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• In-Store Tracking Gets a Little Harder

  - by David Dorf

  Remember how Nordstrom was tracking shopper movements within their stores using the unique number, called a MAC, emitted by the WiFi radio in smartphones?  The phones didn't need to connect to the network, only have their WiFi enabled, as most people do by default.  They did this, presumably, to track shoppers' path to purchase and better understand traffic patterns.  Although there were signs explaining this at the entrances, people didn't like the notion of being tracked.  (Nevermind that there are cameras in the ceiling watching them.)  Nordstrom stopped the program. To address this concern the Future of Privacy, a Washington think tank, created Smart Store Privacy, a do-not-track service that allows consumers to register their MAC address in much the same way people register their phone numbers in the national do-not-call list.  A group of companies agreed to respect consumers' wishes and ignore smartphones listed in the database.  The database includes Bluetooth identifiers as well.  Of course you could simply turn your bluetooth and WiFi off when shopping as well. Most know that Apple prefers to use BLE beacons to contact and track smartphones within their stores.  This feature extends the typical online experience to also work in physical stores.  By identifying themselves, shoppers can expect a more tailored shopping experience much like what we've come to expect from Amazon's website, with product recommendations and offers that are (usually) relevant. But the upcoming release of iOS8 is purported to have a new feature that randomizes the WiFi MAC address of smartphones during the "probing" phase.  That is, before connecting to the WiFi network, a random MAC number is used so as to keep the smartphone's real MAC address secret.  Unless you actually connect to the store's WiFi, they won't recognize the MAC address. The details on this are still sketchy, but if the random MAC is consistent for a short period, retailers will still be able to track movements anonymously, but they won't recognize repeat visitors.  That may be sufficient for traffic analytics, but it will stymie target marketing.  In the case of marketing, using iBeacons with opt-in permission from consumers will be the way forward. There is always a battle between utility and privacy, so I expect many more changes in this area.  Incidentally, if you'd like to see where beacons are being used this site tracks them around the world.

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• Point line collision reaction

  - by user4523

  I am trying to program point line segment collision detection and reaction. I am doing this for fun and to learn. The point moves (it has a velocity, and can be controlled by the user), whilst the lines are strait and stationary. The lines are not axis aligned. Everything is in 2D. It is quite straight forward to work out if a collision has occurred. For each frame, the point moves from A to B. AB is a line, and if it crosses the line segment, a collision has occurred (or will occur) and I am able to work out the point of intersection (poi). The problem I am having is with the reaction. Ideally I would like the point to be prevented from moving across the line. In one frame, I can move the point back to the poi (or only alow it to move as far as the poi), and alter the velocity. The problem I am having with this approach (I think) is that, next frame the user may try to cross the line again. Although the point is on the poi, the point may not be exactly on the line. Since it is not axis aligned, I think there is always some subtle rounding issue (A float representation of a point on a line might be rounded to a point that is slightly on one side or the other). Because of this, next frame the path might not intersect the line (because it can start on the other side and move away from it) and the point is effectively allowed to cross the line. Firstly, does the analysis sound correct? Having accepted (maybe) that I cannot always exactly position the point on the line, I tried to move the point away from the line slightly (either along the normal to the line, or along the path vector). I then get a problem at edges. Attempting to fix one collision by moving the point away from the line (even slightly) can cause it to cross another line (one shape I am dealing with is a star, with sharp corners). This can mean that the solution to one collision inadvertently creates another collision, which is ignored. Again, does this sound correct? Anyway, whatever I try, I am having difficulty with edges, and the point is occasionally able to penetrate the polygons and cross lines, which is undesirable. Whilst I can find a lot of information about collision detection on the web (and on this site) I can find precious little information on collision reaction. Does any one know of any good point line collision reaction tutorials? Or is my approach too flawed/over complicated?

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• What is the recommended way to output values to FBO targets? (OpenGL 3.3 + GLSL 330)

  - by datSilencer

  I'll begin by apologizing for any dumb assumptions you might find in the code below since I'm still pretty much green when it comes to OpenGL programming. I'm currently trying to implement deferred shading by using FBO's and their associated targets (textures in my case). I have a simple (I think :P) geometry+fragment shader program and I'd like to write its Fragment Shader stage output to three different render targets (previously bound by a call to glDrawBuffers()), like so: #version 330 in vec3 WorldPos0; in vec2 TexCoord0; in vec3 Normal0; in vec3 Tangent0; layout(location = 0) out vec3 WorldPos; layout(location = 1) out vec3 Diffuse; layout(location = 2) out vec3 Normal; uniform sampler2D gColorMap; uniform sampler2D gNormalMap; vec3 CalcBumpedNormal() { vec3 Normal = normalize(Normal0); vec3 Tangent = normalize(Tangent0); Tangent = normalize(Tangent - dot(Tangent, Normal) * Normal); vec3 Bitangent = cross(Tangent, Normal); vec3 BumpMapNormal = texture(gNormalMap, TexCoord0).xyz; BumpMapNormal = 2 * BumpMapNormal - vec3(1.0, 1.0, -1.0); vec3 NewNormal; mat3 TBN = mat3(Tangent, Bitangent, Normal); NewNormal = TBN * BumpMapNormal; NewNormal = normalize(NewNormal); return NewNormal; } void main() { WorldPos = WorldPos0; Diffuse = texture(gColorMap, TexCoord0).xyz; Normal = CalcBumpedNormal(); } If my render target textures are configured as: RT1:(GL_RGB32F, GL_RGB, GL_FLOAT, GL_TEXTURE0, GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT0) RT2:(GL_RGB32F, GL_RGB, GL_FLOAT, GL_TEXTURE1, GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT1) RT3:(GL_RGB32F, GL_RGB, GL_FLOAT, GL_TEXTURE2, GL_COLOR_ATTACHMENT2) And assuming that each texture has an internal format capable of contaning the incoming data, will the fragment shader write the corresponding values to the expected texture targets? On a related note, do the textures need to be bound to the OpenGL context when they are Multiple Render Targets? From some Googling, I think there are two other ways to output to MRTs: 1: Output each component to gl_FragData[n]. Some forum posts say this method is deprecated. However, looking at the latest OpenGL 3.3 and 4.0 specifications at opengl.org, the core profiles still mention this approach. 2: Use a typed output array variable for the expected type. In this case, I think it would be something like this: out vec3 [3] output; void main() { output[0] = WorldPos0; output[1] = texture(gColorMap, TexCoord0).xyz; output[2] = CalcBumpedNormal(); } So which is then the recommended approach? Is there a recommended approach at all if I plan to code on top of OpenGL 3.3? Thanks for your time and help!

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• Organization &amp; Architecture UNISA Studies &ndash; Chap 13

  - by MarkPearl

  Learning Outcomes Explain the advantages of using a large number of registers Discuss the way in which compilers optimize register usage Discuss the evolution of CISC machines Describe the characteristics of RISC architecture Discuss the RISC vs. CISC controversy Describe the way in which RISC and CISC design principles can be combined Instruction Execution Characteristics To understand the the line of reasoning of RISC advocates, we need a brief overview of instruction execution characteristics. These include… Operations Operands Procedure Calls These three sections can be studied in depth in the textbook at pages 503 - 505 A number of groups have come up with the conclusion that the attempt to make the instruction set architecture closer to HLLs (High Level Languages) is not the most effective design strategy. Rather HLL’s can be best supported by optimizing performance of the most time-consuming features of typical HLL programs. Generally 3 main characteristics came up to improve performance… Use a large number of registers or use a compiler to optimize register usage Careful attention needs to be paid to the design of instruction pipelines A simplified (reduced) instruction set is indicated The use of a large register optimization One of the most important design principles of RISC machines is the use of a large number of registers. The concept of register windows and the use of a large register file versus the use of cache memory are discussed. On the face of it, the use of a large set of registers should decrease the need to access memory. The design task is to organize the registers in such a fashion that this goal is realized. Read page 507 – 510 for a detailed explanation. Compiler-based register optimization   Reduced Instructions Set Architecture There are two advantages to smaller programs… Because the program takes up less memory, there is a savings in that resource (this was more compelling when memory was more expensive) Smaller programs should improve performance, and this will happen in two ways – fewer instructions means fewer instruction bytes to be fetched and in a paging environment smaller programs occupy fewer pages, reducing page faults. Certain characteristics are common to RISC processors… One instruction per cycle Register-to-register operations Simple addressing modes Simple instruction formats RISC vs. CISC After initial enthusiasm for RISC machines, there has been a growing realization that RISC designs may benefit from the inclusion of some CISC features CISC designs may benefit from the inclusion of some RISC features

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• How to use multiple search keys?

  - by user32565

  I have a database wherein the files are named abcd100.00b, abcd101.00b, etc. I need a code where when the user enters abcd separate then 100 to 110, all the files with the name abcd and in the range 100 to 110 should get displayed now the following code can display only the first four characters. How do I implement this? <?php //capture search term and remove spaces at its both ends if the is any $searchTerm = trim($_GET['keyname']) ; //check whether the name parsed is empty if($searchTerm == "rinex_file") { echo "Enter name you are searching for."; exit(); } if($searchTerm == "rinex_file") { echo "Enter name you are searching for."; exit(); } //database connection info $host = "localhost"; //server $db = "rinex"; //database name $user = "m"; //dabases user name $pwd = "c"; //password //connecting to server and creating link to database $link = mysqli_connect($host, $user, $pwd, $db); //MYSQL search statement $query = "SELECT * FROM rinexo WHERE rinex_file LIKE '%$searchTerm%'"; $results = mysqli_query($link, $query) ; /* check whethere there were matching records in the table by counting the number of results returned */ if(mysqli_num_rows($results) >= 1){ echo '<table border="1"> <tr> <th>rinex version</th> <th>program</th> <th>date</th> <th>maker name</th> <th>maker number</th> <th>observer</th> <th>agency</th> <th>position_X_Y_Z</th> </tr>'; while($row = mysqli_fetch_array($results)){ echo '<tr> <td>'.$row['rinex_version'].'</td> <td>'.$row['pgm'].'</td> <td>'.$row['date'].'</td> <td>'.$row['marker_name'].'</td> <td>'.$row['marker_no'].'</td> <td>'.$row['observer'].'</td> <td>'.$row['agency'].'</td> <td>'.$row['position_X_Y_Z'].'</td> </tr>'; } echo '</table>'; }else{ echo "There was no matching record for the name " . $searchTerm; }

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• The Problem Should Define the Process, Not the Tool

  - by thatjeffsmith

  All around awesome tool, but not the only gadget in your toolbox.I’m stepping down from my SQL Developer pulpit today and standing up on my philosophical soap box. I’m frequently asked to help folks transition from one set of database tools over to Oracle SQL Developer, which I’m MORE than happy to do. But, I’m not looking to simply change the way people interact with Oracle database. What I care about is your productivity. Is there a faster, more efficient way for you to connect the dots, get from A to B, or just get home to your kids or to the pub for happy hour? If you have defined a business process around a specific tool, what happens when that tool ‘goes away?’ Does the business stop? No, you feel immediate pain until you are able to re-implement the process using another mechanism. Where I get confused, or even frustrated, is when someone asks me to redesign our tool to match their problem. Tools are just tools. Saying you ‘can’t load your data anymore because XYZ’ isn’t valid when you could easily do that same task via SQL*Loader, Create Table As Selects, or 9 other different mechanisms. Sometimes changes brings opportunity for improvement in the process. Don’t be afraid to step back and re-evaluate a problem with a fresh set of eyes. Just trying to replicate your process in another tool exactly as it was done in the ‘old tool’ doesn’t always make sense. Quick sidebar: scheduling a Windows program to kick off thousands if not millions of table inserts from Excel versus using a ‘proper’ server process using SQL*Loader and or external tables means sacrificing scalability and reliability for convenience. Don’t let old habits blind you to new solutions and possibilities. Of couse I’m not going to sit here and say that our tools aren’t deficient in some areas or can’t be improved upon. But I bet if we work together we can find something that’s not only better for the business, but is also better for you. What do you ‘miss’ since you’ve started using SQL Developer as your primary Oracle database tools? I’d love to start a thread here and share ideas on how we can better serve you and your organizations needs. The end solution might not look exactly what you have in mind starting out, but I had no idea I’d be a Product Manager when I started college either What can you no longer ‘do’ since you picked up SQL Developer? What hurts more than it should? What keeps you from being great versus just good?

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• Drawing flaming letters in 3D with OpenGL ES 2.0

  - by Chiquis

  I am a bit confused about how to achieve this. What I want is to "draw with flames". I have achieved this with textures successfully, but now my concern is about doing this with particles to achieve the flaming effect. Am I supposed to create a path along which I should add many particle emitters that will be emitting flame particles? I understand the concept for 2D, but for 3D are the particles always supposed to be facing the user? Something else I'm worried about is the performance hit that will occur by having that many particle emitters, because there can be many letters and drawings at the same time, and each of these elements will have many particle emitters. More detailed explanation: I have a path of points, which is my model. Imagine a dotted letter "S" for example. I want make the "S" be on fire. The "S" is just an example it can be a circle, triangle, a line, pretty much any path described by my set of points. For achieving this fire effect I thought about using particles. So I am using a program called "Particle Designer" to create a fire style particle emitter. This emitter looks perfect on 2D on the iphone screen dimensions. So then I thought that I could probably draw an S or any other figure if i place many particle emitters next to each other following the path described. To move from the 2D version to the 3D version I thought about, scaling the emitter (with a scale matrix multiplication in its model matrix) and then moving it to a point in my 3D world. I did this and it works. So now I have 1 particle emitter in the 3D world. My question is, is this how you would achieve a flaming letter? Is this too inefficient if i expect to have many flaming paths on my world? Am i supposed to rotate the particle's quad so that its always looking at the user? (the last one is because i noticed that if u look at it from the side the particles start to flatten out)

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• Why do some user agents have spam urls in them (and why are they always Opera/Presto User-Agents)?

  - by Erx_VB.NExT.Coder

  If you go to (say) the last 100 entries (visits) to the botsvsbrowsers.com website (exact link, feel free to take a look: http://www.botsvsbrowsers.com/recent/listings/index.html ), you'd notice that almost every User Agent that has the keywords "Opera" and "Presto" inside them, will almost certainly have a web link (URL/Web Address) inside it, and it won't just be a normal web address, but a HTML anchor tag/link to that address. Why is this so, I could not even find a single discussion about it on the internet, nowhere, I tried varying my search terms many times. If the user agent contains the words "Opera" and "Presto" it doesnt mean it will have this weblink, but it means there is about an 80% change that it will. A typical anchor tag/link inside a user agent will look like this: Mozilla/4.0 <a href="http://osis-uk.co.uk/disabled-equipment">disability equipment</a> (Windows NT 5.1; U; en) Presto/2.10.229 Version/11.60 If you check it out at the website, http://www.botsvsbrowsers.com/recent/listings/index.html you will notice that the back and forward arrows are in there unescaped format. This isn't just true for botsvsbrowsers, but several other user agent listing sites. I'm really confused and feel line I'm in a room full of 10,000 people and am the only one seeing this ghost :). If I'm doing statistical analysis, should I include or exclude this type of user agent from my listing (ie: are these just normal users who've set their user agents to attempt to drive some traffic to their sites as they browser the web), or is there something else going on? The fact that it is so consistent in terms of its format leads me to believe that it is an automated process (the setting or alteration of the user agent) so I cannot decide or understand the process by which this change is made (I know how to change a user agent), but unsure which program or facility is doing this, especially since it is exclusive to Opera (Presto) user agents that are beyond I think an 8 or 9 point something browser version. I've run some statistical tests, parsing entries from all over the place, writing custom programs, to get a better understanding of this. Keep in mind that I see normal URL's in user agents infrequently, they are just text such as +http://www.someSite.com appended to a user agent normally, especially if its a crawler or bot it provided its service URL, this is normal and isnt done with an embedded link (A HREF=) etc, so I'm not talking about "those".

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• How is a switch statement better than a series of if statements? [closed]

  - by user1276078

  Possible Duplicate: Should I use switch statements or long if…else chains? I'm working on a small program that will conduct an Insertion Sort. A number will be inputted through the keyboard and stored in a variable I called "num." I've decided to use a switch statement in order to obtain the number inputted. switch( e.getKeyCode() ) { case KeyEvent.VK_0: num = 0; break; case KeyEvent.VK_1: num = 1; break; case KeyEvent.VK_2: num = 2; break; case KeyEvent.VK_3: num = 3; break; case KeyEvent.VK_4: num = 4; break; case KeyEvent.VK_5: num = 5; break; case KeyEvent.VK_6: num = 6; break; case KeyEvent.VK_7: num = 7; break; case KeyEvent.VK_8: num = 8; break; case KeyEvent.VK_9: num = 9; break; } I realized one other course of action could have been to use a set of if statements. if( e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_0 ) num = 0; else if( e.getKeyCode() == KeyEvent.VK_1 ) num = 1; etc. for every number up until 9. I then wondered what the essential difference is between a switch statement and a series of if statements. I know it saves space and time to write, but it's not that much. So, my question is, aside from the space, does a switch statement differ from a series of if statments in any way? Is it faster, less error-prone, etc.? This question really doesn't affect my code that much. I was just wondering. Also, this question pertains to the JAVA language, not any other programming language.

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• Encapsulating code in F# (Part 1)

  - by MarkPearl

  I have been looking at F# for a while now and seem a few really interesting samples and snippets on howto’s. This has been great to see the basic outline of the language and the possibilities, however a nagging question in the back of my mind has been what does an F# project look like? How do I code group code in F# so that it can be modularized and brought in and out of a project easily? My Expert F# book has an entire chapter (7) dedicated to this and after browsing the other chapters of the book I decided that this topic was something I really wanted to know more about now! Because of my C# background I keep trying to think in F# of objects. So to try and get a clearer idea of how to do things the F# way I am first going to take a very simplified C# example and try to “translate” it. using System; namespace ConsoleApplication1 { namespace ExampleOfEncapsulationInCSharp { class Program { static void EncapsulatedVariableInAMethod() { int count = 10; Console.WriteLine(count); } static void Main(string[] args) { EncapsulatedVariableInAMethod(); Console.ReadLine(); } } } } From the above example the count integer is encapsulated within EncapsulatedVariableInAMethod method. You couldn’t access the count variable from outside the scope of its parent method but have full access to it within the method. Lets look at my F# equivalent… open System let EncapsulatedVariableInAMethod = let count = 10 Console.WriteLine(count) () EncapsulatedVariableInAMethod Console.ReadLine()   Now, when I first attempted to write the F# code I got stuck… I didn’t have the Console.WriteLine calls but had the following… open System let EncapsulatedVariableInAMethod = let count = 10 EncapsulatedVariableInAMethod Console.ReadLine()   The compiler didn’t like the let before the count = 10. This is because every F# expression must evaluate to a value. If I did not want to make the Console call, I would still need to evaluate the expression to something – and for this reason the Unit Type is provided. I could have done something like…. open System let EncapsulatedVariableInAMethod = let count = 10 () EncapsulatedVariableInAMethod Console.ReadLine()   Which the compiler would be happy with…

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• Object Oriented Design of a Small Java Game

  - by user2733436

  This is the problem i am dealing with. I have to make a simple game of NIM. I am learning java using a book so far i have only coded programs that deal with 2 classes. This program would have about 4 classes i guess including the main class. My problem is i am having a difficult time designing classes how they will interact with each other. I really want to think and use a object oriented approach. So the first thing i did was design the Pile CLASS as it seemed the easiest and made the most sense to me in terms of what methods go in it. Here is what i have got down for the Pile Class so far. package Nim; import java.util.Random; public class Pile { private int initialSize; public Pile(){ } Random rand = new Random(); public void setPile(){ initialSize = (rand.nextInt(100-10)+10); } public void reducePile(int x){ initialSize = initialSize - x; } public int getPile(){ return initialSize; } public boolean hasStick(){ if(initialSize>0){ return true; } else { return false; } } } Now i need help in designing the Player Class. By that i mean i am not asking for anyone to write code for me as that defeats the purpose of learning i was just wondering how would i design the player class and what would go on it. My guess is that the player class would contain method for choosing move for computer and also receiving the move human user makes. Lastly i am guessing in the Game class i am guessing the turns would be handeled. I am really lost right now so i was wondering if someone can help me think through this problem it would be great. Starting with the player class would be appreciated. I know there are some solutions for this problem online but i refuse to look at because i want to develop my own approach to such problems and i am confident if i can get through this problem i can solve other problems. I apologize if this question is a bit poor but in specific i need help in designing the Player class.

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• RPi and Java Embedded GPIO: It all begins with hardware

  - by hinkmond

  So, you want to connect low-level peripherals (like blinky-blinky LEDs) to your Raspberry Pi and use Java Embedded technology to program it, do you? You sick foolish masochist. No, just kidding! That's awesome! You've come to the right place. I'll step you though it. And, as with many embedded projects, it all begins with hardware. So, the first thing to do is to get acquainted with the GPIO header on your RPi board. A "header" just means a thingy with a bunch of pins sticking up from it where you can connect wires. See the the red box outline in the photo. Now, there are many ways to connect to that header outlined by the red box in the photo (which the RPi folks call the P1 header). One way is to use a breakout kit like the one at Adafruit. But, we'll just use jumper wires in this example. So, to connect jumper wires to the header you need a map of where to connect which wire. That's why you need to study the pinout in the photo. That's your map for connecting wires. But, as with many things in life, it's not all that simple. RPi folks have made things a little tricky. There are two revisions of the P1 header pinout. One for older boards (RPi boards made before Sep 2012), which is called Revision 1. And, one for those fancy 512MB boards that were shipped after Sep 2012, which is called Revision 2. So, first make sure which board you have: either you have the Model A or B with 128MB or 256MB built before Sep 2012 and you need to look at the pinout for Rev. 1, or you have the Model B with 512MB and need to look at Rev. 2. That's all you need for now. More to come... Hinkmond

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• Is it dangerous for me to give some of my Model classes Control-like methods?

  - by Pureferret

  In my personal project I have tried to stick to MVC, but I've also been made aware that sticking to MVC too tightly can be a bad thing as it makes writing awkward and forces the flow of the program in odd ways (i.e. some simple functions can be performed by something that normally wouldn't, and avoid MVC related overheads). So I'm beginning to feel justified in this compromise: I have some 'manager programs' that 'own' data and have some way to manipulate it, as such I think they'd count as both part of the model, and part of the control, and to me this feels more natural than keepingthem separate. For instance: One of my Managers is the PlayerCharacterManager that has these methods: void buySkill(PlayerCharacter playerCharacter, Skill skill); void changeName(); void changeRole(); void restatCharacter(); void addCharacterToGame(); void createNewCharacter(); PlayerCharacter getPlayerCharacter(); List<PlayerCharacter> getPlayersCharacter(Player player); List<PlayerCharacter> getAllCharacters(); I hope the mothod names are transparent enough that they don't all need explaining. I've called it a manager because it will help manage all of the PlayerCharacter 'model' objects the code creates, and create and keep a map of these. I may also get it to store other information in the future. I plan to have another two similar classes for this sort of control, but I will orchestrate when and how this happens, and what to do with the returned data via a pure controller class. This splitting up control between informed managers and the controller, as opposed to operating just through a controller seems like it will simplify my code and make it flow more. My question is, is this a dangerous choice, in terms of making the code harder to follow/test/fix? Is this somethign established as good or bad or neutral? I oculdn't find anything similar except the idea of Actors but that's not quite why I'm trying to do. Edit: Perhaps an example is needed; I'm using the Controller to update the view and access the data, so when I click the 'Add new character to a player button' it'll call methods in the controller that then go and tell the PlayerCharacterManager class to create a new character instance, it'll call the PlayerManager class to add that new character to the player-character map, and then it'll add this information to the database, and tell the view to update any GUIs effected. That is the sort of 'control sequence' I'm hoping to create with these manager classes.

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• Multi-threaded JOGL Problem

  - by moeabdol

  I'm writing a simple OpenGL application in Java that implements the Monte Carlo method for estimating the value of PI. The method is pretty easy. Simply, you draw a circle inside a unit square and then plot random points over the scene. Now, for each point that is inside the circle you increment the counter for in points. After determining for all the random points wither they are inside the circle or not you divide the number of in points over the total number of points you have plotted all multiplied by 4 to get an estimation of PI. It goes something like this PI = (inPoints / totalPoints) * 4. This is because mathematically the ratio of a circle's area to a square's area is PI/4, so when we multiply it by 4 we get PI. My problem doesn't lie in the algorithm itself; however, I'm having problems trying to plot the points as they are being generated instead of just plotting everything at once when the program finishes executing. I want to give the application a sense of real-time display where the user would see the points as they are being plotted. I'm a beginner at OpenGL and I'm pretty sure there is a multi-threading feature built into it. Non the less, I tried to manually create my own thread. Each worker thread plots one point at a time. Following is the psudo-code: /* this part of the code exists in display() method in MyCanvas.java which extends GLCanvas and implements GLEventListener */ // main loop for(int i = 0; i < number_of_points; i++){ RandomGenerator random = new RandomGenerator(); float x = random.nextFloat(); float y = random.nextFloat(); Thread pointThread = new Thread(new PointThread(x, y)); } gl.glFlush(); /* this part of the code exists in run() method in PointThread.java which implements Runnable */ void run(){ try{ gl.glPushMatrix(); gl.glBegin(GL2.GL_POINTS); if(pointIsIn) gl.glColor3f(1.0f, 0.0f, 0.0f); // red point else gl.glColor3f(0.0f, 0.0f, 1.0f); // blue point gl.glVertex3f(x, y, 0.0f); // coordinates gl.glEnd(); gl.glPopMatrix(); }catch(Exception e){ } } I'm not sure if my approach to solving this issue is correct. I hope you guys can help me out. Thanks.

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• Imperative vs. component based programming [closed]

  - by AlexW

  I've been thinking about how programming and more specifically the teaching of programming is advocated amongst the community (online). Often I've heard that Ruby and RoR is an ideal platform for learning to program. I completely disagree... RoR and Ruby are based on the application of the component based paradigm, which means they are ideal for rapid application development. This is much like the MVC model in PHP and ASP.NET But, learning a proper imperative language like Java or C/C++ (or even Perl and PHP) is the only way for a new programmer to explore logic itself, and not get too bogged down in architectural concerns like the need for separation of concerns, and the preference for components. Maybe it's a personal preference thing. I rather think that the most interesting aspects to programming are the procedural bits of code I write that actually do stuff rather than the project planning, and modelling that comes about from fully object oriented engineering or simply using the MVC model. I know this may sound confused to some of you. I feel strongly though that the best way for programming to be taught is through imperative and procedural methods. Architectural (component) methods come later, if at all. After all, none of the amazing algorithms that exist were based on OOP practice! It's all procedural code when it comes to the 'magic'. OOP is useful in creating products and utilities. Algorithms are what makes things happen, and move data around, and so imperative (and/or procedural) code are what matters most. When I see programmers recommending Ruby on Rails to newbie developers, I think it's just so wrong. Just because you write less code with Ruby does not make it easier to do! It's the opposite... you have to know loads more to appreciate its succinct nature. New coders who really want to understand the nuts and bolts of coding need to go away and figure out writing methods/functions (i.e. imperative programming) and working in procedural style, in order to grasp the fundamentals, first, before looking into architectural ways of working. So, my question is: should Ruby ever be recommended as a first language? I think no (obviously)... what arguments are there for it?

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• Drawing a line using openGL does not work

  - by vikasm

  I am a beginner in OpenGL and tried to write my first program to draw some points and a line. I can see that the window opens with white background but no line is drawn. I was expecting to see red colored (because glColor3f(1.0, 0.0, 0.0);) dots (pixels) and line. But nothing is seen. Here is my code. void init2D(float r, float g, float b) { glClearColor(r,g,b,0.0); glMatrixMode(GL_PROJECTION); gluOrtho2D(0.0, 200.0, 0.0, 150.0); } void display() { glClear(GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT); glColor3f(1.0, 0.0, 0.0); glBegin(GL_POINTS); for(int i = 0; i < 10; i++) { glVertex2i(10+5*i, 110); } glEnd(); //draw a line glBegin(GL_LINES); glVertex2i(10,10); glVertex2i(100,100); glEnd(); glFlush(); } int main(int argc, char** argv) { //Initialize Glut glutInit(&argc, argv); //setup some memory buffers for our display glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_DOUBLE | GLUT_RGB); //set the window size glutInitWindowSize(500, 500); //create the window with the title 'points and lines' glutCreateWindow("Points and Lines"); init2D(0.0, 0.0, 0.0); glutDisplayFunc(display); glutMainLoop(); } I wanted to verify that the glcontext was opening properly and used this code: int main(int argc, char **argv) { glutInit(&argc, argv); //setup some memory buffers for our display glutInitDisplayMode(GLUT_DOUBLE | GLUT_RGB); //set the window size glutInitWindowSize(500, 500); //create the window with the title 'points and lines' glutCreateWindow("Points and Lines"); char *GL_version=(char *)glGetString(GL_VERSION); puts(GL_version); char *GL_vendor=(char *)glGetString(GL_VENDOR); puts(GL_vendor); char *GL_renderer=(char *)glGetString(GL_RENDERER); puts(GL_renderer); getchar(); return 0; } And the ouput I got was: 3.1.0 - Build 8.15.10.2345 Intel Intel(R) HD Graphics Family Can someone point out what I am doing wrong ? Thanks.

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• Let&rsquo;s keep informed with &ldquo;Data Explorer&rdquo;

  - by Luca Zavarella

  At Pass Summit 2011 a new project was announced. It’s a Microsoft SQL Azure Lab and its codename is Microsoft “Data Explorer”. According to the official blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dataexplorer/), this new tool provides an innovative way to acquire new knowledge from the data that interest you. In a nutshell, Data Explorer allows you to combine data from multiple sources, to publish and share the result. In addition, you can generate data streams in the RESTful open format (Open Data Protocol), and they can then be used by other applications. Nonetheless we can still use Excel or PowerPivot to analyze the results. Sources can be varied: Excel spreadsheets, text files, databases, Windows Azure Marketplace, etc.. For those who are not familiar with this resource, I strongly suggest you to keep an eye on the data services available to the Marketplace: https://datamarket.azure.com/browse/Data To tell the truth, as I read the above blog post, I was tempted to think of the Data Explorer as a "SSIS on Azure" addressed to the Power User. In fact, reading the response from Tim Mallalieu (Group Program Manager of Data Explorer) to the comment made to his post, I had a positive response to my first impression: “…we originally thinking of ourselves as Self-Service ETL. As we talked to more folks and started partnering with other teams we realized that would be an area that we can add value but that there were more opportunities emerging.” The typical operations of the ETL phase ( processing and organization of data in different formats) can be obtained thanks to Data Explorer Mashup. This is an image of the tool: The flexibility in the manipulation of information is given by Data Explorer Formula Language. This is a formula-based Excel-style specific language: Anyone wishing to know more can check the project page in addition to aforementioned blog: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/sqlazurelabs/labs/dataexplorer.aspx In light of this new project, there is no doubt about the intention of Microsoft to get closer and closer to the Power User, providing him flexible and very easy to use tools for data analysis. The prime example of this is PowerPivot. The question that remains is always the same: having in a company more Power User will implicitly mean having different data models representing the same reality. But this would inevitably lead to anarchical data management... What do you think about that?

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• Is it reasonable to insist on reproducing every defect before diagnosing and fixing it?

  - by amphibient

  I work for a software product company. We have large enterprise customers who implement our product and we provide support to them. For example, if there is a defect, we provide patches, etc. In other words, It is a fairly typical setup. Recently, a ticket was issued and assigned to me regarding an exception that a customer found in a log file and that has to do with concurrent database access in a clustered implementation of our product. So the specific configuration of this customer may well be critical in the occurrence of this bug. All we got from the customer was their log file. The approach I proposed to my team was to attempt to reproduce the bug in a similar configuration setup as that of the customer and get a comparable log. However, they disagree with my approach saying that I should not need to reproduce the bug (as that is overly time-consuming and will require simulating a server cluster on VMs) and that I should simply "follow the code" to see where the thread- and/or transaction-unsafe code is and put the change working off of a simple local development, which is not a cluster implementation like the environment from which the occurrence of the bug originates. To me, working out of an abstract blueprint (program code) rather than a concrete, tangible, visible manifestation (runtime reproduction) seems like a difficult working environment (for a person of normal cognitive abilities and attention span), so I wanted to ask a general question: Is it reasonable to insist on reproducing every defect and debug it before diagnosing and fixing it? Or: If I am a senior developer, should I be able to read (multithreaded) code and create a mental picture of what it does in all use case scenarios rather than require to run the application, test different use case scenarios hands on, and step through the code line by line? Or am I a poor developer for demanding that kind of work environment? Is debugging for sissies? In my opinion, any fix submitted in response to an incident ticket should be tested in an environment simulated to be as close to the original environment as possible. How else can you know that it will really remedy the issue? It is like releasing a new model of a vehicle without crash testing it with a dummy to demonstrate that the air bags indeed work. Last but not least, if you agree with me: How should I talk with my team to convince them that my approach is reasonable, conservative and more bulletproof?

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• How to Export a Contact to and Import a Contact from a vCard (.vcf) File in Outlook 2013

  - by Lori Kaufman

  vCard is the abbreviation for Virtual Business Card and is the standard format (.vcf files) for electronic business cards. vCards allow you to create and share contact information over the internet, such as in email messages and instant messaging. You can also use vCards to move contact information from one email or personal information management program to another, as long as both programs support the .vcf file format. vCards can contain name and address information, as well as phone numbers, email addresses, URLs, images, and audio clips. We will show you how to export a contact to and import a contact from a vCard, or .vcf file, in Outlook. First access the People section by clicking People at the bottom of the Outlook window. To view your contact in business card format, click Business Card in the Current View section of the Home tab. Select a contact by clicking on the name bar at the top of the business card. To export the selected contact as a vCard, click the File tab. On the Account Information screen, click Save As in the list of options on the left. The Save As dialog box displays. By default, the name of the contact is used to name the .vcf file in the File name edit box. Change the name, if desired, select a location for the file, and click Save. The contact is saved as a .vcf file. To import a vCard, or .vcf file, into Outlook, simply double-click on the .vcf file. By default, .vcf files are automatically associated with Outlook, so the file is opened in Outlook as a Contact. Make any changes or additions to the contact in the contact editing window. To save the contact, click Save & Close in the Actions section of the Contact tab. NOTE: Notice that because this contact is new, the full contact editing window displays rather than the Contact Card that displays when double-clicking on a contact. You can open the full contact editing window instead of the Contact Card when editing a contact or searching for a contact. The contact is added to the Contacts folder. You can add your contact information to a signature in business card format, and it will display as shown above in emails. We have covered how to create signatures and will be discussing more about signatures and business cards in Outlook.     

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• Blank desktop after updates today, only unity2d works now [closed]

  - by NewUbuntuUser

  Possible Duplicate: Unity doesn't load, no Launcher, no Dash appears I have been using 12.04 (wubi) since a week now and this is my 1st exposure to linux. Everything was going on fine till now , but today as soon as I updated through the update manager , docky gave a message that compositing is required or something, and i got an error window which asked me to report the error and then the update manager asked me to reboot. After rebooting , i just get a blank desktop screen , no launcher, no toolbar. I have to restart with the power key. However if i login through Unity 2d everything is fine except the benefits of the 3d environment. I guess something got messed up after the update and i cant figure out which program or file caused this mess. I would highly appreciate if someone could help me out with this as I really liked working on ubuntu after windows 7. Thanks! SOLVED-- Thanks @jrg for the link provided.. it helped me to come out of this mess. Actually some update of compizconfig made the unity plugin inactive did something to the Animation add ons , the one which you use for the burn effect etc. What i did was : On the blank desktop Pressed keys Ctrl + Alt + T to bring up the terminal and typed ccsm This brought up the compiz config system manager, there i enabled the unity plugin and rebooted. Everything started working fine. But then again when i started the addons plugin ,everything went back to square one.. :( . This time pressing Ctrl + Alt + T also did not help. Then i tried Ctrl + Alt + F1 , it brought up a terminal or whatever u call it, and then i typed unity --reset , it did some resetting and in the end it showed some comositing done , I pressed Ctrl + Alt + F7 to come back to the desktop , and here it was , my old sweet desktop.. it had the animation effects too like wobbly windows, excepting the addons like the burn effect, i guess something got wrong with the last update of that addon plugin and now whenever i try turning that on , everything goes poof!! 6 hours wasted , but i guess i learnt something new.. not bad for an orthodontist i guess :))

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• Why C++ people loves multithreading when it comes to performances?

  - by user1849534

  I have a question, it's about why programmers seems to love concurrency and multi-threaded programs in general. I'm considering 2 main approach here: an async approach basically based on signals, or just an async approach as called by many papers and languages like the new C# 5.0 for example, and a "companion thread" that maanges the policy of your pipeline a concurrent approach or multi-threading approach I will just say that I'm thinking about the hardware here and the worst case scenario, and I have tested this 2 paradigms myself, the async paradigm is a winner at the point that I don't get why people 90% of the time talk about concurrency when they wont to speed up things or make a good use of their resources. I have tested multi-threaded programs and async program on an old machine with an Intel quad-core that doesn't offer a memory controller inside the CPU, the memory is managed entirely by the motherboard, well in this case performances are horrible with a multi-threaded application, even a relatively low number of threads like 3-4-5 can be a problem, the application is unresponsive and is just slow and unpleasant. A good async approach is, on the other hand, probably not faster but it's not worst either, my application just waits for the result and doesn't hangs, it's responsive and there is a much better scaling going on. I have also discovered that a context change in the threading world it's not that cheap in real world scenario, it's infact quite expensive especially when you have more than 2 threads that need to cycle and swap among each other to be computed. On modern CPUs the situation it's not really that different, the memory controller it's integrated but my point is that an x86 CPUs is basically a serial machine and the memory controller works the same way as with the old machine with an external memory controller on the motherboard. The context switch is still a relevant cost in my application and the fact that the memory controller it's integrated or that the newer CPU have more than 2 core it's not bargain for me. For what i have experienced the concurrent approach is good in theory but not that good in practice, with the memory model imposed by the hardware, it's hard to make a good use of this paradigm, also it introduces a lot of issues ranging from the use of my data structures to the join of multiple threads. Also both paradigms do not offer any security abut when the task or the job will be done in a certain point in time, making them really similar from a functional point of view. According to the X86 memory model, why the majority of people suggest to use concurrency with C++ and not just an async aproach ? Also why not considering the worst case scenario of a computer where the context switch is probably more expensive than the computation itself ?

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• What's a good way to get an IT internship? [closed]

  - by user1419715

  I'm a second year CS student who's worked really hard to build and expand my skills. I've spent the past week now trying to find a place to volunteer (i.e. work for FREE) so I can get a little bit of in-the-door experience with web development. I have a portfolio with several decent projects, a handful of languages and other hard/soft skills that employers constantly say they're clamoring for. I can't even get people to take my calls. This is me offering to work for them for FREE, remember. I'm in a reputable program at a respected school, get decent grades and...yeah, I've worked really hard to be presentable. On the rare occassions I actually get to speak to somebody at a design firm they hedge and do everything they can to get me off the phone. Nobody's ever expressed even the slightest interest in taking me on. The answer to the experience problem is supposed to be "you need to spend a year or two building up a big portfolio of projects on your own" so that employers will be impressed. I've done that. Websites, standalone apps, etc.. Nobody will even look at my resume, though. Question: Why does there seem to be so little interest in taking on upaid interns in the world of IT? Update: Sorry you all think I'm too aggressive or angry. It wasn't my intent to be a jerk to people while asking them for their opinions. That said, how would you feel if employer after employer turned you down cold when you offered yourself to them without asking for remuneration? One can't even get an unpaid job in this economy now, it seems. How am I going about my search? I find web firms in my area and contact them via email with a brief sales pitch of myself and a resume attached. Then a couple of days later I follow up with a phone contact. Nobody--anywhere--is advertising for interns of any kind. If there were I'm sure there'd be about 500 resumes per position, even unpaid. I've had good experiences in the past with cold-calling firms for actual paid jobs in other industries (hiring is a pain in the ass process and a call like this can show initiative while reducing a busy employer's need to do all the hiring overhead work), so I thought volunteering would work at least as well. My skills are pretty good for a CS student and include the usual suspects: HTML/CSS/Javascript, Python, Java, C, C#/.Net etc etc. I made a point on my resume to tie each ability claim to a project as well. Oh, and regarding the "working for free still costs the employer money" argument: that's an excellent point I hadn't though of. But it means...what? I have to pay the employer for the privilege of working there now?

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• Looking for an algorithm to connect dots - shortest route

  - by e4ch

  I have written a program to solve a special puzzle, but now I'm kind of stuck at the following problem: I have about 3200 points/nodes/dots. Each of these points is connected to a few other points (usually 2-5, theoretical limit is 1-26). I have exactly one starting point and about 30 exit points (probably all of the exit points are connected to each other). Many of these 3200 points are probably not connected to neither start nor end point in any way, like a separate net, but all points are connected to at least one other point. I need to find the shortest number of hops to go from entry to exit. There is no distance between the points (unlike the road or train routing problem), just the number of hops counts. I need to find all solutions with the shortest number of hops, and not just one solution, but all. And potentially also solutions with one more hop etc. I expect to have a solution with about 30-50 hops to go from start to exit. I already tried: 1) randomly trying possibilities and just starting over when the count was bigger than a previous solution. I got first solution with 3500 hops, then it got down to about 97 after some minutes, but looking at the solutions I saw problems like unnecessary loops and stuff, so I tried to optimize a bit (like not going back where it came from etc.). More optimizations are possible, but this random thing doesn't find all best solutions or takes too long. 2) Recursively run through all ways from start (chess-problem-like) and breaking the try when it reached a previous point. This was looping at about a length of 120 nodes, so it tries chains that are (probably) by far too long. If we calculate 4 possibilities and 120 nodes, we're reaching 1.7E72 possibilities, which is not possible to calculate through. This is called Depth-first search (DFS) as I found out in the meantime. Maybe I should try Breadth-first search by adding some queue? The connections between the points are actually moves you can make in the game and the points are how the game looks like after you made the move. What would be the algorithm to use for this problem? I'm using C#.NET, but the language shouldn't matter.

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• Is it smart to take a year off from school to get experience?

  - by user134147

  firstly I apologize if this question is not appropriate for the site, but I've seen other similar (though slightly deviant) questions on this sight before and I know the people here are the most qualified to answer my question. Anyways, I'm currently between my sophomore and junior years at a 4 year university, and after a bit of deliberation I've decided on computer science as a major (BA, by the way, as a BS would require me to stay at least an extra year the way our program is set up). I've been interested now in programming for a few months and I've developed a passion for it in a very short time. I began learning C++, migrating to Java recently when I learned my school focuses on this language. Now, I should mention that the concept of higher education has never sat well with me, so part of my motivation for wanting to take time off is to truly challenge myself and see what I can accomplish when I actually try at something. The autodidact in me finds it difficult to focus on my passions while trying to keep a high GPA in unrelated classes. However, I understand the times we live in and therefore would plan to complete my degree after this year. So my question is whether or not the skills I learn in a year off from college could justify the time off from school. Unfortunately, I don't believe I know enough yet to gain any professional experience (internship, etc.) so I would mostly focus my time on learning Java and another language, possibly Wordpress (to gain an understanding of web programming concepts as I have not yet decided what field I want to get into, and to make some money to fund my off-year), and to delve into security concepts, which also interest me. I'm hoping I could work on projects, such as simple applications or contributions to open source software during this time to enhance my resume once I do finish school, so I can find a job out of college easier. I do not want to be the new hire who knows nothing beyond the concepts of his Java textbooks. Does anyone have any input about these thoughts of mine, or any ideas for where I should focus my studies or how high I might set the bar for my work? Thanks a lot everyone!

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• How to configure a longer version Number in artifactory

  - by claudine

  The version-numbers for our jars have to be longer them x.x.x. We would rather need x.x.x.x to integrate some old-fashioned self-made mechanism. This is, because we tag our software with x.x.x and as soon as we have a delivery to a customer one specific jar has to be build exactly at this point of time to fit to another backend, which communicates with our program. For that reason this one jar has the version 2.3.4.1, when generated and in next delivery of the same Version it is build and named 2.3.4.2. Now artifactory cannot handle this an doesn't save more than x.x.x.2 in some cases. So we thought of maybe edit the regular expression in the maven repository layout (see attached Screenshot) Because testing the path in the field below shows, that it cannot handle the version number. Of course for the rest of our jars still x.x.x has to work.. For Example here is the maven-metadata.xml <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?> <metadata> <groupId>com.firm</groupId> <artifactId>someid</artifactId> <version>1.5.1</version> <versioning> <latest>1.5.1</latest> <release>1.5.1</release> <versions> <version>1.4.62</version> </versions> <lastUpdated>20120926073942</lastUpdated> </versioning> </metadata> The folder structure looks like: someid 1.4.62 1.4.62.1 1.4.62.2 1.4.62.3 If we deploy an new artifact version (1.4.62.1), the maven-metadata.xml contains the 1.4.62.1 version. But the artifactory overrides the version number (1.4.62.x) to (1.4.62) after an unspecified time. It seems that the artifactory only support major, minor and revision numbers, and deletes the buildnumber. Now we looking for a solution do disable this behavior. We use the JFrog Artifactory version 2.5.0 (rev. 13086). Any ideas, maybe? Thanks in andvance

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