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• Moving the Oracle User Experience Forward with the New Release 7 Simplified UI for Oracle Sales Cloud

  - by mvaughan

  By Kathy Miedema, Oracle Applications User ExperienceIn September 2013, Release 7 for Oracle Cloud Applications became generally available for Oracle Sales Cloud and HCM Cloud. This significant release allowed the Oracle Applications User Experience (UX) team to finally talk freely about Simplified UI, a user experience project in the works since Oracle OpenWorld 2012. Simplified UI represents the direction that the Oracle user experience – for all of its enterprise applications – is heading. Oracle’s Apps UX team began by building a Simplified UI for sales representatives. You can find that today in Release 7, and it was demoed extensively during OpenWorld 2013 in San Francisco. This screenshot shows how Opportunities appear in the new Simplified UI for Oracle Sales Cloud, a user interface built for sales reps.Analyst Rebecca Wettemann, vice president of Nucleus Research, saw Simplified UI at Oracle Openworld 2013 and talked about it with CRM Buyer in “Oracle Revs Its Cloud Engines for a Better Customer Experience.” Wettemann said there are distinct themes to the latest release: "One is usability. Oracle Sales Cloud, for example, is designed to have zero training for onboarding sales reps, which it does," she explained. "It is quite impressive, actually -- the intuitive nature of the application and the design work they have done with this goal in mind."The software uses as few buttons and fields as possible, she pointed out. "The sales rep doesn't have to ask, 'what is the next step?' because she can see what it is."In fact, there are three themes driving the usability that Wettemann noted. They are simplicity, mobility, and extensibility, and we write more about them on the Usable Apps web site. These three themes embody the strategy for Oracle’s cloud applications user experiences.  Simplified UI for Oracle Sales CloudIn developing a Simplified UI for Oracle Sales Cloud, Oracle’s UX team concentrated on the tasks that sales reps need to do most frequently, and are most important. “Knowing that the majority of their work lives are spent on the road and on the go, they need to be able to quickly get in and qualify and convert their leads, monitor and progress their opportunities, update their customer and contact information, and manage their schedule,” Jeremy Ashley, Vice President of the Applications UX team, said.Ashley said the Apps UX team has a good reason for creating a Simplified UI that focuses on self-service. “Sales people spend the day selling stuff,” he said. “The only reason they use software is because the company wants to track what they’re doing.” Traditional systems of tracking that information include filling in a spreadsheet of leads or sales. Oracle wants to automate this process for the salesperson, and enable that person to keep everyone who needs to know up-to-date easily and quickly. Simplified UI addresses that problem by providing light-touch input.  “It has to be useful to the salesperson,” Ashley said about the Sales Cloud user experience. Simplified UI can tell sales reps about key opportunities, or provide information about a contact in just a click or two. Customer information is accessible quickly and easily with Simplified UI for the Oracle Sales Cloud.Simplified UI for Sales Cloud can also be extended easily, Ashley said. Users usually just need to add various business fields or create and modify analytical reports. The way that Simplified UI is constructed allows extensibility to happen by hiding or showing a few necessary fields. The Settings user interface, starting in release 7, allows for the simple configuration of the most important visual elements. “With Sales cloud, we identified a need to make the application useful and very simple,” Ashley said. Simplified UI meets that need. Where can you find out more?To find out more about the simplified UI and Oracle’s ongoing investment in applications user experience innovations, come to one of our sessions at a user group conference near you. Stay tuned to the Voice of User Experience (VoX) blog – the next post will be about Simplified UI and HCM Cloud.

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• SQL – Difference Between INNER JOIN and JOIN

  - by Pinal Dave

  Here is the follow up question to my earlier question SQL – Difference between != and Operator <> used for NOT EQUAL TO Operation. There was a pretty good discussion about this subject earlier and lots of people participated with their opinion. Though the answer was very simple but the conversation was indeed delightful and was indeed very informative. In this blog post I have another following up question to all of you. What is the difference between INNER JOIN and JOIN? If you are working with database you will find developers use above both the kinds of the joins in their SQL Queries. Here is the quick example of the same. Query using INNER JOIN SELECT * FROM Table1 INNER JOIN  Table2 ON Table1.Col1 = Table2.Col1 Query using JOIN SELECT * FROM Table1 JOIN  Table2 ON Table1.Col1 = Table2.Col1 The question is what is the difference between above two syntax. Here is the answer – They are equal to each other. There is absolutely no difference between them. They are equal in performance as well as implementation. JOIN is actually shorter version of INNER JOIN. Personally I prefer to write INNER JOIN because it is much cleaner to read and it avoids any confusion if there is related to JOIN. For example if users had written INNER JOIN instead of JOIN there would have been no confusion in mind and hence there was no need to have original question. Here is the question back to you - Which one of the following syntax do you use when you are inner joining two tables – INNER JOIN or JOIN? and Why? Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Joins, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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• Dynamically changing DVT Graph at Runtime

  - by mona.rakibe(at)oracle.com

  I recently came across this requirement where the customer wanted to change the graph type at run-time based on some selection. After some internal discussions we realized this can be best achieved by using af:switcher to toggle between multiple graphs. In this blog I will be sharing the sample that I build to demonstrate this.[Note] : In the below sample, every-time user changes graph type there is a server trip, so please use this approach with performance implications in mind.This sample can be downloaded  from DynamicGraph.zipSet-up: Create a BAM data control using employees DO (sample)(Refer this entry)Steps:Create the View Create a new JSF page .From component palette drag and drop "Select One Radio" into this page Enter some Label and click "Finish"In Property Editor set the "AutoSubmit" property to trueNow drag and drop "Switcher" from components into this page.In the Structure pane select the af:switcher right click and surround with "PanelGroupLayout"In Property Editor set the "PartialTriggers"  property of PanelGroupLayout to the id of af:selectOneRadioAgain in the Structure pane select the af:switcher right click and select "Insert inside af:switcher->facet"Enter Facet name (ex: pie)Again in the Structure pane select the af:switcher right click and select "Insert inside af:switcher->facet" Enter  another Facet name (ex: bar)From "Data Controls" drag and drop "Employees->Query"  into the pie facet as "Graph->Pie" (Pie: Sales_Number and Slices: Salesperson)From "Data Controls" drag and drop "Employees->Query"  into the bar facet as "Graph->Bar" (Bars :Sales_Number and X-axis : Salesperson).Now wire the switcher to the af:selectOneRadio using their "facetName" and "value" property respectively.Now run the page, notice that graph renders as per the selection by user.

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• How can I thoroughly evaluate a prospective employer?

  - by glenviewjeff

  We hear much about code smells, test smells, and even project smells, but I have heard no discussion about employer "smells" outside of the Joel Test. After much frustration working for employers with a bouquet of unpleasant corporate-culture odors, I believe it's time for me to actively seek a more mature development environment. I've started assembling a list of questions to help vet employers by identifying issues during a job interview, and am looking for additional ideas. I suppose this list could easily be modified by an employer to vet an employee as well, but please answer from the interviewee's perspective. I think it would be important to ask many of these questions of multiple people to find out if consistent answers are given. For the most part, I tried to put the questions in each section in the order they could be asked. An undesired answer to an early question will often make follow-ups moot. Values What constitutes "well-written" software? What attributes does a good developer have? Same question for manager. Process Do you have a development process? How rigorously do you follow it? How do you decide how much process to apply to each project? Describe a typical project lifecycle. Ask the following if they don't come up otherwise: Waterfall/iterative: How much time is spent in upfront requirements gathering? upfront design? Testing Who develops tests (developers or separate test engineers?) When are they developed? When are the tests executed? How long do they take to execute? What makes a good test? How do you know you've tested enough? What percentage of code is tested? Review What is the review process like? What percentage of code is reviewed? Design? How frequently can I expect to participate as code/design reviewer/reviewee? What are the criteria applied to review and where do the criteria come from? Improvement What new tools and techniques have you evaluated or deployed in the past year? What training courses have your employees been given in the past year? What will I be doing for the first six months in your company (hinting at what kind of organized mentorship/training has been thought through, if any) What changes to your development process have been made in the past year? How do you improve and learn from your mistakes as an organization? What was your organizations biggest mistake in the past year, and how was it addressed? What feedback have you given to management lately? Was it implemented? If not, why? How does your company use "best practices?" How do you seek them out from the outside or within, and how do you share them with each other? Ethics Tell me about an ethical problem you or your employees experienced recently and how was it resolved? Do you use open-source software? What open-source contributions have you made? Follow-Ups I liked what @jim-leonardo said on this Stack Overflow question: Really a thing to ask yourself: "Does this person seem like they are trying to recruit me and make me interested?" I think this is one of the most important bits. If they seem to be taking the attitude that the only one being interviewed is you, then they probably will treat you poorly. Good interviewers understand they have to sell the position as much as the candidate needs to sell themselves. @SethP added: Glassdoor.com is a good web site for researching potential employers. It contains information about how specific companies conduct interviews...

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• Do we really need a thousand Linux distributions?

  - by nebukadnezzar

  Pointed from an answer to a (possibly related) question, I came across this graphic, and I'm shocked how many linux distributions currently exist. However, it seems that most of these distributions are forks of already popular distributions with minimal changes, usually limited to themes, wallpapers, buttons, the kind of stuff most people probably wouldn't see as a reason to fork a Linux distribution. Of course, someone will always say "Opensource is also about the freedom of choice", and while I wholeheartedly agree, I do not believe that this is a valid reason to fork an already perfectly working Distribution into a new one, which might possibly result in less security/stability due to smaller group of developers. There's another problem: Those, who want to switch to Linux, are confronted with a neverending list of Linux distributions, and wonder rightfully which they're supposed to chose (infact, I was facing that problem before I've discovered Ubuntu). There might be (very few) valid reasons to fork a distribution: Specializing on a particular topic (FOSS Only, work-related topic (i.e., for a Hospital), etc) An exceptional architecture, that requires a special set of software Use of non-FOSS, propietary technology, and such But even with these points in mind, it would still seem easier to create a subdistribution with the required changes, such as XUbuntu with XFCE4, KUbuntu with KDE4, Fluxbuntu with Fluxbox, etc. So, why exactly do we need so many distributions?

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• Advice for Setting up an On-Call Team

  - by Ciaran Archer

  I'm leading a largish development team (~35 developers). We are doing primarily Web Development work on a number of sites. Historically the knowledge on the teams has been pretty siloed. If you worked on Site A you will know how to troubleshoot it, but you would not be a lot of help on Site B. We also have a few cross-cutting concerns, i.e. common components used between sites which require specialized knowledge to troubleshoot. With all this in mind, I'm trying to understand the best way to setup an on-call team. This would be a team of programmers who would be available to deal with out-of-hours emergency issues occasionally (say one call every 2 weeks). They may be required to deploy emergency fixes. Part of me is saying we can't have a big on-call team with shallow knowledge, instead we need a smaller team with deep knowledge who can expect to be on-call more often and remunerated as such. Does anyone have any suggestions based on experience on how to setup this team? Thanks in advance.

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• Webcast: Leveraging Mobile And Social Commerce To Deliver A Complete Customer Experience

  - by Michael Hylton

    Mobile and social media are emerging as new channels for customers to interact and transact with brands. Mobile users demand experiences that are relevant and engaging and are designed with the capabilities and constraints of devices in mind. Just having a mobile app or mobile-specific website is not a long-term strategy. Brands must invest in an optimized experience, especially as mobile becomes critical to an overall digital commerce strategy.Debating the merits of using Facebook or not is missing the point when it comes to social media. True innovators are thinking beyond the social channel and are building programs that leverage Facebook data to drive conversions and engagement both on and off Facebook.  Learn how to be more strategic about mobile and social commerce in this informative editorial webcast.Attend this webcast and you will learn: How to leverage mobile and social touchpoints in digital commerce Why having a Facebook page or a mobile app is not enough The benefits of a consistent, personalized and relevant customer experience Strategies for integrating mobile and social into an overall digital commerce strategy Featured Speakers: Peter Sheldon, Senior Analyst, eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals, Forrester Research Brenna Johnson, Product Manager, Oracle Commerce Click here to register.

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• Webcast: Leveraging Mobile And Social Commerce To Deliver A Complete Customer Experience

  - by Michael Hylton

    Mobile and social media are emerging as new channels for customers to interact and transact with brands. Mobile users demand experiences that are relevant and engaging and are designed with the capabilities and constraints of devices in mind. Just having a mobile app or mobile-specific website is not a long-term strategy. Brands must invest in an optimized experience, especially as mobile becomes critical to an overall digital commerce strategy.Debating the merits of using Facebook or not is missing the point when it comes to social media. True innovators are thinking beyond the social channel and are building programs that leverage Facebook data to drive conversions and engagement both on and off Facebook.  Learn how to be more strategic about mobile and social commerce in this informative editorial webcast.Attend this webcast and you will learn: How to leverage mobile and social touchpoints in digital commerce Why having a Facebook page or a mobile app is not enough The benefits of a consistent, personalized and relevant customer experience Strategies for integrating mobile and social into an overall digital commerce strategy Featured Speakers: Peter Sheldon, Senior Analyst, eBusiness & Channel Strategy Professionals, Forrester Research Brenna Johnson, Product Manager, Oracle Commerce Click here to register.

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• Quoting people for website dev. work

  - by Jason

  Hi All, I have recently given some quotes to a few people. And I need some advice about how things should be done... Q1: I've seen, heard of and read about a lot of developers using free resource sites online to obtain free Privacy Policy, Disclaimers etc for their/customers websites. A customer I quoted the other day expected me to write/get a disclaimer for their site. Who in their right mind would expect a document like that from a Web Developer? I just told them that they need to sort that stuff out themselves with a Lawyer or something, and then to send it to me so I can paste it on a webpage for them. Q2: If you're charging per hour, and you estimate that the project would take 1week to finish (including testing/releasing), but you soon realise that you'll require more time, do you RE-quote them? Or do you just finish off the site at the original quote price? Q3: How do you figure out how much you will charge your customers? Do you charge per-feature, or per hour, or per day, or all of the above? Thanks :)

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• Give Chromium-Based Browser Desktop Notifications a Native System Look in Ubuntu

  - by Asian Angel

  Desktop notifications from Chromium-based browsers are an awesome feature, but they do not blend in well at all with the native system theming in Ubuntu. Now you can fix that small problem using the wonderful Chromify-OSD extension created by Marco Ceppi. Once you get the extension installed you can give it a quick test run using the link and information we have listed below. As you can see in the image above the new notification style looks absolutely wonderful. Chromify-OSD (Chrome Web Store) [via OMG! Ubuntu!] You can test the new look of the notifications for yourself using the following webpage. Keep in mind that the extension needs to be installed first before this will work though. Note: Enter the following image URL into the Icon Blank (http://www.rgraph.net/images/logo.png) or the URL for an appropriate image, otherwise the notification may not work properly during your test. Chromify Sample HTML5 Notification Test Page The wallpaper shown in the screenshot above can be downloaded here: anime sport [DesktopNexus] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Enable User-Specific Wireless Networks in Windows 7 How to Use Google Chrome as Your Default PDF Reader (the Easy Way) How To Remove People and Objects From Photographs In Photoshop Ask How-To Geek: How Can I Monitor My Bandwidth Usage? Internet Explorer 9 RC Now Available: Here’s the Most Interesting New Stuff Here’s a Super Simple Trick to Defeating Fake Anti-Virus Malware The Citroen GT – An Awesome Video Game Car Brought to Life [Video] Final Man vs. Machine Round of Jeopardy Unfolds; Watson Dominates Give Chromium-Based Browser Desktop Notifications a Native System Look in Ubuntu Chrome Time Track Is a Simple Task Time Tracker Google Sky Map Turns Your Android Phone into a Digital Telescope Walking Through a Seaside Village Wallpaper

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• How should I implement a command processing application?

  - by Nini Michaels

  I want to make a simple, proof-of-concept application (REPL) that takes a number and then processes commands on that number. Example: I start with 1. Then I write "add 2", it gives me 3. Then I write "multiply 7", it gives me 21. Then I want to know if it is prime, so I write "is prime" (on the current number - 21), it gives me false. "is odd" would give me true. And so on. Now, for a simple application with few commands, even a simple switch would do for processing the commands. But if I want extensibility, how would I need to implement the functionality? Do I use the command pattern? Do I build a simple parser/interpreter for the language? What if I want more complex commands, like "multiply 5 until >200" ? What would be an easy way to extend it (add new commands) without recompiling? Edit: to clarify a few things, my end goal would not be to make something similar to WolframAlpha, but rather a list (of numbers) processor. But I want to start slowly at first (on single numbers). I'm having in mind something similar to the way one would use Haskell to process lists, but a very simple version. I'm wondering if something like the command pattern (or equivalent) would suffice, or if I have to make a new mini-language and a parser for it to achieve my goals?

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• Preliminary List of Keyboard Shortcuts for Unity Now Available

  - by Asian Angel

  Have you been searching for a list of keyboard shortcuts for Ubuntu’s new Unity UI? Then sit back, relax, and get your favorite printer ready to go. We have just what you have been looking for fresh from the Ask Ubuntu forums. Photo by okubax. Note: Keep in mind that some of these keyboard shortcuts may not be implemented yet due to the early development status of Unity. And now for the keyboard shortcuts… We also grabbed a copy of these Mouse Tricks that had been added to the comments sections. Keyboard Shortcuts for Unity Documentation Page [via DownloadSquad] Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Should You Delete Windows 7 Service Pack Backup Files to Save Space? What Can Super Mario Teach Us About Graphics Technology? Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is Released: But Should You Install It? How To Make Hundreds of Complex Photo Edits in Seconds With Photoshop Actions How to Enable User-Specific Wireless Networks in Windows 7 How to Use Google Chrome as Your Default PDF Reader (the Easy Way) Preliminary List of Keyboard Shortcuts for Unity Now Available Bring a Touch of the Wild West to Your Desktop with the Rango Theme for Windows 7 Manage Your Favorite Social Accounts in Chrome and Iron with Seesmic E.T. II – Extinction [Fake Movie Sequel Video] Remastered King’s Quest Games Offer Classic Gaming on Modern Machines Compare Your Internet Cost and Speed to Global Averages [Infographic]

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• Bad style programming, am I pretending too much?

  - by Luca

  I realized to work in an office with a quite bad code base. The base library implemented in years and years is quite limited, and most of that code is, honestly, horrible. Projects developed in the office are very large. Fine. I could define me a "perfectionist" (but often I'm not), and I thought to refactor an application (really a portion), which need a new (complex) feature. But, today, I really realized that it's not possible to refactor that application modules with a reasonable time (say, 24/26 hours, respect the avaialable time for the task, which is 160 hours). I'm talking about (I am a bit ashamed to say) name collisions, large and frequent cut & paste code, horrible and misleading naming, makefiles without dependencies (!), application login is spread randomly across many different sources, dead code, variable aliasing, no assertion, no documentation, very long source files, bad/incomplete include file definition, (this is emblematic!) very frequent extern declaration of variables and functions, ... I'm sure to continue ... buffer overflows because sprintf, indentation (!), spacing, non existent const modifier usage. I would say that every source line was written quite randomly when needed, without keeping in mind some design (at least, the obvious one). (Am I in hell?) The problem arises when the application is developed by a colleague of mine. I felt very frustrated. So, I decided to expose the "situation" to my colleague; at the end, that was a bad idea. He is justified in saying that "the application was developed in haste, so it is natural that it is written vaguely; you are wasting time to think and implement an elegant implementation" .... I'm asking too much from my colleague to write readable code, which is managed and documented? I expect too much in not having to read thousands of lines of code to understand how a particular logic?

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• Git Project Dependencies on GitHub

  - by VirtuosiMedia

  I've written a PHP framework and a CMS on top of the framework. The CMS is dependent on the framework, but the framework exists as a self-contained folder within the CMS files. I'd like to maintain them as separate projects on GitHub, but I don't want to have the mess of updating the CMS project every time I update the framework. Ideally, I'd like to have the CMS somehow pull the framework files for inclusion into a predefined sub-directory rather than physically committing those files. Is this possible with Git/GitHub? If so, what do I need to know to make it work? Keep in mind that I'm at a very, very basic level of experience with Git - I can make repositories and commit using the Git plugin for Eclipse, connect to GitHub, and that's about it. I'm currently working solo on the projects, so I haven't had to learn much more about Git so far, but I'd like to open it up to others in the future and I want to make sure I have it right. Also, what should my ideal workflow be for projects with dependencies? Any tips on that subject would also greatly appreciated. If you need more info on my setup, just ask in the comments.

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• Making a C# w/ WPF multiple frame text / pseudo-calendar GUI application [closed]

  - by Gregor Samsa

  I am editing a recently asked question and making it specific, taking the advice of some people here. I would like to program of the following simple form: The user can produce X number of resizable frames (analogous to HTML frames). Each frame serves as a simple text editor, which you can type into and save the whole configuration including resized windows and text. The user should be able alternately "freeze" and present the information, and "unfreeze" and edit frames. I want to use C## with WPF, in Microsoft's Visual C#. I do not yet know this language. I am sure I can pick up the syntax, but I would like to ask about some general advice for how to structure such a program. I have never made a GUI program, let alone one that interfaces with a notepad or some basic text editor. Can someone either direct me to a good resource that will teach me how to do the above? Or outline the basic ingredients that such a program will require, keeping in mind that though I know some C and Python, I have no experience with GUIs or advanced programming generally? In particular I don't know how to incorporate this "text editor" aspect of the program, as well as the resizable frames I would greatly appreciate any help.

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• SQL SERVER – Copy Database – SQL in Sixty Seconds #067

  - by Pinal Dave

  There are multiple reasons why a user may want to make a copy of the database. Sometimes a user wants to copy the database to the same server and sometime wants to copy the database on a different server. The important point is that DBA and Developer may want copies of their database for various purposes. I copy my database for backup purpose. However, when we hear coping database – the very first thought which comes to our mind is – Backup and Restore or Attach and Detach. Both of these processes have their own advantage and disadvantages. The matter of the fact, those methods is much efficient and recommended methods. However, if you just want to copy your database as it is and do not want to go for advanced feature. You can just use the copy feature of the SQL Server. Here are the settings, which you can use to copy the database. SQL in Sixty Seconds Video I have attempted to explain the same subject in simple words over in following video. Action Item Here are the blog posts I have previously written on the subject of SA password. You can read it over here: Copy Database from Instance to Another Instance – Copy Paste in SQL Server Copy Database With Data – Generate T-SQL For Inserting Data From One Table to Another Table Copy Data from One Table to Another Table – SQL in Sixty Seconds #031 – Video Generate Script for Schema and Data – SQL in Sixty Seconds #021 – Video You can subscribe to my YouTube Channel for frequent updates. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com)Filed under: Joes 2 Pros, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Book Review, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Video

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• Optimizing lifestyle and training

  - by Gabe

  I am a college freshman who has recently discovered a passion for computer science. Having had my first lick of formal python training last semester, I have cast aside my previously hedonist way of life and tunneled my sights on becoming the most rounded and proficient programmer I can be. I know that I'm taking strides in the right direction (I've stopped smoking, I've been exercising every day, I've taught myself C++ and OpenGL, and I've begun training in kung-fu and meditation), yet I am still finding myself struggling to achieve satisfactory results. I would like to be able to spend a good 3-4 hours every day burning through textbooks. I have the time cleared and the resources allocated. The problem lies in the logistics-- I have never taken anything seriously before. Recently I've realized that I am clueless when it comes to taking care of myself and gaining control of my mind, and it drastically hinders my productivity. My question is this: How can I learn to manage my time and take care of myself such that I can spend the maximum amount of time every day studying with steady concentration? Personal tricks would be key here: techniques you use to get yourself to sleep, a diet that yields focus, even computer break stretching routines or active reading techniques. Anything you could think of here would be great. I was a low-life in high school and I have the drive to turn my life around, I'm just quite a bit behind in the way of good habits :)

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• Strict Pomodoro and other time management Chrome extensions

  - by kerry

  I have recently begun using the Pomodoro Technique to increase my productivity. However, I still find myself getting sucked in to the vortex of useless information that is the internet. With that in mind I began searching for a useful chrome extension to replace the Android Pomodoro app I have been using to manage my ‘doros. I even considered writing it myself. Luckily, I stumbled on one that had a similar featureset to what I was looking for. Strict Pomodoro is an excellent Chrome extension for practicing Pomodoro. Though lacking a few key features, such as the ability to set the duration of your pomodoros and breaks, it still has a key feature that helps me stay on task. It blocks time sucking websites. You can set filter lists and it will keep you from accessing them during a Pomodoro. Effectively reminding you to stay on task. Also, the author readily admits that it was quickly put together and new features may be added down the road. For now, it is still an excellent option. For those of you who do not practice Pomodoro but are trying to stay on task. The StayFocusd extension will effectively manage the amount of time you spend on useless (non-productive) sites. It also has a rich feature set that may be better for your work habits. OK, breaks over. Time to get back to work. 25 minutes at a time.

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• Using the latest (stable release) of Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio 11.1.0.7.20.

  - by mbcrump

  +  = Simple and safe Data connections.   This guide is for someone wanting to use the latest ODP.NET quickly without reading the official documentation. This guide will get you up and running in about 15 minutes. I have reviewed my referral link to my simple Setting up ODP.net with Win7 x64 and noticed most people were searching for one of the following terms: “how to use odp.net with vs” “setup connection odp.net” “query db using odp and vs” While my article provided links and a sample tnsnames.ora file, it really didn’t tell you how to use it. I’m hoping that this brief tutorial will help. So before we get started, you will need the following: Download the following: www.oracle.com/technology/software/tech/dotnet/utilsoft.html from oracle and install it. It is the first one on the page. Visual Studio 2008 or 2010. It should be noted that The System.Data.OracleClient namespace is the OLD .NET Framework Data Provider for Oracle. It should not be used anymore as it has been depreciated. The latest version which is what we are using is Oracle.DataAccess.Client. First things first, Add a reference to the Oracle.DataAccess.Client after you install ODP.NET   Copy and paste the following C# code into your project and replace the relevant info including the query string and you should be able to return data. I have commented several lines of code to assist in understanding what it is doing.   Lambda Expression. using System; using System.Data; using Oracle.DataAccess.Client;   namespace ConsoleApplication1 {     class Program     {         static void Main(string[] args)         {           try         {             //Setup DataSource             string oradb = "Data Source=(DESCRIPTION ="                                    + "(ADDRESS_LIST = (ADDRESS = (PROTOCOL = TCP)(HOST = hostname)(PORT = 1521)))"                                    + "(CONNECT_DATA = (SERVICE_NAME = SERVICENAME))) ;"                                    + "Persist Security Info=True;User ID=USER;Password=PASSWORD;";                        //Open Connection to Oracle - this could be moved outside the try.             OracleConnection conn = new OracleConnection(oradb);             conn.Open();               //Create cmd and use parameters to prevent SQL injection attacks.             OracleCommand cmd = new OracleCommand();             cmd.Connection = conn;               cmd.CommandText = "select username from table where username = :username";               OracleParameter p1 = new OracleParameter("username", OracleDbType.Varchar2);             p1.Value = username;             cmd.Parameters.Add(p1);               cmd.CommandType = CommandType.Text;               OracleDataReader dr = cmd.ExecuteReader();             dr.Read();               //Contains the value of the datarow             Console.WriteLine(dr["username"].ToString());               //Disposes of objects.             dr.Dispose();             cmd.Dispose();             conn.Dispose();         }           catch (OracleException ex) // Catches only Oracle errors         {             switch (ex.Number)             {                 case 1:                     Console.WriteLine("Error attempting to insert duplicate data.");                     break;                 case 12545:                     Console.WriteLine("The database is unavailable.");                     break;                 default:                     Console.WriteLine(ex.Message.ToString());                     break;             }         }           catch (Exception ex) // Catches any error not previously caught         {                   Console.WriteLine("Unidentified Error: " + ex.Message.ToString());              }         }       }           } At this point, you should have a working Program that returns data from an oracle database. If you are still having trouble then drop me a line and I will be happy to assist. As of this writing, oracle has announced the latest beta release of ODP.NET 11.2.0.1.1 Beta.  This release includes .NET Framework 4 and .NET Framework 4 Client Profile support. You may want to hold off on this version for a while as its BETA, and I wouldn’t want any production code using any BETA software.

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• #iPad at One Week: A Great Device Made with a Heavy Hand

  - by andrewbrust

  I have now had my iPad for a little over a week. In that time, Apple introduced the world to its iPhone OS 4 (and the SDK agreement’s draconian new section 3.3.1), HP introduced is Slate, and Microsoft got ready to launch Visual Studio 2010 and .NET 4.0. And through it all I have used my iPad. I've used it for email, calendar, controlling my Sonos, and writing an essay. I've used it for getting on TripIt and Twitter, and surfing the Web. I've used it for online banking, and online ordering and delivery of food. And the verdict? Honestly? I think it's a great device and I thoroughly enjoy using it. The screen is bright and vibrant. I am surprisingly fast and accurate when I type on it. The touch screen's responsiveness is nearly flawless. The software, including a number of third party applications, include pleasing animations and use of color that make it fun to get work done. And speaking of work, the Exchange integration is, dare I say it, robust. Not as full-featured as on a PC or Windows Mobile device, but still offering core functionality and, so far at least, without bugs. The UI is intuitive, not just to me, but also to my 5 1/2 year old, and also to my nearly-3-year-old son. They picked it up and, with just just a few pointers from me, they almost immediately knew what to do, whether they were looking at photos (and swiping/flicking along as they did so), using a drawing program, playing a game, or watching YouTube videos. The younger of the two of them even tried to get up on a chair and grab the thing today. He dropped it, from about 4 feet off the ground. And it's still fine. (Meanwhile, I'll be keeping it on a higher shelf.) I cannot fully describe yet what makes this form factor and this product so appealing. Maybe it's that it's an always-on device. Maybe it's just being able to hold such a nice, relatively large display so close. Maybe it's the design sensibility, that seems to pervade throughout the app ecosystem. Or maybe it's that one's fingers, and not pens or mice, are the software's preferred input device. Whatever the attraction, it's strong. And no matter how much I tend to root for Microsoft and against Apple, Cupertino has, in my mind, scored big, Can Microsoft compete? Yes, but not with the Windows 7 standard UI (nor with individual OEMs’ own UIs on top). I hope Microsoft builds a variant of the Windows Phone 7 specifically for tablet devices. And I hope they make it clear that all developers, and programming languages, are welcome to the platform. Once that’s established, the OEMs have to build great hardware with fast, responsive touch screens, under Microsoft's watchful eye. That may be the hardest part of getting this right. No matter what, Microsoft's got a fight on its hands. I don't know if it can count on winning that fight, either. But Silverlight and Live Tiles could certainly help. And so can treating developers like adults.  Apple seems intent on treating their devs like kids, and then giving the kids a curfew.  For that, dev-friendly Microsoft may one day give thanks.

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• Enterprise Integration: Can Companies Afford It?

  - by Ralph Wheaton

  Each year, my company holds a global sales conference where employees and partners from around the world some together to collaborate, share knowledge and ideas and learn about future plans.  As a member of the professional services division, several of us had been asked to make a presentation, an elevator pitch in 3 minutes or less that relates to a success we have worked on or directly relates to our tag (that is, our primary technology focus).  Mine happens to be Enterprise Integration as it relates Business Intelligence.  I found it rather difficult to present that pitch in a short amount of time and had to pare it down.  At any rate, in just a little over 3 minutes, this is the presentation I submitted.  Here is a link to the full presentation video in WMV format.   Many companies today subscribe to a buy versus build mentality in an attempt to drive down costs and improve time to implementation. Sometimes this makes sense, especially as it relates to specialized software or software that performs a small number of tasks extremely well. However, if not carefully considered or planned out, this oftentimes leads to multiple disparate systems with silos of data or multiple versions of the same data. For instance, client data (contact information, addresses, phone numbers, opportunities, sales) stored in your CRM system may not play well with Accounts Receivables. Employee data may be stored across multiple systems such as HR, Time Entry and Payroll. Other data (such as member data) may not originate internally, but be provided by multiple outside sources in multiple formats. And to top it all off, some data may have to be manually entered into multiple systems to keep it all synchronized. When left to grow out of control like this, overall performance is lacking, stability is questionable and maintenance is frequent and costly. Worse yet, in many cases, this topology, this hodgepodge of data creates a reporting nightmare. Decision makers are forced to try to put together pieces of the puzzle attempting to find the information they need, wading through multiple systems to find what they think is the single version of the truth. More often than not, they find they are missing pieces, pieces that may be crucial to growing the business rather than closing the business. across applications. Master data owners are defined to establish single sources of data (such as the CRM system owns client data). Other systems subscribe to the master data and changes are replicated to subscribers as they are made. This can be one way (no changes are allowed on the subscriber systems) or bi-directional. But at all times, the master data owner is current or up to date. And all data, whether internal or external, use the same processes and methods to move data from one place to another, leveraging the same validations, lookups and transformations enterprise wide, eliminating inconsistencies and siloed data. Once implemented, an enterprise integration solution improves performance and stability by reducing the number of moving parts and eliminating inconsistent data. Overall maintenance costs are mitigated by reducing touch points or the number of places that require modification when a business rule is changed or another data element is added. Most importantly, however, now decision makers can easily extract and piece together the information they need to grow their business, improve customer satisfaction and so on. So, in implementing an enterprise integration solution, companies can position themselves for the future, allowing for easy transition to data marts, data warehousing and, ultimately, business intelligence. Along this path, companies can achieve growth in size, intelligence and complexity. Truly, the question is not can companies afford to implement an enterprise integration solution, but can they afford not to.   Ralph Wheaton Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist Microsoft Certified Professional Developer Microsoft VTS-P BizTalk, .Net

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• C#.NET (AForge) against Java (JavaCV, JMF) for video processing

  - by Leron

  I'm starting to get really confused looking deeper and deeper at video processing world and searching for optimal choices. This is the reason to post this and some other questions to try and navigate myself in the best possible way. I really like Java, working with Java, coding with Java, at the same time C# is not that different from Java and Visual Studio is maybe the best IDE I've been working with. So even though I really want to do my projects in Java so I can get better and better Java programmer at the same time I'm really attract to video processing and even though I'm still at the beginning of this journey I want to take the right path. So I'm really in doubt could Java be used in a production environment for serious video processing software. As the title says I already have been looking at maybe the two most used technologies for video processing in Java - JMF and JavaCV and I'm starting to think that even they are used and they provide some functionality, when it comes to real work and real project that's not the first thing that comes to once mind, I mean to someone that have a professional opinion about this. On the other hand I haven't got the time to investigate .NET (c# specificly) options but even AForge looks a lot more serious library then those provided for Java. So in general -either ways I'm gonna spend a lot of time learning some technology and trying to do something that make sense with it, but my plan is at the end the thing that I'll eventually come up to be my headline project. To represent my skills and eventually help me find a job in the field. So I really don't want to spend time learning something that will give me the programming result I want but at the same time is not something that is needed in the real world development. So what is your opinion, which language, technology is better for this specific issue. Which one worths more in terms that I specified above?

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• Handling Errors In PHP When Using MVC

  - by James Jeffery

  I've been using Codeigniter a lot recently, but one thing that gets on my nerves is handling errors and displaying them to the user. I've never been good at handling errors without it getting messy. My main concern is when returning errors to the user. Is it good practice to use exceptions and throw/catch exceptions rather than returning 0 or 1 from functions and then using if/else to handle the errors. Thus, making it easier to inform the user about the issue. I tend to go away from exceptions. My Java tutor at university some years ago told me "exceptions shouldn't be used in production code it's more for debugging". I get the feeling he was lying. But, an example, I have code that adds a user to a database. During the process more than 1 thing could go wrong, such as a database issue, a duplicate entry, a server issue, etc. When an issue happens during registration the user needs to know about it. What's the best way to handle errors in PHP, keeping in mind that I'm using an MVC framework.

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• Dissing Architects, or "What's wrong with the coffee?"

  - by Bob Rhubart

  In my conversations with people in architect roles, tales of animosity, disrespect, and outright hostility aren't uncommon. And it's clear that in more than a few organizations architects regularly face a tough uphill climb. For architects with the requisite combination of technical, organizational, and people skills, that rough treatment is grossly undeserved. But tales of unqualified people in positions up and down the IT food chain are also easy to come by. So what's the other side of the architect story? Are some architects tarnishing the role and making life miserable for their more qualified colleagues? The various quotes included below were culled from a variety of sources. The criticism is harsh, and the people behind these quotes clearly have issues with architects. Still, whether based on mere opinion or actual experience, the comments shed some light on behaviors that should raise red flags for anyone pursuing a career as an architect. If you're an architect, and you've ever noticed that your coffee tastes like window cleaner, or your car is repeatedly keyed, or no one ever holds the elevator for you, maybe you need to do a little soul searching... Those Who Can, Code; Those Who Can't, Architect | Joe Winchester [May 18, 2007] "At the moment there seems to be an extremely unhealthy obsession in software with the concept of architecture. A colleague of mine, a recent graduate, told me he wished to become a software architect. He was drawn to the glamour of being able to come up with grandiose ideas - sweeping generalized designs, creating presentations to audiences of acronym addicts, writing esoteric academic papers, speaking at conferences attended by headless engineers on company expense accounts hungrily seeking out this year's grail, and creating e-mails with huge cc lists from people whose signature footer is more interesting than the content. I tried to re-orient him into actually doing some coding, to join a team that has a good product and keen users both of whom are pushing requirements forward, to no avail. Somehow the lure of being an architecture astronaut was too strong and I lost him to the dark side." Don't Let Architecture Astronauts Scare You | Joel Spolsky [April 21, 2001] "It's very hard to get them to write code or design programs, because they won't stop thinking about Architecture. They're astronauts because they are above the oxygen level, I don't know how they're breathing. They tend to work for really big companies that can afford to have lots of unproductive people with really advanced degrees that don't contribute to the bottom line. Remember that the architecture people are solving problems that they think they can solve, not problems which are useful to solve." Non Coding Architects Suck | Richard Henderson [May 24, 2010] "If a guy with a badge saying 'system architect' looks blank on low-level issues then he is not an architect, he is a business-analyst who went on a course. He will probably wax lyrical on all things high-level and 'important.' He will produce lovely object hierarchies without a clue to implementation. He will have a moustache and play golf." Architects Play Golf | Sunir Shah [August 15, 2012] "Often arrogant architects are difficult to get a hold of during the implementation phase because they no longer feel the need to stick around. Especially around midnight when most of the poor sob [sic] developers are still banging away. After all, they've already solved the problem--the rest is just an implementation exercise." Engineer vs Architect(Part of a discussion on the IT Architect Network Group on LinkedIn) "[An] architect spends his time producing white papers full of acronyms he does not understand but that impress his boss [while the] engineer keeps his head down and does the actual job." Architects Don't Code | [Author Unknown] "Faulty belief: System Architects don't need to code anymore. They know what they are talking about by virtue of the fact that they are System Architects."

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• Thinktecture IdentityServer v1.0

  - by Your DisplayName here!

  Yeah – it is finally done. I just uploaded the v1 bits to Codeplex and the documentation to our server. Here’s the official blurb… Thinktecture IdentityServer is an open source security token service based on Microsoft .NET, ASP.NET MVC, WCF and WIF. High level features Multiple protocols support (WS-Trust, WS-Federation, OAuth2, WRAP, JSNotify, HTTP GET) Multiple token support (SAML 1.1/2.0, SWT) Out of the box integration with ASP.NET membership, roles and profile Support for username/password and client certificates authentication Support for WS-Federation metadata Support for WS-Trust identity delegation Extensibility points to customize configuration and user management handling Disclaimer I did thorough testing of all features of IdentityServer - but keep in mind that this is an open source project and I am the only architect, developer and tester on the team. IdentityServer also lacks many of the enterprise-level features like configuration services, proxy support, operations integration etc. I only recommend using IdentityServer if you also understand how it works (to be able to support it). I am offering consulting to help you with customization and lock down - contact me. Download. Documentation. Up next is v1 of the Azure version. Have fun!

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