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  • User generated content: a basic yet simple to use OR a complex yet powerful solution?

    - by ne5tebiu
    As stated above, which solution is better for a game based on user generated content? The simple solution (in-game editor) is great for gamers without experience in coding and etc. In this way every player could populate the game with content. But the content would be very limited. The complex solution would allow the content to be with almost no limitation but casual gamers probably couldn't make hardly any content at all. If both solutions are used, the quality behind the second solution would be more valuable than the first solution's quantity. However, making a powerful in-game editor could even take more time and manpower than the actual game and every gamer would have to learn how to use the new complex tool, understand it, and master it if he or she wants to make quality content.

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  • 2D Platform Game Jumping

    - by Bradley Kreuger
    I'm currently writing a game in XNA for fun which uses C#. I have got my sprites loaded and when the character moves right he looks like he is running right and when he moves left he looks like he is running left. I been looking everywhere for a good coding example for how to create a jumping ability. I have read all the physics stuff that I can stand and it doesn't help when I can't figure out how to use say space bar to jump yet can't keep them from using space just jump again until they land.

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  • Differences between C# and Javascript for Unity [closed]

    - by vrinek
    Apart from the language differences (class-based vs prototypical, strong vs weak typing), what are the differences between using Javascript and using C# when developing games in Unity3D? Is there a noticable performance difference? Is the javascript code packaged as-is? And if yes, does this help the game's modability? Is it possible to use libraries developed for one language while developing in the other one? Is it possible to mix the two languages in the same Unity project by coding some parts in C# and others in Javascript? The next couple of questions are time-specific so feel free to ignore or remove: If libraries are not cross-functional, which language has better library support from the game development perspective? Which language has better game dev specific resources available (books, websites, forums)?

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  • Software Architecture - From design to sucessful implementation

    - by user20358
    As the subject goes; once a software architect puts down the high level design and approach to a software that is to be developed from scratch, how does the team ensure that it is implemented successfully? To my mind the following things will need to be done Proper understanding of requirements Setting down coding practices and guidelines Regular code reviews to ensure the guidelines are being adhered to Revisiting the requirements phase and making necessary changes to design based on client inputs if there are any changes to requirements Proper documentation of what is being done in code Proper documentation of requirements and changes to them Last but not the least, implementing the design via object oriented code where appropriate Did I miss anything? Would love to hear any mistakes that you have learned from in your project experiences. What went wrong, what could have been done better. Thanks for taking the time..

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  • What is the most effective way to add functionality to unfamiliar, structurally unsound code?

    - by Coder
    This is probably something everyone has to face during the development sooner or later. You have an existing code written by someone else, and you have to extend it to work under new requirements. Sometimes it's simple, but sometimes the modules have medium to high coupling and medium to low cohesion, so the moment you start touching anything, everything breaks. And you don't feel that it's fixed correctly when you get the new and old scenarios working again. One approach would be to write tests, but in reality, in all cases I've seen, that was pretty much impossible (reliance on GUI, missing specifications, threading, complex dependencies and hierarchies, deadlines, etc). So everything sort of falls back to good ol' cowboy coding approach. But I refuse to believe there is no other systematic way that would make everything easier. Does anyone know a better approach, or the name of the methodology that should be used in such cases?

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  • Android Java rectangle collision detection not working

    - by Charlton Santana
    I had been hard coding a collision detection system which was buggy. Then I came across using rectangles for collsion detection. So I put it all in and it does not work, I put a log in and it never logged. Note to Java programmers who are not Android programers: Android uses the word Rect instead of Rectangle. Code for Block.java: public Rect getBounds(){ return new Rect (this.x, this.y, 10, 20); } Code for Sprite.java: public Rect getBounds(){ return new Rect (this.x, this.y, 20, 20); } Code for MainGame.java: for(Block block : BLOCKS) { block.draw(canvas); block.rigidbody(); Rect spriter = sprite.getBounds(); Rect blockr = block.getBounds(); if(spriter.intersect(blockr)){ showgameover = 1; Log.d(TAG, "Game Over"); } } Is anyone able to help?

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  • How is architectural design done in an agile environment?

    - by B?????
    I have read Principles for the Agile Architect, where they defined next principles : Principle #1 The teams that code the system design the system. Principle #2 Build the simplest architecture that can possibly work. Principle #3 When in doubt, code it out. Principle #4 They build it, they test it. Principle #5 The bigger the system, the longer the runway. Principle #6 System architecture is a role collaboration. Principle #7 There is no monopoly on innovation. The paper says that most of the architecture design is done during the coding phase, and only system design before that. That is fine. So, how is the system design done? Using UML? Or a document that defines interfaces and major blocks? Maybe something else?

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  • Will Ubuntu 12.04 work on an Acer Aspire One D257-1682?

    - by Avid
    Is it possible to install Ubuntu 12.04 on an Acer Aspire One D257-1682? I have a disc that I used to run Ubuntu 12.04 on my desktop without incident. When trying to run it on my Aspire One, using an external DVD drive via USB, I get a ton of errors about missing files while it tries to load Ubuntu. I found a list of which versions of Ubuntu to run depending on which Aspire One model you have, but the D257 was not listed at all. I want to have Ubuntu on my Aspire One for coding Java and C++ since I don't have to sit at my desk for hours. Please help! -Avid

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  • How to publicize new Android's HTTP requests library

    - by Yaniv
    I don't know if this really belongs here, but I developed an open-source HTTP requests library for Android called Unite. This library was built mainly to significantly facilitate the work and coding time, and makes it easy to create and work with HTTP requests. I think a big advantage of this library is that it is open-source, so everyone can contribute to make it even better. I started this project for personal use, and I really like the result. What is the right and proper way to publicize the project, I do think it will be handy to Android developers. So how can I make developers know this library exist?

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  • What programming language should I learn for fun?

    - by Bo Milanovich
    Disclaimer: I'm not a programmer, but I do like coding from time to time. This is strictly for fun, nothing else. I'm an economist :) I learned Delphi in the past (7 years ago, forgot 99% of it), BASIC (10 years ago). I now know a bit of PHP. So I want to learn a programming language just so I can kill some time, but it'd be awesome if it would be useful as well. I've narrowed down choices to the following: Python (heard it was easy yet useful, Google's appengine runs on python) Java (awesome because cross-platform and very popular, also I'm an Android fan so I might even develop some apps) Continue learning PHP? (awesome language, I'm a web developer somewhat so it may be useful) Something else? Thanks!

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  • How do I generate a level randomly?

    - by Charlton Santana
    I am currently hard coding 10 different instances like the code below, but but I'd like to create many more. Instead of having the same layout for the new level, I was wondering if there is anyway to generate a random X value for each block (this will be how far into the level it is). A level 100,000 pixels wide would be good enough but if anyone knows a system to make the level go on and on, I'd like to know that too. This is basically how I define a block now (with irrelevant code removed): block = new Block(R.drawable.block, 400, platformheight); block2 = new Block(R.drawable.block, 600, platformheight); block3 = new Block(R.drawable.block, 750, platformheight); The 400 is the X position, which I'd like to place randomly through the level, the platformheight variable defines the Y position which I don't want to change.

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  • A Trio of Presentations: Little Wonders, StyleCop, and LINQ/Lambdas

    - by James Michael Hare
    This week is a busy week for me.  First of all I’m giving another presentation on a LINQ/Lambda primer for the rest of the developers in my company.  Of Lambdas and LINQ View more presentations from BlackRabbitCoder Then this Saturday the 25th of June I’ll be reprising my Little Wonders presentation for the Kansas City Developers Camp.  If you are in the area I highly recommend attending and seeing the other great presentations as well.  Their link is here. Little Wonders View more presentations from BlackRabbitCoder Finally, this Monday the 27th I’ll be speaking at the Saint Louis .NET Users group, giving my Automating Code Standards Using StyleCop and FxCop presentation.  If you are in the Saint Louis area stop by!  There’s two other simultaneous presentations as well if they’re more suited to your interests.  The link for the SLDNUG is here. Automating C# Coding Standards using StyleCop and FxCop View more presentations from BlackRabbitCoder Tweet Technorati Tags: C#,.NET,LINQ,Lambda,StyleCop,FxCop,Little Wonders

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  • What does mathematics have to do with programming?

    - by Rory
    I just started a diploma in software development. Right now we're starting out with basic Java and such (so right from the bottom you might say) - which is fine, I have no programming experience apart from knowing how to do "Hello World" in Java. I keep hearing that mathematics is pertinent to coding, but how is it so? What general examples would show how mathematics and programming go together, or are reliant on one another? I apologize of my question is vague, I'm barely starting to get a rough idea of the kind of world I'm stepping into as a code monkey student...

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  • jqGrid - dynamically load different drop down values for different rows depending on another column value

    - by Renso
    Goal: As we all know the jqGrid examples in the demo and the Wiki always refer to static values for drop down boxes. This of course is a personal preference but in dynamic design these values should be populated from the database/xml file, etc, ideally JSON formatted. Can you do this in jqGrid, yes, but with some custom coding which we will briefly show below (refer to some of my other blog entries for a more detailed discussion on this topic). What you CANNOT do in jqGrid, referrign here up and to version 3.8.x, is to load different drop down values for different rows in the jqGrid. Well, not without some trickery, which is what this discussion is about. Issue: Of course the issue is that jqGrid has been designed for high performance and thus I have no issue with them loading a  reference to a single drop down values list for every column. This way if you have 500 rows or one, each row only refers to a single list for that particuolar column. Nice! SO how easy would it be to simply traverse the grid once loaded on gridComplete or loadComplete and simply load the select tag's options from scratch, via ajax, from memory variable, hard coded etc? Impossible! Since their is no embedded SELECT tag within each cell containing the drop down values (remeber it only has a reference to that list in memory), all you will see when you inspect the cell prior to clicking on it, or even before and on beforeEditCell, is an empty <TD></TD>. When trying to load that list via a click event on that cell will temporarily load the list but jqGrid's last internal callback event will remove it and replace it with the old one, and you are back to square one. Solution: Yes, after spending a few hours on this found a solution to the problem that does not require any updates to jqGrid source code, thank GOD! Before we get into the coding details, the solution here can of course be customized to suite your specific needs, this one loads the entire drop down list that would be needed across all rows once into global variable. I then parse this object that contains all the properties I need to filter the rows depending on which ones I want the user to see based off of another cell value in that row. This only happens when clicking the cell, so no performance penalty. You may of course to load it via ajax when the user clicks the cell, but I found it more effecient to load the entire list as part of jqGrid's normal editoptions: { multiple: false, value: listingStatus } colModel options which again keeps only a reference to the sinlge list, no duplciation. Lets get into the meat and potatoes of it.         var acctId = $('#Id').val();         var data = $.ajax({ url: $('#ajaxGetAllMaterialsTrackingLookupDataUrl').val(), data: { accountId: acctId }, dataType: 'json', async: false, success: function(data, result) { if (!result) alert('Failure to retrieve the Alert related lookup data.'); } }).responseText;         var lookupData = eval('(' + data + ')');         var listingCategory = lookupData.ListingCategory;         var listingStatus = lookupData.ListingStatus;         var catList = '{';         $(lookupData.ListingCategory).each(function() {             catList += this.Id + ':"' + this.Name + '",';         });         catList += '}';         var lastsel;         var ignoreAlert = true;         $(item)         .jqGrid({             url: listURL,             postData: '',             datatype: "local",             colNames: ['Id', 'Name', 'Commission<br />Rep', 'Business<br />Group', 'Order<br />Date', 'Edit', 'TBD', 'Month', 'Year', 'Week', 'Product', 'Product<br />Type', 'Online/<br />Magazine', 'Materials', 'Special<br />Placement', 'Logo', 'Image', 'Text', 'Contact<br />Info', 'Everthing<br />In', 'Category', 'Status'],             colModel: [                 { name: 'Id', index: 'Id', hidden: true, hidedlg: true },                 { name: 'AccountName', index: 'AccountName', align: "left", resizable: true, search: true, width: 100 },                 { name: 'OnlineName', index: 'OnlineName', align: 'left', sortable: false, width: 80 },                 { name: 'ListingCategoryName', index: 'ListingCategoryName', width: 85, editable: true, hidden: false, edittype: "select", editoptions: { multiple: false, value: eval('(' + catList + ')') }, editrules: { required: false }, formatoptions: { disabled: false} }             ],             jsonReader: {                 root: "List",                 page: "CurrentPage",                 total: "TotalPages",                 records: "TotalRecords",                 userdata: "Errors",                 repeatitems: false,                 id: "0"             },             rowNum: $rows,             rowList: [10, 20, 50, 200, 500, 1000, 2000],             imgpath: jQueryImageRoot,             pager: $(item + 'Pager'),             shrinkToFit: true,             width: 1455,             recordtext: 'Traffic lines',             sortname: 'OrderDate',             viewrecords: true,             sortorder: "asc",             altRows: true,             cellEdit: true,             cellsubmit: "remote",             cellurl: editURL + '?rows=' + $rows + '&page=1',             loadComplete: function() {               },             gridComplete: function() {             },             loadError: function(xhr, st, err) {             },             afterEditCell: function(rowid, cellname, value, iRow, iCol) {                 var select = $(item).find('td.edit-cell select');                 $(item).find('td.edit-cell select option').each(function() {                     var option = $(this);                     var optionId = $(this).val();                     $(lookupData.ListingCategory).each(function() {                         if (this.Id == optionId) {                                                       if (this.OnlineName != $(item).getCell(rowid, 'OnlineName')) {                                 option.remove();                                 return false;                             }                         }                     });                 });             },             search: true,             searchdata: {},             caption: "List of all Traffic lines",             editurl: editURL + '?rows=' + $rows + '&page=1',             hiddengrid: hideGrid   Here is the JSON data returned via the ajax call during the jqGrid function call above (NOTE it must be { async: false}: {"ListingCategory":[{"Id":29,"Name":"Document Imaging & Management","OnlineName":"RF Globalnet"} ,{"Id":1,"Name":"Ancillary Department Hardware","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":2,"Name":"Asset Tracking","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":3,"Name":"Asset Tracking","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":4,"Name":"Asset Tracking","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":5,"Name":"Document Imaging & Management","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":6,"Name":"Document Imaging & Management","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"} ,{"Id":7,"Name":"EMR/EHR Software","OnlineName":"Healthcare Technology Online"}]} I only need the Id and Name for the drop down list, but the third column in the JSON object is important, it is the only that I match up with the OnlineName in the jqGrid column, and then in the loop during afterEditCell simply remove the ones I don't want the user to see. That's it!

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  • How do you update copyright notices?

    - by James
    So now it's 2011, and as I carry on coding on our active projects it's time to update some copyright notices. eg. Copyright Widgets Ltd 2010 to Copyright Widgets Ltd 2010, 2011 My question is when do you update the copyright notices? Do you change the notice in the head of a file the first time you work on that file? Since a module is one piece of code consisting of many files that work together, do you update all notices in that module when you change a single file in that module? Since a program is one piece of code (maybe consisting of many modules), do you update all notices in that program when you change a single file in that program? Or do you just go through and change en-mass over your morning coffee on the grounds your about to start programming and updateing things?

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  • Any open source editor to make video games online without programming knowledge?

    - by chelder
    With Scratch we can create video games online, from its web platform, and publish them on the same web. I could download its source code and use it, as many others already did (see Scratch modifications). Unfortunately, we need programming knowledge to use it. Actually, Scratch is mainly for teaching kids to code. I also found editors like Construct 2, GameSalad Creator and many others (just type on Google: create a video game without programming). With those editors we can create video games without coding. Unfortunately they are neither open source nor web platform. They need to be installed on Windows or Mac. Do you know some editor like Construct 2 or GameSalad Creator but open source and executable from a web server? Maybe some HTML5 game engine can do it?

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  • Boat passing under a bridge in a 2D tile based RTS

    - by aleguna
    I'm writing a 2D tile based RTS. And I want to add a 'pseudo 3D' feature to it - bridges over the rivers. I havent't start any coding yet, just trying to think how it fits the collision detection model. A boat passing under the bridge and a unit moving over the bridge will eventually occupy the same cell on the map. How to prement them from colliding? Is there a common approach to solve such a problem? Or I need to implement a 3D world to do this?

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  • Why do some opensouce libraries lack comments?

    - by entropy
    I don't know if this happens to most Opensource libraries, but many of I know and use (for example OpenSSL, Webkit, ...) they all lack comments, or contain very few comments. Not to mention their very few documents, it is hard to read their source code. We can hardly understand what a member variable means, or what this function does. This seems to be against coding standard practice Why is that? How can people collaborate to these opensource with very few comments?

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  • What are approaches for analyzing the cost-benefits of a development methodology?

    - by Garrett Hall
    There are many development practices (TDD, continuous integration, cowboy-coding), principles (SOLID, layers of abstraction, KISS), and processes (RUP, Scrum, XP, Waterfall). I have learned you can't follow any of these blindly, but have to consider context and ROI (return on investment). My question is: How do you know whether you are getting a good ROI by following a particular methodology? Metrics, guesstimation, experience? Do analytical methods exist? Or is this just the million-dollar question in software engineering that has no answer?

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  • Why do people use programming books?

    - by Alex Hope O'Connor
    I find that when someone asks what is the best way to learn how to program, people usually provide them with references to a bunch texts written by various authors. However I don't believe many people at all learn to program from books? I find that they are usually faced with a challenge and then use programming as tool to overcome it. For example I 'got into' programming because I wanted to start a server for a game I was playing, so I googled and read through the support for that particular server and now I am a employed software engineer, using only the skills I developed (and then further developed) by coding C# scripts for a not very popular server package. So my question is, do people generally find it easier to learn from these books? I know I have looked at a few of them and found them far too 'dry' to encourage me to finish it.

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  • NEON Intrinsic Support in CE7

    - by Kate Moss' Open Space
    Just a side note for people who may be interested in creating high performance code to take advantage on NEON instruction set but wish to use NEON intrinsic instaed of coding assembly. Compiler won't generate NEON opcode unless application use the NEON intrinsic explicitly. Basically, you need ARMv7 build enviroment, so compiler can emit NEON opcode. Intrinsic prototype can be found in public\COMMON\sdk\inc\arm_neon.h and that is all you got. If you ever find an NEON opcode does not have corresponding intrinsic, you still need to use the old trick - write that part of code in assembly.

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  • Slicing the EDG

    - by Antony Reynolds
    Different SOA Domain Configurations In this blog entry I would like to introduce three different configurations for a SOA environment.  I have omitted load balancers and OTD/OHS as they introduce a whole new round of discussion.  For each possible deployment architecture I have identified some of the advantages. Super Domain This is a single EDG style domain for everything needed for SOA/OSB.   It extends the standard EDG slightly but otherwise assumes a single “super” domain. This is basically the SOA EDG.  I have broken out JMS servers and Coherence servers to improve scalability and reduce dependencies. Key Points Separate JMS allows those servers to be kept up separately from rest of SOA Domain, allowing JMS clients to post messages even if rest of domain is unavailable. JMS servers are only used to host application specific JMS destinations, SOA/OSB JMS destinations remain in relevant SOA/OSB managed servers. Separate Coherence servers allow OSB cache to be offloaded from OSB servers. Use of Coherence by other components as a shared infrastructure data grid service. Coherence cluster may be managed by WLS but more likely run as a standalone Coherence cluster. Benefits Single Administration Point (1 Admin Server) Closely follows EDG with addition of application specific JMS servers and standalone Coherence servers for OSB caching and application specific caches. Coherence grid can be scaled independent of OSB/SOA. JMS queues provide for inter-application communication. Drawbacks Patching is an all or nothing affair. Startup time for SOA may be slow if large number of composites deployed. Multiple Domains This extends the EDG into multiple domains, allowing separate management and update of these domains.  I see this type of configuration quite often with customers, although some don't have OWSM, others don't have separate Coherence etc. SOA & BAM are kept in the same domain as little benefit is obtained by separating them. Key Points Separate JMS allows those servers to be kept up separately from rest of SOA Domain, allowing JMS clients to post messages even if other domains are unavailable. JMS servers are only used to host application specific JMS destinations, SOA/OSB JMS destinations remain in relevant SOA/OSB managed servers. Separate Coherence servers allow OSB cache to be offloaded from OSB servers. Use of Coherence by other components as a shared infrastructure data grid service. Coherence cluster may be managed by WLS but more likely run as a standalone Coherence cluster. Benefits Follows EDG but in separate domains and with addition of application specific JMS servers and standalone Coherence servers for OSB caching and application specific caches. Coherence grid can be scaled independent of OSB/SOA. JMS queues provide for inter-application communication. Patch lifecycle of OSB/SOA/JMS are no longer lock stepped. JMS may be kept running independently of other domains allowing applications to insert messages fro later consumption by SOA/OSB. OSB may be kept running independent of other domains, allowing service virtualization to continue independent of other domains availability. All domains use same OWSM policy store (MDS-WSM). Drawbacks Multiple domains to manage and configure. Multiple Admin servers (single view requires use of Grid Control) Multiple Admin servers/WSM clusters waste resources. Additional homes needed to enjoy benefits of separate patching. Cross domain trust needs setting up to simplify cross domain interactions. Startup time for SOA may be slow if large number of composites deployed. Shared Service Environment This model extends the previous multiple domain arrangement to provide a true shared service environment.This extends the previous model by allowing multiple additional SOA domains and/or other domains to take advantage of the shared services.  Only one non-shared domain is shown, but there could be multiple, allowing groups of applications to share patching independent of other application groups. Key Points Separate JMS allows those servers to be kept up separately from rest of SOA Domain, allowing JMS clients to post messages even if other domains are unavailable. JMS servers are only used to host application specific JMS destinations, SOA/OSB JMS destinations remain in relevant SOA/OSB managed servers. Separate Coherence servers allow OSB cache to be offloaded from OSB servers. Use of Coherence by other components as a shared infrastructure data grid service Coherence cluster may be managed by WLS but more likely run as a standalone Coherence cluster. Shared SOA Domain hosts Human Workflow Tasks BAM Common "utility" composites Single OSB domain provides "Enterprise Service Bus" All domains use same OWSM policy store (MDS-WSM) Benefits Follows EDG but in separate domains and with addition of application specific JMS servers and standalone Coherence servers for OSB caching and application specific caches. Coherence grid can be scaled independent of OSB/SOA. JMS queues provide for inter-application communication. Patch lifecycle of OSB/SOA/JMS are no longer lock stepped. JMS may be kept running independently of other domains allowing applications to insert messages fro later consumption by SOA/OSB. OSB may be kept running independent of other domains, allowing service virtualization to continue independent of other domains availability. All domains use same OWSM policy store (MDS-WSM). Supports large numbers of deployed composites in multiple domains. Single URL for Human Workflow end users. Single URL for BAM end users. Drawbacks Multiple domains to manage and configure. Multiple Admin servers (single view requires use of Grid Control) Multiple Admin servers/WSM clusters waste resources. Additional homes needed to enjoy benefits of separate patching. Cross domain trust needs setting up to simplify cross domain interactions. Human Workflow needs to be specially configured to point to shared services domain. Summary The alternatives in this blog allow for patching to have different impacts, depending on the model chosen.  Each organization must decide the tradeoffs for itself.  One extreme is to go for the shared services model and have one domain per SOA application.  This requires a lot of administration of the multiple domains.  The other extreme is to have a single super domain.  This makes the entire enterprise susceptible to an outage at the same time due to patching or other domain level changes.  Hopefully this blog will help your organization choose the right model for you.

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  • Free Typescript editor with definition based code completion feature

    - by NagyI
    I know that a plugin for Visual Studio exists. However i can't afford VS so i'm looking for a free alternative which can be used to code TypeScript and aware of the .d.ts definition files and can do code completion based on them. I know that Sublime Text and VIM can do syntax highlighting with the correct language definition file. However the biggest advantage of Typescript for me is that ability to give code assistance while coding. Are you aware of any editor which can do this? I'm interested even if it's in an experimental state.

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  • Effectiveness and Efficiency

    - by Daniel Moth
    In the professional environment, i.e. at work, I am always seeking personal growth and to be challenged. The result is that my assignments, my work list, my tasks, my goals, my commitments, my [insert whatever word resonates with you] keep growing (in scope and desired impact). Which in turn means I have to keep finding new ways to deliver more value, while not falling into the trap of working more hours. To do that I continuously evaluate both my effectiveness and my efficiency. EFFECTIVENESS The first thing I check is my effectiveness: Am I doing the right things? Am I focusing too much on unimportant things? Am I spending more time doing stuff that is important to my team/org/division/business/company, or am I spending it on stuff that is important to me and that I enjoy doing? Am I valuing activities that maybe I have outgrown and should be delegated to others who are at a stage I have surpassed (in Microsoft speak: is the work I am doing level appropriate or am I still operating at the previous level)? Notice how the answers to those questions change over time and due to certain events, so I have to remind myself to revisit them frequently. Events that force me to re-examine them are: change of role, change of team/org/etc, change of direction of team/org/etc, re-org, new hires on the team that take on some of the work I did, personal promotion, change of manager... and if none of those events has occurred since the last annual review, I ask myself those at each annual review anyway. If you think you are not being effective at work, make a list of the stuff that you do and start tracking where your time goes. In parallel, have a discussion with your manager about where they think your time should go. Ultimately your time is finite and hence it is your most precious investment, don't waste it. If your management doesn't value as highly what you spend your time on, then either convince your management, or stop spending your time on it, or find different management: Lead, Follow, or get out of the way! That's my view on effectiveness. You have to fix that before moving to being efficient, or you may end up being very efficient at stuff that nobody wants you to be doing in the first place. For example, you may be spending your time writing blog posts and becoming better and faster at it all the time. If your manager thinks that is not even part of your job description, you are wasting your time to satisfy your inner desires. Nobody can help you with your effectiveness other than your management chain and your management peers - they are the judges of it. EFFICIENCY The second thing I check is my efficiency: Am I doing things right? For me, doing things right means that I deliver the same quality of work faster [than what I used to, and than my peers, and than expected of me]. The result is that I can achieve more [than what I used to, and than my peers, and than expected of me]. Notice how the efficiency goal is a more portable one. If, by whatever criteria, you think you are the best at [insert your own skill here], this can change at two events: because you have new colleagues (who are potentially better than your older ones), and it can change with a change of manager (who has potentially higher expectations). That's about it. Once you are efficient at something, you carry that with you... All you need to really be doing here is, when taking on new kinds of work that you haven't done before, try a few approaches and devise a system so that you can become efficient at this new activity too... Just keep "collecting" stuff that you are efficient at. If you think you are not being efficient at something, break it down: What are the steps you take to complete that task? How long do you spend on each step? Talk to others about what steps they take, to see if you can optimize some steps away or trade them for better steps, or just learn how to complete a step faster. Have a system for every task you take so that you can have repeatable success. That's my view on efficiency. You have to fix it so that you can free up time to do more. When you plan a route from A to B - all else being equal - you try to get there as fast as possible so why would you not want to do that with your everyday work? For example, imagine you are inefficient at processing email: You spend more time than necessary dealing with email, and you still end up with dropped email threads and with slower response times than others. How can you improve? Talk to someone that you think is good at this, understand their system (e.g. here is my email processing system) and come up with one that works for you. Parting Thoughts Are you considered, by your colleagues and manager, an effective and efficient person at your workplace? If you are, what would you change if you were asked by your management to do the job of two people? Seriously, think about that! Your immediate reaction may be "that is not possible", but it actually is. You just have to re-assess what things that were previously important will now stop being important, by discussing them with your management and reaching agreement on relative priorities. For example, stuff that was previously on your plate may now have to be delegated or dropped. Where you thought you were efficient, maybe now you have to find an even faster path to completion, perhaps keeping in mind that Perfect is the Enemy of “Good Enough”. My personal experience (from both observing others and from my own reflection) is that when folks are struggling to keep up at work it is because of two reasons: They are investing energy in stuff that they enjoy doing which the business regards as having a lower priority than a lot of other things on their plate. They are completing tasks to a level of higher quality than what is required (due to personal pride) missing the big picture which almost always mandates completing three tasks at good enough quality than knocking only one of them out of the park while the other two come in late or not at all. There is a lot of content on the web, so I strongly encourage you to use your favorite search engine to read other views on effectiveness and efficiency (Bing, Google). Comments about this post by Daniel Moth welcome at the original blog.

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  • Programming for the iPhone

    - by Bobby Alexander
    Whats the best way to get started on iPhone development if you are an expeienced C++ or C# programmer? Most books either assume you know nothing or something. What are the steps to achieve this? For eg: first learn objective C (let's say), next learn cocoa... I am interested in books/resources. I read Getting started with iPhone development from Oreilly (the missing manuals book) but that just provided an over view on the programming and concentrated more on getting your app into the app store. I need need resources that will help be start coding. Other questions: How much of objective C do you need to know? How do go ahead with learning the cocoa framework? Can I directly start on cocoa touch or do I need to know the MAC cocoa framework first? Inputs from someone who was in the same situation (Know c++/c# but no clue about mac programming/objective c/cocoa) would help greatly.

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