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Why is drawing to OnPaint graphics faster than image graphics?

- by Tesserex

I'm looking for a way to speed up the drawing of my game engine, which is currently the significant bottleneck, and is causing slowdowns. I'm on the verge of converting it over to XNA, but I just noticed something. Say I have a small image that I've loaded. Image img = Image.FromFile("mypict.png"); We have a picturebox on the screen we want to draw on. So we have a handler. pictureBox1.Paint += new PaintEventHandler(pictureBox1_Paint); I want our loaded image to be tiled on the picturebox (this is for a game, after all). Why on earth is this code: void pictureBox1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e) { for (int y = 0; y < 16; y++) for (int x = 0; x < 16; x++) e.Graphics.DrawImage(image, x * 16, y * 16, 16, 16); } over 25 TIMES FASTER than this code: Image buff = new Bitmap(256, 256, PixelFormat.Format32bppPArgb); // actually a form member void pictureBox1_Paint(object sender, PaintEventArgs e) { using (Graphics g = Graphics.FromImage(buff)) { for (int y = 0; y < 16; y++) for (int x = 0; x < 16; x++) g.DrawImage(image, x * 16, y * 16, 16, 16); } e.Graphics.DrawImage(buff, 0, 0, 256, 256); } To eliminate the obvious, I've tried commenting out the last e.Graphics.DrawImage (which means I don't see anything, but it gets rid a call that isn't in the first example). I've also left in the using block (needlessly) in the first example, but it's still just as blazingly fast. I've set properties of g to match e.Graphics - things like InterpolationMode, CompositingQuality, etc, but nothing I do bridges this incredible gap in performance. I can't find any difference between the two Graphics objects. What gives? My test with a System.Diagnostics.Stopwatch says that the first code snippet runs at about 7100 fps, while the second runs at a measly 280 fps. My reference image is VS2010ImageLibrary\Objects\png_format\WinVista\SecurityLock.png, which is 48x48 px, and which I modified to be 72 dpi instead of 96, but those made no difference either.

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how to use kml file in my code..

- by zjm1126

i download a kml file : <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <kml xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2"> <Document> <Style id="transGreenPoly"> <LineStyle> <width>1.5</width> </LineStyle> <PolyStyle> <color>7d00ff00</color> </PolyStyle> </Style> <Style id="transYellowPoly"> <LineStyle> <width>1.5</width> </LineStyle> <PolyStyle> <color>7d00ffff</color> </PolyStyle> </Style> <Style id="transRedPoly"> <LineStyle> <width>1.5</width> </LineStyle> <PolyStyle> <color>7d0000ff</color> </PolyStyle> </Style> <Style id="transBluePoly"> <LineStyle> <width>1.5</width> </LineStyle> <PolyStyle> <color>7dff0000</color> </PolyStyle> </Style> <Folder> <name>Placemarks</name> <open>0</open> <Placemark> <name>Simple placemark</name> <description>Attached to the ground. Intelligently places itself at the height of the underlying terrain.</description> <Point> <coordinates>-122.0822035425683,37.42228990140251,0</coordinates> </Point> </Placemark> <Placemark> <name>Descriptive HTML</name> <description><![CDATA[Click on the blue link!<br/><br/> Placemark descriptions can be enriched by using many standard HTML tags.<br/> For example: <hr/> Styles:<br/> <i>Italics</i>, <b>Bold</b>, <u>Underlined</u>, <s>Strike Out</s>, subscript<sub>subscript</sub>, superscript<sup>superscript</sup>, <big>Big</big>, <small>Small</small>, <tt>Typewriter</tt>, <em>Emphasized</em>, <strong>Strong</strong>, <code>Code</code> <hr/> Fonts:<br/> <font color="red">red by name</font>, <font color="#408010">leaf green by hexadecimal RGB</font> <br/> <font size=1>size 1</font>, <font size=2>size 2</font>, <font size=3>size 3</font>, <font size=4>size 4</font>, <font size=5>size 5</font>, <font size=6>size 6</font>, <font size=7>size 7</font> <br/> <font face=times>Times</font>, <font face=verdana>Verdana</font>, <font face=arial>Arial</font><br/> <hr/> Links: <br/> <a href="http://earth.google.com/">Google Earth!</a> <br/> or: Check out our website at www.google.com <hr/> Alignment:<br/> <p align=left>left</p> <p align=center>center</p> <p align=right>right</p> <hr/> Ordered Lists:<br/> <ol><li>First</li><li>Second</li><li>Third</li></ol> <ol type="a"><li>First</li><li>Second</li><li>Third</li></ol> <ol type="A"><li>First</li><li>Second</li><li>Third</li></ol> <hr/> Unordered Lists:<br/> <ul><li>A</li><li>B</li><li>C</li></ul> <ul type="circle"><li>A</li><li>B</li><li>C</li></ul> <ul type="square"><li>A</li><li>B</li><li>C</li></ul> <hr/> Definitions:<br/> <dl> <dt>Google:</dt><dd>The best thing since sliced bread</dd> </dl> <hr/> Centered:<br/><center> Time present and time past<br/> Are both perhaps present in time future,<br/> And time future contained in time past.<br/> If all time is eternally present<br/> All time is unredeemable.<br/> </center> <hr/> Block Quote: <br/> <blockquote> We shall not cease from exploration<br/> And the end of all our exploring<br/> Will be to arrive where we started<br/> And know the place for the first time.<br/> <i>-- T.S. Eliot</i> </blockquote> <br/> <hr/> Headings:<br/> <h1>Header 1</h1> <h2>Header 2</h2> <h3>Header 3</h3> <h3>Header 4</h4> <h3>Header 5</h5> <hr/> Images:<br/> <i>Remote image</i><br/> <img src="http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/googleSample.png"><br/> <i>Scaled image</i><br/> <img src="http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/googleSample.png" width=100><br/> <hr/> Simple Tables:<br/> <table border="1" padding="1"> <tr><td>1</td><td>2</td><td>3</td><td>4</td><td>5</td></tr> <tr><td>a</td><td>b</td><td>c</td><td>d</td><td>e</td></tr> </table> <br/>]]></description> <Point> <coordinates>-122,37,0</coordinates> </Point> </Placemark> </Folder> <Folder> <name>Google Campus - Polygons</name> <open>0</open> <description>A collection showing how easy it is to create 3-dimensional buildings</description> <Placemark> <name>Building 40</name> <styleUrl>#transRedPoly</styleUrl> <Polygon> <extrude>1</extrude> <altitudeMode>relativeToGround</altitudeMode> <outerBoundaryIs> <LinearRing> <coordinates> -122.0848938459612,37.42257124044786,17 -122.0849580979198,37.42211922626856,17 -122.0847469573047,37.42207183952619,17 -122.0845725380962,37.42209006729676,17 -122.0845954886723,37.42215932700895,17 -122.0838521118269,37.42227278564371,17 -122.083792243335,37.42203539112084,17 -122.0835076656616,37.42209006957106,17 -122.0834709464152,37.42200987395161,17 -122.0831221085748,37.4221046494946,17 -122.0829247374572,37.42226503990386,17 -122.0829339169385,37.42231242843094,17 -122.0833837359737,37.42225046087618,17 -122.0833607854248,37.42234159228745,17 -122.0834204551642,37.42237075460644,17 -122.083659133885,37.42251292011001,17 -122.0839758438952,37.42265873093781,17 -122.0842374743331,37.42265143972521,17 -122.0845036949503,37.4226514386435,17 -122.0848020460801,37.42261133916315,17 -122.0847882750515,37.42256395055121,17 -122.0848938459612,37.42257124044786,17 </coordinates> </LinearRing> </outerBoundaryIs> </Polygon> </Placemark> <Placemark> <name>Building 41</name> <styleUrl>#transBluePoly</styleUrl> <Polygon> <extrude>1</extrude> <altitudeMode>relativeToGround</altitudeMode> <outerBoundaryIs> <LinearRing> <coordinates> -122.0857412771483,37.42227033155257,17 -122.0858169768481,37.42231408832346,17 -122.085852582875,37.42230337469744,17 -122.0858799945639,37.42225686138789,17 -122.0858860101409,37.4222311076138,17 -122.0858069157288,37.42220250173855,17 -122.0858379542653,37.42214027058678,17 -122.0856732640519,37.42208690214408,17 -122.0856022926407,37.42214885429042,17 -122.0855902778436,37.422128290487,17 -122.0855841672237,37.42208171967246,17 -122.0854852065741,37.42210455874995,17 -122.0855067264352,37.42214267949824,17 -122.0854430712915,37.42212783846172,17 -122.0850990714904,37.42251282407603,17 -122.0856769818632,37.42281815323651,17 -122.0860162273783,37.42244918858723,17 -122.0857260327004,37.42229239604253,17 -122.0857412771483,37.42227033155257,17 </coordinates> </LinearRing> </outerBoundaryIs> </Polygon> </Placemark> <Placemark> <name>Building 42</name> <styleUrl>#transGreenPoly</styleUrl> <Polygon> <extrude>1</extrude> <altitudeMode>relativeToGround</altitudeMode> <outerBoundaryIs> <LinearRing> <coordinates> -122.0857862287242,37.42136208886969,25 -122.0857312990603,37.42136935989481,25 -122.0857312992918,37.42140934910903,25 -122.0856077073679,37.42138390166565,25 -122.0855802426516,37.42137299550869,25 -122.0852186221971,37.42137299504316,25 -122.0852277765639,37.42161656508265,25 -122.0852598189347,37.42160565894403,25 -122.0852598185499,37.42168200156,25 -122.0852369311478,37.42170017860346,25 -122.0852643957828,37.42176197982575,25 -122.0853239032746,37.42176198013907,25 -122.0853559454324,37.421852864452,25 -122.0854108752463,37.42188921823734,25 -122.0854795379357,37.42189285337048,25 -122.0855436229819,37.42188921797546,25 -122.0856260178042,37.42186013499926,25 -122.085937287963,37.42186013453605,25 -122.0859428718666,37.42160898590042,25 -122.0859655469861,37.42157992759144,25 -122.0858640462341,37.42147115002957,25 -122.0858548911215,37.42140571326184,25 -122.0858091162768,37.4214057134039,25 -122.0857862287242,37.42136208886969,25 </coordinates> </LinearRing> </outerBoundaryIs> </Polygon> </Placemark> <Placemark> <name>Building 43</name> <styleUrl>#transYellowPoly</styleUrl> <Polygon> <extrude>1</extrude> <altitudeMode>relativeToGround</altitudeMode> <outerBoundaryIs> <LinearRing> <coordinates> -122.0844371128284,37.42177253003091,19 -122.0845118855746,37.42191111542896,19 -122.0850470999805,37.42178755121535,19 -122.0850719913391,37.42143663023161,19 -122.084916406232,37.42137237822116,19 -122.0842193868167,37.42137237801626,19 -122.08421938659,37.42147617161496,19 -122.0838086419991,37.4214613409357,19 -122.0837899728564,37.42131306410796,19 -122.0832796534698,37.42129328840593,19 -122.0832609819207,37.42139213944298,19 -122.0829373621737,37.42137236399876,19 -122.0829062425667,37.42151569778871,19 -122.0828502269665,37.42176282576465,19 -122.0829435788635,37.42176776969635,19 -122.083217411188,37.42179248552686,19 -122.0835970430103,37.4217480074456,19 -122.0839455556771,37.42169364237603,19 -122.0840077894637,37.42176283815853,19 -122.084113587521,37.42174801104392,19 -122.0840762473784,37.42171341292375,19 -122.0841447047739,37.42167881534569,19 -122.084144704223,37.42181720660197,19 -122.0842503333074,37.4218170700446,19 -122.0844371128284,37.42177253003091,19 </coordinates> </LinearRing> </outerBoundaryIs> </Polygon> </Placemark> </Folder> <Folder> <name>LineString</name> <open>0</open> <Placemark> <LineString> <tessellate>1</tessellate> <coordinates> -112.0814237830345,36.10677870477137,0 -112.0870267752693,36.0905099328766,0 </coordinates> </LineString> </Placemark> </Folder> <Folder> <name>GroundOverlay</name> <open>0</open> <GroundOverlay> <name>Large-scale overlay on terrain</name> <description>Overlay shows Mount Etna erupting on July 13th, 2001.</description> <Icon> <href>http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/etna.jpg</href> </Icon> <LatLonBox> <north>37.91904192681665</north> <south>37.46543388598137</south> <east>15.35832653742206</east> <west>14.60128369746704</west> </LatLonBox> </GroundOverlay> </Folder> <Folder> <name>ScreenOverlays</name> <open>0</open> <ScreenOverlay> <name>screenoverlay_dynamic_top</name> <visibility>0</visibility> <Icon> <href>http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/dynamic_screenoverlay.jpg</href> </Icon> <overlayXY x="0" y="1" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <screenXY x="0" y="1" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <rotationXY x="0" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <size x="1" y="0.2" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> </ScreenOverlay> <ScreenOverlay> <name>screenoverlay_dynamic_right</name> <visibility>0</visibility> <Icon> <href>http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/dynamic_right.jpg</href> </Icon> <overlayXY x="1" y="1" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <screenXY x="1" y="1" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <rotationXY x="0" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <size x="0" y="1" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> </ScreenOverlay> <ScreenOverlay> <name>Simple crosshairs</name> <visibility>0</visibility> <description>This screen overlay uses fractional positioning to put the image in the exact center of the screen</description> <Icon> <href>http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/crosshairs.png</href> </Icon> <overlayXY x="0.5" y="0.5" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <screenXY x="0.5" y="0.5" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <rotationXY x="0.5" y="0.5" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <size x="0" y="0" xunits="pixels" yunits="pixels"/> </ScreenOverlay> <ScreenOverlay> <name>screenoverlay_absolute_topright</name> <visibility>0</visibility> <Icon> <href>http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/top_right.jpg</href> </Icon> <overlayXY x="1" y="1" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <screenXY x="1" y="1" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <rotationXY x="0" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <size x="0" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> </ScreenOverlay> <ScreenOverlay> <name>screenoverlay_absolute_topleft</name> <visibility>0</visibility> <Icon> <href>http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/top_left.jpg</href> </Icon> <overlayXY x="0" y="1" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <screenXY x="0" y="1" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <rotationXY x="0" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <size x="0" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> </ScreenOverlay> <ScreenOverlay> <name>screenoverlay_absolute_bottomright</name> <visibility>0</visibility> <Icon> <href>http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/bottom_right.jpg</href> </Icon> <overlayXY x="1" y="-1" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <screenXY x="1" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <rotationXY x="0" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <size x="0" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> </ScreenOverlay> <ScreenOverlay> <name>screenoverlay_absolute_bottomleft</name> <visibility>0</visibility> <Icon> <href>http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/bottom_left.jpg</href> </Icon> <overlayXY x="0" y="-1" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <screenXY x="0" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <rotationXY x="0" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> <size x="0" y="0" xunits="fraction" yunits="fraction"/> </ScreenOverlay> </Folder> </Document> </kml> and my code is : function initialize() { if (GBrowserIsCompatible()) { var map = new GMap2(document.getElementById("map_canvas")); var center=new GLatLng(39.9493, 116.3975); map.setCenter(center, 13); var geoXml = new GGeoXml("SamplesInMaps.kml");  map.addOverlay(geoXml); } } but ,i don't successful ,, do you know how to do this.. thanks

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Lambda Expression to be used in Select() query

- by jameschinnock

Hi, I am trying to build a lambda expression, containing two assignments (as shown further down), that I can then pass to a Queryable.Select() method. I am trying to pass a string variable into a method and then use that variable to build up the lambda expression so that I can use it in a LINQ Select query. My reasoning behind it is that I have a SQL Server datasource with many column names, I am creating a charting application that will allow the user to select, say by typing in the column name, the actual column of data they want to view in the y-axis of my chart, with the x-axis always being the DateTime. Therefore, they can essentially choose what data they chart against the DateTime value (it’s a data warehouse type app). I have, for example, a class to store the retrieved data in, and hence use as the chart source of: public class AnalysisChartSource { public DateTime Invoicedate { get; set; } public Decimal yValue { get; set; } } I have (purely experimentaly) built an expression tree for the Where clause using the String value and that works fine: public void GetData(String yAxis) { using (DataClasses1DataContext db = new DataClasses1DataContext()) { var data = this.FunctionOne().AsQueryable<AnalysisChartSource>(); //just to get some temp data in.... ParameterExpression pe = Expression.Parameter(typeof(AnalysisChartSource), "p"); Expression left = Expression.MakeMemberAccess(pe, typeof(AnalysisChartSource).GetProperty(yAxis)); Expression right = Expression.Constant((Decimal)16); Expression e2 = Expression.LessThan(left, right); Expression expNew = Expression.New(typeof(AnalysisChartSource)); LambdaExpression le = Expression.Lambda(left, pe); MethodCallExpression whereCall = Expression.Call( typeof(Queryable), "Where", new Type[] { data.ElementType }, data.Expression, Expression.Lambda<Func<AnalysisChartSource, bool>>(e2, new ParameterExpression[] { pe })); } } However……I have tried a similar approach for the Select statement, but just can’t get it to work as I need the Select() to populate both X and Y values of the AnalysisChartSource class, like this: .Select(c => new AnalysisChartSource { Invoicedate = c.Invoicedate, yValue = c.yValue}).AsEnumerable(); How on earth can I build such an expression tree….or….possibly more to the point…..is there an easier way that I have missed entirely?

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Trying to include a library, but keep getting 'undefined reference to' messages

- by KU1

I am attempting to use the libtommath library. I'm using the NetBeans IDE for my project on Ubuntu linux. I have downloaded and built the library, I have done a 'make install' to put the resulting .a file into /usr/lib/ and the .h files into /usr/include It appears to be finding the files appropriately (since I no longer get those errors, which I did before installing into the /usr directories). However, when I create a simple main making a call to mp_init (which is in the library), I get the following error when I attempt to make my project: mkdir -p build/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86 rm -f build/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86/main.o.d gcc -c -g -MMD -MP -MF build/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86/main.o.d -o build/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86/main.o main.c mkdir -p dist/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86 gcc -o dist/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86/cproj1 build/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86/main.o build/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86/main.o: In function 'main': /home/[[myusername]]/NetBeansProjects/CProj1/main.c:18: undefined reference to `mp_init' collect2: ld returned 1 exit status make[2]: *** [dist/Debug/GNU-Linux-x86/cproj1] Error 1 So, it looks like the linker can't find the function within the library, however it IS there, so I just don't know what could be causing this. Any help would be appreciated. I get the same error if I type the gcc command directly and skip the makefile, I also made sure the static library got compiled with gcc as well. Edited to Add: I get these same errors if I do the compile directly and add the library with -l or -L: $ gcc -l /usr/lib/libtommath.a main.c /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -l/usr/lib/libtommath.a collect2: ld returned 1 exit status $ gcc -llibtommath.a main.c /usr/bin/ld: cannot find -llibtommath.a collect2: ld returned 1 exit status $ gcc -Llibtommath.a main.c /tmp/ccOxzclw.o: In function `main': main.c:(.text+0x18): undefined reference to `mp_init' collect2: ld returned 1 exit status $ gcc -Llibtommath.a main.c /tmp/ccOxzclw.o: In function `main': main.c:(.text+0x18): undefined reference to `mp_init' collect2: ld returned 1 exit status I am very rusty on this stuff, so I'm not sure I'm using the right command here, in the -L examples are the libraries being found? If the library isn't being found how on earth do I get it to find the library? It's in /usr/lib, I've tried it with the .a file in the current directory, etc. Is there an environment variable I need to set? If so, how, etc. Thanks so much for the help. I've tried a completely different library (GMP) and had the EXACT same problem. This has got to be some kind of Ubuntu environment issue? Anyone have any idea how to fix this?

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Maven mercurial extension constantly fails

- by TheLQ

After 2+ hours I was able to get the maven-scm-provider-hg extension (for pushing to mercurial repos from Maven) semi working, meaning that it was executing commands instead of just giving errors. However I think I've run into a wall with this error [INFO] [deploy:deploy {execution: default-deploy}] [INFO] Retrieving previous build number from pircbotx.googlecode.com [INFO] Removing C:\DOCUME~1\Owner\LOCALS~1\Temp\wagon-scm1210107000.checkout\pir cbotx\pircbotx\1.3-SNAPSHOT [INFO] EXECUTING: cmd.exe /X /C "hg clone -r tip https://*SNIP*@site.pircbotx.googlecode.com/hg/maven2/snapshots/pircbotx/pircbotx/1.3-SNAPSHOT C:\DOCUME~1\Owner\LOCALS~1\Temp\wagon-scm1210107000.checkout\pircbotx\pircbotx\1.3-SNAPSHOT" [INFO] EXECUTING: cmd.exe /X /C "hg locate" [INFO] repository metadata for: 'snapshot pircbotx:pircbotx:1.3-SNAPSHOT' could not be found on repository: pircbotx.googlecode.com, so will be created Uploading: scm:hg:https://site.pircbotx.googlecode.com/hg/maven2/snapshots/pircbotx/pircbotx/1.3-SNAPSHOT/pircbotx-1.3-SNAPSHOT.jar [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [ERROR] BUILD ERROR [INFO] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [INFO] Error deploying artifact: Error listing repository: No such command 'list'. What on earth would cause that error? I'm on a Windows box, so any commands that aren't commands give "'list' is not recognized as an internal or external command...", not "No such command 'list'." POM <build> <extensions> <extension> <groupId>org.apache.maven.scm</groupId> <artifactId>maven-scm-provider-hg</artifactId> <version>1.4</version> </extension> <extension> <groupId>org.apache.maven.wagon</groupId> <artifactId>wagon-scm</artifactId> <version>1.0-beta-7</version> </extension> </extensions> ... <distributionManagement> <snapshotRepository> <id>pircbotx.googlecode.com</id> <name>PircBotX Site</name> <url>scm:hg:https://site.pircbotx.googlecode.com/hg/maven2/snapshots</url> <uniqueVersion>false</uniqueVersion> </snapshotRepository> </distributionManagement> Mercurial version W:\programming\pircbot-hg>hg version Mercurial Distributed SCM (version 1.7.2) Any suggestions?

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Is Java assert broken?

- by BlairHippo

While poking around the questions, I recently discovered the assert keyword in Java. At first, I was excited. Something useful I didn't already know! A more efficient way for me to check the validity of input parameters! Yay learning! But then I took a closer look, and my enthusiasm was not so much "tempered" as "snuffed-out completely" by one simple fact: you can turn assertions off.* This sounds like a nightmare. If I'm asserting that I don't want the code to keep going if the input listOfStuff is null, why on earth would I want that assertion ignored? It sounds like if I'm debugging a piece of production code and suspect that listOfStuff may have been erroneously passed a null but don't see any logfile evidence of that assertion being triggered, I can't trust that listOfStuff actually got sent a valid value; I also have to account for the possibility that assertions may have been turned off entirely. And this assumes that I'm the one debugging the code. Somebody unfamiliar with assertions might see that and assume (quite reasonably) that if the assertion message doesn't appear in the log, listOfStuff couldn't be the problem. If your first encounter with assert was in the wild, would it even occur to you that it could be turned-off entirely? It's not like there's a command-line option that lets you disable try/catch blocks, after all. All of which brings me to my question (and this is a question, not an excuse for a rant! I promise!): What am I missing? Is there some nuance that renders Java's implementation of assert far more useful than I'm giving it credit for? Is the ability to enable/disable it from the command line actually incredibly valuable in some contexts? Am I misconceptualizing it somehow when I envision using it in production code in lieu of statements like if (listOfStuff == null) barf();? I just feel like there's something important here that I'm not getting. *Okay, technically speaking, they're actually off by default; you have to go out of your way to turn them on. But still, you can knock them out entirely.

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Why does this IF statement fail?

- by ChosenOne

If variable path is empty, and editor.Text is not empty, the SaveFileDialog should be displayed. Now, why on earth is this damn thing failing??? I have tried this with many different variations of code with the same result: FAIL: if(path.Length >= 1) // path contains a path. Save changes instead of creating NEW file. { File.WriteAllText(path, content); } else { // no path defined. Create new file and write to it. using(SaveFileDialog saver = new SaveFileDialog()) { if(saver.ShowDialog() == DialogButtons.OK) { File.WriteAllText(saver.Filename, content); } } } At the top of code file I have: path = String.Empty; So why the heck it this failing every single time, even after trying all of the below variations? if(path.Length > 1) // path contains a path. Save changes instead of creating NEW file. { File.WriteAllText(path, content); } else { // no path defined. Create new file and write to it. using(SaveFileDialog saver = new SaveFileDialog()) { if(saver.ShowDialog() == DialogButtons.OK) { File.WriteAllText(saver.Filename, content); } } } and if(String.IsNullOrEmpty(path)) // path contains a path. Save changes instead of creating NEW file. { File.WriteAllText(path, content); } else { // no path defined. Create new file and write to it. using(SaveFileDialog saver = new SaveFileDialog()) { if(saver.ShowDialog() == DialogButtons.OK) { File.WriteAllText(saver.Filename, content); } } } and if(String.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(path)) // path contains a path. Save changes instead of creating NEW file. { File.WriteAllText(path, content); } else { // no path defined. Create new file and write to it. using(SaveFileDialog saver = new SaveFileDialog()) { if(saver.ShowDialog() == DialogButtons.OK) { File.WriteAllText(saver.Filename, content); } } } This is making me very angry. How could this fail? Setting a break point reveals that path is definitely null/"".

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.NET: Avoidance of custom exceptions by utilising existing types, but which?

- by Mr. Disappointment

Consider the following code (ASP.NET/C#): private void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) { if (!SetupHelper.SetUp()) { throw new ShitHitFanException(); } } I've never been too hesitant to simply roll my own exception type, basically because I have found (bad practice, or not) that mostly a reasonable descriptive type name gives us enough as developers to go by in order to know what happened and why something might have happened. Sometimes the existing .NET exception types even accommodate these needs - regardless of the message. In this particular scenario, for demonstration purposes only, the application should die a horrible, disgraceful death should SetUp not complete properly (as dictated by its return value), but I can't find an already existing exception type in .NET which would seem to suffice; though, I'm sure one will be there and I simply don't know about it. Brad Abrams posted this article that lists some of the available exception types. I say some because the article is from 2005, and, although I try to keep up to date, it's a more than plausible assumption that more have been added to future framework versions that I am still unaware of. Of course, Visual Studio gives you a nicely formatted, scrollable list of exceptions via Intellisense - but even on analysing those, I find none which would seem to suffice for this situation... ApplicationException: ...when a non-fatal application error occurs The name seems reasonable, but the error is very definitely fatal - the app is dead. ExecutionEngineException: ...when there is an internal error in the execution engine of the CLR Again, sounds reasonable, superficially; but this has a very definite purpose and to help me out here certainly isn't it. HttpApplicationException: ...when there is an error processing an HTTP request Well, we're running an ASP.NET application! But we're also just pulling at straws here. InvalidOperationException: ...when a call is invalid for the current state of an instance This isn't right but I'm adding it to the list of 'possible should you put a gun to my head, yes'. OperationCanceledException: ...upon cancellation of an operation the thread was executing Maybe I wouldn't feel so bad using this one, but I'd still be hijacking the damn thing with little right. You might even ask why on earth I would want to raise an exception here but the idea is to find out that if I were to do so then do you know of an appropriate exception for such a scenario? And basically, to what extent can we piggy-back on .NET while keeping in line with rationality?

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If we don't like it for the presentation layer, then why do we tolerate it for the behavior layer?

- by greim

Suppose CSS as we know it had never been invented, and the closest we could get was to do this: <script> // this is the page's stylesheet $(document).ready(function(){ $('.error').css({'color':'red'}); $('a[href]').css({'textDecoration':'none'}); ... }); </script> If this was how we were forced to write code, would we put up with it? Or would every developer on Earth scream at browser vendors until they standardized upon CSS, or at least some kind of declarative style language? Maybe CSS isn't perfect, but hopefully it's obvious how it's better than the find things, do stuff method shown above. So my question is this. We've seen and tasted of the glory of declarative binding with CSS, so why, when it comes to the behavioral/interactive layer, does the entire JavaScript community seem complacent about continuing to use the kludgy procedural method described above? Why for example is this considered by many to be the best possible way to do things: <script> $(document).ready(function(){ $('.widget').append("<a class='button' href='#'>...</div>"); $('a[href]').click(function(){...}); ... }); </script> Why isn't there a massive push to get XBL2.0 or .htc files or some kind of declarative behavior syntax implemented in a standard way across browsers? Is this recognized as a need by other web development professionals? Is there anything on the horizon for HTML5? (Caveats, disclaimers, etc: I realize that it's not a perfect world and that we're playing the hand we've been dealt. My point isn't to criticize the current way of doing things so much as to criticize the complacency that exists about the current way of doing things. Secondly, event delegation, especially at the root level, is a step closer to having a declarative behavior layer. It solves a subset of the problem, but it can't create UI elements, so the overall problem remains.)

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Xcode + Perforce: it frequently shows me the spinning wheel for no reason! What can i do?

- by GamingHorror

While working on an Xcode project i keep getting the spinning wheel while switching files, scrolling, searching, typing, debugging, removing breakpoints, switching back from another app or saving. It also happens before compiling but usually it just happens from time to time for no apparent reason. This is the second time this started happening in a Xcode project and it's driving me nuts. It completely breaks my flow of work to have to wait for the spinning wheel to go away (2-5 seconds). What on earth could i possibly do to ... figure out what's causing the problem? resolve the problem? More details: When any project is small, everything is super-smooth with Xcode and Perforce. Two of my projects eventually had this spinning wheel problem after about 4 weeks of work. It only happened with those two projects so far. They consist of around 1000-1200 files in source control, most of them assets. The problem occurs even if i manually check out the whole project in Perforce. The problem is gone when i copy the project directory and work in the copy which is no longer under source control, or if i create a branch in Perforce and work in the branch (under source control). One of these projects i shared with a colleague, and he had exactly the same issues on his Mac. We eventually switched to Subversion and the spinning-wheel issue immediately went away. Now that i've received an updated copy of the project and simply put it under Perforce as a new project, the problem also went away (so far it did not resurface). It leads me to think that it may be caused by a larger number of file revisions. The server itself (version 2009.1) is on a different (Windows) machine on my LAN, so there's definetely no Internet lag involved. The complete repository is just 1 GB in size spread over a dozen projects or so. I'm sorry if the question seems more like a support inquiry for Perforce. However i'm using the free version of Perforce so i'm not entitled to get support from them. I hope no one minds me asking here. I'm really bummed out by this. I don't want to have to create a new branch for the project each time the spinning wheel problem surfaces.

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Openlayers and Bing Maps (POLYGONS)

- by Jordan

When trying to draw polygons onto a bing map, the initial marker is set differently on the map. How can I fix this? OpenLayers Bing Example <script src="OpenLayers.js"></script> <script> var map; function init(){ map = new OpenLayers.Map("map"); map.addControl(new OpenLayers.Control.LayerSwitcher()); var shaded = new OpenLayers.Layer.VirtualEarth("Shaded", { type: VEMapStyle.Shaded }); var hybrid = new OpenLayers.Layer.VirtualEarth("Hybrid", { type: VEMapStyle.Hybrid }); var aerial = new OpenLayers.Layer.VirtualEarth("Aerial", { type: VEMapStyle.Aerial }); var POLY_LAYER = new OpenLayers.Layer.Vector(); map.addLayers([shaded, hybrid, aerial, POLY_LAYER]); map.setCenter(new OpenLayers.LonLat(-110, 45), 3); var polygon = new OpenLayers.Control.DrawFeature(POLY_LAYER, OpenLayers.Handler.Polygon); map.addControl(polygon); polygon.activate(); } </script> Bing Example <div id="tags"> Bing, Microsoft, Virtual Earth </div> <p id="shortdesc"> Demonstrates the use of Bing layers. </p> <div id="map" class="smallmap"></div> <div id="docs">This example demonstrates the ability to create layers using tiles from Bing maps.</div> Of course the above is being initialized and page works. You can draw the polygon shapes. Notice if you zoom in or out one time, the markers are set at the correct coordinates. My app I was testing this on is really using the bing maps API keys and not VirtualEarth. But it's doing a similar thing. Is this an Openlayers bug? The below source came directly from the open layers example site, I just added and activated polygons to the map. Please let me know how I can fix this for using the Bing Map API.. I've been stuck on this for HOURS! :(

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When transactionManager is not named "transactionManager" ...

- by smallufo

I am trying Spring 3(.0.2.RELEASE) and JPA2 and Hibernate 3.5.1-Final... One thing upsets me is that spring seems only accept a transaction Manager named "transactionManager" If I don't name it "transactionManager" , Spring will throws NoSuchBeanDefinitionException: No bean named 'transactionManager' is defined. Here is my config : <context:component-scan base-package="destiny.data.mining"/> <context:annotation-config/> <bean id="miningEntityManagerFactory" class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.LocalContainerEntityManagerFactoryBean"> <property name="persistenceUnitName" value="mining"/> </bean> <bean id="miningTransactionManager" class="org.springframework.orm.jpa.JpaTransactionManager" > <property name="entityManagerFactory" ref="miningEntityManagerFactory"/> </bean> <tx:advice id="txAdviceMining" transaction-manager="miningTransactionManager"> <tx:attributes> <tx:method name="get*" read-only="true"/> <tx:method name="save*" propagation="REQUIRED"/> <tx:method name="update*" propagation="REQUIRED"/> <tx:method name="delete*" propagation="REQUIRED"/> <tx:method name="*" propagation="SUPPORTS" read-only="true"/> </tx:attributes> </tx:advice> <aop:config> <aop:pointcut id="methods" expression="execution(* destiny.utils.AbstractDao+.*(..))"/> <aop:advisor advice-ref="txAdviceMining" pointcut-ref="methods"/> </aop:config> <tx:annotation-driven transaction-manager="miningTransactionManager"/> In this config , an Entity Manager Factory is not necessarily named "entityManagerFactory" , and "txAdvice" is not necessarily named "txAdvice" , either. But I don't know why on earth Spring requires a transaction manager named "transactionManager" ? Is there any way not to name a transaction manager "transactionManager" ? (I'm running multiple spring config files , so I try my best to avoid name-conflicting) test code : @RunWith(SpringJUnit4ClassRunner.class) @ContextConfiguration(locations={"classpath:mining.xml"}) public class MiningPersonDaoTest { @Inject private EntityManagerFactory miningEntityManagerFactory; @Inject private MiningPersonDao miningPersonDao; @Transactional @Test public void testUpdate() { MiningPerson p = miningPersonDao.get(42L); p.setLocationName("OOXX"); miningPersonDao.update(p); System.out.println(p); } } ii

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Passing enums to functions in C++

- by rocknroll

Hi all, I have a header file with all the enums listed (#ifndef #define #endif construct has been used to avoid multiple inclusion of the file) that I use in multiple cpp files in my application.One of the enums in the files is enum StatusSubsystem {ENABLED,INCORRECT_FRAME,INVALID_DATA,DISABLED}; There are functions in the application delcared as ShowStatus(const StatusSubsystem&); Earlier in the application when I made calls to the above function like ShowStatus(INCORRECT_FRAME); my application used to compile perfectly. But after some code was added The compilation halts giving the following error: File.cpp:71: error: invalid conversion from `int' to `StatusSubsystem' File.cpp:71: error: initializing argument 1 of `void Class::ShowStatus(const StatusSubsystem&) I checked the code for any conflicting enums in the new code and it looked fine. My Question is what is wrong with the function call that compiler shows as erroneous? For your reference the function definition is: void Class::ShowStatus(const StatusSubsystem& eStatus) { QPalette palette; mStatus=eStatus;//store current Communication status of system if(eStatus==DISABLED) { //select red color for label, if it is to be shown disabled palette.setColor(QPalette::Window,QColor(Qt::red)); mLabel->setText("SYSTEM"); } else if(eStatus==ENABLED) { //select green color for label,if it is to be shown enabled palette.setColor(QPalette::Window,QColor(Qt::green)); mLabel->setText("SYSTEM"); } else if(eStatus==INCORRECT_FRAME) { //select yellow color for label,to show that it is sending incorrect frames palette.setColor(QPalette::Window,QColor(Qt::yellow)); mLabel->setText("SYSTEM(I)"); } //Set the color on the Label mLabel->setPalette(palette); } A strange side effect of this situation is it compiles when I cast all the calls to ShowStatus() as ShowStatus((StatusSubsystem)INCORRECT_FRAME); Though this removes any compilation error, but a strange thing happens. Though I make call to INCORRECT_FRAME above but in function definition it matches with ENABLED. How on earth is that possible? Its like while passing INCORRECT_FRAME by reference, it magically converts to ENABLED, which should be impossible. This is driving me nuts. Can you find any flaw in what I am doing? or is it something else? The application is made using C++,Qt-4.2.1 on RHEL4. Thanks.

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Hibernate/Spring: getHibernateTemplate().save(...) Freezes/Hangs

- by ashes999

I'm using Hibernate and Spring with the DAO pattern (all Hibernate dependencies in a *DAO.java class). I have nine unit tests (JUnit) which create some business objects, save them, and perform operations on them; the objects are in a hash (so I'm reusing the same objects all the time). My JUnit setup method calls my DAO.deleteAllObjects() method which calls getSession().createSQLQuery("DELETE FROM <tablename>").executeUpdate() for my business object table (just one). One of my unit tests (#8/9) freezes. I presumed it was a database deadlock, because the Hibernate log file shows my delete statement last. However, debugging showed that it's simply HibernateTemplate.save(someObject) that's freezing. (Eclipse shows that it's freezing on HibernateTemplate.save(Object), line 694.) Also interesting to note is that running this test by itself (not in the suite of 9 tests) doesn't cause any problems. How on earth do I troubleshoot and fix this? Also, I'm using @Entity annotations, if that matters. Edit: I removed reuse of my business objects (use unique objects in every method) -- didn't make a difference (still freezes). Edit: This started trickling into other tests, too (can't run more than one test class without getting something freezing) Transaction configuration: <bean id="txManager" class="org.springframework.jdbc.datasource.DataSourceTransactionManager"> <property name="dataSource" ref="dataSource" /> </bean> <tx:advice id="txAdvice" transaction-manager="txManager">  <tx:attributes>  <tx:method name="get*" read-only="true" /> <tx:method name="find*" read-only="true" />  <tx:method name="*" /> </tx:attributes> </tx:advice>  <aop:config> <aop:pointcut id="beanNameHere" expression="execution(* com.blah.blah.IMyDAO.*(..))" /> <aop:advisor advice-ref="txAdvice" pointcut-ref="beanNameHere" /> </aop:config>

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AGENT: The World's Smartest Watch

- by Rob Chartier

AGENT: The World's Smartest Watch by Secret Labs + House of Horology Disclaimer: Most if not all of this content has been gleaned from the comments on the Kickstarter project page and comments section. Any discrepancies between this post and any documentation on agentwatches.com, kickstarter.com, etc.., those official sites take precedence. Overview The next generation smartwatch with brand-new technology. World-class developer tools, unparalleled battery life, Qi wireless charging. Kickstarter Page, Comments Funding period : May 21, 2013 - Jun 20, 2013 MSRP : $249 Other Urls http://www.agentwatches.com/ https://www.facebook.com/agentwatches http://twitter.com/agentwatches http://pinterest.com/agentwatches/ http://paper.li/robchartier/1371234640 Developer Story The first official launch of the preview SDK and emulator will happen on 20-Jun-2013. All development will be done in Visual Studio 2012, using the .NET Micro Framework SDK 2.3. The SDK will ship with the first round of the expected API for developers along with an emulator. With that said, there is no need to wait for the SDK. You can download the tooling now and get started with Apps and Faces immediately. The only thing that you will not be able to work with is the API; but for example, watch faces, you can start building the basic face rendering with the Bitmap graphics drawing in the .NET Micro Framework. Does it look good? Before we dig into any more of the gory details, here are a few photos of the current available prototype models. The watch on the tiny QI Charter If you wander too far away from your phone, your watch will let you know with a vibration and a message, all but one button will dismiss the message. An app showing the premium weather data! Nice stitching on the straps, leather and silicon will be available, along with a few lengths to choose from (short, regular, long lengths). On to those gory details…. Hardware Specs Processor 120MHz ARM Cortex-M4 processor (ATSAM4SD32) with secondary AVR co-processor Flash & RAM 2MB of onboard flash and 160KB of RAM 1/4 of the onboard flash will be used by the OS The flash is permanent (non-volatile) storage. Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0 BD/EDR + LE Bluetooth 4.0 is backwards compatible with Bluetooth 2.1, so classic Bluetooth functions (BD/EDR, SPP/AVRCP/PBAP/etc.) will work fine. Sensors 3D Accelerometer (Motion) ST LSM303DLHC Ambient Light Sensor Hardware power metering Vibration Motor (You can pulse it to create vibration patterns, not sure about the vibration strength - driven with PWM) No piezo/speaker or microphone. Other QI Wireless Charging, no NFC, no wall adapter included Custom LED Backlight No GPS in the watch. It uses the GPS in your phone. AGENT watch apps are deployed and debugged wirelessly from your PC via Bluetooth. RoHS, Pb-free Battery Expected to use a CR2430-sized rechargeable battery – replaceable (Mouser, Amazon) Estimated charging time from empty is 2 hours with provided charger 7 Days typical with Bluetooth on, 30 days with Bluetooth off (watch-face only mode) The battery should last at least 2 years, with 100s of charge cycles. Physical dimensions Roughly 38mm top-to-bottom on the front face 35mm left-to-right on the front face and around 12mm in depth 22mm strap Two ~1/16" hex screws to attach the watch pin The top watchcase material candidates are PVD stainless steel, brushed matte ceramic, and high-quality polycarbonate (TBD). The glass lens is mineral glass, Anti-glare glass lens Strap options Leather and silicon straps will be available Expected to have three sizes Display 1.28" Sharp Memory Display The display stays on 100% of the time. Dimensions: 128x128 pixels Buttons Custom "Pusher" buttons, they will not make noise like a mouse click, and are very durable. The top-left button activates the backlight; bottom-left changes apps; three buttons on the right are up/select/down and can be used for custom purposes by apps. Backup reset procedure is currently activated by holding the home/menu button and the top-right user button for about ten seconds Device Support Android 2.3 or newer iPhone 4S or newer Windows Phone 8 or newer Heart Rate monitors - Bluetooth SPP or Bluetooth LE (GATT) is what you'll want the heart monitor to support. Almost limitless Bluetooth device support! Internationalization & Localization Full UTF8 Support from the ground up. AGENT's user interface is in English. Your content (caller ID, music tracks, notifications) will be in your native language. We have a plan to cover most major character sets, with Latin characters pre-loaded on the watch. Simplified Chinese will be available Feature overview Phone lost alert Caller ID Music Control (possible volume control) Wireless Charging Timer Stopwatch Vibrating Alarm (possibly custom vibrations for caller id) A few default watch faces Airplane mode (by demand or low power) Can be turned off completely Customizable 3rd party watch faces, applications which can be loaded over bluetooth. Sample apps that maybe installed Weather Sample Apps not installed Exercise App Other Possible Skype integration over Bluetooth. They will provide an AGENT app for your smartphone (iPhone, Android, Windows Phone). You'll be able to use it to load apps onto the watch.. You will be able to cancel phone calls. With compatible phones you can also answer, end, etc. They are adopting the standard hands-free profile to provide these features and caller ID.

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WCF REST on .Net 4.0

- by AngelEyes

A simple and straight forward article taken from: http://christopherdeweese.com/blog2/post/drop-the-soap-wcf-rest-and-pretty-uris-in-net-4 Drop the Soap: WCF, REST, and Pretty URIs in .NET 4 Years ago I was working in libraries when the Web 2.0 revolution began. One of the things that caught my attention about early start-ups using the AJAX/REST/Web 2.0 model was how nice the URIs were for their applications. Those were my first impressions of REST; pretty URIs. Turns out there is a little more to it than that. REST is an architectural style that focuses on resources and structured ways to access those resources via the web. REST evolved as an “anti-SOAP” movement, driven by developers who did not want to deal with all the complexity SOAP introduces (which is al lot when you don’t have frameworks hiding it all). One of the biggest benefits to REST is that browsers can talk to rest services directly because REST works using URIs, QueryStrings, Cookies, SSL, and all those HTTP verbs that we don’t have to think about anymore. If you are familiar with ASP.NET MVC then you have been exposed to rest at some level. MVC is relies heavily on routing to generate consistent and clean URIs. REST for WCF gives you the same type of feel for your services. Let’s dive in. WCF REST in .NET 3.5 SP1 and .NET 4 This post will cover WCF REST in .NET 4 which drew heavily from the REST Starter Kit and community feedback. There is basic REST support in .NET 3.5 SP1 and you can also grab the REST Starter Kit to enable some of the features you’ll find in .NET 4. This post will cover REST in .NET 4 and Visual Studio 2010. Getting Started To get started we’ll create a basic WCF Rest Service Application using the new on-line templates option in VS 2010: When you first install a template you are prompted with this dialog: Dude Where’s my .Svc File? The WCF REST template shows us the new way we can simply build services. Before we talk about what’s there, let’s look at what is not there: The .Svc File An Interface Contract Dozens of lines of configuration that you have to change to make your service work REST in .NET 4 is greatly simplified and leverages the Web Routing capabilities used in ASP.NET MVC and other parts of the web frameworks. With REST in .NET 4 you use a global.asax to set the route to your service using the new ServiceRoute class. From there, the WCF runtime handles dispatching service calls to the methods based on the Uri Templates. global.asax using System; using System.ServiceModel.Activation; using System.Web; using System.Web.Routing; namespace Blog.WcfRest.TimeService { public class Global : HttpApplication { void Application_Start(object sender, EventArgs e) { RegisterRoutes(); } private static void RegisterRoutes() { RouteTable.Routes.Add(new ServiceRoute("TimeService", new WebServiceHostFactory(), typeof(TimeService))); } } } The web.config contains some new structures to support a configuration free deployment. Note that this is the default config generated with the template. I did not make any changes to web.config. web.config <?xml version="1.0"?> <configuration> <system.web> <compilation debug="true" targetFramework="4.0" /> </system.web> <system.webServer> <modules runAllManagedModulesForAllRequests="true"> <add name="UrlRoutingModule" type="System.Web.Routing.UrlRoutingModule, System.Web, Version=4.0.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=b03f5f7f11d50a3a" /> </modules> </system.webServer> <system.serviceModel> <serviceHostingEnvironment aspNetCompatibilityEnabled="true"/> <standardEndpoints> <webHttpEndpoint>  <standardEndpoint name="" helpEnabled="true" automaticFormatSelectionEnabled="true"/> </webHttpEndpoint> </standardEndpoints> </system.serviceModel> </configuration> Building the Time Service We’ll create a simple “TimeService” that will return the current time. Let’s start with the following code: using System; using System.ServiceModel; using System.ServiceModel.Activation; using System.ServiceModel.Web; namespace Blog.WcfRest.TimeService { [ServiceContract] [AspNetCompatibilityRequirements(RequirementsMode = AspNetCompatibilityRequirementsMode.Allowed)] [ServiceBehavior(InstanceContextMode = InstanceContextMode.PerCall)] public class TimeService { [WebGet(UriTemplate = "CurrentTime")] public string CurrentTime() { return DateTime.Now.ToString(); } } } The endpoint for this service will be http://[machinename]:[port]/TimeService. To get the current time http://[machinename]:[port]/TimeService/CurrentTime will do the trick. The Results Are In Remember That Route In global.asax? Turns out it is pretty important. When you set the route name, that defines the resource name starting after the host portion of the Uri. Help Pages in WCF 4 Another feature that came from the starter kit are the help pages. To access the help pages simply append Help to the end of the service’s base Uri. Dropping the Soap Having dabbled with REST in the past and after using Soap for the last few years, the WCF 4 REST support is certainly refreshing. I’m currently working on some REST implementations in .NET 3.5 and VS 2008 and am looking forward to working on REST in .NET 4 and VS 2010.

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Ask How-To Geek: Dropbox in the Start Menu, Understanding Symlinks, and Ripping TV Series DVDs

- by Jason Fitzpatrick

This week we take a look at how to incorporate Dropbox into your Windows Start Menu, understanding and using symbolic links, and how to rip your TV series DVDs right to unique and high-quality episode files. Once a week we dip into our reader mailbag and help readers solve their problems, sharing the useful solutions with you in the process. Read on to see our fixes for this week’s reader dilemmas. Add Drobox to Your Start Menu Dear How-To Geek, I use Dropbox all the time and would like to add it right onto my start menu along side the other major shortcuts like Documents, Pictures, etc. It seems like adding Dropbox into the menu should be part of the Dropbox installation package! Sincerely, Dropboxing in Des Moines Dear Dropboxing, We agree, it would be a nice installation option. As it stands you’re going to have to do a little simple hacking to get Dropbox nestled neatly into your start menu. The hack isn’t super elegant but when you’re done you’ll have the link you want and it’ll look like it was there all along. Check out this step-by-step guide here in order to take an existing Library shortcut and rework it to be a Dropbox link. Understanding and Using Symbolic Links Dear How-To Geek, I was talking to a coworker the other day about an issue I’d been having with a media center application I’m running. He suggested using symbolic links to better organize my media and make it easier for the application to access my collection. I had no idea what he was talking about and never got a chance to bug him about it later. Can you clear up this whole symbolic links business for me? I’ve been using computers for years and I’ve never even heard of it! Sincerely, Symbolic Who? Dear Symbolic, Symbolic links aren’t commonly used by many Windows users which is why you likely haven’t run into the concept. Symbolic links are essentially supercharged shortcuts—the newly introduced Windows library system is really just a type of symbolic link system. You can use symbolic links to do all sorts of neat stuff like link folders to your Dropbox folder, organize media, and more. The concept of symbolic links is pretty simple but the execution can be really tricky. We’d suggest reading over our guide to creating symbolic links in Windows 7, Windows XP, and Ubunutu to get a clearer idea what you’re getting into. Rip Your TV DVDs into Handy Episode Files Dear How-To Geek, My wife got me an iPod for Christmas and I still haven’t got around to filling it up. I have tons of entire TV show seasons on DVD and would like to get them on the iPod but I have absolutely no idea where to start. How do I get the shows off the discs? I thought it would be as easy to import the TV shows into iTunes as it is to import tracks off a CD but I was totally wrong. I tried downloading some applications to rip them but those didn’t work at all. Very frustrating! Surely there is an easy and/or automated way to do this, right? Sincerely, Free My DVDs Dear DVDs, Oh man is this a frustration we can relate to. It’s inordinately difficult to get movies and TV shows off physical media and into digital (and portable media player-friendly) formats. There are a multitude of ways to rip DVDs and quite a few applications out there (some good, some mediocre, and some outright malware). We’d recommend a two-part punch to solve your ripping woes. You’ll need a copy of DVDFab to strip away the protections on the discs and rip the disc and Handbrake to load the disc image and convert the files. It’s not quite as smooth as the CD-to-iTunes workflow but it’s still pretty easy. Check out all the steps and settings you’ll want to toggle here. Have a question you want to put before the How-To Geek staff? Shoot us an email at [email protected] and then keep an eye out for a solution in the Ask How-To Geek column. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC Internet Explorer 9 RC Now Available: Here’s the Most Interesting New Stuff Here’s a Super Simple Trick to Defeating Fake Anti-Virus Malware How to Change the Default Application for Android Tasks Stop Believing TV’s Lies: The Real Truth About "Enhancing" Images The How-To Geek Valentine’s Day Gift Guide Inspire Geek Love with These Hilarious Geek Valentines Google’s New Personal Blocklist Extension Kills Search Engine Spam KeyCounter Tracks Your Keystrokes and Mouse Clicks Add Custom LED Ambient Lighting to Your PC or Media Center The Trackor Monitors Amazon Prices; Integrates with Chrome, Firefox, and Safari Four Awesome TRON Legacy Themes for Chrome and Iron Anger is Illogical – Old School Style Instructional Video [Star Trek Mashup]

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8 Things You Can Do In Android’s Developer Options

- by Chris Hoffman

The Developer Options menu in Android is a hidden menu with a variety of advanced options. These options are intended for developers, but many of them will be interesting to geeks. You’ll have to perform a secret handshake to enable the Developer Options menu in the Settings screen, as it’s hidden from Android users by default. Follow the simple steps to quickly enable Developer Options. Enable USB Debugging “USB debugging” sounds like an option only an Android developer would need, but it’s probably the most widely used hidden option in Android. USB debugging allows applications on your computer to interface with your Android phone over the USB connection. This is required for a variety of advanced tricks, including rooting an Android phone, unlocking it, installing a custom ROM, or even using a desktop program that captures screenshots of your Android device’s screen. You can also use ADB commands to push and pull files between your device and your computer or create and restore complete local backups of your Android device without rooting. USB debugging can be a security concern, as it gives computers you plug your device into access to your phone. You could plug your device into a malicious USB charging port, which would try to compromise you. That’s why Android forces you to agree to a prompt every time you plug your device into a new computer with USB debugging enabled. Set a Desktop Backup Password If you use the above ADB trick to create local backups of your Android device over USB, you can protect them with a password with the Set a desktop backup password option here. This password encrypts your backups to secure them, so you won’t be able to access them if you forget the password. Disable or Speed Up Animations When you move between apps and screens in Android, you’re spending some of that time looking at animations and waiting for them to go away. You can disable these animations entirely by changing the Window animation scale, Transition animation scale, and Animator duration scale options here. If you like animations but just wish they were faster, you can speed them up. On a fast phone or tablet, this can make switching between apps nearly instant. If you thought your Android phone was speedy before, just try disabling animations and you’ll be surprised how much faster it can seem. Force-Enable FXAA For OpenGL Games If you have a high-end phone or tablet with great graphics performance and you play 3D games on it, there’s a way to make those games look even better. Just go to the Developer Options screen and enable the Force 4x MSAA option. This will force Android to use 4x multisample anti-aliasing in OpenGL ES 2.0 games and other apps. This requires more graphics power and will probably drain your battery a bit faster, but it will improve image quality in some games. This is a bit like force-enabling antialiasing using the NVIDIA Control Panel on a Windows gaming PC. See How Bad Task Killers Are We’ve written before about how task killers are worse than useless on Android. If you use a task killer, you’re just slowing down your system by throwing out cached data and forcing Android to load apps from system storage whenever you open them again. Don’t believe us? Enable the Don’t keep activities option on the Developer options screen and Android will force-close every app you use as soon as you exit it. Enable this app and use your phone normally for a few minutes — you’ll see just how harmful throwing out all that cached data is and how much it will slow down your phone. Don’t actually use this option unless you want to see how bad it is! It will make your phone perform much more slowly — there’s a reason Google has hidden these options away from average users who might accidentally change them. Fake Your GPS Location The Allow mock locations option allows you to set fake GPS locations, tricking Android into thinking you’re at a location where you actually aren’t. Use this option along with an app like Fake GPS location and you can trick your Android device and the apps running on it into thinking you’re at locations where you actually aren’t. How would this be useful? Well, you could fake a GPS check-in at a location without actually going there or confuse your friends in a location-tracking app by seemingly teleporting around the world. Stay Awake While Charging You can use Android’s Daydream Mode to display certain apps while charging your device. If you want to force Android to display a standard Android app that hasn’t been designed for Daydream Mode, you can enable the Stay awake option here. Android will keep your device’s screen on while charging and won’t turn it off. It’s like Daydream Mode, but can support any app and allows users to interact with them. Show Always-On-Top CPU Usage You can view CPU usage data by toggling the Show CPU usage option to On. This information will appear on top of whatever app you’re using. If you’re a Linux user, the three numbers on top probably look familiar — they represent the system load average. From left to right, the numbers represent your system load over the last one, five, and fifteen minutes. This isn’t the kind of thing you’d want enabled most of the time, but it can save you from having to install third-party floating CPU apps if you want to see CPU usage information for some reason. Most of the other options here will only be useful to developers debugging their Android apps. You shouldn’t start changing options you don’t understand. If you want to undo any of these changes, you can quickly erase all your custom options by sliding the switch at the top of the screen to Off.

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Aamir Khan’s Satyamev Jayate stirs a movement

- by Gopinath

Bollywood actor Aamir Khan is known for his dedication and hard work in inspiring millions of viewers though movies by discussing social problems and motivating people to solve them. His movie Rang De Basanthi seeded Indian anti-corruption movement, Tare Zameen Par touched the problems faced by few challenged kids and the latest movie 3 idiots exposed how education institutions in India are producing lakhs of Donkeys out of colleges every year. He extended his dedication of serving the society to small screen with the launch of reality TV show Satyamev Jayate. Before you start misjudging it as one of those non sense drama / entertaining reality shows, let me tell you that it is not a typical music, games, fight or dance reality show. Satyamev Jayate is all about the real people of India, their problems and how to tackle them. This is not just a reality show, its movement to educate people about the social evils. Its been many years since I spent couple of hours in front of TV as most of the programs are too cynical or does not add much value. In my childhood I use to anxiously wait for Mahabarath or He-Man TV shows to start but after a two decades I waited anxiously for the start of Satyamev Jayate. The wait was worth and the 1 hours 30 minutes spent watching it meaningful. When was the last time you were so satisfied after watching a TV show and inspired to do something? I don’t remember. Today, the show focused on female foeticide and its impact. It showed women who were tortured and forced to abort female foetuses. On the show few brave women shared their experiences of giving birth to girl babies and rough times they are going through with their in-laws & husbands. The show not only focused on the problem but also on the root cause of the evil, inspiring people working to tackle it and what every individual can do his part to solve it. The best part of the show is, its not a blame game. When there is a problem most of the people quickly get into identifying who is wrong and start blaming them instead of solve the actual problem. Aamir did not blame anyone for female foeticide – neither the government who don’t impose strict rules, nor the doctors who abort girl babies to make money or the mother-in-laws & husbands who torcher girl baby mothers are blamed. He careful highlighted the problem, showed horrifying statistics and their impact on the future society and few inspiring people working to tackle the problem. He touched heart and stirred a movement against the issue. First time ever I voted for a reality show through SMS and it’s for Satyamev Jayate. I’m proud to do so. Here are the few reactions of popular people, activists & media about the program @aamir_khan absolutely the best program I have seen on TV in recent past. Thanku for converting an idiot box into an inspirationsl medium — Kiran Bedi (@thekiranbedi) May 6, 2012 Satyamev Jayate proves tht TV 2 can b a tool of social change. — Shekhar Kapur (@shekharkapur) May 6, 2012 i absolutely loved #satyamevjayate. at least aamir is doing what all of us only talk about. — Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) May 6, 2012 Now Television will no longer be called an idiot box,the VISION of Television broadens up with#SatyamevJayate !!! — Madhur Bhandarkar (@mbhandarkar268) May 6, 2012 The Sunday 11am slot seems to have come back with a bang… #SatyamevJayate — atul kasbekar (@atulkasbekar) May 6, 2012 I was spellbound, says Prasoon Joshi – It’s a unique show. I was completely bowled over by it. It’s a never-done before concept Aamir Khan strikes the right chord with Satyamev Jayate – The format is quite crisp. Talking about the emotional connect, there are moments when your eyes well up with tears, but the various segments ensure there’s more content than emotional drama ‘Satyamev Jayate’ gutsy, sensible show: Viewers – From filmmakers to clinical psychologists to professors – everyone has given the thumbs up to Aamir Khan’s television show ‘Satyamev Jayate’, saying it is a gutsy, hard-hitting and sensible programme that strikes an emotional chord with the audiences. Aamir Khan’s TV debut ‘Satyamev Jayate’ takes Twitter by storm – The roads of the capital sported a deserted look around 11 am on Sunday morning, as everyone was hooked on to their TV sets. Did you watch the program? What is your opinion? I’m waiting for next 11 AM of next Sunday. Are you?

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[GEEK SCHOOL] Network Security 3: Windows Defender and a Malware-Free System

- by Ciprian Rusen

In this second lesson we are going to talk about one of the most confusing security products that are bundled with Windows: Windows Defender. In the past, this product has had a bad reputation and for good reason – it was very limited in its capacity to protect your computer from real-world malware. However, the latest version included in Windows 8.x operating systems is much different than in the past and it provides real protection to its users. The nice thing about Windows Defender in its current incarnation, is that it protects your system from the start, so there are never gaps in coverage. We will start this lesson by explaining what Windows Defender is in Windows 7 and Vista versus what it is in Windows 8, and what product to use if you are using an earlier version. We next will explore how to use Windows Defender, how to improve its default settings, and how to deal with the alerts that it displays. As you will see, Windows Defender will have you using its list of quarantined items a lot more often than other security products. This is why we will explain in detail how to work with it and remove malware for good or restore those items that are only false alarms. Lastly, you will learn how to turn off Windows Defender if you no longer want to use it and you prefer a third-party security product in its place and then how to enable it back, if you have changed your mind about using it. Upon completion, you should have a thorough understanding of your system’s default anti-malware options, or how to protect your system expeditiously. What is Windows Defender? Unfortunately there is no one clear answer to this question because of the confusing way Microsoft has chosen to name its security products. Windows Defender is a different product, depending on the Windows operating system you are using. If you use Windows Vista or Windows 7, then Windows Defender is a security tool that protects your computer from spyware. This but one form of malware made out of tools and applications that monitor your movements on the Internet or the activities you make on your computer. Spyware tends to send the information that is collected to a remote server and it is later used in all kinds of malicious purposes, from displaying advertising you don’t want, to using your personal data, etc. However, there are many other types of malware on the Internet and this version of Windows Defender is not able to protect users from any of them. That’s why, if you are using Windows 7 or earlier, we strongly recommend that you disable Windows Defender and install a more complete security product like Microsoft Security Essentials, or third-party security products from specialized security vendors. If you use Windows 8.x operating systems, then Windows Defender is the same thing as Microsoft Security Essentials: a decent security product that protects your computer in-real time from viruses and spyware. The fact that this product protects your computer also from viruses, not just from spyware, makes a huge difference. If you don’t want to pay for security products, Windows Defender in Windows 8.x and Microsoft Security Essentials (in Windows 7 or earlier) are good alternatives. Windows Defender in Windows 8.x and Microsoft Security Essentials are the same product, only their name is different. In this lesson, we will use the Windows Defender version from Windows 8.x but our instructions apply also to Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) in Windows 7 and Windows Vista. If you want to download Microsoft Security Essentials and try it out, we recommend you to use this page: Download Microsoft Security Essentials. There you will find both 32-bit and 64-bit editions of this product as well versions in multiple languages. How to Use and Configure Windows Defender Using Windows Defender (MSE) is very easy to use. To start, search for “defender” on the Windows 8.x Start screen and click or tap the “Windows Defender” search result. In Windows 7, search for “security” in the Start Menu search box and click “Microsoft Security Essentials”. Windows Defender has four tabs which give you access to the following tools and options: Home – here you can view the security status of your system. If everything is alright, then it will be colored in green. If there are some warnings to consider, then it will be colored in yellow, and if there are threats that must be dealt with, everything will be colored in red. On the right side of the “Home” tab you will find options for scanning your computer for viruses and spyware. On the bottom of the tab you will find information about when the last scan was performed and what type of scan it was. Update – here you will find information on whether this product is up-to-date. You will learn when it was last updated and the versions of the definitions it is using. You can also trigger a manual update. History – here you can access quarantined items, see which items you’ve allowed to run on your PC even if they were identified as malware by Windows Defender, and view a complete list with all the malicious items Windows Defender has detected on your PC. In order to access all these lists and work with them, you need to be signed in as an administrator. Settings – this is the tab where you can turn on the real-time protection service, exclude files, file types, processes, and locations from its scans as well as access a couple of more advanced settings. The only difference between Windows Defender in Windows 8.x and Microsoft Security Essentials (in Windows 7 or earlier) is that, in the “Settings” tab, Microsoft Security Essentials allows you to set when to run scheduled scans while Windows Defender lacks this option.

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Myths about Coding Craftsmanship part 2

- by tom

Myth 3: The source of all bad code is inept developers and stupid people When you review code is this what you assume? Shame on you. You are probably making assumptions in your code if you are assuming so much already. Bad code can be the result of any number of causes including but not limited to using dated techniques (like boxing when generics are available), not following standards (“look how he does the spacing between arguments!” or “did he really just name that variable ‘bln_Hello_Cats’?”), being redundant, using properties, methods, or objects in a novel way (like switching on button.Text between “Hello World” and “Hello World “ //clever use of space character… sigh), not following the SOLID principals, hacking around assumptions made in earlier iterations / hacking in features that should be worked into the overall design. The first two issues, while annoying are pretty easy to spot and can be fixed so easily. If your coding team is made up of experienced professionals who are passionate about staying current then these shouldn’t be happening. If you work with a variety of skills, backgrounds, and experience then there will be some of this stuff going on. If you have an opportunity to mentor such a developer who is receptive to constructive criticism don’t be a jerk; help them and the codebase will improve. A little patience can improve the codebase, your work environment, and even your perspective. The novelty and redundancy I have encountered has often been the use of creativity when language knowledge was perceived as unavailable or too time consuming. When developers learn on the job you get a lot of this. Rather than going to MSDN developers will use what they know. Depending on the constraints of their assignment hacking together what they know may seem quite practical. This was not stupid though I often wonder how much time is actually “saved” by hacking. These issues are often harder to untangle if we ever do. They can also grow out of control as we write hack after hack to make it work and get back to some development that is satisfying. Hacking upon an existing hack is what I call “feeding the monster”. Code monsters are anti-patterns and hacks gone wild. The reason code monsters continue to get bigger is that they keep growing in scope, touching more and more of the application. This is not the result of dumb developers. It is probably the result of avoiding design, not taking the time to understand the problems or anticipate or communicate the vision of the product. If our developers don’t understand the purpose of a feature or product how do we expect potential customers to do so? Forethought and organization are often what is missing from bad code. Developers who do not use the SOLID principals should be encouraged to learn these principals and be given guidance on how to apply them. The time “saved” by giving hackers room to hack will be made up for and then some. Not as technical debt but as shoddy work that if not replaced will be struggled with again and again. Bad code is not the result of dumb developers (usually) it is the result of trying to do too much without the proper resources and neglecting the right thing that needs doing with the first thoughtless thing that comes into our heads. Object oriented code is all about relationships between objects. Coders who believe their coworkers are all fools tend to write objects that are difficult to work with, not eager to explain themselves, and perform erratically and irrationally. If you constantly find you are surrounded by idiots you may want to ask yourself if you are being unreasonable, if you are being closed minded, of if you have chosen the right profession. Opening your mind up to the idea that you probably work with rational, well-intentioned people will probably make you a better coder and it might even make you less grumpy. If you are surrounded by jerks who do not engage in the exchange of ideas who do not care about their customers or the durability of the code you are building together then I suggest you find a new place to work. Myth 4: Customers don’t care about “beautiful” code Craftsmanship is customer focused because it means that the job was done right, the product will withstand the abuse, modifications, and scrutiny of our customers. Users can appreciate a predictable timeline for a release, a product delivered on time and on budget, a feature set that does not interfere with the task(s) it is supporting, quick turnarounds on exception messages, self healing issues, and less issues. These are all hindered by skimping on craftsmanship. When we write data access and when we write reusable code. What do you think? Does bad code come primarily from low IQ individuals? Do customers care about beautiful code?

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Week in Geek: USDA Chooses Microsoft for Cloud Services Edition

- by Asian Angel

This week we learned how to create geeky LED holiday lights with old bottles, dig deeper in Windows Defrag via the command prompt, use Google Chrome’s drag/drop feature to upload files easier, find great gift recommendations by looking through the How-To Geek holiday gift guide, and have fun adding Merry Christmas fonts to our computers. Photo by ntr23. Random Geek Links It has been a busy week, so we have extra news link goodness with information that is good for you to know. USDA making the move to Microsoft The U.S. Department of Agriculture has announced that it has chosen Microsoft to host things like e-mail, instant messaging, and collaboration through the software giant’s Business Productivity Online Suite. Google says it was cut off from USDA project bid Google is claiming that it was not given a chance to bid on a cloud-computing project for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, for which the contract was awarded to rival Microsoft. Apache is being forced into a Java Fork When Oracle rolled over Apache and Google’s objections to its Java plans in December, the scene was set for Apache to leave and, eventually, force a Java code fork. Tumblr explains daylong outage After experiencing an outage that started on Sunday afternoon and stretched through most of the day yesterday, Tumblr has explained what happened. Google demos Chrome OS, launches pilot program During a press briefing this week in San Francisco, Google launched the Chrome application store and demonstrated Chrome OS, its browser-centric netbook operating system. Don’t expect Spotify in U.S. this holiday season As of last week, Spotify had yet to sign a single licensing deal with a major label, after spending more than a year negotiating, multiple music sources told CNET. December 2010 Patch Tuesday will come with most bulletins ever According to the Microsoft Security Response Center, Microsoft will issue 17 Security Bulletins addressing 40 vulnerabilities on Tuesday, December 14. It will also host a webcast to address customer questions the following day. Hacker plants back door in Symbian firmware Indian hacker Atul Alex has had a look at the firmware for Symbian S60 smartphones and come up with a back door for it. PC quarantines raise tough complexities The concept of quarantining PCs to prevent widespread infection is “interesting, but difficult to implement, with far too many problems”, said security experts. Symantec: DDoS attacks hard to defend It has surfaced that the distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks on Visa and MasterCard Web sites on Wednesday were carried out by a toolkit known as low orbit ion cannon (LOIC). Web Sockets and the risks of unfinished standards Enthusiasm for a promising new standard called Web Sockets has quickly cooled in some quarters as a potential security problem led some browser makers to hastily postpone support. Internet Explorer 9 to get tracking protection Microsoft is making changes to Internet Explorer 9’s security features that will better enable users to keep sites from tracking their activity across browsing sessions. NASA sold PCs with sensitive data NASA failed to remove sensitive data from computers that it sold, according to an audit report released this week. Cybercrooks create fake Amazon receipts The bad guys have created yet another online scam, this one involving fake Amazon receipts. World of Warcraft character move fees waived Until December 22, Blizzard will allow free realm transfers from 25 highly populated servers to alleviate log-in queues or performance issues. (The free transfers are one-way and one-time only.) SpaceX Dragon reaches orbit atop a Falcon with a fiery tail The Space Exploration Technologies corporation has become the first nongovernmental entity to put a vehicle into low Earth orbit. Geek Video of the Week If birds have wings, then why are the Angry Birds using slingshots? Photo by Dorkly Bits. Wait… Birds have Wings, Why are the Angry Ones Using Slingshots? Sysadmin Geek Tips How To Setup Email Alerts on Linux Using Gmail or SMTP Linux machines may require administrative intervention in countless ways, but without manually logging into them how would you know about it? Here’s how to setup emails to get notified when your machines want some tender love and attention. Random TinyHacker Links Red Panda Webcam Support Firefox and the Knoxville Zoo’s Red Panda program. Christmas Icons (Icons we like) Superb set of holiday icons by lgp85 at deviantArt. Download the .zip and use as .png or convert to .ico at Convertico.com or with tiny app Imagicon. Super User Questions Enjoy reading the great answers to this week’s popular questions from Super User Useful USB boot disks? DVD/CD burning .zip: is it more reliable, faster, longer lasting to burn a zip of files rather than the files as a folder? What are other ways to backup my files if I do not have an external drive? Anti virus what is the difference between these all? How can I block all Facebook elements/content? How-To Geek Weekly Article Recap Have you had a busy week between work and preparing for the holidays? Get caught up on your HTG reading with our hottest articles of the week. 20 Windows Keyboard Shortcuts You Might Not Know The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology HTG Explains: Which Linux File System Should You Choose? How to Use and Customize Google Chrome Web Apps One Year Ago on How-To Geek This week’s batch of retro geeky goodness is all about customizing Windows 7. ClassicShell Adds Classic Start Menu and Explorer Features to Windows 7 Get an Aero-Styled Classic Start Menu in Windows 7 Customize the Windows 7 Logon Screen Get the Classic Style Network Activity Indicator Back in Windows 7 How To Enable Check Boxes for Items In Windows 7 The Geek Note We would like you to join us in welcoming Jason Fitzpatrick to the writing staff here at How-To Geek. He started with us this past week, so take some time to read through his articles about the Wii, Kindle, & PlayStation 2 Peripherals and leave a friendly comment to say “Hi”! Got a great tip to share? Make sure to send it in to us at [email protected]. Photo by real00. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC The 50 Best Registry Hacks that Make Windows Better The How-To Geek Holiday Gift Guide (Geeky Stuff We Like) LCD? LED? Plasma? The How-To Geek Guide to HDTV Technology The How-To Geek Guide to Learning Photoshop, Part 8: Filters Improve Digital Photography by Calibrating Your Monitor Our Favorite Tech: What We’re Thankful For at How-To Geek Settle into Orbit with the Voyage Theme for Chrome and Iron Awesome Safari Compass Icons Set Escape from the Exploding Planet Wallpaper Move Your Tumblr Blog to WordPress Pytask is an Easy to Use To-Do List Manager for Your Ubuntu System Snowy Christmas House Personas Theme for Firefox

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202 blog articles

- by mprove

All my blog articles under blogs.oracle.com since August 2005: 202 blog articles Apr 2012 blogs.oracle.com design patch Mar 2012 Interaction 12 - Critique Mar 2012 Typing. Clicking. Dancing. Feb 2012 Desktop Mobility in Hospitals with Oracle VDI /video Feb 2012 Interaction 12 in Dublin - Highlights of Day 3 Feb 2012 Interaction 12 in Dublin - Highlights of Day 2 Feb 2012 Interaction 12 in Dublin - Highlights of Day 1 Feb 2012 Shit Interaction Designers Say Feb 2012 Tips'n'Tricks for WebCenter #3: How to display custom page titles in Spaces Jan 2012 Tips'n'Tricks for WebCenter #2: How to create an Admin menu in Spaces and save a lot of time Jan 2012 Tips'n'Tricks for WebCenter #1: How to apply custom resources in Spaces Jan 2012 Merry XMas and a Happy 2012! Dec 2011 One Year Oracle SocialChat - The Movie Nov 2011 Frank Ludolph's Last Working Day Nov 2011 Hans Rosling at TED Oct 2011 200 Countries x 200 Years Oct 2011 Blog Aggregation for Desktop Virtualization Oct 2011 Oracle VDI at OOW 2011 Sep 2011 Design for Conversations & Conversations for Design Sep 2011 All Oracle UX Blogs Aug 2011 Farewell Loriot Aug 2011 Oracle VDI 3.3 Overview Aug 2011 Sutherland's Closing Remarks at HyperKult Aug 2011 Surface and Subface Aug 2011 Back to Childhood in UI Design Jul 2011 The Art of Engineering and The Engineering of Art Jul 2011 Oracle VDI Seminar - June-30 Jun 2011 SGD White Paper May 2011 TEDxHamburg Live Feed May 2011 Oracle VDI in 3 Minutes May 2011 Space Ship Earth 2011 May 2011 blog moving times Apr 2011 Frozen tag cloud Apr 2011 Oracle: Hardware Software Complete in 1953 Apr 2011 Interaction Design with Wireframes Apr 2011 A guide to closing down a project Feb 2011 Oracle VDI 3.2.2 Jan 2011 free VDI charts Jan 2011 Sun Founders Panel 2006 Dec 2010 Sutherland on Leadership Dec 2010 SocialChat: Efficiency of E20 Dec 2010 ALWAYS ON Desktop Virtualization Nov 2010 12,000 Desktops at JavaOne Nov 2010 SocialChat on Sharing Best Practices Oct 2010 Globe of Visitors Oct 2010 SocialChat about the Next Big Thing Oct 2010 Oracle VDI UX Story - Wireframes Oct 2010 What's a PC anyway? Oct 2010 SocialChat on Getting Things Done Oct 2010 SocialChat on Infoglut Oct 2010 IT Twenty Twenty Oct 2010 Desktop Virtualization Webcasts from OOW Oct 2010 Oracle VDI 3.2 Overview Sep 2010 Blog Usability Top 7 Sep 2010 100 and counting Aug 2010 Oracle'izing the VDI Blogs Aug 2010 SocialChat on Apple Aug 2010 SocialChat on Video Conferencing Aug 2010 Oracle VDI 3.2 - Features and Screenshots Aug 2010 SocialChat: Don't stop making waves Aug 2010 SocialChat: Giving Back to the Community Aug 2010 SocialChat on Learning in Meetings Aug 2010 iPAD's Natural User Interface Jul 2010 Last day for Sun Microsystems GmbH Jun 2010 SirValUse Celebration Snippets Jun 2010 10 years SirValUse - Happy Birthday! Jun 2010 Wim on Virtualization May 2010 New Home for Oracle VDI Apr 2010 Renaissance Slide Sorter Comments Apr 2010 Unboxing Sun Ray 3 Plus Apr 2010 Desktop Virtualisierung mit Sun VDI 3.1 Apr 2010 Blog Relaunch Mar 2010 Social Messaging Slides from CeBIT Mar 2010 Social Messaging Talk at CeBIT Feb 2010 Welcome Oracle Jan 2010 My last presentation at Sun Jan 2010 Ivan Sutherland on Leadership Jan 2010 Learning French with Sun VDI Jan 2010 Learning Danish with Sun Ray Jan 2010 VDI workshop in Nieuwegein Jan 2010 Happy New Year 2010 Jan 2010 On Creating Slides Dec 2009 Best VDI Ever Nov 2009 How to store the Big Bang Nov 2009 Social Enterprise Tools. Beipiel Sun. Nov 2009 Nov-19 Nov 2009 PDF and ODF links on your blog Nov 2009 Q&A on VDI and MySQL Cluster Nov 2009 Zürich next week: Swiss Intranet Summit 09 Nov 2009 Designing for a Sustainable World - World Usabiltiy Day, Nov-12 Nov 2009 How to export a desktop from VDI 3 Nov 2009 Virtualisation Roadshow in the UK Nov 2009 Project Wonderland at EDUCAUSE 09 Nov 2009 VDI Roadshow in Dublin, Nov-26, 2009 Nov 2009 Sun VDI at EDUCAUSE 09 Nov 2009 Sun VDI 3.1 Architecture and New Features Oct 2009 VDI 3.1 is Early-Access Sep 2009 Virtualization for MySQL on VMware Sep 2009 Silpion & 13. Stock Sommerparty Sep 2009 Sun Ray and VMware View 3.1.1 2009-08-31 New Set of Sun Ray Status Icons 2009-08-25 Virtualizing the VDI Core? 2009-08-23 World Usability Day Hamburg 2009 - CfP 2009-07-16 Rising Sun 2009-07-15 featuring twittermeme 2009-06-19 ISC09 Student Party on June-20 /Hamburg 2009-06-18 Before and behind the curtain of JavaOne 2009-06-09 20k desktops at JavaOne 2009-06-01 sweet microblogging 2009-05-25 VDI 3 - Why you need 3 VDI hosts and what you can do about that? 2009-05-21 IA Konferenz 2009 2009-05-20 Sun VDI 3 UX Story - Power of the Web 2009-05-06 Planet of Sun and Oracle User Experience Design 2009-04-22 Sun VDI 3 UX Story - User Research 2009-04-08 Sun VDI 3 UX Story - Concept Workshops 2009-04-06 Localized documentation for Sun Ray Connector for VMware View Manager 1.1 2009-04-03 Sun VDI 3 Press Release 2009-03-25 Sun VDI 3 launches today! 2009-03-25 Sun Ray Connector for VMware View Manager 1.1 Update 2009-03-11 desktop virtualization wiki relaunch 2009-03-06 VDI 3 at CeBIT hall 6, booth E36 2009-03-02 Keyboard layout problems with Sun Ray Connector for VMware VDM 2009-02-23 wikis.sun.com tips & tricks 2009-02-23 Sun VDI 3 is in Early Access 2009-02-09 VirtualCenter unable to decrypt passwords 2009-02-02 Sun & VMware Desktop Training 2009-01-30 VDI at next09? 2009-01-16 Sun VDI: How to use virtual machines with multiple network adapters 2009-01-07 Sun Ray and VMware View 2009-01-07 Hamburg World Usability Day 2008 - Webcasts 2009-01-06 Sun Ray Connector for VMware VDM slides 2008-12-15 mother of all demos 2008-12-08 Build your own Thumper 2008-12-03 Troubleshooting Sun Ray Connector for VMware VDM 2008-12-02 My Roller Tag Cloud 2008-11-28 Sun Ray Connector: SSL connection to VDM 2008-11-25 Setting up SSL and Sun Ray Connector for VMware VDM 2008-11-13 Inspiration for Today and Tomorrow 2008-10-23 Sun Ray Connector for VMware VDM released 2008-10-14 From Sketchpad to ILoveSketch 2008-10-09 Desktop Virtualization on Xing 2008-10-06 User Experience Forum on Xing 2008-10-06 Sun Ray Connector for VMware VDM certified 2008-09-17 Virtual Clouds over Las Vegas 2008-09-14 Bill Verplank sketches metaphors 2008-09-04 End of Early Access - Sun Ray Connector for VMware 2008-08-27 Early Access: Sun Ray Connector for VMware Virtual Desktop Manager 2008-08-12 Sun Virtual Desktop Connector - Insides on Recycling Part 2 2008-07-20 Sun Virtual Desktop Connector - Insides on Recycling Part 3 2008-07-20 Sun Virtual Desktop Connector - Insides on Recycling 2008-07-20 lost in wiki space 2008-07-07 Evolution of the Desktop 2008-06-17 Virtual Desktop Webcast 2008-06-16 Woodstock 2008-06-16 What's a Desktop PC anyway? 2008-06-09 Virtual-T-Box 2008-06-05 Virtualization Glossary 2008-05-06 Five User Experience Principles 2008-04-25 Virtualization News Feed 2008-04-21 Acetylcholinesterase - Second Season 2008-04-18 Acetylcholinesterase - End of Signal 2007-12-31 Produkt-Management ist... 2007-10-22 Usability Verbände, Verteiler und Netzwerke. 2007-10-02 The Meaning is the Message 2007-09-28 Visualization Methods 2007-09-10 Inhouse und Open Source Projekte – Usability verankern und Synergien nutzen 2007-09-03 Der Schwabe Darth Vader entdeckt das Virale Marketing 2007-08-29 Dick Hardt 3.0 on Identity 2.0 2007-08-27 quality of written text depends on the tool 2007-07-27 podcasts for reboot9 2007-06-04 It is the user's itch that need to be scratched 2007-05-25 A duel at reboot9 2007-05-14 Taxonomien und Folksonomien - Tagging als neues HCI-Element 2007-05-10 Dueling Interaction Models of Personal-Computing and Web-Computing 2007-03-01 22.März: Weizenbaum. Rebel at Work. /Filmpremiere Hamburg 2007-02-25 Bruce Sterling at UbiComp 2006 /webcast 2006-11-12 FSOSS 2006 /webcasts 2006-11-10 Highway 101 2006-11-09 User Experience Roundtable Hamburg: EuroGEL 2006 2006-11-08 Douglas Adams' Hyperland (BBC 1990) 2006-10-08 Taxonomien und Folksonomien – Tagging als neues HCI-Element 2006-09-13 Usability im Unternehmen 2006-09-13 Doug does HyperScope 2006-08-26 TED Talks and TechTalks 2006-08-21 Kai Krause über seine Freundschaft zu Douglas Adams 2006-07-20 Rebel At Work: Film Portrait on Weizenbaum 2006-07-04 Gabriele Fischer, mp3 2006-06-07 Dick Hardt at ETech 06 2006-06-05 Weinberger: From Control to Conversation 2006-04-16 Eye Tracking at User Experience Roundtable Hamburg 2006-04-14 dropping knowledge 2006-04-09 GEL 2005 2006-03-13 slide photos of reboot7 2006-03-04 Dick Hardt on Identity 2.0 2006-02-28 User Experience Newsletter #13: Versioning 2006-02-03 Ester Dyson on Choice and Happyness 2006-02-02 Requirements-Engineering im Spannungsfeld von Individual- und Produktsoftware 2006-01-15 User Experience Newsletter #12: Intuition Quiz 2005-11-30 User Experience und Requirements-Engineering für Software-Projekte 2005-10-31 Ivan Sutherland on "Research and Fun" 2005-10-18 Ars Electronica / Mensch und Computer 2005 2005-09-14 60 Jahre nach Memex: Über die Unvereinbarkeit von Desktop- und Web-Paradigma 2005-08-31 reboot 7 2005-06-30

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Company Review: Google Products

Google, Inc offers an array of products and services to all of its end-users. However their search capabilities are the foundation for Google’s current success and their primary business focus. Currently, Google offers over twenty different search applications that allow users to search the internet for books, maps, videos, images, products and much more. Their product decisions have allowed users demands to be met while focusing on the free based model. This allows users to access Google data free of charge and indirectly gives Google a strong competitive advantage of other competitors along with the accuracy of the search results. According to Google, Inc, they offer the following types of searching capabilities: Alerts Get email updates on the topics of your choice Blog Search Find blogs on your favorite topics Books Search the full text of books Custom Search Create a customized search experience for your community Desktop Search and personalize your computer Dictionary Search for definitions of words and phrases Directory Search the web, organized by topic or category Earth Explore the world from your computer Finance Business info, news and interactive charts GOOG-411 Find and connect for free with businesses from your phone Images Search for images on the web Maps View maps and directions News Search thousands of news stories Patent Search Search the full text of US Patents Product Search Search for stuff to buy Scholar Search scholarly papers Toolbar Add a search box to your browser Trends Explore past and present search trends Videos Search for videos on the web Web Search Search billions of web pages Web Search Features Find movies, music, stocks, books and more mapping Google’s free based business model is only one way it differentiates itself from its competition. There is also a strong focus on the accuracy of search results and the speed in which they are returned to the end-user. Quality function deployment (QFD) is a structured method used to help connect user needs to the design features of a project proposed to address those needs. This method is particularly useful in accounting for needs that are not easily articulated or precisely defined according to the U. S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration. Due to the fact that QFD is so customer driven Google is always in a constant state of change in attempt to reengineer its search algorithms, and other dependant systems so that end-users requirements are constantly being met. Value engineering is a key example of this, Google is constantly trying to improve all aspects of its products, improve system maintainability, and system interoperability. Bridgefield Group defines value engineering as an organized methodology that identifies and selects the lowest lifecycle cost options in design, materials and processes that achieves the desired level of performance, reliability and customer satisfaction. In addition, it seeks to remove unnecessary costs in the above areas and is often a joint effort with cross-functional internal teams and relevant suppliers. Common issues that appear when developing large scale systems like Google’s search applications include modular design of a product and/or service and providing accurate value analysis. A design approach that adheres to four fundamental tenets of cohesiveness, encapsulation, self-containment, and high binding to design a system component as an independently operable unit subject to change is how the Open System Joint Task Force defines modular design. More specifically M. S. Schmaltz defines modular software design as having a large collection of statements strung together in one partition of in-line code; we segment or divide the statements into logical groups called modules. Each module performs one or two tasks, and then passes control to another module. By breaking up the code into "bite-sized chunks", so to speak, we are able to better control the flow of data and control. This is especially true in large software systems. Value analysis is a process to evaluate products and services based on effectiveness, safety, and cost. Value analysis involves assessing the quality as well as the cost of a product or service as defined by the Healthcare Financial Management Association. “Operations Management deals with the design and management of products, processes, services and supply chains. It considers the acquisition, development, and utilization of resources that firms need to deliver the goods and services their clients want.” (MIT,2010) Google, Inc encourages an open environment between all employees, also known as Googlers. This is reinforced by a cross-section team or cross-functional teams comprised from multiple departments assigned to every project so that every department like marketing, finance, and quality assurance has input on every project. In addition, Google is known for their openness to new ideas regardless of the status or seniority of an employee. In fact, Google allows for 20% of an employee’s time can be devoted to developing new ideas and/or pet projects. HumTech.com defines a cross-functional team as a collection of people with varied levels of skills and experience brought together to accomplish a task. As the name implies, Cross-Functional Team members come from different organizational units. Cross-Functional Teams may be permanent or ad hoc. Google’s search application product strategy primarily focuses on mass customization. This is allows Google to create a base search application and allows results to be returned to the end-users quickly based on specific parameters and search settings. In addition, they also store the data that is returned in case other desire the same results based on other end-users supplying the same customized settings. This allows Google to appear to render search results in virtually real-time to the user while allowing for complete customization of the searching criteria. Greg Vogl, a professor at Uganda Martyrs University, defines mass customization as when a business gives its customers the opportunity to tailor its products or services to the customer's specifications. The IT staff at Google play a key role in ensuring that the search application’s product strategy is maintained simply because the IT staff designs, develops, and maintains all of their proprietary applications. In fact, they also maintain all network infrastructure to ensure that it is available to all end-users. References: http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/ http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/freight/publications/ftat_user_guide/sec5.htm http://www.bridgefieldgroup.com/bridgefieldgroup/glos9.htm#V http://www.acq.osd.mil/osjtf/termsdef.html http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~mssz/Pascal-CGS2462/prog-dsn.html http://www.hfma.org/publications/business_caring_newsletter/exclusives/Supply+and+Inventory+Terms+Defined.htm http://mitsloan.mit.edu/omg/om-definition.php http://www.humtech.com/opm/grtl/ols/ols3.cfm http://www.gregvogl.net/courses/mis1/glossary.htm

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Microsoft TechEd 2010 - Day 3 @ Bangalore

- by sathya

Microsoft TechEd 2010 - Day 3 @ Bangalore Sorry for my delayed post on day 3 because I had to travel from Blore to Chennai So I couldnt write for the past two days. On day 3 as usual we had lot of simultaneous tracks on various sessions. This day I choose the Your Data, Our Platform Track. It had sessions on the following 5 topics : Developing Data-tier Applications in Visual Studio 2010 - by Sanjay Nagamangalam SQL Server Query Optimization, Execution and Debugging Query Performance - by Vinod Kumar M SQL Server Utility - Its about more than 1 SQL Server - by Vinod Kumar Jagannathan Data Recovery / Consistency with CheckDB - by Vinod Kumar M Developing with SQL Server Spatial and Deep dive into Spatial Indexing - by Pinal Dave Developing Data-tier Applications in Visual Studio 2010 - by Sanjay Nagamangalam This was one of the superb sessions i have attended. He explained all the concepts in detail with a demo. The important thing in this is there is something called Data-Tier application project which is newly introduced in this VS2010 with which we can manage all our data along with our application inside our VS itself. We can create DB,Tables,Procs,Views etc. here itself and once we deploy it creates a compressed file called .dacpac which stores all the changes in Table Schema,Created procs, etc. on to that single file which reduces our (developer's) effort in preparing the deployment scripts and giving it to the DBA. It also has some policy configurations which can be managed easily by checking some rules like in outlook. For Ex : IF the SQL Server Version > 10 then deploy else dont. This rule specifies that even if we try to deploy on SQL Server DB with version less than 10 It will not do it. And if we deploy some .dacpac to SQL server production db with the option upgrade DB with this dacpac once everything completes successfully it will say success else it rollsback to the prior version. Even if it gets deployed successfully and later @ a point of time you wish to revert it back to the prior version, you can go ahead and delete the existing dacpac version so that it reverts to the older version of the db changes. And for the good questions that were asked in the session T-Shirts were given. SQL Server Query Optimization, Execution and Debugging Query Performance - by Vinod Kumar M This one too was the best session. The speaker Vinod explained everything very much clearly. This was really useful session and you dont believe, as per my knowledge, in the total 3 days in the TechEd except the Keynote, for this session seats were full (House FULL) People were even standing out to attend this session. Such a great one it was. The speaker did a deep dive in to the Query Plan section and showed which actually causes the problem. Its all about the thing that we need to understand about the execution of SQL server Queries. We think in a way and SQL Server never executes in that way. We need to understand that first. He also told about there might be two plans generated for a single query at a point of time because of parallel processors in the system. The Key is here in every query. There is something called Estimated Row Count and Actual Row Count in the query plan. If the estimated row count by SQL server tallies with the actual row count your performance will be awesome. He said some tweaks to achieve the same. After this as usual we had lunch SQL Server Utility - Its about more than 1 SQL Server - by Vinod Kumar Jagannathan This was more of a DBA's session. Am really sorry I was totally blank and I was not interested to attend this session and walked out to attend Migrating to the cloud by Harish Ranganathan (My favorite Speaker) but unfortunately that was some other persons session. There the speaker was telling about how to configure the connection strings in such a way that we can connect to the SQL Azure platform from our VS and also showed us how to deploy the same in to Windows Azure. In between there were lot of technical problems like laptop hang, user locked and he was switching between systems, also i came in the half so i wasnt able to listen that fully. In between, Since I got an MCTS certification they gave me T-Shirt with the lines 'Iam Certified. Are you?' and they asked me to wear that. If we wear that we might get spotted and they would give us some goodies So on the 3rd day I was wearing that T-Shirt. I got spotted by the person Tarun who was coordinating things about the certification, and he was accompanied with a cameraman and they interviewed me about the certification and I was shown live in the Teched and was seen by 60000 live viewers of the TechEd. I was really happy on that. Data Recovery / Consistency with CheckDB - by Vinod Kumar M This was one of the best sessions too in the TechEd. This guy is really amazing. In front of us he crashed a DB and showed how to recover the same in 6 different ways for different no of failures. Showed about Different types of error msgs like : 823,824,825 msdb..suspect_pages DBCC CheckDB (different parameters to it) I am really waiting for his session to get uploaded live in the Teched Website. Here is his contact info If you wish to connect to him : Twitter : @vinodk_sql Website : www.ExtremeExperts.com Blog : http://blogs.sqlxml.org/vinodkumar Developing with SQL Server Spatial and Deep dive into Spatial Indexing - by Pinal Dave Pinal Dave is a King in SQL and he is a SQL MVP and he is the owner of SQLAuthority.com He took the session on Spatial Databases from the start. Showed about the different types of Spatial : Geometric and Geographic Geometric : x and y axis its a planar surface Geographic : Spherical surface with 3600 as the maximum which is used to represent the geographic points on the earth and easy to draw maps of different kinds. He had a lot of obstacles during his session like rain coming inside the hall, mic wires got bursted due to rain, Videos off on the display screens. In spite of that he asked the audience to come in the front rows and managed to take a good session without ppts and finally we got the displays on and he was showing demos on the same what he explained orally. That was really a fun filled informative session. He gave some books for the persons who asked good questions and answered well for his questions and I got one too (It was a book on Data Mining - Wrox Publishers) And finally after all these things there was Keynote session for close of the TechEd. and we all assembled in a big hall where Mr.Ashok Soota, a man of age around 70 co-founder of Mindtree was called to give some lecture on his successes. He was explaining about his past and what all companies he switched and for what reasons and what are all his successes and what are all his failures and the learnings of him from his past failures. and his success and failures on his partnerships with the other concern. And there were some questions for him like What is your suggestion on young entrepreneur? How did you learn from past failures? What is reiterating your success? What is your suggestion on partnerships? How to choose partnerships? etc. And they said @ 7.30 Pm there would be a party night, but unfortunately i was not able to attend that because I had to catch my train and before that i had to pack things, so I started @ 7 itself. Thats it about the TechED!!! Stay tuned for further Technology updates.

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