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• Does multi-platter hard-drive use all of their heads to read simultaneously?

  - by WiSaGaN

  Suppose we have a harddisk with 2 platters with characteristics below: Rotational rate: 10, 000 RPM Avg sectors/track: 1000 Surfaces: 4 Sector size: 512 bytes I was reading "Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective 2ed" when I found that it calculates transfer time as if it only uses ONE head to read a sector. If that's the case, why not use 4 heads to write(read) on 4 surfaces? So when I write a 2K bytes file, each head should only need to wait for the platters to rotate just one sector length instead of 4, thus reducing the transfer time by a factor of 4. Or even redesign sector to make each sector on one cylinder but on 4 tracks residing same position respectively on 4 surfaces. Each one of (512/4) bytes. So when the hd needs to read a sector of 512 bytes, we only need the disk to rotate roughly 1/4 compare to original time. The idea looks like RAID 0.

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• Does programmable hardware exist to allow hardware to be programmed by computers?

  - by agentbanks217

  I am a programmer and I have never really dealt with the hardware of anything, only software. I want to start building things that I can control from my computer using programming. My question is are there such devices on the market that have a programmable interface or API? For example, I want to build an automated window blinds opening/closing device, and I would like to be able to control it from my computer e.g. writing an app or some code to schedule them when to open and close. I would like to know if there are any devices that can be programmed to do that (the computer part)?

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• Does the ulkJSON library have limitations when dealing with base64 in Delphi 7?

  - by Da Gopherboy

  I'm working on a project that is using Delphi 7 to consume RESTful services. We are creating and decoding JSON with the ulkJSON library. Up to this point I've been able to successfully build and send JSON containing a base64 string that exceed 5,160kb. I can verify that the base64 is being received by the services and verify the integrity of the base64 once its there. In addition to sending, I can also receive and successfully decode JSON with a smaller (~ 256KB or less) base64. However I am experiencing some issues on the return trip when larger (~1,024KB+) base64 is involved for some reason. Specifically when attempting to use the following JSON format and function combination: JSON: { "message" : "/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQEAYABgAAD...." } Function: function checkResults(JSONFormattedString: String): String; var jsonObject : TlkJSONObject; iteration : Integer; i : Integer; x : Integer; begin jsonObject := TlkJSONobject.Create; // Validate that the JSONFormatted string is not empty. // If it is empty, inform the user/programmer, and exit from this routine. if JSONFormattedString = '' then begin result := 'Error: JSON returned is Null'; jsonObject.Free; exit; end; // Now that we can validate that this string is not empty, we are going to // assume that the string is a JSONFormatted string and attempt to parse it. // // If the string is not a valid JSON object (such as an http status code) // throw an exception informing the user/programmer that an unexpected value // has been passed. And exit from this routine. try jsonObject := TlkJSON.ParseText(JSONFormattedString) as TlkJSONobject; except on e:Exception do begin result := 'Error: No JSON was received from web services'; jsonObject.Free; exit; end; end; // Now that the object has been parsed, lets check the contents. try result := jsonObject.Field['message'].value; jsonObject.Free; exit; except on e:Exception do begin result := 'Error: No Message received from Web Services '+e.message; jsonObject.Free; exit; end; end; end; As mentioned above when using the above function, I am able to get small (256KB and less) base64 strings out of the 'message' field of a JSON object. But for some reason if the received JSON is larger than say 1,024kb the following line seems to just stop in its tracks: jsonObject := TlkJSON.ParseText(JSONFormattedString) as TlkJSONobject; No errors, no results. Following the debugger, I can go into the library, and see that the JSON string being passed is not considered to be JSON despite being in the format listed above. The only difference I can find between calls that work as expected and calls that do not work as expect appears to be the size of base64 being transmitted. Am I missing something completely obvious and should be shot for my code implementation (very possible)? Have I missed some notation regarding the limitations of the ulkJSON library? Any input would be extremely helpful. Thanks in advance stack!

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• Summer Programming Plans

  - by Gabe

  I've wanted to start "hacking" for many months now. But I put it off in favor of school and other things. Now, though, I'm free for the summer and want to learn as much as I can. I have a rough idea of what I want to try my hand at, but need some guidance as to what specifically - and how - I should learn. This is my plan so far: 1) Get good at programming in general. I plan to read up on how to think/work like a programmer. I'm waiting for the Pragmatic Programmer to arrive, which will be the first book I read. Q: What other books/ebooks should I look at? What more can I do here? 2) Learn/Improve at HTML/CSS. My first project will be to make a personal website/blog for myself using HTML and CSS. ----Then I hope to write/design articles like Dustin Curtis. After I finish this (and learn a programming language) I'll try to create user-based a user-focused website. Q: It's my understanding that just trying to design/manage websites is a good way to learn/improve at HTML/CSS. Is that all correct? 3) Try music development. This might be a sort of stretch for stackoverflow, but I'm interested in mixing/making techno songs. (Think Justice, or Daft Punk, or MSTRKRFT.) Q: I have a Mac. Any ideas on how I could start/learn music making? Any programs I should download, for instance? 4) My main goal: Learning a web development language/framework. I'm a year into learning/using C++. But what I really want to do is develop websites and web apps. I've searched online, and there seems to be great debate over which language/framework to learn first (and which is best). I think I've narrowed it down to three: Ruby (Rails), Python (Django), and PHP (?). Q #1: Which should I learn and use first? (Reasons?) Q #2: One reason I was leaning towards PHP is that I'm taking a PHP development course next semester. Learning it now would make that course easy. If PHP was not the answer to Q #1, is it worth learning both? Or, would it be better to just focus on PHP for this summer and next semester, and then transition thereafter to a better language? 5) iPhone/iPad Programming (Maybe). I've a number of simple, useful app ideas that I'd like to eventually get too. I just bought a Mac, as well as a few app development books. Q #1: Am I spreading myself thin trying to learn all of the above, and objective-C? Q #2: How much harder/easier is objective-C compared to the above languages? Also, how easy is it to learn obj-C after learning a web development language (and some C++)? Q #3: Yes or no? Should I go for it, or just keeep with #1-4 for now? Also: If you have any tips on how I should learn (or how you learned to hack), I'm all ears. I'd be especially interested in how you planned out learning: did you just hack whenever you felt like it, or did you "study" the language a few hours a day, or something else? Thanks so much, guys.

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• How to write a Mork File Format file in Java?

  - by Sumit Ghosh

  Iam working on a project which involves writing a Mork File (Mork is a database format used by Mozilla to store url history and other information.) It has been replaced by an enhanced version of SQLite in latest Mozilla 3.0. Now I have the code for parsing a Mork File , but Iam struggling a bit with this part of the the file. <(A9=3)(81=)([email protected])(80=0)(85=2)(86=4ac18267)(83=1) (87=Mark)(88=Colbath)(89=Mark Colbath)([email protected])(8B [email protected])(8C=512-282-2509)(8D=+504-9907-1342)(8E=512-282-2510) (8F=512-282-2511)(90=512-282-2512)(91=Two Blocks Past Oxen Team)(92 =Villa Alicia)(93=Siguatepeque)(94=Comayagua)(95=NA)(96=Honduras) (97=9309 Heatherwood Dr)(98=Apartment 1)(99=Austin)(9A=TX)(9B=78748) (9C=USA)(9D=Programmer)(9E=Programming)(9F=MPC Solutions)(A0 =rentaprogrammer)(A1=http://www.mpcsol.com)(A2 =http://www.jesuslovesthelittlechildren.org)(A3=Hannah)(A4=John) (A5=Faith)(A6=Timothy)(A7=Some notes go here.)(A8 [email protected])> {1:^80 {(k^C0:c)(s=9)} [1:^82(^BF=3)] [1(^83=)(^84=)(^85=)(^86=)(^87=)(^88=)(^89^82)(^8A^82)(^8B=)(^8C=) (^8D=)(^8E=0)(^8F=2)(^90=0)(^91=)(^92=)(^93=)(^94=)(^95=)(^96=) (^97=)(^98=)(^99=)(^9A=)(^9B=)(^9C=)(^9D=)(^9E=)(^9F=)(^A0=)(^A1=) (^A2=)(^A3=)(^A4=)(^A5=)(^A6=)(^A7=)(^A8=)(^A9=)(^AA=)(^AB=)(^AC=) (^AD=)(^AE=)(^AF=)(^B0=)(^B1=)(^B2=)(^B3=)(^B4=)(^B5=)(^B6=)(^B7=) (^B8=)(^B9=)(^BA=)(^BB=)(^BC^86)(^BD=1)] [2(^83^87)(^84^88)(^85=)(^86=)(^87^89)(^88=)(^89^8A)(^8A^8A)(^8B^8B) (^8C=)(^8D=)(^8E=2)(^8F=0)(^90=1)(^91^8C)(^92^8D)(^93^8E)(^94^8F) (^95^90)(^96=)(^97=)(^98=)(^99=)(^9A=)(^9B^91)(^9C^92)(^9D^93)(^9E^94) (^9F=NA)(^A0^96)(^A1^97)(^A2^98)(^A3^99)(^A4=TX)(^A5^9B)(^A6^9C) (^A7^9D)(^A8^9E)(^A9^9F)(^AA^A0)(^AB=)(^AC=)(^AD=)(^AE=)(^AF=)(^B0=) (^B1=)(^B2^A1)(^B3^A2)(^B4=)(^B5=)(^B6=)(^B7^A3)(^B8^A4)(^B9^A5) (^BA^A6)(^BB^A7)(^BC=0)(^BD=2)] [3(^83=)(^84=)(^85=)(^86=)(^87=)(^88=)(^89^A8)(^8A^A8)(^8B=)(^8C=) (^8D=)(^8E=0)(^8F=0)(^90=0)(^91=)(^92=)(^93=)(^94=)(^95=)(^96=) (^97=)(^98=)(^99=)(^9A=)(^9B=)(^9C=)(^9D=)(^9E=)(^9F=)(^A0=)(^A1=) (^A2=)(^A3=)(^A4=)(^A5=)(^A6=)(^A7=)(^A8=)(^A9=)(^AA=)(^AB=)(^AC=) (^AD=)(^AE=)(^AF=)(^B0=)(^B1=)(^B2=)(^B3=)(^B4=)(^B5=)(^B6=)(^B7=) (^B8=)(^B9=)(^BA=)(^BB=)(^BC=0)(^BD=3)]} Can someone tell me how this part of the Mork file relates to the data given below? run: NickName=,LastModifiedDate=4ac18267,FaxNumberType=,BirthMonth=,LastName=,HomePhone=,WorkCountry=,HomePhoneType=,PreferMailFormat=0,CellularNumber=,FamilyName=,[email protected],AnniversaryMonth=,HomeCity=,WorkState=,HomeCountry=,PhoneticFirstName=,PhoneticLastName=,HomeState=,WorkAddress=,WebPage1=,WebPage2=,HomeAddress2=,WorkZipCode=,_AimScreenName=,AnniversaryYear=,WorkPhoneType=,Notes=,WorkAddress2=,WorkPhone=,Custom3=,Custom4=,Custom1=,Custom2=,PagerNumber=,AnniversaryDay=,WorkCity=,AllowRemoteContent=0,CellularNumberType=,FaxNumber=,PopularityIndex=2,FirstName=,SpouseName=,CardType=,Department=,Company=,HomeAddress=,BirthDay=,SecondEmail=,RecordKey=1,DisplayName=,DefaultEmail=,DefaultAddress=,BirthYear=,Category=,PagerNumberType=,[email protected],JobTitle=,HomeZipCode=, NickName=,LastModifiedDate=0,FaxNumberType=,BirthMonth=,LastName=Colbath,HomePhone=+504-9907-1342,WorkCountry=USA,HomePhoneType=,PreferMailFormat=2,CellularNumber=512-282-2512,FamilyName=,[email protected],AnniversaryMonth=,HomeCity=Siguatepeque,WorkState=TX,HomeCountry=Honduras,PhoneticFirstName=,PhoneticLastName=,HomeState=Comayagua,WorkAddress=9309 HeatherwoodDr,WebPage1=http://www.mpcsol.com,WebPage2=http://www.jesuslovesthelittlechildren.org,HomeAddress2=VillaAlicia,WorkZipCode=78748,_AimScreenName=rentaprogrammer,AnniversaryYear=,WorkPhoneType=,Notes=Some notes go here.,WorkAddress2=Apartment 1,WorkPhone=512-282-2509,Custom3=Faith,Custom4=Timothy,Custom1=Hannah,Custom2=John,PagerNumber=512-282-2511,AnniversaryDay=,WorkCity=Austin,AllowRemoteContent=1,CellularNumberType=,FaxNumber=512-282-2510,PopularityIndex=0,FirstName=Mark,SpouseName=,CardType=,Department=Programming,Company=MPC Solutions,HomeAddress=Two Blocks Past Oxen Team,BirthDay=,[email protected],RecordKey=2,DisplayName=Mark Colbath,DefaultEmail=,DefaultAddress=,BirthYear=,Category=,PagerNumberType=,[email protected],JobTitle=Programmer,HomeZipCode=NA, NickName=,LastModifiedDate=0,FaxNumberType=,BirthMonth=,LastName=,HomePhone=,WorkCountry=,HomePhoneType=,PreferMailFormat=0,CellularNumber=,FamilyName=,[email protected],AnniversaryMonth=,HomeCity=,WorkState=,HomeCountry=,PhoneticFirstName=,PhoneticLastName=,HomeState=,WorkAddress=,WebPage1=,WebPage2=,HomeAddress2=,WorkZipCode=,_AimScreenName=,AnniversaryYear=,WorkPhoneType=,Notes=,WorkAddress2=,WorkPhone=,Custom3=,Custom4=,Custom1=,Custom2=,PagerNumber=,AnniversaryDay=,WorkCity=,AllowRemoteContent=0,CellularNumberType=,FaxNumber=,PopularityIndex=0,FirstName=,SpouseName=,CardType=,Department=,Company=,HomeAddress=,BirthDay=,SecondEmail=,RecordKey=3,DisplayName=,DefaultEmail=,DefaultAddress=,BirthYear=,Category=,PagerNumberType=,[email protected],JobTitle=,HomeZipCode=, I have been breaking my head for almost 2 days now, please someone who is part of the mozilla team can help, it would be really appreciated.

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• How do I evaluate my skillset against the current market to see what needs improvement and where my

  - by baijajusav

  First of all, this question may be out of bounds for this site. If so, remove it. I say this because this site seems to be a place for more concrete questions that are not so relative in nature. And before I begin, for those of you whom just prefer a question and not this sort of dialog, here is my question: How can I assess my current skills as a programmer and decide where and what areas to improve upon? That said, here's what I'm asking/talking about, in essence. The market is always in constant flux. As programmers we're always having to learn new things, update our skills, push ourselves into that next project. There's not a very good litmus test that I know of for us to get an idea of where we stand as programmers. I came across this blog post by Jeff Atwood talking about why can't programmers code. Instinctively (and as the post goes on to state) I rushed through the program in about 4 minutes (most of that time was b/c I was hand writing it out. Still, this doesn't really answer the question of where do my skills need to be to succeed in today's world. I real blogs, listen to podcasts, try to keep up on the latest things coming out. It has only been in the past couple of months that I made a decision to pick a focus area for my learning as I can't learn everything and trying to do so is to spread myself too thin. I chose ASP.NET MVC & C#. I plan to stick with Microsoft technologies, not out of some sense of loyalty or stubbornness, but rather because they seem to stream together and have a unifying connection between them. With Windows Phone 7 coming out, it seems that now is the obvious time to pick up WPF and Silverlight as well. Still, if you asked me to code something apart from intellisense and the internet, I probably couldn't get the syntax right. I don't have libraries memorized or know precisely where the classes I use exist within the .Net framework, namely because I haven't had to pull that knowledge out of the air. In a way, I suppose Visual Studio has insulated me, which isn't a good thing, but, at the same time, I've still been able to be productive. I'm working on my own side project to try and help my learning. In doing so, I'm trying to make use of best practices and 3rd party frameworks where I can. I'm using automapper and EF 1.0. I know everyone in the .net community seems to cry foul at the sound of EF 1.0, but I can't say why because I've never used it. There's no lazy loading and that has proven rather annoying; however, aside from that, I haven't had that much of an issue. Granted this is probably because I'm not writing tests as I go (which I'm not doing because I don't know how to test EF in tests and don't really have a clue how to write tests for ASP.NET MVC 1.0). I'm also using a custom membership provider; granted, it's a barebone implementation, but I'm using it still. My thinking in all of this is, while I am neglecting a great many important technologies that are in the mainstream, I'll have a working project in the end. I can come back and add those things after I finish. Doing it all now and at once seems like too much. I know how I work and I don't think I'd ever get it done that way. I've elected to make this a community wiki as I think this question might fight better there. If a moderator disagrees with that choice or the decision to post this here, the just delete the question. I'm not trying to make undue work for anyone. I'm just a programmer trying to assess my where his skills are now and where I should be improving.

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• Better, simpler example of 'semantic conflict'?

  - by rhubbarb

  I like to distinguish three different types of conflict from a version control system (VCS): textual syntactic semantic A textual conflict is one that is detected by the merge or update process. This is flagged by the system. A commit of the result is not permitted by the VCS until the conflict is resolved. A syntactic conflict is not flagged by the VCS, but the result will not compile. Therefore this should also be picked up by even a slightly careful programmer. (A simple example might be a variable rename by Left and some added lines using that variable by Right. The merge will probably have an unresolved symbol. Alternatively, this might introduce a semantic conflict by variable hiding.) Finally, a semantic conflict is not flagged by the VCS, the result compiles, but the code may have problems running. In mild cases, incorrect results are produced. In severe cases, a crash could be introduced. Even these should be detected before commit by a very careful programmer, through either code review or unit testing. My example of a semantic conflict uses SVN (Subversion) and C++, but those choices are not really relevant to the essence of the question. The base code is: int i = 0; int odds = 0; while (i < 10) { if ((i & 1) != 0) { odds *= 10; odds += i; } // next ++ i; } assert (odds == 13579) The Left (L) and Right (R) changes are as follows. Left's 'optimisation' (changing the values the loop variable takes): int i = 1; // L int odds = 0; while (i < 10) { if ((i & 1) != 0) { odds *= 10; odds += i; } // next i += 2; // L } assert (odds == 13579) Right's 'optimisation' (changing how the loop variable is used): int i = 0; int odds = 0; while (i < 5) // R { odds *= 10; odds += 2 * i + 1; // R // next ++ i; } assert (odds == 13579) This is the result of a merge or update, and is not detected by SVN (which is correct behaviour for the VCS). int i = 1; // L int odds = 0; while (i < 5) // R { odds *= 10; odds += 2 * i + 1; // R // next i += 2; // L } assert (odds == 13579) The assert fails because odds is 37. So my question is as follows. Is there a simpler example than this? Is there a simple example where the compiled executable has a new crash? As a secondary question, are there cases of this that you have encountered in real code? Again, simple examples are especially welcome.

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• Xcode 3 or Xcode 4

  - by Randolf

  Hi. I'm starting to learn development for the mac (then I'll learn iOS development). I just buy an iOS developer program, and I see there are 2 IDEs available for download: Xcode 3.x and Xcode 4 (GM Status). So I don't know where to start. Site's says that Xcode 4 its now "integrated" so there is one app instead of 3, and that it's better for small screen because tabs and other features (I'm using a 13" macbook). But looking for books I see books only for 3.X. I'm a C# & .NET programmer, I know that the fundamental is the language and the framework (Cocoa) but I've been told that getting proficient with Mac Dev is getting proficient with Xcode. I think that if I start with Xcode 4, then I'll learn on the "next" IDE and since I have no hurry I can wait until apps made with Xcode 4 are deployable (on the app store). But, maybe I'm wrong and I should start with Xcode 3 and the largest set of books and references available. Any advice?

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• Fitting it together, database, reporting, applications in C#

  - by alvonellos

  Introduction Preamble I was hesitant to post this, since it's an application whose intricate details are defined elsewhere, and answers may not be helpful to others. Within the past few weeks (I was actually going to write a blog post about this after I finished) I've discovered that the barrier I'm encountering is one that's actually quite common for newer developers. This question is not so much about a specific thing as it is about piecing those things together. I've searched the internet far and wide, and found many tutorials on how to create applications that are kind of similar to what I'm looking for. I've also looked at hiring another, more experienced, developer to help me along, but all I've gotten are unqualified candidates that don't have the experience necessary and won't take care of the client or project like I will. I'd rather have the project never transpire than to release a solution that is half-baked. I've asked professors at my school, but they've not turned up answers to my question. I'm an experienced developer, and I've written many applications that are -- very abstractly -- close to what I'm doing, but my experiences from those applications aren't giving me enough leverage to solve this particular problem. I just hope that posting this article isn't a mistake for me to write. Project Description I have a project I'm working on for a client that is a rewrite of an application, originally written in Foxpro 2.6 by someone before me, that performs some analysis (which, sadly, I'm not allowed to disclose as per of my employment contract) on financial data. One day, after a long talk between the client and I -- where he intimately described his frustrations with all the bugs I've been hacking out of this code for 6 months now -- he told me to just rewrite it and gave me a month to write a good 1/8 of this 65k LOC Foxpro monstrosity. this 65k line of code foxpro monstrosity. It'll take me a good 3 - 6 months to rewrite this software (I know things the original programmer did not, like inheritance) going as I am right now, but I'm quickly discovering that I'm going to need to use databases. Prior to this contract I didn't even know about foxpro, and so I've had to learn foxpro on the fly, write procedures and make modifications to the database. I've actually come to like it, and this project would be rewritten in Foxpro if it were still a supported language, because over the past few months, I've come to like the features of Foxpro that make it so easy to develop data-driven applications. I once perfomed an experiment, comparing C# to Foxpro. What took me 45 minutes in C# took me two in Foxpro, and I knew C# prior to Foxpro. I was hoping to leverage the power of C#, but it intimidates me that in foxpro, you can have one line of code and be using a database. Prior to this, I have never written any serious database development from scratch. All the applications that I've written are in a different league. They are either completely data-naive or data-naive enough that I can get away with not using a database through serialization or by designing algorithms that work with the data in a manner that is stateless, so there is no need to worry about databases. I've come to realize, very quickly, that serialization and my efficacy with data structures has been my crutch all these years that's prevented me from adventuring into databases, and has consequently hindered my success in real-world programming. Sure, I've written some database stuff in Perl and Python, and I've done forms and worked with relational databases and tables, I'm a wizard in Access and Excel (seriously) and can do just about anything, but it just feels unnatural writing SQL code in another language... I don't mind writing SQL, and I don't It's that bridge between the database and the program code that drives me absolutely bonkers. I hope I'm not the only one to think this, but it bothers me that I have to create statements like the following string sSql = "SELECT * from tablename" When there's really no reason for that kind of unchecked language binding between two languages and two API's. Don't get my wrong, SQL is great, but I don't like the idea that, when executing commands on a SQL database, that one must intermix database and application software, and there's no database independence, which means that different versions of different databases can break code. This isn't very nice. The nicest thing about Foxpro is the cohesiveness between programming language and database. It's so easy, and Foxpro makes it easy, because the tool just fits the task. I can see why so many developers have created a career with this language, because it lowered the barrier of entry to data-driven applications that so many businesses need. It was wonderful. For my purposes today, with the demands and need for community support, extensibility, and language features, Foxpro isn't a solution that I feel would be the right tool for the job. I'm also worried about working too heavy with the database, because I've seen data-driven .NET applications have issues with database caches, running out of memory, and objects in the database not being collected. (Memory leaks) And OH the queries. Which one, how, and why? There are a plethora of different ways that a database can be setup, I think I counted 5 or 6 different kinds of database applications alone that I can chose from. That is a great mountain for me to climb when I don't even know where to begin when it comes to writing data-driven applications. The problem isn't that I don't know SQL or that I don't know C#. I know both and have worked with both extensively. It's making them work together that's the problem, and it's something I've never done in C# before. Reports The client likes paper. The data needs to be printed out in a format that is extensible, layered, and easy to use. I have never done reporting before, and so this is a bit of a problem. From the data source comes crystal reports, and so there's a dependency on the database, from what I understand. Code reuse A large part of the design decision that I've gone through so far is to break the task of writing a piece of this software into routines and modular DLL's and so forth such that much of the code can be reused. For example, when I setup this database, I want to be able to reuse the same database code over and over again. I also want to make sure that when the day comes that another developer is here, that he/she will be able to pick up just where I left off. The quicker I develop these applications, the better off I am. Tasks & Goals In my project, I need to write routines that apply algorithms and look for predefined patterns in financial data. Additionally, I need to simulate trading based on predefined algorithms and data. Then I need to prepare reports on that data. Additionally, I need to have a way to change the code base for this application quickly and effectively, without hacking together some band-aid solution for a problem that really needs a trauma ward. Special Considerations The solution must be fast, run quickly on existing hardware, and not be too much of a pain to maintain and write. I understand that anything I write I'm married to -- I'm responsible for the things that I write because my reputation and livelihood is dependent on it. Do I really need a database? What about performance? Performance was such a big issue that I hand wrote a data structure that is capable of performing 2 billion operations, using a total of 4 gigs of memory in under 1/4 of a second using the standard core two duo processor. I could not find a similar, pre-written data structure in C# to perform this task. What setup do I use in terms of database? What about reporting? I'd prefer to have PDF's generated, but I'd like to be able to visually sketch those reports and then just have a ReportFactory of some sort, that when I pass some variables in, it just does that data. About Me I'm a lone developer for a small business in this area. This is the first time I've done this and I've never had the breadth and depth of my knowledge tested. I'm incredibly frustrated with this project because I feel incredibly overwhelmed with the task at hand. I'm looking for that entry level point where I can draw a line and say "this is what I need to do" Conclusion I may have not been clear enough on my post. I'm still new to this whole thing, and I've been doing my best to contribute back to the community that I've leached so much knowledge from. I'd be glad to edit my post and add more information if possible. I'm looking for a big-picture solution or design process that helps me get off the ground in this world of data-driven applications, because I have a feeling that it's going to be concentric to my entire career as a programmer for some time. Specifically, if you didn't get it from the rest of the post (I may not have been clear enough) I really need some guidance as to where to go in terms of the design decisions for this project. Some things that'll be useful will be a pro/con list for the different kinds of database projects available in VS2010. I've tried, but generating that list has been as hard as solving the problem itself... If you could walk a developer writing a data-driven application for the first time in C#, how would you do that? Where would you point them to?

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• Who benefits from the use of Design Patterns?

  Who benefits from the use of design patterns is like asking who benefits from clean air or a good education. All of the stakeholders of a project benefit from the use of design patterns. Project Sponsor Project sponsors benefit from the use of design patterns because they promote reduced development time which translates in to shorter project timelines and greater return on investment compared to other projects that do not make use of design patterns. Project Manager Project managers benefit from the use of design patterns because they reduce the amount of time needed to design a system, and typically the sub components of the system already have a proven track record. System Architect/Engineer System architects/engineers benefit from the use of design patterns because reduce the amount of time needed to design the core a system. The additional time is used to alter the design pattern through the use of innovative design and common design principles to adhere to the project’s requirements. Programmer Programmers benefit from the use of design patterns because they can reuse existing code already established by the design pattern and only have to integrate the changes outlined by the system architects/engineers. Tester Testers benefit from the use of design patterns because they can alter the existing test established for the design pattern to take in to account the changes made by the system architects/engineers. User Users benefit from the use of design patterns because the software is typically delivered sooner than projects that do not incorporate the use of design patterns, and they are assumed that the system will work as designed because it was based on a system that was already proven to work properly.

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• Is Perl still a useful, viable language?

  - by Bob

  I know it may have been asked before, but here goes nothing... Is Perl still something that would be considered useful? If someone was a new programmer (either completely new to programming or just a few month/years of experience) would Perl be something to be considered worthwhile to learn? Is Perl still used with frequency? Is it still popular? Or is Perl dying out compared to languages like Python, Ruby, PHP, ASP, .NET, etc.? Basically it boils down to this: Is it still used/is it still used frequently? If yes, is it dying? If no, will it make a come back? Is it something that would be worth learning? How does it compare in demand to languages like Python in both popularity and usability/viability? Could languages like Python or Ruby be considered replacements for Perl? Also, will newer versions of Perl really bring a large improvement to the Perl community, and perhaps bring Perl back to centerstage compared to other languages? EDIT: Okay, I suppose here's a better, reworded question: Is Perl still growing, or is it "dying"? Is it still a language worth learning and using? What projects does it really "shine" in compared to other languages? What makes Perl a language to choose? Essentially: is Perl growing obsolete compared to other languages, and if so, do you expect that to change, or to continue? And thank you to everyone who has answered so far, the discussion has been really interesting!

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• Are programmers bad testers?

  - by jhsowter

  I know this sounds a lot like other questions which have already being asked, but it is actually slightly different. It seems to be generally considered that programmers are not good at performing the role of testing an application. For example: Joel on Software - Top Five (Wrong) Reasons You Don't Have Testers (emphasis mine) Don't even think of trying to tell college CS graduates that they can come work for you, but "everyone has to do a stint in QA for a while before moving on to code". I've seen a lot of this. Programmers do not make good testers, and you'll lose a good programmer, who is a lot harder to replace. And in this question, one of the most popular answers says (again, my emphasis): Developers can be testers, but they shouldn't be testers. Developers tend to unintentionally/unconciously avoid to use the application in a way that might break it. That's because they wrote it and mostly test it in the way it should be used. So the question is are programmers bad at testing? What evidence or arguments are there to support this conclusion? Are programmers only bad at testing their own code? Is there any evidence to suggest that programmers are actually good at testing? What do I mean by "testing?" I do not mean unit testing or anything that is considered part of the methodology used by the software team to write software. I mean some kind of quality assurance method that is used after the code has been built and deployed to whatever that software team would call the "test environment."

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• Faq and Best tips Regarding Learning Database ?

  - by AdityaGameProgrammer

  For a programmer with no prior exposure to databases What would be a good database to learn Oracle vs SQLserver vs MySQLvs PostgreSQL? I have come across lot of discussion MySQL and PostgreSQL and frankly I am confused on which to start with. Are these very different, in the sense if one had to switch, would the exposure to one be counter-productive to learning the other? Is working with databases heavily platform dependent? What exactly do people mean by Data base programming vs. administration? Do people chose databases based on the programming language used for the application developed? In general, Working with databases is it implicit that we work with some server? Does the choice of databases differ when it comes to game development? If so what factors does it differ by? What are the Best Tips that you have found to be useful when learning databases Edit: Some FAQ i had and found the same on SO What should every developer know about databases? Which database if learning from scratch in 2010? For a beginner, is there much difference between MySQL and PostgreSQL What RDBMS should I learn/use? (MySql/SQL Server/Oracle etc.) To what extent should a developer learn database? How are database programmers different from other programmers? what kind of database are used in games?

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• Do i need a full time seo employee? [closed]

  - by user481913

  I need seo done for 1 site that's still new. It's a niche listings/ecommerce site. And i need to make a hiring decision for this - whether there's a need for a full time employee dedicated to seo or is part time or a contract sufficient? Here's some info and assumptions : 1)The site's dynamic - so perhaps all ON PAGE SEO - keyword research, page title, meta tags etc. could be built in programatically and is perhaps ONE TIME EFFORT. 2)Most(perhaps not all) ON PAGE SEO is taken care at the start or initially so doesn't need much time devotion later. 3)Most ON PAGE SEO for a DYNAMIC site is a programmer's job(as probably a seo employee doesn't understand programming) with some assistance from a seo employee for KEYWORD RESEARCH etc. So once built into the software, it DOESN'T NEED much effort on part of the seo employee in the later stages. 4)OFF PAGE SEO IS really where the seo employee would really spend most of his/her time - like build some links, write articles/blogs, directory submissions etc. So considering that there's just 1 site and that most effort for the seo employee is concenterated on OFF PAGE SEO, do i really need to hire someone Full Time? You're most welcome to add your own views and perspectives to this. It might help someone else as well in the future in their hiring decision.

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• How to advertise (free) software?

  - by nebukadnezzar

  I'm not sure if this fits on SO, but other SE sites don't seem to fit either, so I understand when this question gets moved, Although I'd like to avoid getting it closed due to being offtopics, since I think that this question might fit, considering this part of the FAQ: Stack Overflow is for professional and enthusiast programmers, ... covers … a specific programming problem ... matters that are unique to the programming profession Sorry for the lengthy Introduction, though. When Software is advertised, it is usually Software for one (or more) specific purpose, such as: Mozilla Firefox - A Web Browser Ubuntu - An Operating System Python - A Programming Language Visual Studio - A Development Studio ... And so on. But when writing Libraries, that is, Software that doesn't necessarily serve one specific purpose, but instead multiple purposes, which are usually supposed to be used inside an application, such as: Irrlicht - A 3D Engine Qt - An Application Framework I'm a developer of the latter kind of Software, and I naturally want to advertise my Software. It's not commercial Software; It's not GPL either. It's completely free (Licensed under the MIT License :-)). I naturally host my stuff at github, which technically makes it very easy to access the software, and I thought that these might be possible options, although I have no experience with them: Submit the Software to Freshmeat, and hope for the best Submit the Software to Sourceforge, and hope someone accidently stumbles over it Write spammails, and get death threats via Mail ... But something tells me that these methods are probably not the best Methods. So, my final question would be, How does the Average Joe Hobby Programmer advertise his/her Software Library? Yes, I know this question is probably getting closed due to being Offtopic on SO. But maybe a move might be better instead.

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• I want to make video games, but I hate coding

  - by hoper

  I know this sounds eally crazy. However, I just want to ask. Now, I am studying C++ code in my school (My major is computer programming). Honestly, my grade is not so good, and assignments are really hard. Sometimes, I feel sad that I will spend 8~10 hours per day for coding (which is stressful) at the future for my job. But, I still want to make video games. Maybe this is the only one reason why I am taking all of stressful courses. I always write down plots, stories, characters, fictional gaming worlds. Once, I thought I should study artistic technology such as game design program not computer technology such as C++, C#, etc. However, most of popular game designers(or directors) such as Kojima, Miyamoto Shigeru, etc used to be good programmers. And, companies actaully assign programmers to directors because they understand how to make a game. I try to find other colleges or universities where teach game design program. However, one article that lists rank 10 game design schools in North America seems untrustful because the survey company only scores it from intervews of students. (Once, I tried to attend Art Institute of Vancouver which is rank 7 according to that article. However, one programmer who used to be an instructor in there told me the truth. That is the employement rate of graduated students is low) Do you guys have any advice for me?

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• What do you do with coder's block?

  - by Garet Claborn

  Lately it has been a bit rough. I basically know all the things I need and all the avenues to get there for work. There's been no real issue of a problem with too high complexity, and performance is good. Still, after three major projects this year, my mind is behaving a little strange. It's like I'm used to working in O(1+log(N-neatTricks)) but for some reason it processes in O(N^2)! I've experienced a sort of burnout after long deadlines and drudging projects before, but when it turns into a longer experience, I haven't found the usual suspects to be helpful. Take more walks Work on other code Overdesign everything until I feel intensely driven to just make it (sorta works) How can a programmer recoup from the specific hole in your head programming leaves after being mentally ransacked by these bloody corporations and their fancy money? Hopefully some of you have some better ideas, because I could really use another round of being looted and pillaged.I've often wondered if there are special puzzles or some kind of activity that would de-stress the tangled balance of left and right braininess programmers often deal with. Do any special techniques, activities, anything seem to help with the developer's mindset especially?

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• Advise on career development [closed]

  - by Mike Young

  I am an amateur programmer working at a start-up. I didn't try coding at college. I've been working for 2 months now on web development. I'm satisfied with my progress. My project will go live soon. I work on front-end and my colleague integrates my work in his. So I decided to learn back-end technologies so that I would be able to work on a project from scratch, help my company build up. I recently got to know about the technologies used by fb and was fascinated to learn ,work on them,keep motivating myself. Now I want to work on building a product from scratch, be good at database concepts, a language like ruby or python, and get to know load balancing, dynamic requests from servers, hosting a website, real time communication, secured login, implementing sophisticated search feature for the app, using git by the end of the project.I would like to be a full stack developer in due course of time and learn everything in detail. I decide to keep myself out of time frame, learn every concept in detail.I would like to use both rdbms and non relational dbm for the project. I have no experience except some beginner knowledge in html5,css and JavaScript. I would like to get some advice on how to proceed forward step by step,flow what technologies to pick up and project idea which includes all the above.

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• DDD Melbourne -lessons leant

  - by Michael Freidgeim

  I've attended DDD Melbourne and want to list the interesting points, that I've leant and want to follow. To read more: * Moles-Mocking Isolation framework for .NET. Documentation is here.   (See also Mocking frameworks comparison created October 4, 2009 ) * WebFormsMVP * PluralSight   http://www.pluralsight-training.net/offers/default.aspx?cc=trial   * ELMAH: Error Logging Modules and Handlers *Rhino.Mocks   * VS UI Test Recorder -see posts Visual Studio 2010 Coded UI Test User Guide. Note that Microsoft Test Manager (MTM) toolis a separate application, that can be started from Program files/VS 2010 menu.It is not a menu inside Visual Studio.   * CodeContract- seems great in Debug. Will be good if in production  will be possible runtime configuration, ability to log instead of throw exception. Current recommendation to customize Debug.Assert is not trivial The programmer is free to use the customization provided by Debug.Assert using assert listeners to obtain whatever runtime behavior they desire (e.g., ignoring the error, logging it, or throwing an exception).   // Clears the existing list of assert listener (the default pop-up box) System.Diagnostics.Debug.Listeners.Clear(); // Install your own listener System.Diagnostics.Debug.Listeners.Add(MyTraceListener); Note that you can't catch specific ContractException, but can catch generic Exception(see How come you cannot catch Code Contract exceptions?)   Books recommended "Working effectively with legacy code" by Michael Feathers (corresponding article)   Fowler, Martin Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code, slides http://jaoo.dk/jaoo1999/schedule/MartinFowlerRefractoring.pdf

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• Idea for a physics–computer science joint curriculum and textbook

  - by Ami

  (I apologize in advance if this question is off topic or too vague) I want to write (and have starting outlining) a physics textbook which assumes its reader is a competent computer programmer. Normal physics textbooks teach physical formulas and give problems that are solved with pen, paper and calculator. I want to provide a book that emphasizes computational physics, how computers can model physical systems and gives problems of the kind: write a program that can solve a set of physics problems based on user input. Third party open source libraries would be used to handle most of the computation and I want to use a high-level language like Java or C#. Besides the fact I'd enjoy working on this, I think a physics-computer science joint curriculum should be offered in schools and this is part of a large agenda to make this happen. I think physics students (like myself) should be learning how to use and leverage computers to solve abstract problems and sets of problems. I think programming languages should be thought of as a useful medium for engaging in many areas of inquiry. Is this an idea worth pursuing? Is the merger of these two subjects in the form of an undergraduate college curriculum feasible? Are there any specific tools I should be leveraging or pitfalls I should be aware of? Has anyone heard of college courses or otherwise that assume this methodology? Are there any books/textbooks out there like the one I'm describing (for physics or any other subject)?

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• What is the economic rationale behind programmers who work on a open source project (free) instead of a commercial project (not free)?

  - by Kim Jong Woo

  I can't understand why some people dedicate so much hour into a completely open source project without closing it and yielding greater profit from it. I don't think profiting from your code is evil, I think it's a great motivator. Why do some people feel that commercial software and generating money from it is bad? There seems to be this black and white thinking that open source = good, commercial = bad. I hardly find this convincing, and often commercial companies which are supported by sales produce very good results. An open source software in the same niche can't compete against the corporation. Of course, sometimes this is completely the other way around where private companies produce inferior product compared to open source counterparts. So help me understand, why do programmers open source their code when there is commercial prospects for it? Shouldn't the rational programmer or human being make every effort to capitalize on their opportunity cost? Working on a open source project for months when you could've spent the same number of hours at commidity wage or some other monetary compensation?

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• Why are marketing employees, product managers, etc. deserving of their own office, yet programmers are jammed in a room as many as possible?

  - by TheImirOfGroofunkistan

  I don't understand why many (many) companies treat software developers like they are assembly line workers making widgets. Joel Spolsky has a great example of the problems this creates: With programmers, it's especially hard. Productivity depends on being able to juggle a lot of little details in short term memory all at once. Any kind of interruption can cause these details to come crashing down. When you resume work, you can't remember any of the details (like local variable names you were using, or where you were up to in implementing that search algorithm) and you have to keep looking these things up, which slows you down a lot until you get back up to speed. Here's the simple algebra. Let's say (as the evidence seems to suggest) that if we interrupt a programmer, even for a minute, we're really blowing away 15 minutes of productivity. For this example, lets put two programmers, Jeff and Mutt, in open cubicles next to each other in a standard Dilbert veal-fattening farm. Mutt can't remember the name of the Unicode version of the strcpy function. He could look it up, which takes 30 seconds, or he could ask Jeff, which takes 15 seconds. Since he's sitting right next to Jeff, he asks Jeff. Jeff gets distracted and loses 15 minutes of productivity (to save Mutt 15 seconds). Now let's move them into separate offices with walls and doors. Now when Mutt can't remember the name of that function, he could look it up, which still takes 30 seconds, or he could ask Jeff, which now takes 45 seconds and involves standing up (not an easy task given the average physical fitness of programmers!). So he looks it up. So now Mutt loses 30 seconds of productivity, but we save 15 minutes for Jeff. Ahhh! Quote Link More Spolsky on Offices Why don't managers and owner's see this?

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• Why do marketing employees get their own office, yet programmers are jammed in a room as many as possible?

  - by TheImirOfGroofunkistan

  I don't understand why many (many) companies treat software developers like they are assembly line workers making widgets. Joel Spolsky has a great example of the problems this creates: With programmers, it's especially hard. Productivity depends on being able to juggle a lot of little details in short term memory all at once. Any kind of interruption can cause these details to come crashing down. When you resume work, you can't remember any of the details (like local variable names you were using, or where you were up to in implementing that search algorithm) and you have to keep looking these things up, which slows you down a lot until you get back up to speed. Here's the simple algebra. Let's say (as the evidence seems to suggest) that if we interrupt a programmer, even for a minute, we're really blowing away 15 minutes of productivity. For this example, lets put two programmers, Jeff and Mutt, in open cubicles next to each other in a standard Dilbert veal-fattening farm. Mutt can't remember the name of the Unicode version of the strcpy function. He could look it up, which takes 30 seconds, or he could ask Jeff, which takes 15 seconds. Since he's sitting right next to Jeff, he asks Jeff. Jeff gets distracted and loses 15 minutes of productivity (to save Mutt 15 seconds). Now let's move them into separate offices with walls and doors. Now when Mutt can't remember the name of that function, he could look it up, which still takes 30 seconds, or he could ask Jeff, which now takes 45 seconds and involves standing up (not an easy task given the average physical fitness of programmers!). So he looks it up. So now Mutt loses 30 seconds of productivity, but we save 15 minutes for Jeff. Ahhh! Quote Link More Spolsky on Offices Why don't managers and owner's see this?

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• Programming concepts taken from the arts and humanities

  - by Joey Adams

  After reading Paul Graham's essay Hackers and Painters and Joel Spolsky's Advice for Computer Science College Students, I think I've finally gotten it through my thick skull that I should not be loath to work hard in academic courses that aren't "programming" or "computer science" courses. To quote the former: I've found that the best sources of ideas are not the other fields that have the word "computer" in their names, but the other fields inhabited by makers. Painting has been a much richer source of ideas than the theory of computation. — Paul Graham, "Hackers and Painters" There are certainly other, much stronger reasons to work hard in the "boring" classes. However, it'd also be neat to know that these classes may someday inspire me in programming. My question is: what are some specific examples where ideas from literature, art, humanities, philosophy, and other fields made their way into programming? In particular, ideas that weren't obviously applied the way they were meant to (like most math and domain-specific knowledge), but instead gave utterance or inspiration to a program's design and choice of names. Good examples: The term endian comes from Gulliver's Travels by Tom Swift (see here), where it refers to the trivial matter of which side people crack open their eggs. The terms journal and transaction refer to nearly identical concepts in both filesystem design and double-entry bookkeeping (financial accounting). mkfs.ext2 even says: Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done Off-topic: Learning to write English well is important, as it enables a programmer to document and evangelize his/her software, as well as appear competent to other programmers online. Trigonometry is used in 2D and 3D games to implement rotation and direction aspects. Knowing finance will come in handy if you want to write an accounting package. Knowing XYZ will come in handy if you want to write an XYZ package. Arguably on-topic: The Monad class in Haskell is based on a concept by the same name from category theory. Actually, Monads in Haskell are monads in the category of Haskell types and functions. Whatever that means...

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• Is copy paste programming bad ?

  - by ring bearer

  With plain google as well as google code search tools it is easy to find how to program using some resource or solve certain problems ( such as a Java class, or a ftp block in perl etc) and so developers are so tempted to just purely copy paste the code (in a way re-use) - is this an incompetency? I have done this myself though I think I am a better programmer than many others I have seen. Who has the time to RTFM? In this age of information abundance, I do not think that copy paste programming is bad. Isn't that what sites like stackoverflow do anyway? People ask - ok here is my problem - how to solve it? now someone will post complete code and the person who asked the question would simply copy paste the most voted answer. No matter how small the problem is. I am working with a bunch of young coders who heavily rely on internet to get their job done. I see convenience (for example, you may be quite good with algorithms and such but you may not know how to use a BufferedReader in Java - would you read complete Javadoc for BufferedReader or look up some example of using it somewhere??) in copy pasting and modifying code to get the job done. What are the real dangers of copy paste coding that can impact their competency?

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