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  • Precise Touch Screen Dragging Issue: Trouble Aligning with the Finger due to Different Screen Resolution

    - by David Dimalanta
    Please, I need your help. I'm trying to make a game that will drag-n-drop a sprite/image while my finger follows precisely with the image without being offset. When I'm trying on a 900x1280 (in X [900] and Y [1280]) screen resolution of the Google Nexus 7 tablet, it follows precisely. However, if I try testing on a phone smaller than 900x1280, my finger and the image won't aligned properly and correctly except it still dragging. This is the code I used for making a sprite dragging with my finger under touchDragged(): x = ((screenX + Gdx.input.getX())/2) - (fruit.width/2); y = ((camera_2.viewportHeight * multiplier) - ((screenY + Gdx.input.getY())/2) - (fruit.width/2)); This code above will make the finger and the image/sprite stays together in place while dragging but only works on 900x1280. You'll be wondering there's camera_2.viewportHeight in my code. Here are for two reasons: to prevent inverted drag (e.g. when you swipe with your finger downwards, the sprite moves upward instead) and baseline for reading coordinate...I think. Now when I'm adding another orthographic camera named camera_1 and changing its setting, I recently used it for adjusting the falling object by meter per pixel. Also, it seems effective independently for smartphones that has smaller resolution and this is what I used here: show() camera_1 = new OrthographicCamera(); camera_1.viewportHeight = 280; // --> I set it to a smaller view port height so that the object would fall faster, decreasing the chance of drag force. camera_1.viewportWidth = 196; // --> Make it proportion to the original screen view size as possible. camera_1.position.set(camera_1.viewportWidth * 0.5f, camera_1.viewportHeight * 0.5f, 0f); camera_1.update(); touchDragged() x = ((screenX + (camera_1.viewportWidth/Gdx.input.getX()))/2) - (fruit.width/2); y = ((camera_1.viewportHeight * multiplier) - ((screenY + (camera_1.viewportHeight/Gdx.input.getY()))/2) - (fruit.width/2)); But the result instead of just following the image/sprite closely to my finger, it still has a space/gap between the sprite/image and the finger. It is possibly dependent on coordinates based on the screen resolution. I'm trying to drag the blueberry sprite with my finger. My expectation did not met since I want my finger and the sprite/image (blueberry) to stay close together while dragging until I release it. Here's what it looks like: I got to figure it out how to make independent on all screen sizes by just following the image/sprite closely to my finger while dragging even on most different screen sizes instead.

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  • Thoughts on schemas and schema proliferation

    - by jamiet
    In SQL Server 2005 Microsoft introduced user-schema separation and since then I have seen the use of schemas increase; whereas before I would typically see databases where all objects were in the [dbo] schema I now see databases that have multiple schemas, a database I saw recently had 31 (thirty one) of them. I can’t help but wonder whether this is a good thing or not – clearly 31 is an extreme case but I question whether multiple schemas create more problems than they solve? I have been involved in many discussions that go something like this: Developer #1> “I have a new function to add to the database and I’m not sure which schema to put it in” Developer #2> “What does it do?” Developer #1> “It provides data to a report in Reporting Services” Developer #2> “Ok, so put it in the [reports] schema” Developer #1> “Well I could, but the data will only be used by our Financial reporting folks so shouldn’t I put it in the [financial] schema?” Developer #2> “Maybe, yes” Developer #1> “Mind you, the data is supposed to be used for regulatory reporting to the FSA, should I put it in [regulatory]?” Developer #2> “Err….” You get the idea!!! The more schemas that exist in your database then the more chance that their supposed usages will overlap. I’m left wondering whether the use of schemas is actually necessary. I don’t view really see them as an aid to security because I generally believe that principles should be assigned permissions on objects as-needed on a case-by-case basis (and I have a stock SQL query that deciphers them all for me) so why bother using them at all? I can envisage a use where a database is used to house objects pertaining to many different business functions (which, in itself, is an ambiguous term) and in that circumstance perhaps a schema per business function would be appropriate; hence of late I have been loosely following this edict: If some objects in a database could be moved en masse to another database without the need to remove any foreign key constraints then those objects could legitimately exist in a dedicated schema. I am interested to know what other people’s thoughts are on this. If you would like to share then please do so in the comments. @Jamiet

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  • Becoming the well-integrated content company (and combating AIUTLVFS)

    - by Lance Shaw
    Every single day, each of us create more and more content. Sometimes it is brand new material and many times it is iterations of existing content, but no one would argue that information and content growth is growing at an almost exponential rate. With all this content being created and stored, a number of problems naturally arise. One of the most common issues that users run into is "Am I Using The Latest Version of this File Syndrome", or AIUTLVFS. This insidious syndrome is all too common and results in ineffective, poor or downright wrong business decisions being made.  When content or files are unavailable or incorrect within the scope of key business processes, the chance for erroneous and costly business decisions is magnified even further. For many companies, the ideal scenario is to be able to connect multiple business systems, both old and new, into one common content repository.  Not only does this reduce content duplication, it also helps guarantee that everyone in various departments is working off the proverbial "same page".  Sounds simple - but for many organizations, the proliferation of file shares, SharePoint sites, and other storage silos of content keep the dream of a more efficient business a distant one. We've created some online assets to help you in your evaluation and eventual improvement of your current content management and delivery systems. Take a few minutes to check out our Online Assessment Tool.  It's quick, easy and just might provide you with insights into how you can improve your current content ecosystem. While you are there, check out our new Infographic that outlines common issues faced by companies today. Feel free to save our informative Infographic PDF and share it with business colleagues and your management to help them understand the business costs and impact of inaction. Together we can stop AIUTLVFS in its tracks and run our businesses more effectively than ever. Additionally, we hope you will take a few minutes to visit our new and informative webpages dedicated to the value of a well connected, fully integrated content management system. It's a great place to learn more about how integrating WebCenter Content into your infrastructure can lower your operational costs while boosting process and worker efficiency.

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  • C# Dev - I've tried Lisps, but I don't get it.

    - by Jonathan Mitchem
    After a few months of learning about and playing with lisps, both CL and a bit of Clojure, I'm still not seeing a compelling reason to write anything in it instead of C#. I would really like some compelling reasons, or for someone to point out that I'm missing something really big. The strengths of a Lisp (per my research): Compact, expressive notation - More so than C#, yes... but I seem to be able to express those ideas in C# too. Implicit support for functional programming - C# with LINQ extension methods: mapcar = .Select( lambda ) mapcan = .Select( lambda ).Aggregate( (a,b) = a.Union(b) ) car/first = .First() cdr/rest = .Skip(1) .... etc. Lambda and higher-order function support - C# has this, and the syntax is arguably simpler: "(lambda (x) ( body ))" versus "x = ( body )" "#(" with "%", "%1", "%2" is nice in Clojure Method dispatch separated from the objects - C# has this through extension methods Multimethod dispatch - C# does not have this natively, but I could implement it as a function call in a few hours Code is Data (and Macros) - Maybe I haven't "gotten" macros, but I haven't seen a single example where the idea of a macro couldn't be implemented as a function; it doesn't change the "language", but I'm not sure that's a strength DSLs - Can only do it through function composition... but it works Untyped "exploratory" programming - for structs/classes, C#'s autoproperties and "object" work quite well, and you can easily escalate into stronger typing as you go along Runs on non-Windows hardware - Yeah, so? Outside of college, I've only known one person who doesn't run Windows at home, or at least a VM of Windows on *nix/Mac. (Then again, maybe this is more important than I thought and I've just been brainwashed...) The REPL for bottom-up design - Ok, I admit this is really really nice, and I miss it in C#. Things I'm missing in a Lisp (due to a mix of C#, .NET, Visual Studio, Resharper): Namespaces. Even with static methods, I like to tie them to a "class" to categorize their context (Clojure seems to have this, CL doesn't seem to.) Great compile and design-time support the type system allows me to determine "correctness" of the datastructures I pass around anything misspelled is underlined realtime; I don't have to wait until runtime to know code improvements (such as using an FP approach instead of an imperative one) are autosuggested GUI development tools: WinForms and WPF (I know Clojure has access to the Java GUI libraries, but they're entirely foreign to me.) GUI Debugging tools: breakpoints, step-in, step-over, value inspectors (text, xml, custom), watches, debug-by-thread, conditional breakpoints, call-stack window with the ability to jump to the code at any level in the stack (To be fair, my stint with Emacs+Slime seemed to provide some of this, but I'm partial to the VS GUI-driven approach) I really like the hype surrounding Lisps and I gave it a chance. But is there anything I can do in a Lisp that I can't do as well in C#? It might be a bit more verbose in C#, but I also have autocomplete. What am I missing? Why should I use Clojure/CL?

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  • MS in Computer Science after BE in electronics

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

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  • Oracle Partner Architects Training

    - by mseika
    Dear Oracle Partner, There is a lot more to Oracle technology than meets the eye. Sure, you already belong to a small circle of our most experienced and committed partners. But are you making the best use possible of our technology solutions? Put it to the test.  Join the “Oracle Partner Architects Training”. It is aimed at providing your experts, architects and consultants with in-depth architectural knowledge about Oracle technology. Here is your chance to learn from the best. Seasoned speakers, exclusive content and no product marketing. Oracle technology beyond the obvious. Choose from any of the 40 recorded training sessions. Topics include:  • Security• Service integration • Database and options• Data integration • BI and applications• Applications and infrastructure• Hardware and software combinations The market and Oracle value specialized partners More information about specialization can be found on opn.oracle.com. Click through to OPN Program/Specialize “What’s in it for us?” Quite simply: the opportunity to gain the differentiation and competitive edge you need to stand out in the marketplace. • Differentiate your company through expertise in leading Oracle IT solutions;• Get your experts, architects and consultants up to speed on specialized services and solutions;• Make our customers’ shortlists. They are looking for value-added solutions for their business.   Recordings All sessions are recorded. After registering for a session in oraevents, you will receive the info to access the webex recording. Your timing, your tempo.  Registration and more information Visit architects.oraevents.eu to sign up for the recorded sessions. NOTE: Looking to get your consultants Oracle certified? One more reason to join the Oracle Partner Architects Training. It is the fast track to getting their expertise validated with an Oracle certificate. Training schedule  Choose from any of the 40 recorded training sessions: SECURITY THE PRACTICAL APPROACH •  Identity governance• Access management• Data privacy and protection• End-to-end security, layers of exposures•  Identity & access management, why and where to start?• Data security, how? SERVICE INTEGRATION A NEW ROADTO ENTERPRISE-WIDE SERVICE INTEGRATION • Oracle RUEI: maximize business value by insight into real end-user experiences•  Governance challenges in the services landscape•  Creating an agile enterprise (by Jeff Davies)• Oracle’s approach to SOA (by Jeff Davies) - guiding and accelerating SOA success• Technical case study – the SOA challenge• Oracle’s unified business process management suite 11g (incl. demo) DATABASE DATABASE AND OPTIONS, GOINGWIDE •  Understanding service level agreements for databases• Database lifecycle management• Data centric information lifecycle management DATA INTEGRATION  DIS FOR ARCHITECTS • Data integration solutions: an overview• ODI and goldengate• Data quality

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  • Need help identifing what resources (eg. In MIT OpenCourseWare) can help me prepare for a test [closed]

    - by jiewmeng
    I am entering uni soon. I can sit for a placement test to see if I elegible for exemptions. The details are http://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/undergraduates/TestScope11_12.html Or CS2100 Computer Organisation (please click title) The objective of this module is to familiarise students with the fundamentals of computing devices. Through this module students will understand the basics of data representation, and how the various parts of a computer work, separately and with each other. This allows students to understand the issues in computing devices, and how these issues affect the implementation of solutions. Topics covered include data representation systems, combinational and sequential circuit design techniques, assembly language, processor execution cycles, pipelining, memory hierarchy and input/output systems. Recommended Textbooks Digital Design: Principles and Practices [DDPP] by John F. Wakerly, Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-13-324500-4. Computer Organizations and Design (The hardware/software interface) by David A. Patterson and John L. Hennessy. CS2105 Introduction to Computer Networks (please click title) This course aims to provide a broad introduction to computer networks and some appreciations of network application programming. It covers a range of topics including basic data communication and computer network concepts, protocols, networked computing concepts and principles, network applications development and network security. The emphasis of teaching is on the working principles and application of computer networks. As an integral part of the course, tutorials and practical assignments enforcing learning will also be given. These assignments provide an early exposure in network application programming and they should be able to complete by using personal computers and school's network facilities. Topics included: An overview of computer networks and the Internet Basic data communications Application layer Transport layer Network layer and routing Link layer and local area networks Recommended Textbook James F. Kurose & Keith W. Ross, Computer networking: A top-down approach featuring internet, Addison Wesley, 2001 I am wondering what resources eg. MIT OpenCourseWare or other universities resources are available to help he perpare for these particular modubles. I am thinking does the Networking one look like CCNA? The computer oragization. Its like electronics, assembly etc? I learnt some electronics in Poly but looking at the sample papers, uni looks very different... I have about 1 month to prepare if I want any chance of exempting from these modules :) any help?

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  • The Use-Case Driven Approach to Change Management

    - by Lauren Clark
    In the third entry of the series on OUM and PMI’s Pulse of the Profession, we took a look at the continued importance of change management and risk management. The topic of change management and OUM’s use-case driven approach has come up in few recent conversations. So I thought I would jot down a few thoughts on how the use-case driven approach aids a project team in managing the project’s scope. The use-case model is one of several tools in OUM that is used to establish and manage the project's scope.  Because a use-case model can be understood by both business and IT project team members, it can serve as a bridge for ongoing collaboration as well as a visual diagram that encapsulates all agreed-upon functionality. This makes it a vital artifact in identifying changes to the project’s scope. Here are some of the primary benefits of using the use-case model as part of the effort for establishing and managing project scope: The use-case model quickly communicates scope in a straightforward manner. All project stakeholders can have a common foundation for the decisions regarding architecture and design and how they relate to the project's objectives. Once agreed upon, the model can be put under change control and any updates to the model can then be quickly identified as potentially affecting the project’s scope.  Changes requested or discovered later in the project can be analyzed objectively for their impact on project's budget, resources and schedule. A modular foundation for the design of the software solution can be established in Elaboration.  This permits work to be divided up effectively and executed in so that the most important and riskiest use-cases can be tackled early in the project. The use-case model helps the team make informed decisions about implementation priorities, which allows effective allocation of limited project resources.  This is very helpful in not only managing scope, but in doing iterative and incremental planning which relies heavily on the ability to identify project priorities. Bottom line is that the use-case model gives the project team solid understanding of scope early in the project.  Combine this understanding with effective project management and communication and you have an effective tool for reducing the risk of overruns in budget and/or time due to out of control scope changes. Now that you’ve had a chance to read these thoughts on the use-case model and project scope, please let me know your feedback based on your experience.

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

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

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  • An invitation to join a JDeveloper and ADF productivity clinic (and more!) at KScope

    - by Chris Muir
    Would you like a chance to influence Oracle's decisions on tool usability and productivity? If you're attending ODTUG's Kaleidoscope conference this year in San Antonio, Oracle would like to invite you to participate in our Usability Activity Research and separately our JDeveloper and ADF Productivity Clinics with our experienced user experience teams.  The teams are keen to hear what you have to say about your experiences with our tools in general and specifically JDeveloper and ADF.  The details of each event are described below. Invitation to Usability Activity - Sunday June 24th to Wednesday June 27th Oracle is constantly working on new tools and new features for developers, and invites YOU to become a key part of the process!  As a special addition to Kscope 12, Oracle will be conducting onsite usability research in the Alyssum room, from Sunday June 24 to Wednesday June 27. Usability activities are scheduled ahead of time for participants' convenience.  If you would like to take part, please fill out this form to let us know of the session(s) that you would like to attend and your development experience. You will be emailed with your scheduled session before the start of the conference. JDeveloper and ADF Productivity Clinic - Thursday June 28th Are you concerned that Java, Oracle ADF or JDeveloper is difficult? Is JDeveloper making you jump through hoops?  Do you hate a particular dialog or feature of JDeveloper? Well, come and get things off your chest! Oracle is hosting a product management and user experience clinic where we want to hear about your issues and concerns. What's difficult to use?  What doesn't work the way you want, and how would you want it to work?  What isn't behaving like your current favorite tool?  If we can't help on you the spot, we'll take your feedback and use it to improve the product experience.  A great opportunity to get answers, or get improvements. Drop by the Alyssum room, anytime from 8:30 to 10:30 on Thursday, June 28. We look forward to seeing you at KScope soon! 

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  • MySQL Connect in Only 5 Days – Some Fun Stuff!

    - by Bertrand Matthelié
    72 1024x768 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0cm 5.4pt 0cm 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0cm; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi;} We’ve recently blogged about the various MySQL Connect sessions focused on MySQL Cluster, InnoDB, the MySQL Optimizer and MySQL Replication. But we also wanted to draw your attention to some great opportunities to network and have fun! That’s also part of what makes a good conference... MySQL Connect Reception San Francisco Hilton - Continental Ballroom 6:30 p.m.–8:30 p.m. A great opportunity to network with Oracle’s MySQL engineers, partners having a booth in the exhibition hall and just about everyone at MySQL Connect. Long time MySQL users will see many familiar faces, and new users will be able to build valuable relationships. A must attend reception for sure! Taylor Street Open House 7:00 p.m.–9:00 p.m. After two intense days at MySQL Connect, you’ll get the chance to relax and continue networking at the Taylor Street Café Open House on Sunday evening. Perhaps recharging batteries for a full week at Oracle OpenWorld… The Oracle OpenWorld Music Festival Starting on Sunday eve and running through the entire duration of Oracle OpenWorld, the first Oracle OpenWorld Musical Festival features some of today’s breakthrough musicians. It’s five nights of back-to-back performances in the heart of San Francisco. Registered Oracle conference attendees get free admission, so remember your badge when you head to a show. More information here. You can check out the full MySQL Connect program here as well as in the September edition of the MySQL newsletter. Not registered yet? You can still save US$ 300 over the on-site fee – Register Now!

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  • Finding furthermost point in game world

    - by user13414
    I am attempting to find the furthermost point in my game world given the player's current location and a normalized direction vector in screen space. My current algorithm is: convert player world location to screen space multiply the direction vector by a large number (2000) and add it to the player's screen location to get the distant screen location convert the distant screen location to world space create a line running from the player's world location to the distant world location loop over the bounding "walls" (of which there are always 4) of my game world check whether the wall and the line intersect if so, where they intersect is the furthermost point of my game world in the direction of the vector Here it is, more or less, in code: public Vector2 GetFurthermostWorldPoint(Vector2 directionVector) { var screenLocation = entity.WorldPointToScreen(entity.Location); var distantScreenLocation = screenLocation + (directionVector * 2000); var distantWorldLocation = entity.ScreenPointToWorld(distantScreenLocation); var line = new Line(entity.Center, distantWorldLocation); float intersectionDistance; Vector2 intersectionPoint; foreach (var boundingWall in entity.Level.BoundingWalls) { if (boundingWall.Intersects(line, out intersectionDistance, out intersectionPoint)) { return intersectionPoint; } } Debug.Assert(false, "No intersection found!"); return Vector2.Zero; } Now this works, for some definition of "works". I've found that the further out my distant screen location is, the less chance it has of working. When digging into the reasons why, I noticed that calls to Viewport.Unproject could result in wildly varying return values for points that are "far away". I wrote this stupid little "test" to try and understand what was going on: [Fact] public void wtf() { var screenPositions = new Vector2[] { new Vector2(400, 240), new Vector2(400, -2000), }; var viewport = new Viewport(0, 0, 800, 480); var projectionMatrix = Matrix.CreatePerspectiveFieldOfView(MathHelper.PiOver4, viewport.Width / viewport.Height, 1, 200000); var viewMatrix = Matrix.CreateLookAt(new Vector3(400, 630, 600), new Vector3(400, 345, 0), new Vector3(0, 0, 1)); var worldMatrix = Matrix.Identity; foreach (var screenPosition in screenPositions) { var nearPoint = viewport.Unproject(new Vector3(screenPosition, 0), projectionMatrix, viewMatrix, worldMatrix); var farPoint = viewport.Unproject(new Vector3(screenPosition, 1), projectionMatrix, viewMatrix, worldMatrix); Console.WriteLine("For screen position {0}:", screenPosition); Console.WriteLine(" Projected Near Point = {0}", nearPoint.TruncateZ()); Console.WriteLine(" Projected Far Point = {0}", farPoint.TruncateZ()); Console.WriteLine(); } } The output I get on the console is: For screen position {X:400 Y:240}: Projected Near Point = {X:400 Y:629.571 Z:599.0967} Projected Far Point = {X:392.9302 Y:-83074.98 Z:-175627.9} For screen position {X:400 Y:-2000}: Projected Near Point = {X:400 Y:626.079 Z:600.7554} Projected Far Point = {X:390.2068 Y:-767438.6 Z:148564.2} My question is really twofold: what am I doing wrong with the unprojection such that it varies so wildly and, thus, does not allow me to determine the corresponding world point for my distant screen point? is there a better way altogether to determine the furthermost point in world space given a current world space location, and a directional vector in screen space?

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  • We need you! Sign up now to give Oracle your feedback on future product design trends at OpenWorld 2012

    - by mvaughan
    By Kathy Miedema, Oracle Applications User Experience Get the most from your Oracle OpenWorld 2012 experience and participate in a usability feedback session, where your expertise will help Oracle develop unbeatable products and solutions. Sign up to attend a one-hour session during Oracle OpenWorld. You’ll learn about Oracle’s future design trends -- including mobile applications and social networking -- and how these trends will affect your users down the road. A street scene from Oracle OpenWorld 2011. Oracle’s usability experts will guide you through practical learning sessions on the user experience of various business applications, middleware, and more. All user feedback sessions will be conducted October 1–3 at the InterContinental San Francisco Hotel on Howard Street, just a few steps away from the Moscone Center. To best match you with a user feedback activity, we will ask you about your role at your company. Our user feedback opportunities include focus groups, surveys, and one-on-one sessions with usability engineers. What do you get out of it? Customer and partner participants in the past have been surprised to learn how tuned in Oracle is to work that their applications users do every day. Oracle’s User Experience team members are trained to listen carefully, ask specific questions, interpret your answers, and work with designers to create products and solutions that suit your needs. Our goal is to help make you and your users more productive and efficient. Learn about Oracle’s process, and take advantage of the chance to give your specific feedback to the designers who create the enterprise applications of your future. See for yourself how Oracle collects feedback and measures its designs for turning them into code. Seats are limited for Oracle’s user feedback sessions, so sign up now by sending an e-mail to [email protected] with the subject line: Sign Me Up for an Oracle OpenWorld 2012 UX Session. For more information about customer feedback sessions and what you can learn from them, please visit the Usable Apps website. When: Monday-Wednesday during OpenWorld 2012, Oct. 1-3 Where: The InterContinental San Francisco Hotel How to sign up: RSVP now by sending an email to [email protected] with the subject line “Sign me up for an OOW 2012 UX Session.” Learn more: Visit the Usable Apps website at Get Involved.

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  • Managing Joomla via Android

    Surprisingly, it was only today that I actually looked for possible solutions to write more content for my blog. Since quite some time I'm using my Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 for all kind of social media activities like Google+, FB, etc. but also for my casual mail during the evening hours. And yes, I feel a little bit guilty about missing the chance to use my tablet to write some content here... OK, only a little bit. ;-) These are not the droids you are looking for But those lazy times are over! While searching the Play Store with the expression 'joomla' I got three interesting hits: - Joomla Admin Mobile! - Joooid - Joomla! Security Checklist After reading the reviews I installed the two later apps. Joomla! Security Checklist The author clearly outlines here that the app is primarily for his personal purpose to have safety checklist at hand at anytime. I guess that any reader of this article has an Android based smartphone or tablet, so that simple app should be part of your toolbox when using Joomla! for your websites. Joooid plugin & app Although I was looking for an app that could work with the default XML RPC interface of Joomla I have to admit that this combination of an enhanced Web service suits me better, mainly due to performance reason. The official website has not only the downloads for Joomla versions 1.5 - 2.5 but also very good and easy to follow step-by-step instructions to prepare your server for the Android app. It will take you less than 5 minutes to get it up and running. For safety reasons, I recommend that you should configure your Web server to have an additional authentication layer on the plugins folder. The smartphone app has the ability to run against HTTP authentication. Personally, I like the look and feel of the app. It is a little bit different compared to the web UI but still easy to use. In fact, this article is the first one written in the Joooid app. At the moment, I only miss the ability to have list tags. Quick and easy Writing full-fledged articles with images, a couple of hyperlinks and some styling here and there should be left to the desktop. At least for the moment. Let's see whether I'm going to change my mind on this during the upcoming months... I'll give it a try, and hope to publish at least once per month to write some content using Joooid. Actually, it would be great to have some feedback about other Joomla! clients in the wild.

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  • Data structures for a 2D multi-layered and multi-region map?

    - by DevilWithin
    I am working on a 2D world editor and a world format subsequently. If I were to handle the game "world" being created just as a layered set of structures, either in top or side views, it would be considerably simple to do most things. But, since this editor is meant for 3rd parties, I have no clue how big worlds one will want to make and I need to keep in mind that eventually it will become simply too much to check, handling and comparing stuff that are happening completely away from the player position. I know the solution for this is to subdivide my world into sub regions and stream them on the fly, loading and unloading resources and other data. This way I know a virtually infinite game area is achievable. But, while I know theoretically what to do, I really have a few questions I'd hoped to get answered for some hints about the topic. The logic way to handle the regions is some kind of grid, would you pick evenly distributed blocks with equal sizes or would you let the user subdivide areas by taste with irregular sized rectangles? In case of even grids, would you use some kind of block/chunk neighbouring system to check when the player transposes the limit or just put all those in a simple array? Being a region a different data structure than its owner "game world", when streaming a region, would you deliver the objects to the parent structures and track them for unloading later, or retain the objects in each region for a more "hard-limit" approach? Introducing the subdivision approach to the project, and already having a multi layered scene graph structure on place, how would i make it support the new concept? Would you have the parent node have the layers as children, and replicate in each layer node, a node per region? Or the opposite, parent node owns all the regions possible, and each region has multiple layers as children? Or would you just put the region logic outside the graph completely(compatible with the first suggestion in Q.3) When I say virtually infinite worlds, I mean it of course under the contraints of the variable sizes and so on. Using float positions, a HUGE world can already be made. Do you think its sane to think beyond that? Because I think its ok to stick to this limit since it will never be reached so easily.. As for when to stream a region, I'm implementing it as a collection of watcher cameras, which the streaming system works with to know what to load/unload. The problem here is, i will be needing some kind of warps/teleports built in for my game, and there is a chance i will be teleporting a player to a unloaded region far away. How would you approach something like this? Is it sane to load any region to memory which can be teleported to by a warp within a radius from the player? Sorry for the huge question, any answers are helpful!

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  • PASS Summit Location follow up - result analysis

    - by simonsabin
    I've had a chance to look at the results directly and it is clear that there is a tough choice. On the one hand people are saying that they prefer to have PASS put their money into chapters and things like 24hrs of PASS rather than an event on the east coast. Whilst at the same time almost 50% more people said they would be more likely to attend an East Coast event than a Seattle event, and 60% more said they would be more likley to attend a US Central region event. Whats more 60% said that the summit should be outside of Seattle every other year with only 19% saying it should always stay in Seattle. So clearly there is a huge desire for a non Seattle event. Looking at the other reasons for keeping in Seattle and the big one being that people want Microsoft speakers. More people think its somewhat important of very important that the conference is in walking distance of the hotels and restaurants. Essentially the Q6 questions show an even balance for normal conference, highlighting that they are prepared to travel, not with the family and they want a well laid out conference. Whats very annoying is that the questions, as people have commented, were biased towards certain answers. For instance there was no option about whether people feel its important to have industry leading speakers, MVPs etc at the conference. Only questions about Microsoft speakers. I know survey writing is very difficult to avoid biasing the answers one way or another. There was also no choice to show peoples preference, would people prefer Microsoft speakers or the summit to be held on the East Coast/Central US. I also find it amazing that people prefer hundres of developers rather than the SQLCAT and CSS teams, surely that indicates another issue about a lack of understanding of what the these teams do. All in all it is clear that people showed they want an event outside of Seattle and don't want PASS to be putting money into that instead of into other community activites. I find it suprising that there appears to have been a huge weighting against certain questions which have prioritised them over the huge desire for a PASS summit outside of Seattle. Lets see where we will be in 2013 or maybe they will rethink 2012 who knows.

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  • How do I take responsibility for my code when colleague makes unnecessary improvements without notice?

    - by Jesslyn
    One of my teammates is a jack of all trades in our IT shop and I respect his insight. However, sometimes he reviews my code (he's second in command to our team leader, so that's expected) without a heads up. So sometimes he reviews my changes before they complete the end goal and makes changes right away... and has even broken my work once. Other times, he has made unnecessary improvements to some of my code that is 3+ months old. This annoys me for a few reasons: I am not always given a chance to fix my mistakes He has not taken the time to ask me what I was trying to accomplish when he is confused, which could affect his testing or changes I don't always think his code is readable Deadlines are not an issue and his current workload doesn't require any work in my projects other than reviewing my code changes. Anyways, I have told him in the past to please keep me posted if he sees something in my work that he wants to change so that I could take ownership of my code (maybe I should have said "shortcomings") and he's not been responsive. I fear that I may come off as aggressive when I ask him to explain his changes to me. He's just a quiet person who keeps to himself, but his actions continue. I don't want to banish him from making code changes (not like I could), because we are a team--but I want to do my part to help our team. Added clarifications: We share 1 development branch. I do not wait until all my changes complete a single task because I risk losing some significant work--so I make sure my changes build and do not break anything. My concern is that my teammate doesn't explain the reason or purpose behind his changes. I don't think he should need my blessing, but if we disagree on an approach I thought it would be best to discuss the pros and cons and make a decision once we both understand what is going on. I have not discussed this with our team lead yet as I would prefer to resolve personal disagreements without getting management involved unless it is necessary. Since my concern seemed more of personal issue than a threat to our work, I chose to not bother the team lead. I am working on code review process ideas--to help promote the benefits of more organized code reviews without making it all about my pet peeves.

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  • Managing Regulated Content in WebCenter: USDM and Oracle Offer a New Part 11 Compliant Solution for Life Sciences

    - by Michael Snow
    Guest post today provided by Oracle partner, USDM  Regulated Content in WebCenterUSDM and Oracle offer a new Part 11 compliant solution for Life Sciences (White Paper) Life science customers now have the ability to take advantage of all of the benefits of Oracle’s WebCenter Content, a global leader in Enterprise Content Management.   For the past year, USDM has been developing best practice compliance solutions to meet regulated content management requirements for 21 CFR Part 11 in WebCenter Content. USDM has been an expert in ECM for life sciences since 1999 and in 2011, certified that WebCenter was a 21CFR Part 11 compliant content management platform (White Paper).  In addition, USDM has built Validation Accelerators Packs for WebCenter to enable life science organizations to quickly and cost effectively validate this world class solution.With the Part 11 certification, Oracle’s WebCenter now provides regulated life science organizations  the ability to manage REGULATORY content in WebCenter, as well as the ability to take advantage of ALL of the additional functionality of WebCenter, including  a complete, open, and integrated portfolio of portal, web experience management, content management and social networking technology.  Here are a few screen shot examples of Part 11 functionality included in the product: E-Sign, E-Sign Rendor, Meta Data History, Audit Trail Report, and Access Reporting. Gone are the days that life science companies have to spend millions of dollars a year to implement, maintain, and validate ECM systems that no longer meet the ever changing business and regulatory requirements.  Life science companies now have the ability to use WebCenter Content, an ECM system with a substantially lower cost of ownership and unsurpassed functionality.Oracle has been #1 in life sciences because of their ability to develop cost effective, easy-to-use, scalable solutions which help increase insight and efficiency to drive growth for their customers.  Adding a world class ECM solution to this product portfolio allows life science organizations the chance to get rid of costly ECM systems that no longer meet their needs and use WebCenter, part of the Oracle Fusion Technology stack, with their other leading enterprise applications.USDM provides:•    Expertise in Life Science ECM Business Processes•    Prebuilt Life Science Configuration in WebCenter •    Validation Accelerator Packs for WebCenterUSDM is very proud to support Oracle’s expanding commitment to Life Sciences…. For more information please contact:  [email protected] Oracle will be exhibiting at DIA 2012 in Philadelphia on June 25-27. Stop by our booth (#2825) to learn more about the advantages of a centralized ECM strategy and see the Oracle WebCenter Content solution, our 21 CFR Part 11 compliant content management platform.

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  • Accessing SQL Server data from iOS apps

    - by RobertChipperfield
    Almost all mobile apps need access to external data to be valuable. With a huge amount of existing business data residing in Microsoft SQL Server databases, and an ever-increasing drive to make more and more available to mobile users, how do you marry the rather separate worlds of Microsoft's SQL Server and Apple's iOS devices? The classic answer: write a web service layer Look at any of the questions on this topic asked in Internet discussion forums, and you'll inevitably see the answer, "just write a web service and use that!". But what does this process gain? For a well-designed database with a solid security model, and business logic in the database, writing a custom web service on top of this just to access some of the data from a different platform seems inefficient and unnecessary. Desktop applications interact with the SQL Server directly - why should mobile apps be any different? The better answer: the iSql SDK Working along the lines of "if you do something more than once, make it shared," we set about coming up with a better solution for the general case. And so the iSql SDK was born: sitting between SQL Server and your iOS apps, it provides the simple API you're used to if you've been developing desktop apps using the Microsoft SQL Native Client. It turns out a web service remained a sensible idea: HTTP is much more suited to the Big Bad Internet than SQL Server's native TDS protocol, removing the need for complex configuration, firewall configuration, and the like. However, rather than writing a web service for every app that needs data access, we made the web service generic, serving only as a proxy between the SQL Server and a client library integrated into the iPhone or iPad app. This client library handles all the network communication, and provides a clean API. OSQL in 25 lines of code As an example of how to use the API, I put together a very simple app that allowed the user to enter one or more SQL statements, and displayed the results in a rather primitively formatted text field. The total amount of Objective-C code responsible for doing the work? About 25 lines. You can see this in action in the demo video. Beta out now - your chance to give us your suggestions! We've released the iSql SDK as a beta on the MobileFoo website: you're welcome to download a copy, have a play in your own apps, and let us know what we've missed using the Feedback button on the site. Software development should be fun and rewarding: no-one wants to spend their time writing boiler-plate code over and over again, so stop writing the same web service code, and start doing exciting things in the new world of mobile data!

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  • Small script to look for Project Replication actions that have failed

    - by Trond Strømme
    Today when looking at a couple of projects on a ZFS 7320 Storage Appliance I noticed on one project that one of its replication actions had failed, as I hadn't checked the Recent Alerts log yet I was not aware of this. I decided to write a small script to check if there were others that had failed. Nothing fancy, just a loop through all projects, look at the project's replication child and compare the values of the last_sync and last_try properties and print the result if they're not equal. (There are probably more sensible ways of doing this, but at least it involves me getting the chance to put on my headphones and doing just a little bit of coding.) script // this script will locate failed project level replication // it will look at the sync times for 'last_sync' and 'last_try' // and compare these, if they deviate you should investigate. // NOTE! this code is offered 'as is' Run at your own risk, // it will probably work as intended, but in now way can I // (or Oracle) be held responsible if your server starts behaving // like a three year old kid in a candy store.. (not that mine do, // they are very well behaved boys...) run('configuration'); run('storage'); printf('Host: %s, pool: %s\n', get('owner'),get('pool')); run('cd /'); run('shares'); proj=list(); printf("total projects: %d\n",proj.length +'\n'); // just for project level replication for(i=0;i<proj.length;i++){ run('select '+proj[i]); run('replication'); //get all replication actions preps = list(); for(j=0;j<preps.length;j++){ run('select ' + preps[j]); last_sync = get('last_sync'); last_try = get('last_try'); // printf("target %s\n", get('target')); //why the flip does this not get the proper name? if(!( last_sync.valueOf() === last_try.valueOf())){ printf("sync has failed for %s %s\n", proj[i], get('target')); }else{ // printf("OK %s %s\n", proj[i], get('target')); } run('done'); //done with the replica action } run('done'); run('done'); } printf("finished\n"); For a more on how to run the script, or testing it please look at my previous post. Sample output: Host: elb1sn01, pool: exalogic total projects: 45 sync has failed for ACSExalogicSystem cb3a24fe-ad60-c90f-d15d-adaafd595639 finished

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  • So, I though I wanted to learn frontend/web development and break out of my comfort zone...

    - by ripper234
    I've been a backend developer for a long time, and I really swim in that field. C++/C#/Java, databases, NoSql, caching - I feel very much at ease around these platforms/concepts. In the past few years, I started to taste end-to-end web programming, and recently I decided to take a job offer in a front end team developing a large, complex product. I wanted to break out of my comfort zone and become more of an "all around developer". Problem is, I'm getting more and more convinced I don't like it. Things I like about backend programming, and missing in frontend stuff: More interesting problems - When I compare designing a server that handle massive data, to adding another form to a page or changing the validation logic, I find the former a lot more interesting. Refactoring refactoring refactoring - I am addicted to Visual Studio with Resharper, or IntelliJ. I feel very comfortable writing code as it goes without investing too much thought, because I know that with a few clicks I can refactor it into beautiful code. To my knowledge, this doesn't exist at all in javascript. Intellisense and navigation - I hate looking at a bunch of JS code without instantly being able to know what it does. In VS/IntelliJ I can summon the documentation, navigate to the code, climb up inheritance hiererchies ... life is sweet. Auto-completion - Just hit Ctrl-Space on an object to see what you can do with it. Easier to test - With almost any backend feature, I can use TDD to capture the requirements, see a bunch of failing tests, then implement, knowing that if the tests pass I did my job well. With frontend, while tests can help a bit, I find that most of the testing is still manual - fire up that browser and verify the site didn't break. I miss that feeling of "A green CI means everything is well with the world." Now, I've only seriously practiced frontend development for about two months now, so this might seem premature ... but I'm getting a nagging feeling that I should abandon this quest and return to my comfort zone, because, well, it's so comfy and fun. Another point worth mentioning in this context is that while I am learning some frontend tools, a lot of what I'm learning is our company's specific infrastructure, which I'm not sure will be very useful later on in my career. Any suggestions or tips? Do you think I should give frontend programming "a proper chance" of at least six to twelve months before calling it quits? Could all my pains be growing pains, and will they magically disappear as I get more experienced? Or is gaining this perspective is valuable enough, even if plan to do more "backend stuff" later on, that it's worth grinding my teeth and continuing with my learning?

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  • Oracle OpenWorld - Events of Interest

    - by Larry Wake
    I mentioned the "Focus On Oracle Solaris" document the other day, which lists many of the Solaris-related events at Oracle OpenWorld this year; today I thought I'd highlight a few sessions you might find interesting. Monday, October 1st: 4:45 PM - Get Proactive: Best Practices for Maintaining and Upgrading Oracle Solaris (Moscone South 252) This session covers best practices for upgrading and patching and how to take advantage of unique technologies in Oracle Solaris 10 and 11. Learn how to get maximum value from My Oracle Support for both reactive and proactive requirements. Understand the benefits of secure remote access and how Oracle Support experts use collaborative shared sessions combined with Oracle Solaris technologies such as DTrace. Tuesday, October 2nd: 10:15 AM -  How to Increase Performance and Agility with an Open Data Center Fabric (Moscone South 200) If you haven't had a chance to hear about Xsigo Systems, this is a golden opportunity while you're at OpenWorld. Now part of Oracle, Xsigo's network virtualization technology is designed to increase both application performance and management efficiency, through a combination of software-defined network technology and the industry’s fastest fabric, allowing data center to converge Ethernet and Fibre Channel connectivity to a single fabric, to reduce complexity by 70 percent and CapEx by 50 percent while providing more I/O bandwidth to your applications. Wednesday, October 3rd: 10:15 AM - General Session: Oracle Solaris 11 Strategy, Engineering Insights, and Roadmap (Moscone South 103) Markus Flierl, head of Oracle Solaris Core Engineering, will outline the strategy and roadmap for Oracle Solaris,  how Oracle Solaris 11 is being deployed in cloud computing and the unique optimizations in Oracle Solaris 11 for the Oracle stack. The session also offers a sneak peek at the latest technology under development in Oracle Solaris, and what customers can expect to see in the coming updates. Plus, there are several Hands-On Labs: Monday, October 1st: 10:45 AM - 11:45 AM - Reduce Risk with Oracle Solaris Access Control to Restrain Users and Isolate Applications (Marriott Marquis - Salon 14/15) 4:45 PM - 5:45 PM - Managing Your Data with Built-In Oracle Solaris ZFS Data Services in Release 11  (Marriott Marquis - Salon 14/15) Tuesday, October 2nd: 1:15 PM - 2:15 PM - Virtualizing Your Oracle Solaris 11 Environment  (Marriott Marquis - Salon 10/11) Wednesday, October 3rd: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM - Large-Scale Installation and Deployment of Oracle Solaris 11 (Marriott Marquis - Salon 14/15) There's plenty more--see the "Focus On Oracle Solaris" guide. See you next week in San Francisco!

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  • Block-level deduplicating filesystem

    - by James Haigh
    I'm looking for a deduplicating copy-on-write filesystem solution for general user data such as /home and backups of it. It should use online/inline/synchronous deduplication at the block-level using secure hashing (for negligible chance of collisions) such as SHA256 or TTH. Duplicate blocks need not even touch the disk. The idea is that I should be able to just copy /home/<user> to an external HDD with the same such filesystem to do a backup. Simple. No messing around with incremental backups where corruption to any of the snapshots will nearly always break all later snapshots, and no need to use a specific tool to delete or 'checkout' a snapshot. Everything should simply be done from the file browser without worry. Can you imagine how easy this would be? I'd never have to think twice about backing-up again! I don't mind a performance hit, reliability is the main concern. Although, with specific implementations of cp, mv and scp, and a file browser plugin, these operations would be very fast, especially when there is a lot of duplication as they would only need to transfer the absent blocks. Accidentally using conventional copy tools that do not integrate with the FS would merely take longer, waste some bandwidth when copying remotely and waste some CPU, as the duplicate data would be re-read, re-transferred and re-hashed (although nothing would be re-written), but would absolutely not corrupt anything. (Some filesharing software may also be able to benefit by integrating with the FS.) So what's the best way of doing this? I've looked at some options: lessfs - Looks unmaintained. Any good? [Opendedup/SDFS][3] - Java? Could I use this on Android?! What does [SDFS][4] stand for? [Btrfs][5] - Some patches floating around on mailing list archives, but no real support. [ZFS][6] - Hopefully they'll one day relicense under a true Free/Opensource GPL-compatible licence. Also, 2 years ago I had a go at an attempt in Python using Fuse at the file-level to be used over the top of a typical solid FS such as EXT4, but I found Fuse for Python underdocumented and didn't manage to implement all of the system calls. My first post here, so I can't post more than 2 links until I get over 10 rep: [3]: http://www.opendedup.org/ [4]: https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=SDFS&action=edit&redlink=1 [5]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Btrfs#Features [6]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZFS#Linux

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  • Switch from back-end to front-end programming: I'm out of my comfort zone, should I switch back?

    - by ripper234
    I've been a backend developer for a long time, and I really swim in that field. C++/C#/Java, databases, NoSql, caching - I feel very much at ease around these platforms/concepts. In the past few years, I started to taste end-to-end web programming, and recently I decided to take a job offer in a front end team developing a large, complex product. I wanted to break out of my comfort zone and become more of an "all around developer". Problem is, I'm getting more and more convinced I don't like it. Things I like about backend programming, and missing in frontend stuff: More interesting problems - When I compare designing a server that handle massive data, to adding another form to a page or changing the validation logic, I find the former a lot more interesting. Refactoring refactoring refactoring - I am addicted to Visual Studio with Resharper, or IntelliJ. I feel very comfortable writing code as it goes without investing too much thought, because I know that with a few clicks I can refactor it into beautiful code. To my knowledge, this doesn't exist at all in javascript. Intellisense and navigation - I hate looking at a bunch of JS code without instantly being able to know what it does. In VS/IntelliJ I can summon the documentation, navigate to the code, climb up inheritance hiererchies ... life is sweet. Auto-completion - Just hit Ctrl-Space on an object to see what you can do with it. Easier to test - With almost any backend feature, I can use TDD to capture the requirements, see a bunch of failing tests, then implement, knowing that if the tests pass I did my job well. With frontend, while tests can help a bit, I find that most of the testing is still manual - fire up that browser and verify the site didn't break. I miss that feeling of "A green CI means everything is well with the world." Now, I've only seriously practiced frontend development for about two months now, so this might seem premature ... but I'm getting a nagging feeling that I should abandon this quest and return to my comfort zone, because, well, it's so comfy and fun. Another point worth mentioning in this context is that while I am learning some frontend tools, a lot of what I'm learning is our company's specific infrastructure, which I'm not sure will be very useful later on in my career. Any suggestions or tips? Do you think I should give frontend programming "a proper chance" of at least six to twelve months before calling it quits? Could all my pains be growing pains, and will they magically disappear as I get more experienced? Or is gaining this perspective is valuable enough, even if plan to do more "backend stuff" later on, that it's worth grinding my teeth and continuing with my learning?

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  • Analysing SQLBits Feedback

    - by jamiet
    Earlier this week I received all the feedback that people offered on my session at SQLBits 7 in York – “SSIS Dataflow Performance Tuning” (the video is available online if you wish to see it). As you may have gathered from previous posts on this blog and my less-SQLy-focused Wordpress blog I am a big fan of collecting and tracking both personal and public data and session feedback lends itself very well to tracking because it is quantitative rather than qualitative; by that I mean attendees are invited to provide marks out of ten rather than (or, in the case of SQLBits, as well as) written comments. The SQLBits feedback is also useful because they use a consistent format – the same questions are asked each time – this means it is particularly easy to to track whether the scores that people give are trending up or down. I suspect that somewhere the SQLBits organisers have a big Analysis Services cube (ok, perhaps its an Excel pivot table) that allows them to analyse these scores per conference, speaker, track etc.… and there’s no reason that we as session speakers cannot do the same thing. To that end I have started to store my feedback in an Excel spreadsheet of my own which in the interests of transparency is available for public viewing (only a web browser required) on SkyDrive at http://cid-550f681dad532637.office.live.com/view.aspx/Public/Misc/Personal%20SQLBits%20Session%20Feedback.xlsx. I have used a pivot table to aggregate all that feedback and here is a screenshot: I am hereby making a public plea to the SQLBits organisers (on the off-chance that they are reading) to please continue to keep the feedback format consistent in the future and I encourage them to publish all of the feedback in an anonymised form. I would also encourage anyone doing conference speaking to track their conference feedback in the same way that I am doing so that you get an insight into whether or not you are improving over time. It is not difficult to setup and maintaining it as you do more sessions takes very little effort. Storing feedback data like this leads me to wider thoughts about well-known conventions and data format standardisation. Let’s imagine a utopia where there were a standard set of questions for capturing session feedback that were leveraged at every conference regardless of subject matter, location or culture; that would give rise to immense cross-conference and cross-discipline analysis – the data analyst in me goes giddy at the thought of it. It is scenarios like this that drive my interest both in data formats such as iCalendar, microformats and RDF, and in emerging movements such as the semantic web and linked data, all things which I have written about in the past. I don’t know whether we will ever reach the stage where every piece of data has structured, descriptive metadata associated with it but I live in hope. @Jamiet

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