What is the difference of declaration of a variable in a loop and before the loop?
- by Ehsan Mamakani
Look at this example:
int i;
for (i=1;i.......
and this:
for (int i=1;i........
What's the difference between them?
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Search found 13604 results on 545 pages for 'programming agnostic'.
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Is there tool agnostic terminology for source control activities?
- by C. Ross
My team is entering into some discussions on source control (process and possibly tools) and we would like a tool agnostic terminology for the various activities. The environment does have multiple (old) VCS's, and multiple desired (new) VCS's. Is there a standard definition of activities, or at least some commonly accepted set? Example activities (in CVS terminology): Branch Check out Update MergeRead the article
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Government Mandates and Programming Languages
A recent SEC proposal (which, at over 600 pages, I havent read in any detail) includes the following: We are proposing to require the filing of a computer program (the waterfall computer program, as defined in the proposed rule) of the contractual cash flow provisions of the securities in the form of downloadable source code in Python, a commonly used computer programming language that is open source and interpretive. The computer program would be tagged in XML and required to be filed with the Commission as an exhibit. Under our proposal, the filed source code for the computer program, when downloaded and run (by loading it into an open Python session on the investors computer), would be required to allow the user to programmatically input information from the asset data file that we are proposing to require as described above. We believe that, with the waterfall computer program and the asset data file, investors would be better able to conduct their own evaluations of ABS and may be less likely to be dependent on the opinions of credit rating agencies. With respect to any registration statement on Form SF-1 (Section 239.44) or Form SF-3 (Section 239.45) relating to an offering of an asset-backed security that is required to comply with Item 1113(h) of Regulation AB, the Waterfall Computer Program (as defined in Item 1113(h)(1) of Regulation AB) must be written in the Python programming language and able to be downloaded and run on a local computer properly configured with a Python interpreter. The Waterfall Computer Program should be filed in the manner specified in the EDGAR Filer Manual. I dont see how it can be in investors best interests that the SEC demand a particular programming language be used for software related to investment data. I have a feeling that investors who use computers at all already have software with which they are familiar, and that the vast majority of them are not running an open source scripting language on their machines to do their financial analysis. In fact, I would wager that most of them are using tools like Excel, and if they really need to script anything, its being done with VBA in Excel. Now, Im not proposing that the SEC should require that the data be provided in Excel format with VBA scripts included so everyone can easily access the data (despite the fact that this would actually be pretty useful generally). Rather, I think it is ill-advised for a government agency to make recommendations of this nature, period. If the goal of the recommendation is to ensure that the way things work is codified in a transparent manner, than I can certainly respect that. It seems to me that this could be accomplished without dictating the technology to use. To wit: An Excel document could contain all of the data as well as the formulae necessary, and most likely would not require the end-user to install anything on their machine The SEC could simply create a calculator in the cloud such that any/all investors could use a single canonical web-based (or web service based) tool Millions of Java and .NET developers could write their own implementations You can read more about this issue, including the favorable position on it, on Jayanth Varmas blog. 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.Read the article
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How to introduce a computer illiterate 50-year old to programming [closed]
- by sunday
The other day my dad asked me a question that I would have never expected from him. "How can I learn C++?" My dad is turning 56 this year and computers are a distant concept for him. He doesn't know how to use a phone very well besides calling numbers (no speed dial or contacts); though he has started to learn computers a little better - to the point that he knows how to open the internet (in Windows) and browse around (and has successfully completed several job applications entirely on his own online, of which he was offered positions too). But still, these are too narrow-windowed experiences to mean much, really. While he may not have the background, my dad knows how to read. And I mean reading as a skill, not just an ability. He has little to no college education (financial problems, family, etc.) and was fortunate enough to finish high school, but still taught himself to become a master electrician and has been one for almost 30 years now. He did the same with guitar, learning to play at a very professional level and has been praised for his skill. In high school, he picked up a weight lifting book - and was the only person in his high school at the time to qualify officially as an "athlete" by national standards. In all cases, he just needed something to read. Something to teach him. He absorbs information like a sponge. I have no doubt in my dad's motivation or capability of doing this, so my general goal is simply: Get my dad into the world of computers, and get him on the road to programming. I strongly believe that once I get him through the fundamentals, his drive and reading skill will keep him going on this own. So I'm asking you all: where should I start with all this? And what are the best resources out there? Should I get him to start Linux instead of Windows? Is C++ a bad idea? Remember, he needs to (IMO) learn computers first, and then get that first grasp (the "Hello world" experience) of programming. For money's sake and at top preference, I'd like free online resources that he can read, but by all means any good suggestions in print or paid-for-online are welcome (that I could possibly look into later to purchase). And also, I intend to start him off with C++ (no Python, Java, etc.), because I know it the best and will be able to help him along the way with code. (I have minimal knowledge right now in other languages). Edit: I'm getting a lot of persistent suggestions to use Python. The only reason I wanted to do C++ is that I KNOW it and can be THERE when my dad needs help. My VERY FIRST exposure to programming ever was Java. I learned Java, and I got good at it. I open to other suggestions, but please provide an effective application of your suggestions. EDIT #2: I understand my approach/thinking/knowledge could be lacking here. I'm a sophomore level undergraduate CS major. If you don't agree with anything in my post, tell me why - give me ideas, information - that's why I'm asking in the first place. To narrow down my general goal to specific reachable goals.Read the article
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Practical guide to programming paradigms ?
- by Pierre
I think I might be misunderstanding the whole thing and I am looking for some programming wisdom. When faced with a programming challenge, I feel the most important question is "which programming paradigm(s) are better suited to handle it, and how to apply them". A distant second is "which language to use". Yet it seems that most of the programming related content I stumble upon on the Internet has it exactly backwards and focuses mostly on the language choice. An object-oriented solution is fundamentaly the same, whether it's implemented in c++, Java or PHP... So where is the paradigm centered content? Where is the "practical guide to programming paradigms and implementations" and other literature helping bringing real-world and programming concepts together? Note: I already know about "Programming Paradigms for Dummies: What Every Programmer Should Know" from Peter Van Roy.Read the article
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Common programming mistakes for Scala developers to avoid
- by jelovirt
In the spirit of Common programming mistakes for Java developers to avoid? Common programming mistakes for JavaScript developers to avoid? Common programming mistakes for .NET developers to avoid? Common programming mistakes for Haskell developers to avoid? Common programming mistakes for Python developers to avoid? Common Programming Mistakes for Ruby Developers to Avoid Common programming mistakes for PHP developers to avoid? what are some common mistakes made by Scala developers, and how can we avoid them? Also, as the biggest group of new Scala developers come from Java, what specific pitfalls they have to be aware of? For example, one often cited problem Java programmers moving to Scala make is use a procedural approach when a functional one would be more suitable in Scala. What other mistakes e.g. in API design newcomers should try to avoid.Read the article
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What is the best software to capture full-screen 3h programming session in Windows?
- by Hugo S Ferreira
Hi, I'm planning a laboratorial experiment to assess behavior of groups when programming using some tools under study. For that, I'll need to capture their entire screen to disk. Mostly, what will be displayed is code, so I'm not to worried with image quality. However, it's paramount that the team is not able to stop the recording by accident, and the tool should be rebust enough to hold at least 3h of video. If possible, it would be nice for researchers in other rooms to "watch" the video as it is recording. Actually, this last requirement reminded me that I could use a VNC recording software, and install a VNC client in each laboratory computer. Anyway, what is your experience with this? Which software do you recommend? Thanks.Read the article
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Teaching high school kids ASP.NET programming
- by dotneteer
During the 2011 Microsoft MVP Global Summit, I have been talking to people about teaching kids ASP.NET programming. I want to work with volunteer organizations to provide kids volunteer opportunities while learning technical skills that can be applied elsewhere. The goal is to teach motivated kids enough skill to be productive with no more than 6 hours of instruction. Based on my prior teaching experience of college extension courses and involvement with high school math and science competitions, I think this is quite doable with classic ASP but a challenge with ASP.NET. I don’t want to use ASP because it does not provide a good path into the future. After some considerations, I think this is possible with ASP.NET and here are my thoughts: · Create a framework within ASP.NET for kids programming. · Use existing editor. No extra compiler and intelligence work needed. · Using a subset of C# like a scripting language. Teaches data type, expression, statements, if/for/while/switch blocks and functions. Use existing classes but no class creation and OOP. · Linear rendering model. No complicated life cycle. · Bare-metal html with some MVC style helpers for widget creation; ASP.NET control is optional. I want to teach kids to understand something and avoid black boxes as much as possible. · Use SQL for CRUD with a helper class. Again, I want to teach understanding rather than black boxes. · Provide a template to encourage clean separation of concern. · Provide a conversion utility to convert the code that uses template to ASP.NET MVC. This will allow kids with AP Computer Science knowledge to step up to ASP.NET MVC. Let me know if you have thoughts or can help.Read the article
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Programming Practice/Test Contest?
- by Emmanuel
My situation: I'm on a programming team, and this year, we want to weed out the weak link by making a competition to get the best coder from our group of candidates. Focus is on IEEExtreme-like contests. What I've done: I've been trying already for 2 weeks to get a practice or test site, like UVa or codechef. The plan after I find one: Send them (the candidates) a list of direct links to the problems (making them the "contest's problem list) get them to email me their correct answers' code at the time the judge says they have solved it and accept the fastest one into the team. Issues: We had practiced on UVa already (on programming challenges too), so our former teammate (which will be in the candidate group) already has an advantage if we used it. Codechef has all it's answers public, and since it shows the latest ones it will be extremely hard to verify if the answer was copied. And I've found other sites, like SPOJ, but they share at least some problems with codechef, making them inherit the issue of Codechef So, what alternatives do you think there are? Any site that may work? Any place to get all stuff to set up a Mooshak or similar contest (as in the stuff to get the problems, instructions to set up the server itself are easy to google)? Any other idea?Read the article
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Programming as a minor
- by Tomas Cokis
Hello Everyone! I've never asked a question here at programmers, and for reasons which will become obvious later I've never answered one here, but I do poke around in short bursts. Anyway, I'm 15 right now, and I've been programming in C++ for 4 years, just working on my own projects that are aim so high as to never be finished. I've been working on a single project for the last year, and every 3 months, I add a new system into it. It might be a value tabling directory enabled log system, or a render system, or a class to load up xml files, whatever it is, I don't mind too much that the overall project (a 3d engine) isn't ever going to get finished, I just get some satisfaction from getting what I have done building and running. I don't know what I want to do when I grow up, although I suspect I'll go into some form of engineering, but I was interested in knowing if I do choose to go into a career as a developer, what kind of material I could look at to push myself up and get myself experience that might help my career later. I'm not talking about books in particular, I'm more interested in subjects areas that will get me access to good job opportunities, or that will give me a hand-up if I do computer science and software related courses at uni. One of the things I was thinking of doing was designing some of the logic gate components of a small computer - which I started briefly over the holidays, working out integer addition, subtraction and multiplication. That kind of stuff interests me, but is it really useful - or more useful then just more programming? But anyway, Any advice? Should I continue on my perpetual 3d engine? Are there any other projects or particular accomplishments that would help my education? Perhaps I should mention that I live in Perth, Australia, so local software companies are likely to be more scarce then usual.Read the article
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Is a Model Driven Architecture in Language Oriented Programming (MPS) feasible at this time
- by Steven Jeuris
As a side project I am developing some sort of DSL where I describe a data model, and generate desired code files from it. I believe this is called Model Driven Architecture. My partial existing implementation uses C#, CodeDOM, XML and XSLT to do this manually. I discovered there already exist better environments to do this in. The one which fascinated me the most is called MPS, which follows the Language Oriented Programming paradigm. This article, written by a cofounder of JetBrains was a real eye opener for me. I truly believe LOP has a very good chance of becoming the next big programming paradigm once it has broader support. From my short experience with MPS, I noticed it is still mainly Java-oriented. My question is, how feasible is it to generate code files for other (multiple) languages instead of just Java. I don't need full language support from the start, so preferably, I need to be able to implement a language in a agile way. E.g. first support only one type, add access modifiers, ... Perhaps some other (free) environment already provides this out of the box. P.S.: I find it important to have a lot of control over the naming conventions and such of the generated code. This is one of the reasons why I started my own implementation.Read the article
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Getting into game/game engine programming
- by Darkslash
So I am interested in learning game programming, but I really have an interest in the lower level engineering in games. I have openGL experience, and I am really interested in learning more about implementing AI, Physics, etc. I have a computer science degree, so I really like getting into technical stuff. Many times when I ask about this sort of thing, I get a lot of "Use an engine", "Use Unity3d", "Why waste your time writing code that already exists", etc etc. My idea was to use simpler libraries such as SFML or XNA so that I could learn how to implement the more complex systems. The thing is, although I do want to write games, I want to learn things that using something like Unity simply doesnt teach you. My goal is not to make a current generation quality 3D game to sell, I just want to make some cool smaller games and learn all I can about the programming side of game development. Is this something that people just do not do anymore? It seems like everywhere I turn people are using Unity or UDK or GameMaker. I fully understand why you would use a tool like these, but I cant see how they would suit my purposes. So where does someone like myself turn? Am I trying to learn something that people just do not bother doing anymore? Is the innovation in this area gone and just all about gameplay now? Im sorry if this question seems silly, but I am genuinely interested in knowing more about this and meeting more people who are interested in this sort of thing.Read the article
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eBook editions of programming books
- by Jon Hopkins
(I'll get my justification for why this is on topic in early: programming books tend to have fairly specific formatting needs - code samples, tables, images and graphs - which are not common to all book types and are not necessarily well handled by eBook readers. Similarly they're used in different ways - you often dip in and out rather than read cover to cover.) I've just noticed that Don't Make Me Think by Steve Krug is available as an eBook edition for the Kindle (and presumably also for other readers) which set me thinking. There are certain advantages to eBook readers for tech books - primarily that you can carry a massive library of what would be heavy physical books around very easily. The downside is that certain eBook readers allegedly aren't particularly well equipped to cope with tables, code samples and so on and a book like Don't Make Me Think presumably makes extensive use of these sorts of things. So, the question, what are your experiences of reading and using programming books on an eBook reader and would you recommend it? I'm specifically interested in the latest generation Kindle but happy to hear about all devices - might be useful to state which one you use in the answer.Read the article
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Programming and Ubiquitous Language (DDD) in a non-English domain
- by Sandor Drieënhuizen
I know there are some questions already here that are closely related to this subject but none of them take Ubquitous Language as the starting point so I think that justifies this question. For those who don't know: Ubiquitous Language is the concept of defining a (both spoken and written) language that is equally used across developers and domain experts to avoid inconsistencies and miscommunication due to translation problems and misunderstanding. You will see the same terminology show up in code, conversations between any team member, functional specs and whatnot. So, what I was wondering about is how to deal with Ubiquitous Language in non-English domains. Personally, I strongly favor writing programming code in English completely, including comments but ofcourse excluding constants and resources. However, in a non-English domain, I'm forced to make a decision either to: Write code reflecting the Ubiquitous Language in the natural language of the domain. Translate the Ubiquitous Language to English and stop communicating in the natural language of the domain. Define a table that defines how the Ubiquitous Language translates to English. Here are some of my thoughts based on these options: 1) I have a strong aversion against mixed-language code, that is coding using type/member/variable names etc. that are non-English. Most programming languages 'breathe' English to a large extent and most of the technical literature, design pattern names etc. are in English as well. Therefore, in most cases there's just no way of writing code entirely in a non-English language so you end up with a mixed languages. 2) This will force the domain experts to start thinking and talking in the English equivalent of the UL, something that will probably not come naturally to them and therefore hinders communication significantly. 3) In this case, the developers communicate with the domain experts in their native language while the developers communicate with each other in English and most importantly, they write code using the English translation of the UL. I'm sure I don't want to go for the first option and I think option 3 is much better than option 2. What do you think? Am I missing other options?Read the article
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Has anyone else read "Programming video games for the Evil Genius"
- by Martin
I bought this book called "Programming Video Games for the Evil Genius" by Ian Cinnamon. If there is anyone who has read or is familiar with this book I am wondering if they think it is worth reading. I am interested in making video games. I have already taken intro courses in C++, Java and Python and got through okay. I've been going through this book for about a month now(SLOWLY). All I have to do is type the code exactly in the book, BUT a lot of the code is not clearly explained. I do some research online but I usually still have some trouble answering my questions. Then I found stack overflow. It's been a ton of help. Right now I am trying to make a racing game right out of this book and I got to a point where the author left a bunch of errors in his code. One of the members of this website fixed it up for me, but added some stuff that I'm having trouble understanding. I spend more time trying to figure out the authors errors and fix them or get someone to help me fix them than I actually do learning code. I REALLY want to learn how to do this and I am ready and willing to put in the time, but I'm not sure if my time would be better spent learning from a different source. Are there any veterans out there that are familiar with this book and think it's worth it/not worth it? Should I try to move onto another book? Any advice for a fresh start for someone who wants to learn some video game programming?Read the article
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How to popularize Nemerle (or another programming language)?
- by keykeeper
Any .NET developer who is interested in different programming languages knows that F# is the most popular functional language for the .NET platform nowadays. The only fact describing the popularity of F# is the great support of Microsoft. But we are not limited with F# at all. There are some other functional languages on the .NET platform. I'm very disappointed with the fact that Nemerle isn't well-known. It's an awesome language which supports three paradigms: object-oriented, functional and meta- programming. I won't try to explain why I like it so much. The problem is that I can't use it at work. I think that only really brave companies can rely on Nemerle. It's almost unknown, that's why it's hard to find new developers for the project. Noone wants to make a first step with Nemerle if it can influence the budget what is reasonable. So, here is a question: what can I do to make Nemerle more popular? Here are my first ideas: implement open-source projects using Nemerle; make presentations on different conferences; write articles.Read the article
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How would the 'Model' in a Rails-type webapp be implemented in a functional programming langauge?
- by ceptorial
In MVC web development frameworks such as Ruby on Rails, Django, and CakePHP, HTTP requests are routed to controllers, which fetch objects which are usually persisted to a backend database store. These objects represent things like users, blog posts, etc., and often contain logic within their methods for permissions, fetching and/or mutating other objects, validation, etc. These frameworks are all very much object oriented. I've been reading up recently on functional programming and it seems to tout tremendous benefits such as testability, conciseness, modularity, etc. However most of the examples I've seen for functional programming implement trivial functionality like quicksort or the fibonnacci sequence, not complex webapps. I've looked at a few 'functional' web frameworks, and they all seem to implement the view and controller just fine, but largely skip over the whole 'model' and 'persistence' part. (I'm talking more about frameworks like Compojure which are supposed to be purely functional, versus something Lift which conveniently seems to use the OO part of Scala for the model -- but correct me if I'm wrong here.) I haven't seen a good explanation of how functional programming can be used to provide the metaphor that OO programming provides, i.e. tables map to objects, and objects can have methods which provide powerful, encapsulated logic such as permissioning and validation. Also the whole concept of using SQL queries to persist data seems to violate the whole 'side effects' concept. Could someone provide an explanation of how the 'model' layer would be implemented in a functionally programmed web framework?Read the article
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Kids and programming: ScratchKara
- by Mike Pagel
Ever now and then I kept wondering how to share with my kids the excitement of creating something with your computer. Of course, today this is a bit more difficult, as they have seen 3D animation games and well-edited websites. I guess that's why they weren't all that hyped when I found my first computer model at our local recycling facilities (an 8-bit Laser VZ-200 with rubber keys). When I finally got it up and running with an old analog TV set they finally asked whether we could play soccer on it. Needless to say that my showing them how it remembers some BASIC commands and lists and executes them did not make any impression. So the question is for real: How do you get today's kids excited about programming? And just recently I looked again for environments that allow even young kids (mine are 7 and 9 years old now) to do something and have fun. Obviously any real, text-oriented programming language wouldn't work well. To cut it short: Something really nice was built by University of Oldenburg: ScratchKara. It is the perfect mixture of Kara, a simulation of a little ladybug and Scratch, an authoring environment from MIT. ScratchKara allows kids to initially simply explore how the bug moves and turns by pressing the action buttons, then move towards sequencing commands through drag & drop, and eventually end up building algorithms with procedures and functions. Even through it is built for kids and beginners, the environment comes with debugging and refactoring, which I found more than amazing. My kids love it and I have to admit I keep thinking about how to solve a bit more advanced problems with this language, which does not allow you to store any state information (other than your call stack). Yes, I am hooked, too... Once the language is understood you can then move to one of the original Kara versions, where you can define the bug's behavior through finite statemachines, Turing tables, Java and other textual languages. And from there, anything is possible.Read the article
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how do you remember programming related stuff?
- by dan leadgy
How do you remember programming related stuff? Did you get the feeling you did encounter the error you have now a few years ago and you could swear you knew the cause but now you forgot it? Did you work with the xsl's string parsing some time ago but now you can't remember exactly which are the string functions altogether from xsl and you have to start from scratch? Or perhaps you forget about some feature from Apache Commons like "filtering a collection by some predicate" that you surely used in the past. So how do you do it? I tried having a blog but when I develop apps, I never find the time to update the blog or write about my experiences. Also, using a wiki is a nice thing but then I found it difficult to keep a clean separation between them since many times I needed to change a blog post to add new information about that topic. This made me think that I actually should have put this topic in the wiki instead of the blog. Do you have any systems that help you remember about your programming experience? What's your setup?Read the article
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Learning Programming during the job?
- by Hossein
Introduction: I have read and heard advice, about learning programming by accepting programming projects. I need real assistance to understand this, because: Problem: Although, it would seem to me that one would gain much more technical knowledge by doing, real world projects, if one doesn't know much about a technology, it would add much more risk to the actual delivery of the final product! Even the smallest of real world projects could be too much for a newbie. There is a contradiction here: You need to know the job to do it! and It's recommended to do the job, in order to learn it! Question: Any personal experiences in this case would be very pleasant to know while describing: How new was the subject to you? didn't have a clue at all? Or, did you have experience with similar technologies? Was it a solo project or were you in a team? If team, then did others help you with learning it? Did it work as expected? Did you deliver on time? Do you recommend this approach to others as well?Read the article
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"Programming error" exceptions - Is my approach sound?
- by Medo42
I am currently trying to improve my use of exceptions, and found the important distinction between exceptions that signify programming errors (e.g. someone passed null as argument, or called a method on an object after it was disposed) and those that signify a failure in the operation that is not the caller's fault (e.g. an I/O exception). As far as I understand, it makes little sense for an immediate caller to actually handle programming error exceptions, he should instead assure that the preconditions are met. Only "outer" exception handlers at task boundaries should catch them, so they can keep the system running if a task fails. In order to ensure that client code can cleanly catch "failure" exceptions without catching error exceptions by mistake, I create my own exception classes for all failure exceptions now, and document them in the methods that throw them. I would make them checked exceptions in Java. Now I have a few questions: Before, I tried to document all exceptions that a method could throw, but that sometimes creates an unwiedly list that needs to be documented in every method up the call chain until you can show that the error won't happen. Instead, I document the preconditions in the summary / parameter descriptions and don't even mention what happens if they are not met. The idea is that people should not try to catch these exceptions explicitly anyway, so there is no need to document their types. Would you agree that this is enough? Going further, do you think all preconditions even need to be documented for every method? For example, calling methods in IDisposable objects after calling Dispose is an error, but since IDisposable is such a widely used interface, can I just assume a programmer will know this? A similar case is with reference type parameters where passing null makes no conceivable sense: Should I document "non-null" anyway? IMO, documentation should only cover things that are not obvious, but I am not sure where "obvious" ends.Read the article
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So my employer wants me to do less programming and focus on IT support
- by Rich
I was hired into a non tech company's IT department as a programmer a few years back, and after several rounds of lay offs, we're down to a skeleton crew. I've saved the company hundreds of thousands of dollars with my projects and management has been happy with them (although most of the stakeholders have since left the company). Management now wants me to limit the programming that I do and spend most of my time on IT support: putting out fires, dealing with vendors, outsourced contractors, supporting company systems, managing projects, etc. I am a little burnt out on programming since I've been pushed pretty hard for the past several years. However, I'm not sure if this is a good career move in the long run. I'm a decent programmer (and also good with databases) but not obsessed with it to the point of coding outside of work. I'm approaching my mid 30s and there's potential ageism to deal with down the line. While I'm fortunate to have survived the lay offs, it sorta feels like my job is being "dumbed down". I have both good technical skills and people skills...but it doesn't take a genius to do what I'm doing now. And my success is being increasingly linked to others' performance rather than my own... Just looking for some advice. Is it time to move on? That's not really an easy thing to do since I'd likely have to move to another area to find another comparable tech job. Should I go after another pure technical role? Or should I stay and try to make this work? People say do what you "enjoy" but it doesn't really matter to me as long as I'm getting paid. Also the ageism thing is on the horizon and could be an issue eventually. I'm making a decent (but not great) salary. Should I chase money and maximize my income while I still have a chance? Or be happy with a moderate salary and 40 hour work week?Read the article
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Best (functional?) programming language to learn coming from Mathematica
- by Will Robertson
As a mechanical engineering PhD student, I haven't had a great pedigree in programming as part of my “day job”. I started out in Matlab (having written some Hypercard and Applescript back in the day, and being introduced to Ada, of all things, in my 1st undergrad year), learned to program—if you can call it that—in (La)TeX; and finally discovered and fell for Mathematica. Now I'm interested in learning a "real" programming language that I can enjoy in the same sort of style as Mathematica, which tries to stress functional programming since it seems to map more nicely to how certain kinds of mathematics can be written algorithmically. So which functional language should I learn? I guess the obvious answer is “as many as possible”, but let's start out humble and give a single, well-considered option a good crack. I've heard good things about, say, Haskell and Scala, but I wonder if (given my non–computer science background) I'd be better off starting in more “grounded” territory and going with Ruby or Python (the latter having the big advantage of being used for Sage, which I'd also like to investigate…after my PhD). Well, I guess this is pretty subjective, so perhaps I could rephrase: would it be better to start looking at Haskell (say) straight after an ad-hoc education to functional programming in Mathematica, or will I get more out of learning Python (say) first? In reference to the question "what do I want to do with it?", I guess my answer is "fun, and learning more". I've got this list of languages that I'd like to look at, and I don't know how to trim them down. And I'd rather start with something a little higher-level than C simply so that I can be somewhat productive without having to re-invent many wheels for any code I'd like to write.Read the article
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What's the benefit to learn Java programming?
- by user30139
I'm from the PHP world. Recently I'm trying to learn about Java. Because simply I'm a bit interested in Android development. Learning about Java gives more control about my cellphone. Say I could fine tune some applications to fit my personal requirements or even make my own ones. Still Java is a new world to me. I guess I'm already too comfortable with weak typed languages such as PHP. Honestly I think application development of no matter which kind wouldn't make too much difference. Because just as web development mostly framework based, what the developer do is to fill the blanks meaning to follow the protocols the given by the framework. Most of the code is still about business logic, that's what application development all about, right? The big difference seems to lie on the programming languages. Comparing to PHP, Java holds a whole package of constraints and practices. At this point, what are the benefits to learn programming in it?Read the article
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Why do some programmers think there is a contrast between theory and practice?
- by Giorgio
Comparing software engineering with civil engineering, I was surprised to observe a different way of thinking: any civil engineer knows that if you want to build a small hut in the garden you can just get the materials and go build it whereas if you want to build a 10-storey house you need to do quite some maths to be sure that it won't fall apart. In contrast, speaking with some programmers or reading blogs or forums I often find a wide-spread opinion that can be formulated more or less as follows: theory and formal methods are for mathematicians / scientists while programming is more about getting things done. What is normally implied here is that programming is something very practical and that even though formal methods, mathematics, algorithm theory, clean / coherent programming languages, etc, may be interesting topics, they are often not needed if all one wants is to get things done. According to my experience, I would say that while you do not need much theory to put together a 100-line script (the hut), in order to develop a complex application (the 10-storey building) you need a structured design, well-defined methods, a good programming language, good text books where you can look up algorithms, etc. So IMO (the right amount of) theory is one of the tools for getting things done. So my question is why do some programmers think that there is a contrast between theory (formal methods) and practice (getting things done)? Is software engineering (building software) perceived by many as easy compared to, say, civil engineering (building houses)? Or are these two disciplines really different (apart from mission-critical software, software failure is much more acceptable than building failure)?Read the article
