues the "attack" command on player B ? how do I inform player B that he is being attacked ? and then how exactly the battle goes on between the two in an HTTP based communication channel? To my knowledge this is impossible unless you resort to another technology (HTML is 1-way, that is you can just ask server and get response, server can't update you unless being asked to. this is very well-known and simply explained). So I though maybe I can somehow change the whole timekeeping model from real-time to a more non-real-time model (towards a turn based RPG for example) and somehow work around the whole problem of "interactivity". EDIT2: It is not that I don't wanna use any server side technologies. For sure it is not gonna work client-side-only even for the most trivial of the multi-player games, let alone an RPG. So sure there would be a (probably complex) server side component to it (the so called Game Engine I suppose). The problem is not the technology that implements the logic (game mechanics) bits but the communication technology and how it limits the game mechanics abilities (like how real-time or turn based it is gonna be). HTTP is a request-response protocol meaning you get served only if you ask for it (explicitly send a GET or POST request to the server). HTTP server can not inform you if anything of interest happens in the game world unless you refresh the page (as some suggested) or you use some bi-directional tech (totally different animals) like Flash, WebSock, HTML5 etc etc. So maybe the question is: Is it possible to implement a MMORPG using only HTML5/PHP and no periodic page refreshes? if so what would be rules to make it an MMO-RPG? Can't explain it any clearer. Sorry :D

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• Creating smooth lighting transitions using tiles in HTML5/JavaScript game

  - by user12098

  I am trying to implement a lighting effect in an HTML5/JavaScript game using tile replacement. What I have now is kind of working, but the transitions do not look smooth/natural enough as the light source moves around. Here's where I am now: Right now I have a background map that has a light/shadow spectrum PNG tilesheet applied to it - going from darkest tile to completely transparent. By default the darkest tile is drawn across the entire level on launch, covering all other layers etc. I am using my predetermined tile sizes (40 x 40px) to calculate the position of each tile and store its x and y coordinates in an array. I am then spawning a transparent 40 x 40px "grid block" entity at each position in the array The engine I'm using (ImpactJS) then allows me to calculate the distance from my light source entity to every instance of this grid block entity. I can then replace the tile underneath each of those grid block tiles with a tile of the appropriate transparency. Currently I'm doing the calculation like this in each instance of the grid block entity that is spawned on the map: var dist = this.distanceTo( ig.game.player ); var percentage = 100 * dist / 960; if (percentage < 2) { // Spawns tile 64 of the shadow spectrum tilesheet at the specified position ig.game.backgroundMaps[2].setTile( this.pos.x, this.pos.y, 64 ); } else if (percentage < 4) { ig.game.backgroundMaps[2].setTile( this.pos.x, this.pos.y, 63 ); } else if (percentage < 6) { ig.game.backgroundMaps[2].setTile( this.pos.x, this.pos.y, 62 ); } // etc... (sorry about the weird spacing, I still haven't gotten the hang of pasting code in here properly) The problem is that like I said, this type of calculation does not make the light source look very natural. Tile switching looks too sharp whereas ideally they would fade in and out smoothly using the spectrum tilesheet (I copied the tilesheet from another game that manages to do this, so I know it's not a problem with the tile shades. I'm just not sure how the other game is doing it). I'm thinking that perhaps my method of using percentages to switch out tiles could be replaced with a better/more dynamic proximity forumla of some sort that would allow for smoother transitions? Might anyone have any ideas for what I can do to improve the visuals here, or a better way of calculating proximity with the information I'm collecting about each tile? (PS: I'm reposting this from Stack Overflow at someone's suggestion, sorry about the duplicate!)

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