Search Results

Search found 19768 results on 791 pages for 'hardware programming'.

Page 581/791 | < Previous Page | 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588  | Next Page >

  • Genetic Algorithm new generation exponentially increasing

    - by Rdz
    I'm programming Genetic Algorithm in C++ and after searching all kind of ways of doing GA'a operators (selection, crossover, mutation) I came up with a doubt. Let's say I have an initial population of 500. My selection will consist in getting the top 20% of 500(based on best fitness). So I get 100 individuals to mate. When I do the crossover I'll get 2 children where both together have 50% of surviving. So far so good. I start the mutation, and everything's ok.. Now when I start choosing the Next generation, I see that I have a big number of children (in this case, 4950 if you wanna know). Now the thing is, every time I run GA, if I send all the children to the next generation, the number of individuals per generation will increase exponentially. So there must be a way of choosing the children to fulfill a new generation without getting out of this range of the initial population. What I'm asking here is if there is anyway of choosing the children to fill the new generations OR should I choose somehow (and maybe reduce) the parents to mate so I don't get so many children in the end. Thanks :)

    Read the article

  • OS choice for functional developing

    - by Carsten König
    I'm mainly a .NET developer so I normaly use Windows/VisualStudio (that means: I'm spoiled) but I'm enjoying Haskell and other (mostly functional) languagues in my spare time. Now for Haskell the windows-support is ok (you can get the Haskell-Platform) but latley I tried to get a basic Clojure/Scheme environment set up and it's just a pain on windows. So I'm thinking about trying out another OS for better tooling and languague support. Of course that leaves me with MacOS or some Linux distribution. I never used MacOS before and of course Linux would be cheaper (free) and I don't think I can parallel-boot MacOS on your normal PC-Hardware (can you?). PLUS: I don't have a clue about the tools you can use on those (to me) forign OSs. To make it short: I want to explore more Haskell, Clojure, Scala, Scheme and of course need at least good tooling for JavaScript/HTML5/Css. Support for .NET/Mono/F# would be great but for this I will still have my Win7 boot. So I like to know: - what is your prefered OS, Distribution (is Ubuntu viable?) - what Editor/IDE are you using Thank you for your help! PS: I'm not sure if this is the right place for this question but I surely hope so - if not please let me know where I should move this to (StackOverflow don't seem to be the right place IMHO)

    Read the article

  • How do I get my programs to communicate with each other

    - by Benjamin Lindqvist
    I'm basically just getting started with programming. The problem I have with progressing is that I have a hard time learning stuff just for the sake of knowing them - I do better when there's a problem to be solved or a task to be completed so I can learn 'on the job'. So I'm interested in starting some interesting project. I know the basics of Python, Java, Matlab and some C++ aswell and I know enough about microcontrollers to make LED blink etc. The type of stuff I'm looking for is for example scraping some weather forecast site (with Python) and outputting the chance of rain to a LCD display, or a program that makes chrome open and log in to facebook if I say "HAL, time for facebook", or more generally, a program that reads serial/USB input, looks for certain sequences and sends instructions to some other program if it finds one. Do you open some kind of shared stream in which one program reads and one writes? What do I need to read up on to do accomplish this myself? I have no experience with linux or the linux terminal, but looking over peoples shoulders makes me suspect that's what people use. Is that correct?

    Read the article

  • You are or will be a laid off programmer - what do you do a year ago, right now, tomorrow, and next week?

    - by Adam Davis
    Many programmers, software engineers, and other technology professionals are out of work, facing layoffs, or are unprepared for layoffs though they feel secure right now. What should every programmer do right now (even if secure in their current job) to prepare them for layoffs down the road? If your boss came to your cubicle while you read this and laid you off: What would you do immediately after? What would you do tomorrow? What would you do next week? It obvious that one should always have an up to date resume, always get recommendations from people when they see you at your best (not when you're looking for a new job), etc. What are the things, step by step, that every programmer should do (or should consider doing) long before they are laid off, when they're laid off, and shortly after being laid off? This is a question with many possible facets. While I want to encourage discussion to center around programming career based answers, please reconsider before downvoting someone because they're thinking in terms of how they're going to prevent going into debt. Bonus catch-22 type question: You can study a new language or technology while out of work, but most places want you to have more than 1-2 months experience in a working environment, not just from a learning exercise. Is it worthwhile to place a priority on new (ideally in demand) skills, or should you instead hone existing skills?

    Read the article

  • Is a big name computer science degree worth the cost?

    - by Serplat
    I'm currently in High School and trying to look into what I want to do after I graduate. I know that I will be going to college, and that I want a degree in Computer Science, however, I'm not entirely sure where I want to go (I haven't started the application process yet). I already have built up a decent amount of experience in programming (over the summers I have been hired to program at a local university), and I'm pretty capable of teaching myself most of the material I've come across through either books or web documentation. I'm interested in whether it is worth it to get a degree from a major, big-name computer science university for $50,000 each year, as opposed to going to a local state school for only $20,000. For my Bachelor's degree alone, this would be $120,000 more than the state school. I've also heard that where you get your Bachelor's doesn't matter much if you plan to get a Master's degree. Many people recommend going somewhere like a state school for your Bachelor's, and then try to get into a more major school for your Master's. Has anybody found any truth in this? Basically, is going to a big name computer science school for a Bachelor's degree really worth the added expense?

    Read the article

  • December 2012 OTN Member Offers

    - by Cassandra Clark - OTN
    Our partners have answered the special offer call just in time for you to either shop for the tech professional in your life or share the list below with someone who keeps asking you what you want for the holidays.  Go right to the Oracle Technology Network Member Discount Page or read on for more details. Oracle  Store has extended their 10% Savings through December 31st 2012.Oracle Press - Oracle Technology Network members get 40% off the latest Oracle Press book by Oracle ACE Directors Ben Prusinski and Gustavo Gonzalez, Oracle E-Business Suite Financials Handbook, Third Edition in print and ebook format. CRC Press - Has added 3 NEW titles!  Get 20% off the below title at checkout. Secure Java: For Web Application Development Open Source Data Warehousing and Business Intelligence Developing Essbase Applications: Advanced Techniques for Finance and IT Professional Oracle Embedded Programming and Application Development Packt Publishing - Get 25% off the print books and get 35% off the eBooks listed below. You will need to be logged in for the discounts to apply at checkout and codes expire December 31st 2012. Getting Started with Oracle Data Integrator 11g: A Hands-On Tutorial Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition 11g: A Hands-On Tutorial Oracle Certified Associate, Java SE 7 Programmer Study Guide Safari Online-  Give the Gift of Knowledge This Holiday SeasonGive your friends and colleagues the gift of Safari Books Online! With an ever-expanding library of books and videos from more than 100 publishers (including Oracle Press), a subscription to Safari Books Online is the gift that always fits, helping your friends learn new skills and stay current. Starting at $42.99, gift subscriptions are available for 1, 3, 6 and 12 months. Get all of this and more at the Oracle Technology Network Member Discount Page!

    Read the article

  • Experienced programmer, beginner at web design, tools for effective maintainable web design? [closed]

    - by Clinton
    I do quite a bit of programming in my work, which I'm comfortable with, but recently I've being trying to do some web-design for non-work related reasons. I've got a Drupal site up and running, and added some content. But they all look fairly basic. Header with some content. It doesn't look particularly polished. Anyway, as an example, what I wanted to do was make some "bubbles", each with some text in them. From a programmers point of view, say: bubble(question_text, answer_text) might expand to a box with some border, with "Question: " + question_text then "Answer: " + answer_text. Of course I'd have lots of these bubbles, but I'd like to change their look and feel in one place, so simple HTML would be a maintainable nightmare. I also want to lay them out on the screen in some fashion. I was thinking a mixture of javascript and CSS, or possibly use PHP which Drupal uses. On the other hand, I fear I might be taking a 1990s approach to this, and that there's actually tools available now that make this process a lot easier. I'm just wondering what the best approach to this sort of task is? Should I be using offline web design software and copying the code to Drupal, and if so, any recommendations? I'm sorry if my question is a bit vague, because I'm not really sure what question I should be asking. I'd appreciate if you answer and comment, and I'll try my best to be more specific as I understand more.

    Read the article

  • Multiple displays using AMD drivers

    - by Halik
    I am currently running a dual display setup with nVidia 8800GTS video card, on a Ubuntu 12.10 box. The current setup uses nVidia TwinView to render the image on a 1920x1200 display and 1600x1200 one. I'm planning to add a third, 1280x1024 display to the setup. The change will require me to upgrade my GFX card to one supporting triple displays. I'll probably go with Sapphire Radeon 7770 (FLEX edition, to avoid additional active DP-DVI adapters). Before I invest in new GFX I wanted to ask - how well the AMD drivers will support such a setup. It does not matter whether it's fglrx or the OSS ones. If I remember correctly, when running Fedora on a Radeon x800, I had 'void' areas above and below the working area on my second display. The desktop was rendered in 1920+1280 width and 1200 height (which left 176px of vertical space accessible for my cursor and windows but not displayed on the screen - I'd prefer to avoid that). It may have very well been my misconfiguration back then. Generally, are there any solutions from AMD on par with TwinView? Or is it a non-issue at all? Also, I'm wondering about the usual stuff - hardware h264 decoding support, glitch-free flash support, any issues with Compiz/Unity?

    Read the article

  • How to change careers

    - by Jack Black
    For the past 4 years I have worked in c# doing web development. I have really enjoyed it, learnt a lot and have a worked hard to get to a position where I am earning good money and enjoy the work. However lately - I have wanted a change. What with the "native renaissance" I would like to change my career from being high level application and web development to more down to the metal native development. I haven't done any c or c++ since Uni over 4 years ago and so I have begun reading text books and websites to brush up. However - one major issue I have is that I have no practical experience with C++ and although I am brushing up on it, there will be a lot I don't know. Most of the jobs I have seen in native code around me all require native experience. The only positions I can find that don't explicitly ask for native experience are junior level positions. In my current role I am a mid level developer and although there would be a lot to learn in a c++ position, I wouldn't class myself as a junior. I guess my question is, how do people solve this issue when changing programming languages for their profession and / or how would you approach this hurdle? Like I said, I would really like to try out native development professionally but I wouldn't want to move back to a junior role. Would employers consider years of managed development and native hobby projects enough experience?

    Read the article

  • Issues in pulse audio in Ubuntu 11.10

    - by Kamal
    Good Morning All. I am a new ubuntu user. So please forgive me if this question is too basic. I have installed Ubuntu 11.10 in my machine. I have logged in as USER_A. My external audio device is a Headset and I was able to hear the audio properly. I need to join my Ubuntu machine to a window's domain (my office server). I followed the steps explained in http://www.ghacks.net/2010/04/21/join-a-ubuntu-machine-to-a-windows-domain/ and was successful in joining my ubuntu machine to the windows domain. sudo apt-get install likewise-open5 sudo domainjoin-cli join DOMAIN USER_B Now when I logged in as USER_B, there is no audio for this user in the same machine. I crossed check with my User_A account. There is no issues with the sound for User_A. Only for User_B, there is no audio. When I checked the sound settings of User_B, there is no device listed in Hardware, Input and Output. Whereas for User A, my Headset is listed in Input and Output. Can anyone please help me on this. Why there is no sound for User_B? Thank you.

    Read the article

  • Removing ocurrances of characters in a string

    - by DmainEvent
    I am reading this book, programming Interviews exposed by John Wiley and sons and in chapter 6 they are discussing removing all instances of characters in a src string using a removal string... so removeChars(string str, string remove) In there writeup they sey the steps to accomplish this are to have a boolean lookup array with all values initially set to false, then loop through each character in remove setting the corresponding value in the lookup array to true (note: this could also be a hash if the possible character set where huge like Unicode-16 or something like that or if str and remove are both relatively small... < 100 characters I suppose). You then iterate through the str with a source and destination index, copying each character only if its corresponding value in the lookup array is false... Which makes sense... I don't understand the code that they use however... They have for(src = 0; src < len; ++src){ flags[r[src]] == true; } which is turning the flag value at the remove string indexed at src to true... so if you start out with PLEASE HELP as your str and LEA as your remove you will be setting in your flag table at 0,1,2... t|t|t but after that you will get an out of bounds exception because r doesn't have have anything greater than 2 in it... even using there example you get an out of bounds exception... Am is there code example unworkable?

    Read the article

  • LiveMeeting VC PowerShell PASS – Troubleshooting SQL Server with PowerShell

    - by Laerte Junior
    Guys, join me on Wednesday July 18th 12 noon EDT (GMT -4) for a presentation called Troubleshooting SQL Server With PowerShell. It will be in English, so please make allowances for this. I’m sure that you’re aware that my English is not perfect, but it is not so bad. I will do my best, you can be sure. The registration link will be available soon from PowerShell.sqlpass.org, so I hope to see you there. It will be a session without slides. Just code; pure PowerShell code. Trust me, We will see a lot of COOL stuff.Big thanks to Aaron Nelson (@sqlvariant) for the opportunity! Here are some more details about the presentation: “Troubleshooting SQL Server with PowerShell – The Next Level’ It is normal for us to have to face poorly performing queries or even complete failure in our SQL server environments. This can happen for a variety of reasons including poor Database Designs, hardware failure, improperly-configured systems and OS Updates applied without testing. As Database Administrators, we need to take precaution to minimize the impact of these problems when they occur, and so we need the tools and methodology required to identify and solve issues quickly. In this Session we will use PowerShell to explore some common troubleshooting techniques used in our day-to-day work as s DBA. This will include a variety of such activities including Gathering Performance Counters in several servers at the same time using background jobs, identifying Blocked Sessions and Reading & filtering the SQL Error Log even if the Instance is offline The approach will be using some advanced PowerShell techniques that allow us to scale the code for multiple servers and run the data collection in asynchronous mode.

    Read the article

  • Best Usage of Multiple Computers For a Developer

    - by whaley
    I have two Macbook Pros - both are comparable in hardware. One is a 17" and the other a 15". The 17" has a slightly swifter CPU clock speed, but beyond that the differences are completely negligible. I tried a setup a while back where I had the 17" hooked up to an external monitor in the middle of my desk with the 15" laptop immediately to the right of it, and was using teleport to control the 15" from my 17". All development, terminal usage, etc. etc. was being done on the 17" and the 15" was primarily used for email / IM / IRC... or anything secondary to what I was working on. I have a MobileMe account so preferences were synced, but otherwise I didn't really use anything else to keep the computers in sync (I use dropbox/git but probably not optimally). For reasons I can't put my finger on, this setup never felt quite right. A few things that irked me was the 15" was way under-utlized and the 17" was overutilized having 2 laptops and a 21" monitor all on one desk actually took up lots of desk space and it felt like I had too much to look at. I reverted back to just using the 17" and the external monitor and keeping the 15" around the house (and using it very sparingly). For those of you who are using multiple laptops (or just multiple machines for that matter), I'd like to see setups that work for you for when you have 2 or more machines that gives you optimal productivity and why. I'd like to give this one more shot but with a different approach than my previous - which was using the 15" as a machine for secondary things (communication, reading documentation, etc. etc).

    Read the article

  • Html 5 clock, part ii - CSS marker classes and getElementsByClassName

    - by Norgean
    The clock I made in part i displays the time in "long" - "It's a quarter to ten" (but in Norwegian). To save space, some letters are shared, "sevenineight" is four letters shorter than "seven nine eight". We only want to highlight the "correct" parts of this, for example "sevenineight". When I started programming the clock, each letter had its own unique ID, and my script would "get" each element individually, and highlight / hide each element according to some obscure logic. I quickly realized, despite being in a post surgery haze, …this is a stupid way to do it. And, to paraphrase NPH, if you find yourself doing something stupid, stop, and be awesome instead. We want an easy way to get all the items we want to highlight. Perhaps we can use the new getElementsByClassName function? Try to mark each element with a classname or two. So in "sevenineight": 's' is marked as 'h7', and the first 'n' is marked with both 'h7' and 'h9' (h for hour). <div class='h7 h9'>N</div><div class='h9'>I</div> getElementsByClassName('h9') will return the four letters of "nine". Notice that these classes are not backed by any CSS, they only appear directly in html (and are used in javascript). I have not seen classes used this way elsewhere, and have chosen to call them "marker classes" - similar to marker interfaces - until somebody comes up with a better name.

    Read the article

  • Using EC2 instance as main development platform

    - by David
    My problem I am working as a consultant for various companies. Each company provides me with a laptop where with their software on and I also have my own where I have my development environment. I tend to buy a new laptop every second year and find myself spending lots of time configuring and installing software. I also sometimes spend a lot of time waiting for my laptop to process things. To solve all these issues, I am now considering using EC2 (running windows instances) as my main development platform and just access this from any PC I happen to be at. I calculated that running the High-CPU On-Demand Instances (medium) for 8 hours a day for a year costs me 580$, which is acceptable. I imagine that when I approach the workplace each day, I will make a single click my phone to fire up the instance, so it is ready when I get to work. I should have different icons on my phone to fire up the various instance types. The same software should of course automatically be loaded on the various hardware (sometimes I would even need their instance with 68.4 GB of memory). Another advantage is that if I am having a specific problem with my instance, I could fire up another instance and have someone look into the problem and update the image. My question: Does anyone have experience with such a setup on EC2? What kind of problems do you forsee?

    Read the article

  • Automatic Generalization

    - by Nick Harrison
    I have been interested in functional programming since college. I played around a little with LISP back then, but I have not had an opportunity since then. Now that F# ships standard with VS 2010, I figured now is my chance. So, I was reading up on it a little over the weekend when I came across a very interesting topic. F# includes a concept called "Automatic Generalization". As I understand it, the compiler will look at your method and analyze how you are using parameters. It will automatically switch to a generic parameter if it is possible based on your usage. Wow! I am looking forward to playing with this. I have long been an advocate of using the most generic types possible especially when developing library classes. Use the highest level base class that you can get away with. Use an interface instead of a specific implementation. I don't advocate passing object around, but you get the idea. Tools like resharper, fxCop, and most static code analysis tools provide guidance to help you identify when a more generalized type is possible, but this is the first time I have heard about the compiler taking matters into its own hands. I like the sound of this. We'll see if it is a good idea or not. What are your thoughts? Am I missing the mark on what Automatic Generalization does in F#? How would this work in C#? Do you see any problems with this?

    Read the article

  • Algorithm to match timestamped events from two sources

    - by urza.cc
    I have two different physical devices (one is camera, one is other device) that observe the same scene and mark when a specified event occures. (record timestamp) So they each produce a serie of timestamps "when the event was observed". Theoretically the recorded timestamps should be very well aligned: Visualized ideal situation on two time lines "s" and "r" as recorded from the two devices: but more likely they will not be so nicely aligned and there might be missing events from timeline s or r: I am looking for algorithm to match events from "s" and "r" like this: So that the result will be something like: (s1,null); (s2,r1); (s3,null); (s4,r2); (s5,r3); (null,r4); (s6,r5); Or something similar. Maybe with some "confidence" rating. I have some ideas, but I feel that this might be probably a well known problem, that has some good known solutions, but I don't know the right terminology. I am a little bit out of my element here, this is not my primary area of programming.. Any helps, suggestions etc will be appreciated.

    Read the article

  • Cannot Create Bootable USB Drive from .iso file

    - by tarabyte
    I've tried formatting the flash drive as FAT as well as Mac OS journaled through diskutility but still cannot successfully create a bootable drive. I'm following the directions here exactly: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/help/create-a-usb-stick-on-mac-osx Environment: Macbook Pro trying to create a bootable flash drive for a Macbook Pro. 8GB flash drive. Tested ubuntu-12.04.1 as well as ubuntu 12.20 .iso 64-bit downloads. Nothing to repair in disk utility for this hard drive. Every time I finish step 8 of the tutorial I get "file system not recognized" with the options to "initialize" meaning to reformat my drive, "ignore" or "eject." When I try to re-inspect the flash drive in disk utility after plugging it back in I see that it has some error when I try to verify it but the "repair" button is disabled. I just want to boot to ubuntu when my mac first starts up. Oh the pain. http://lifehacker.com/5934942/how-to-dual-boot-linux-on-your-mac-and-take-back-your-powerhouse-apple-hardware "linux is free insomuch as your time is worthless" - old wise man

    Read the article

  • Why it is called "hash table", or "hash function"? Hash doesn't make any sense to me here

    - by Saeed Neamati
    It's now about 4 years of development that I'm using, hearing, talking about, and implementing hash tables and hash functions. But I really never understand why it's called hash? I remember the first days I started programming, this term was kind'of cumbersome terminology to me. I never figured out what is it, based on its name. I just experimentally understood what it does and why and when should we use it. However, I still sometimes try to figure out why it's called hash. I have no problem with table or function and to be honest, they are pretty deductive, rational terms. However, I think better words could be used instead of hash, like key, or uniqueness. Don't key table or uniqueness table. According to my dictionary, hash means: Fried dish of potato and meats (highly irrelevant) # symbol (AKA number sign, pound sign, etc.) (still irrelevant, maybe just a mis-nomenclature) Apply algorithm to character string (still has nothing to do with uniqueness, which is the most important feature of a hash table) Cut food Another term for hashish Does anyone know why it's called hash?

    Read the article

  • Brain picking during job interview

    - by mark
    Recently, I had a job interview at a big Silicon Valley company for a senior software developer/R&D position. I had several technical phone screens, an all day on-site interview and more technical phone screens for another position later. The interviews went really well, I have a PhD and working experience in the area I was applying for yet no offer was made. So far, so good. It was an interesting experience, I am employed, absolutely no hard feelings about this. Some of the interviewers asked really detailed questions to the point of being suspicious about new technologies I have been working on. These technologies are still in development and have not come to market yet. I know some major hardware/software companies are working on this too. I have had many interviews before and based on my former interviewing experience and the impression some of the interviewers left behind, I know now all this company wanted from me is to extract some ideas about what I did in this field. Remember, I am referring to a R&D position, not the standard software developer stuff. Has anybody encountered this situation so far? And how did you deal with it? I am not so much concerned about "stealing" ideas but more about being tricked into showing up for an interview when there is no intension to hire anyway. I am considering refusing technical interviews in the future and instead proposing a trial period in which the company can easily reconsider its hiring decision.

    Read the article

  • Dynamic model interactions

    - by Richard
    I am just curious as to how in many games (namely games like arkham asylum/city, manhunt, hitman) do they make it so that your character can "grab" a character in front of you and do stuff to them. I know this may sound very confusing but for an example go to youtube and search "hitman executions", and the first video is an example of what i'm asking. Basically I'm wondering how they make your model dynamically interact with whatever other model you come across, so in hitman when you come up behind some one with the fibre wire you strangle the other character or if you have the anesthetic you come up behind some person and put your hand over there mouth while they struggle and slowly go to the floor where you lay them down. I am confused as to whether it was animated to use two models using specific bone/skeletal identifiers, if it is just two completely separate animations that are played at the correct time to make it look like they are actually interacting or something else all together. I am not an animator so i assume most of what i just said is not right but i hope that some one can understand what i mean and provide an answer. PS) I am a programmer and I am in the process of building a hitmanesque game, just because i love that style of game and I want to increase my skills on something fun, so if you do know what i'm talking about have some examples with involving both models and programming (i use c++ and mainly Ogre3D at the moment but i am getting into unity and XNA) i would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

    Read the article

  • MSDN Live 2010 &ndash; Delivered : 24 sessions (4 x 6) on Visual Studio and Team Foundation Server

    - by terje
    We (Mikael Nitell and me) got a whole track on the Norwegian MSDN Live tour this year.  We did these as a pair, and covered 4 cities over 4 days, 6 sessions per day, taking 8 hours to come through it.  The Islandic volcano made the travels a bit rough, but we managed 6 flights out of 8. The first one had to go by van instead, 7-8 hour drive each way together with other MSDN Live presenters – a memorable tour! Oslo was the absolute top point.  We had to change hall to a bigger one. People were crowding, and even the big hall was packed!  The presentations were mostly based on demos, but we had a few slides as well.  They have been uploaded to my SkyDrive.  Info to aliens – some of the text may be Norwegian. The sessions were as follows: Overview of news in Visual Studio and Team Foundation server 2010 Ensuring Quality with VS/TFS 2010 Releasing products with VS/TFS 2010 No More No Repro with VS/TFS 2010 Performance Testing and Parallel Programming with VS/TFS 2010 Migrating to VS/TFS 2010 Tips, tricks, news and some best practices with VS/TFS 2010   In the coming days, I will post up examples from the demos too, with explanations of how they are intended to work. These entries will also contain stuff we had to remove from the actual presentations due to the time constraints. We managed to create recordings of two of the sessions, which will be uploaded to Channel 9 by Microsoft, afaik.   I will update this blog with information about exact locations when that is done. Also note we’re (read:Osiris Data AS) running both Upgrade and Deep Dive courses  on VS/TFS 2010 now in May.  Please look here for more info. If you want to be informed, follow me on Twitter.  All blog entries will be announced on twitter.

    Read the article

  • I've inherited 200K lines of spaghetti code -- what now?

    - by kmote
    I hope this isn't too general of a question; I could really use some seasoned advice. I am newly employed as the sole "SW Engineer" in a fairly small shop of scientists who have spent the last 10-20 years cobbling together a vast code base. (It was written in a virtually obsolete language: G2 -- think Pascal with graphics). The program itself is a physical model of a complex chemical processing plant; the team that wrote it have incredibly deep domain knowledge but little or no formal training in programming fundamentals. They've recently learned some hard lessons about the consequences of non-existant configuration management. Their maintenance efforts are also greatly hampered by the vast accumulation of undocumented "sludge" in the code itself. I will spare you the "politics" of the situation (there's always politics!), but suffice to say, there is not a consensus of opinion about what is needed for the path ahead. They have asked me to begin presenting to the team some of the principles of modern software development. They want me to introduce some of the industry-standard practices and strategies regarding coding conventions, lifecycle management, high-level design patterns, and source control. Frankly, it's a fairly daunting task and I'm not sure where to begin. Initially, I'm inclined to tutor them in some of the central concepts of The Pragmatic Programmer, or Fowler's Refactoring ("Code Smells", etc). I also hope to introduce a number of Agile methodologies. But ultimately, to be effective, I think I'm going to need to hone in on 5-7 core fundamentals; in other words, what are the most important principles or practices that they can realistically start implementing that will give them the most "bang for the buck". So that's my question: What would you include in your list of the most effective strategies to help straighten out the spaghetti (and prevent it in the future)?

    Read the article

  • Alternative to NV Occlusion Query - getting the number of fragments which passed the depth test

    - by Etan
    In "modern" environments, the "NV Occlusion Query" extension provide a method to get the number of fragments which passed the depth test. However, on the iPad / iPhone using OpenGL ES, the extension is not available. What is the most performant approach to implement a similar behaviour in the fragment shader? Some of my ideas: Render the object completely in white, then count all the colors together using a two-pass shader where first a vertical line is rendered and for each fragment the shader computes the sum over the whole row. Then, a single vertex is rendered whose fragment sums all the partial sums of the first pass. Doesn't seem to be very efficient. Render the object completely in white over a black background. Downsample recursively, abusing the hardware linear interpolation between textures until being at a reasonably small resolution. This leads to fragments which have a greyscale level depending on the number of white pixels where in their corresponding region. Is this even accurate enough? ... ?

    Read the article

  • Overloading methods that do logically different things, does this break any major principles?

    - by siva.k
    This is something that's been bugging me for a bit now. In some cases you see code that is a series of overloads, but when you look at the actual implementation you realize they do logically different things. However writing them as overloads allows the caller to ignore this and get the same end result. But would it be more sound to name the methods more explicitly then to write them as overloads? public void LoadWords(string filePath) { var lines = File.ReadAllLines(filePath).ToList(); LoadWords(lines); } public void LoadWords(IEnumerable<string> words) { // loads words into a List<string> based on some filters } Would these methods better serve future developers to be named as LoadWordsFromFile() and LoadWordsFromEnumerable()? It seems unnecessary to me, but if that is better what programming principle would apply here? On the flip side it'd make it so you didn't need to read the signatures to see exactly how you can load the words, which as Uncle Bob says would be a double take. But in general is this type of overloading to be avoided then?

    Read the article

< Previous Page | 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588  | Next Page >