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  • Does fast typing influence fast programming?

    - by Lukasz Lew
    Many young programmers think that their bottleneck is typing speed. After some experience one realizes that it is not the case, you have to think much more than type. At some point my room-mate forced me to turn of the light (he sleeps during the night). I had to learn to touch type and I experienced an actual improvement in programming skill. The most surprising was that the improvement not due to sheer typing speed, but to a change in mindset. I'm less afraid now to try new things and refactor them later if they work well. It's like having a new tool in the bag. Have anyone of you had similar experience? Now I trained a touch typing a little with KTouch. I find auto-generate lessons the best. I can use this program to create new lessons out of text files but it's only verbatim training, not auto-generated based on a language model. Do you know any touch typing program that allows creation of custom, but randomized lessons?

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  • A new SQL, a new Analysis Services, a new Workshop! #ssas #sql2012

    - by Marco Russo (SQLBI)
    One week ago Microsoft SQL Server 2012 finally debuted with a virtual launch event and you can find many intro sessions there (20 minutes each). There is a lot of new content available if you want to learn more about SQL 2012 and in this blog post I’d like to provide a few link to sessions, documents, bits and courses that are available now or very soon. First of all, the release of Analysis Services 2012 has finally released PowerPivot 2012 (many of us called it PowerPivot v2 before this official name) and also the new Data Mining Add-in for Microsoft Office 2010, now available also for Excel 64bit! And, of course, don’t miss the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Feature Pack, there are a lot of upgrades for both DBAs and developers. I just discovered there is a new LocalDB version of SQL Express that can run in user mode without any setup. Is this the end of SQL CE? But now, back to Analysis Services: if you want some tutorial on Tabular, the Microsoft Virtual Academy has a whole track dedicated to Analysis Services 2012 but you will probably be interested also in the one about Reporting Services 2012. If you think that virtual is good but it’s not enough, there are plenty of conferences in the coming months – these are just those where I and Alberto will deliver some SSAS Tabular presentations: SQLBits X, London, March 29-31, 2012: if you are in London or want a good reason to go, this is the most important SQL Server event in Europe this year, no doubts about it. And not only because of the high number of attendees, but also because there is an impressive number of speakers (excluding me, of course) coming from all over the world. This is an event second only to PASS Summit in Seattle so there are no good reasons to not attend it. Microsoft SQL Server & Business Intelligence Conference 2012, Milan, March 28-29, 2012: this is an Italian conference so the language might be a barrier, but many of us also speak English and the food is good! Just a few seats still available. TechEd North America, Orlando, June 11-14, 2012: you know, this is a big event and it contains everything – if you want to spend a whole day learning the SSAS Tabular model with me and Alberto, don’t miss our pre-conference day “Using BISM Tabular in Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2012” (be careful, it is on June 10, a nice study-Sunday!). TechEd Europe, Amsterdam, June 26-29, 2012: the European version of TechEd provides almost the same content and you don’t have to go overseas. We also run the same pre-conference day “Using BISM Tabular in Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services 2012” (in this case, it is on June 25, that’s a regular Monday). I and Alberto will also speak at some user group meeting around Europe during… well, we’re going to travel a lot in the next months. In fact, if you want to get a complete training on SSAS Tabular, you should spend two days with us in one of our SSAS Tabular Workshop! We prepared a 2-day seminar, a very intense one, that start from the simple tabular modeling and cover architecture, DAX, query, advanced modeling, security, deployment, optimization, monitoring, relationships with PowerPivot and Multidimensional… Really, there are a lot of stuffs here! We announced the first dates in Europe and also an online edition optimized for America’s time zone: Apr 16-17, 2012 – Amsterdam, Netherlands Apr 26-27, 2012 – Copenhagen, Denmark May 7-8, 2012 – Online for America’s time zone May 14-15, 2012 – Brussels, Belgium May 21-22, 2012 – Oslo, Norway May 24-25, 2012 – Stockholm, Sweden May 28-29, 2012 – London, United Kingdom May 31-Jun 1, 2012 – Milan, Italy (Italian language) Also Chris Webb will join us in this workshop and in every date you can find who is the speaker on the web site. The course is based on our upcoming book, almost 600 pages (!) about SSAS Tabular, an incredible effort that will be available very soon in a preview (rough cuts from O’Reilly) and will be on the shelf in May. I will provide a link to order it as soon as we have one! And if you think that this is not enough… you’re right! Do you know what is the only thing you can do to optimize your Tabular model? Optimize your DAX code. Learning DAX is easy, mastering DAX requires some knowledge… and our DAX Advanced Workshop will provide exactly the required content. Public classes will be available later this year, by now we just deliver it on demand.

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  • How to create a PeopleCode Application Package/Application Class using PeopleTools Tables

    - by Andreea Vaduva
    This article describes how - in PeopleCode (Release PeopleTools 8.50) - to enable a grid without enabling each static column, using a dynamic Application Class. The goal is to disable the following grid with three columns “Effort Date”, ”Effort Amount” and “Charge Back” , when the Check Box “Finished with task” is selected , without referencing each static column; this PeopleCode could be used dynamically with any grid. If the check box “Finished with task” is cleared, the content of the grid columns is editable (and the buttons “+” and “-“ are available): So, you create an Application Package “CLASS_EXTENSIONS” that contains an Application Class “EWK_ROWSET”. This Application Class is defined with Class extends “ Rowset” and you add two news properties “Enabled” and “Visible”: After creating this Application Class, you use it in two PeopleCode Events : Rowinit and FieldChange : This code is very ‘simple’, you write only one command : ” &ERS2.Enabled = False” → and the entire grid is “Enabled”… and you can use this code with any Grid! So, the complete PeopleCode to create the Application Package is (with explanation in [….]) : ******Package CLASS_EXTENSIONS : [Name of the Package: CLASS_EXTENSIONS] --Beginning of the declaration part------------------------------------------------------------------------------ class EWK_ROWSET extends Rowset; [Definition Class EWK_ROWSET as a subclass of Class Rowset] method EWK_ROWSET(&RS As Rowset); [Constructor is the Method with the same name of the Class] property boolean Visible get set; property boolean Enabled get set; [Definition of the property “Enabled” in read/write] private [Before the word “private”, all the declarations are publics] method SetDisplay(&DisplaySW As boolean, &PropName As string, &ChildSW As boolean); instance boolean &EnSW; instance boolean &VisSW; instance Rowset &NextChildRS; instance Row &NextRow; instance Record &NextRec; instance Field &NextFld; instance integer &RowCnt, &RecCnt, &FldCnt, &ChildRSCnt; instance integer &i, &j, &k; instance CLASS_EXTENSIONS:EWK_ROWSET &ERSChild; [For recursion] Constant &VisibleProperty = "VISIBLE"; Constant &EnabledProperty = "ENABLED"; end-class; --End of the declaration part------------------------------------------------------------------------------ method EWK_ROWSET [The Constructor] /+ &RS as Rowset +/ %Super = &RS; end-method; get Enabled /+ Returns Boolean +/; Return &EnSW; end-get; set Enabled /+ &NewValue as Boolean +/; &EnSW = &NewValue; %This.InsertEnabled=&EnSW; %This.DeleteEnabled=&EnSW; %This.SetDisplay(&EnSW, &EnabledProperty, False); [This method is called when you set this property] end-set; get Visible /+ Returns Boolean +/; Return &VisSW; end-get; set Visible /+ &NewValue as Boolean +/; &VisSW = &NewValue; %This.SetDisplay(&VisSW, &VisibleProperty, False); end-set; method SetDisplay [The most important PeopleCode Method] /+ &DisplaySW as Boolean, +/ /+ &PropName as String, +/ /+ &ChildSW as Boolean +/ [Not used in our example] &RowCnt = %This.ActiveRowCount; &NextRow = %This.GetRow(1); [To know the structure of a line ] &RecCnt = &NextRow.RecordCount; For &i = 1 To &RowCnt [Loop for each Line] &NextRow = %This.GetRow(&i); For &j = 1 To &RecCnt [Loop for each Record] &NextRec = &NextRow.GetRecord(&j); &FldCnt = &NextRec.FieldCount; For &k = 1 To &FldCnt [Loop for each Field/Record] &NextFld = &NextRec.GetField(&k); Evaluate Upper(&PropName) When = &VisibleProperty &NextFld.Visible = &DisplaySW; Break; When = &EnabledProperty; &NextFld.Enabled = &DisplaySW; [Enable each Field/Record] Break; When-Other Error "Invalid display property; Must be either VISIBLE or ENABLED" End-Evaluate; End-For; End-For; If &ChildSW = True Then [If recursion] &ChildRSCnt = &NextRow.ChildCount; For &j = 1 To &ChildRSCnt [Loop for each Rowset child] &NextChildRS = &NextRow.GetRowset(&j); &ERSChild = create CLASS_EXTENSIONS:EWK_ROWSET(&NextChildRS); &ERSChild.SetDisplay(&DisplaySW, &PropName, &ChildSW); [For each Rowset child, call Method SetDisplay with the same parameters used with the Rowset parent] End-For; End-If; End-For; end-method; ******End of the Package CLASS_EXTENSIONS:[Name of the Package: CLASS_EXTENSIONS] About the Author: Pascal Thaler joined Oracle University in 2005 where he is a Senior Instructor. His area of expertise is Oracle Peoplesoft Technology and he delivers the following courses: For Developers: PeopleTools Overview, PeopleTools I &II, Batch Application Engine, Language Oriented Object PeopleCode, Administration Security For Administrators : Server Administration & Installation, Database Upgrade & Data Management Tools For Interface Users: Integration Broker (Web Service)

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  • CMS/Wiki to use for a HTML5 video site

    - by Clinton Blackmore
    Greetings. I want to put up a website with instructive screencasts, and allow for people to add comments to them. I would like use the Video for Everybody technique, partly because I dislike Flash and because it helps in a small way to move the web forward [while being backwards compatable]. I recognize that HTML5 is still in draft, and that support for it varies. I do have some hosting space, and can run Perl, PHP, and Ruby on Rails applications, with a MySQL backend. I should mention that part of my working job involves running some web servers, and that I am a programmer by training (with only a limited familiarity with Perl and PHP, and none with Ruby). I should mention why I don't particularly want to go with a video hosting site (like YouTube or Vimeo): Flash Video Resolution and Quality [I'd like to put up 800x600 videos] Videos promote a club that is not stricly non-profit [ie. may fall afoul of Terms of Service] I'm already paying for web hosting, and free video hosting comes with time and bandwidth limits I don't want there to be two locations where you can comment on the video Now, having said all that, I'd be quite comfortable putting up my own HTML pages, except: that's so web 1.0! :) [ie. it does not allow for comments] I also want to do some blogging and possibly put up a wiki; the site will not be entirely screencasts So, can anyone recommend a CMS (or Wiki, or similar application) that I can customise for this purpose?

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  • MSCC: Career & IT Fair 2014

    Already a couple of weeks ago, I've been addressed by Ibraahim and Yunus to see whether it would be interesting to participate in the 1st Career & IT Fair organised by the UoM Computer Club. Well, luckily we met at the Global Windows Azure Bootcamp and I wasn't too sure whether it would be possible for me to attend after all. The main reason is given because of work demand and furthermore due to the fact that the Mauritius Software Craftsmanship Community currently has no advertising material at all. Here's the brief statement of the event: "The UOM Students' Computer Club in collaboration with the UOM Students' Union and UOM CSE Department is organising a 'Career & IT Fair' on the 23rd and 24th April 2014. This event has for objective to provide a platform to tertiary students, secondary students as well as vocational students, the opportunity to meet job recruiters." Luckily, I was reminded that the 23rd is a Wednesday, and therefore I decided that it might be interesting to move our weekly Code & Coffee session to the university and hence be able to attend the career fair. As it turned out it was a great choice and thankfully Pritvi, Nadim as well as Ishwon volunteered to be around at the "community booth". Thankfully, the computer club gave us - the MSCC and the LUGM - one of their spaces in the lobby area of the Paul Octave Wiéhé Auditorium. My impression about the event Very well and professionally organised. Seriously, the lads over at the UoM Computer Club did a great job in organising their 2 days event, and felt very comfortable at any time. Actually, it was kind of amusing to some of the members constantly running around and checking everything. Even though that the whole process went smooth and easy off the hand. There were a couple of interesting pieces of information and announcements during the opening ceremony. For example, the Computer Science faculty is a very young one and has been initiated back in 1988 only - just by 4 staff members at that time. Now, after 25 years they have achieved quite a lot and there are currently 1.000+ active students attending the numerous lectures and courses. But there is no room to rest on previous achievements, and I was kind of surprised to hear that there are plans to extend the campus, and offer new lectures in the fields of nanotechnology, big data handling, and - crossing fingers - the introduction and establishment of a space control centre. Mauritius is already part of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and hopefully there will be more activities into that direction in the near future. Community - Awareness and collaboration As stated earlier, I could only spent one morning but luckily other members of the MSCC and the LUGM stayed during the whole two days and provided answers to any interested person. As for me, I took the opportunity to get in touch with the other companies in the lobby. Mainly, to create some awareness about our IT communities but also to see whether there might be options for future engagement in common activities, too. So far, I was able to speak to representatives of the following companies: ACCA Mauritius Business at Work Infomil LinkByNet Microsoft Indian Ocean Islands & French Pacific Spherinity Training Institute Spoon Consulting Ltd. State Informatics Ltd. Unfortunately, I only had a quick chat with an HR representative of LinkByNet but I fully count on our MSCC members like Nitin or LUGM member Ronny to spread our intentions over there.  So far, all of the representatives were really interested in our concepts and activities and I'm currently catching up with an introduction flyer for the MSCC that I'm going to send out to all those contacts via mail. It would be great to have more craftsmen as well as professional support on board. Some pictures from the event MSCC: Fantastic outlook for the near future. Announcements were made on Big data, nanotechnology, and space control centre in Mauritius. Interesting! MSCC: The lobby area was cramped with students. Great way to exchange and network. Good luck to all candidates! Passing the relay staff to... I recommend you to continue to read about the first Career & IT Fair on Ish's blog. He has a great summary and more details on those two days of IT activities than I have. Thanks and feel free to leave a comment (or two)... 

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  • Come meet our Interns in Dublin

    - by klaudia.drulis
    Oracle Worldwide Product Translation Group (WPTG) provides solutions for all Oracle product and Content translation requirements. WPTG is a global organisation with its headquarters in Ireland and employees in Oracle offices worldwide. WPTG offer expertise in fields such as process engineering, tools development, linguistic quality, terminology, global product release, financial and vendor management. WPTG provides translation solution for over 40 languages including Asia Pacific, European, American and Middle Eastern languages. WPTG first introduced an intern program over 10 years ago and it has become a key component of our teams structure. The majority of Interns are sourced from a Computer Science related course, these Interns joining the engineering team. Others are sourced from Business courses and work within the Business / Project management area. The intern program allows us to maintain ties with current course curriculum and brings fresh energy and perspective into our Organisation. Four of the full time staff working in Dublin today joined us originally as Interns and subsequently were offered permanent positions. Come Meet some of our 2010 Interns, Come and see what Darragh, Anthony, Caoimhe, James and Artemij thought about working within the WPTG at Oracle: Darragh “Oracle has been a fun, challenging work placement for me. From day one I was treated as a full member of staff, this was both comforting and a little bit scary. The responsibilities stack up but I found I was able to keep on top of everything and even make improvements to how we handle a few things thanks to a great team and a very supportive manager. There’s a very positive atmosphere in work that’s really conducive to getting a lot of work done. Ideas seem to be the central hub in my line of business so all of my ideas and innovations were greeted with enthusiasm. Oracle has given me a fantastic opportunity and I urge you to grab it with both hands, you’ll find that you’re with a set of like minded people from all works of life that make work both interesting and fun. Even when the pressure is on you know that you can always get help and advice from someone nearby. My last word of advice is don’t be afraid to stick your neck out, everyone here is willing to learn, try something new and innovate, your voice will be heard and who knows, you could end up having a large impact on Oracle and your career.” Anthony “I had a great experience working with Oracle, from day one I was treated like a full member of staff with responsibilities of my own. I found that the more I put into the work the more I got out from the experience. Volunteering and being willing to face challenges have made this a more exciting placement. I am given a lot of leeway to do my own projects and so I’ve found that I am really enjoying my time here.” Caoimhe “I am currently spending my year of placement within the Release Management Team in the WPTG. My main role is to handle the finance process of all translation projects under 100k which includes creating workspecs and PO's, sending out kits, dealing with vendor queries and handling the invoicing and payment part. I am really enjoying my time here at Oracle, everyone is very open and friendly and willing to help you out with any questions you may have. I would definitely be interested in returning to Oracle after I graduate!” James “I am currently on a 12 month placement with Oracle, working as part of the Worldwide Product Translation Group in the Business Management. The Business Management team provides a global view on WPTG’s vendor and business strategy and is an interface into WPTG for new business. The business management team work together to support the external translation partner network. My role is to support the Business Management team and also to work on various projects when the need arises. This involves working with translation vendors and working with other Oracle employees worldwide. I am really enjoying my time working for Oracle, at times it can be challenging bit also very rewarding. I would recommend any student wanting to undertake a placement year to apply to Oracle, I made some great friends and I will never forget my time in Dublin.” Artemij “From working within Oracle, I have truly understood what "career path" is, and what opportunities a large corporation like Oracle can offer. Without any illusions, the work itself is exciting, sometimes challenging, tests your ability to handle pressure, to make decisions and take responsibility, to learn quickly and cooperate efficiently in order to solve a problem. I have learned a lot about myself. What I am good at, where and what I can do better. My placement at Oracle has allowed me to get a clearer picture of what I want, and which door I am going to open after college. If you have any questions related to this article feel free to contact  [email protected].  You can find our job opportunities via http://campus.oracle.com

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  • Small Business HP Virtualisation and iSCSI SAN Options

    - by Robin Day
    We are a small business that hosts our core product on a number of HP servers. Our core production setup is 1x HP DL380, high powered for a SQL Server Database 1x HP DL360, mid powered for our core application server 6x HP DL320, low powered for our front ends We run our training / testing / support systems on a similar setup, the servers are just older and less powerful. Unfortunately this is now causing us issues as the system has grown beyond the capabilities of these older servers. Upgrading these servers would be expensive and we believe that virtualisation is probably the way to go for the future. Locally we run a number of test / dev environments on ESXi using Direct Storoage on a couple of high powered DL360's and these are performing fairly well. We're thinking that instead of replacing all of our test servers that we can implement an iSCSI SAN and one or two high powered hosts. Hopefully looking that when it comes to replace our live servers as well that we can just expand the virual environment to cope. So my question is... Can anyone offer any advice on some suitable options? We have generally always been extremely happy with HP servers, all of our kit is currently HP, therefore our preference would be to stick with HP, however, I'm always happy to hear about other options. I'm hoping that initially a budget of around 15-25k (GBP) would be suitable, this could potentially be increased if I had confidence that the system would pave the way for a cost effective upgrade of our live systems in the future as well. I am new to SAN's and my only real experience is playing with OpenFiler on some old desktops. I think iSCSI should be suitable, but I've not done any research into how SQL server may perform. I've had a browser through HP's sites and see plenty of information about EVA, MSA, LeftHand, etc. However, from looking at all that, I don't see which options would be best and more importantly I don't know exactly what I would need to buy. Any help, links, opinions would be much appreciated. Thanks

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  • Hiera datatypes wont load in Puppet

    - by Cole Shores
    I have spent a couple of days on this, followed the instructions on http://downloads.puppetlabs.com/docs/puppetmanual.pdf and even the Puppet Training Advanced Puppet manual. When I run a test against it, the results always come back as 'nil' and Im not sure why. I am running Puppet 3.6.1 Community Edition, with Hiera 1.2.1 on SLES 11. My puppet.conf file at /etc/puppet/puppet.conf consists of: [main] # The Puppet log directory. # The default value is '$vardir/log'. logdir = /var/log/puppet # Where Puppet PID files are kept. # The default value is '$vardir/run'. rundir = /var/run/puppet # Where SSL certificates are kept. # The default value is '$confdir/ssl'. ssldir = $vardir/ssl certificate_revocation = false [master] hiera_config=/etc/puppet/hiera.yaml reporturl = http://puppet2.vvmedia.com/reports/upload ssl_client_header = SSL_CLIENT_S_DN ssl_client_verify_header = SSL_CLIENT_VERIFY # certname = dev-puppetmaster2.vvmedia.com # ca_name = 'dev-puppetmaster2.vvmedia.com' # facts_terminus = rest # inventory_server = localhost # ca = false [agent] # The file in which puppetd stores a list of the classes # associated with the retrieved configuratiion. Can be loaded in # the separate ``puppet`` executable using the ``--loadclasses`` # option. # The default value is '$confdir/classes.txt'. classfile = $vardir/classes.txt # Where puppetd caches the local configuration. An # extension indicating the cache format is added automatically. # The default value is '$confdir/localconfig'. localconfig = $vardir/localconfig my /etc/puppet/hiera.yaml consists of: :backends: yaml :yaml: :datadir: /etc/puppet/hieradata :hierarchy: - common - database I have a directory created in /etc/puppet/hieradata and within it contains: /etc/puppet/hieradata/common.yaml :nameserver: ["dnsserverfoo1", "dnsserverfoo2"] :smtp_server: relay.internalfoo.com :syslog_server: syslogfoo.com :logstash_shipper: logstashfoo.com :syslog_backup_nfs: nfsfoo:/vol/logs :auth_method: ldap :manage_root: true and /etc/puppet/hieradata/database.yaml :enable_graphital: true :mysql_server_package: MySQL-server :mysql_client_package: MySQL-client :allowed_groups_login: extranet_users does anyone have any idea what could be causing Hiera to not load the requested values? I have tried even restarting the Master. Thanks in advance, Cole

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  • What does this diagnostic output mean?

    - by ChrisF
    I recently had a fault with my broadband connection. It turned out to be a fault with the ISP's or teleco's equipment. My ISP posted this diagnostic, but while I understand it in general, I'd like to to know more about the details. I'm assuming that ATM means Asynchronous Transfer Mode and PPP means Point to Point Protocol. It was this that my router was indicating as the fault. xDSL Status Test Summary Sync Status: Circuit In Sync General Information NTE Status: NTE Power Status: Unknown Bypass Status: Upstream DSL Link Information Downstream DSL Link Information Loop Loss: 9.0 17.0 SNR Margin: 25 15 Errored Seconds: 0 0 HEC Errors: 0 Cell Count: 0 0 Speed: 448 8128 TAM Status: Successfully executed operation Network Test: Sub-Test Results Layer Name Value Status Modem pass Transmitter Power (Upstream) 12.4 dBm Transmitter Power (Downstream) 8.8 dBm Upstream psd -38 dBm/Hz Downstream psd -51 dBm/Hz DSL pass Equipment Vendor Name TSTC Equipment Vendor Id n/a Equipment Vendor Revision n/a Training Time 8 s Num Syncs 1 Upstream bit rate 448 kbps Downstream bit rate 8128 kbps Upstream maximum bit rate 1108 kbps Downstream maximum bit rate 11744 kbps Upstream Attenuation 3.5 dB Downstream Attenuation 0.0 dB Upstream Noise Margin 20.0 dB Downstream Noise Margin 19.0 dB Local CRC Errors 0 Remote CRC Errors 0 Up Data Path interleaved Down Data Path interleaved Standard Used G_DMT INP INP Upstream Symbols n/a INP Upstream Delay 4 ms INP Upstream Depth 4 INP Downstream Symbols n/a INP Downstream Delay 5 ms INP Downstream Depth 32 ATM Reason: No ATM cells received fail Number of cells transmitted 30 Number of cells received 0 number of Near end HEC errors 0 number of Far end HEC errors n/a PPP Reason: No response from peer fail PAP authentication nottested CHAP authentication nottested (I'm not sure that Super User is the best place to ask this, but two people have suggested I ask it here so here I am).

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  • Knowing your user is key--Part 1: Motivation

    - by erikanollwebb
    I was thinking where the best place to start in this blog would be and finally came back to a theme that I think is pretty critical--successful gamification in the enterprise comes down to knowing your user.  Lots of folks will say that gamification is about understanding that everyone is a gamer.  But at least in my org, that argument won't play for a lot of people.  Pun intentional.  It's not that I don't see the attraction to the idea--really, very few people play no games at all.  If they don't play video games, they might play solitaire on their computer.  They may play card games, or some type of sport.  Mario Herger has some great facts on how much game playing there is going on at his Enterprise-Gamification.com website. But at the end of the day, I can't sell that into my organization well.  We are Oracle.  We make big, serious software designed run your whole business.  We don't make Angry Birds out of your financial reporting tools.  So I stick with the argument that works better.  Gamification techniques are really just good principals of user experience packaged a little differently.  Feedback?  We already know feedback is important when using software.  Progress indicators?  Got that too.  Game mechanics may package things in a more explicit way but it's not really "new".  To know how to use game mechanics, and what a user experience team is important for, is totally understanding who our users are and what they are motivated by. For several years, I taught college psychology courses, including Motivation.  Motivation is generally broken down into intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.  There's intrinsic, which comes from within the individual.  And there's extrinsic, which comes from outside the individual.  Intrinsic motivation is that motivation that comes from just a general sense of pleasure in the doing of something.  For example, I like to cook.  I like to cook a lot.  The kind of cooking I think is just fun makes other people--people who don't like to cook--cringe.  Like the cake I made this week--the star-spangled rhapsody from The Cake Bible: two layers of meringue, two layers of genoise flavored with a raspberry eau de vie syrup, whipped cream with berries and a mousseline buttercream, also flavored with raspberry liqueur and topped with fresh raspberries and blueberries. I love cooking--I ask for cooking tools for my birthday and Christmas, I take classes like sushi making and knife skills for fun.  I like reading about you can make an emulsion of egg yolks, melted butter and lemon, cook slowly and transform them into a sauce hollandaise (my use of all the egg yolks that didn't go into the aforementioned cake).  And while it's nice when people like what I cook, I don't do it for that.  I do it because I think it's fun.  My former boss, Ultan Ó Broin, loves to fish in the sea off the coast of Ireland.  Not because he gets prizes for it, or awards, but because it's fun.  To quote a note he sent me today when I asked if having been recently ill kept him from the beginning of mackerel season, he told me he had already been out and said "I can fish when on a deathbed" (read more of Ultan's work, see his blogs on User Assistance and Translation.). That's not the kind of intensity you get about something you don't like to do.  I'm sure you can think of something you do just because you like it. So how does that relate to gamification?  Gamification in the enterprise space is about uncovering the game within work.  Gamification is about tapping into things people already find motivating.  But to do that, you need to know what that user is motivated by. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is one of those areas where over-the-top gamification seems to work (not to plug a competitor in this space, but you can search on what Bunchball* has done with a company just a little north of us on 101 for the CRM crowd).  Sales people are naturally competitive and thrive on that plus recognition of their sales work.  You can use lots of game mechanics like leaderboards and challenges and scorecards with this type of user and they love it.  Show my whole org I'm leading in sales for the quarter?  Bring it on!  However, take the average accountant and show how much general ledger activity they have done in the last week and expose it to their whole org on a leaderboard and I think you'd see a lot of people looking for a new job.  Why?  Because in general, accountants aren't extraverts who thrive on competition in their work.  That doesn't mean there aren't game mechanics that would work for them, but they won't be the same game mechanics that work for sales people.  It's a different type of user and they are motivated by different things. To break this up, I'll stop here and post now.  I'll pick this thread up in the next post. Thoughts? Questions? *Disclosure: To my knowledge, Oracle has no relationship with Bunchball at this point in time.

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  • Piecing together low-powered hardware for an RS-232 terminal server

    - by Fred
    I'm working on reconstructing my Cisco lab for training/educational purposes and I found that the actual terminal server I have is dead. I have a couple of 8-port PCI serial cards which would be more than ample for my lab, but I don't want to leave my personal computer running to be able to access the console ports. Ideally I would access the terminal server remotely, either by SSH/RDP to the box (depending on what OS I go with) or by installing a software package that allows me to telnet directly to a serial port. I know I've found a program that does this under Linux in the past but its name escapes me at the moment. I'm thinking about scavenging for some old hardware, on eBay or something, to put together a low-powered PC. Needs to be something that: Has Low-power consumption Has at least 2 PCI slots (though I certainly wouldn't complain about having more) Has onboard Ethernet (or, if not, another PCI or ISA slot (not shared)) Can be headless once an OS installed (probably Linux) I'm currently leaning towards an old fashioned Pentium (sub-133MHz era) but I am wondering if anybody else knows of another platform/mobo that would suit these needs. Alternatively, I've been considering buying a Raspberry Pi and a big USB hub along with a bunch of USB-Serial adapters but this sounds like it'd get messy quick with cables and adapters all over the place, and I may not even have the same ttyS#'s between boots.

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  • Virus cleanup + dying drive = XP Automatic Updates crashing in esent.dll

    - by quack quixote
    Background I'm doing system recovery on an old WinXP SP1 system brought to me on suspicion of virus infection. After taking preliminary backups, I used MalwareBytes to detect and clean the infection. I might've even gotten it all. In the process, I've discovered (a) the system drive is showing signs of impending failure, and (b) the owner has been using the system's old crusty IE-6 instead of the up-to-date Firefox I've provided for him. So naturally, thinking I had a relatively stable system, I tried to hit the Windows Update site to install IE-8, in case further training doesn't stick. The update site told me it needed to update the installer, and I started that process. Soon after, wuauclt.exe started crashing, reporting addresses in module esent.dll. There's a Microsoft KB (910437) on a problem with that DLL, so I downloaded the hotfix and installed. The crashing did not stop. I attempted to install SP3 from the offline installer, but that didn't fix the issue either. The system is reporting a few hard drive / IDE controller errors, but they don't correlate to the crashes, so they aren't the direct cause. I've also attempted to rollback to the time between the infection removal and the first crashes, but that doesn't help. Question The hotfix I tried to install dealt with problem in transaction logs of the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) database. I suspect this issue is similar, but that the database itself (whatever the ESE database is) is corrupted. Is there a way to clean or clear this database so that system operation returns to normal? Can someone enlighten me as to what the ESE database actually is, and where it resides? Can I just locate some files and delete them to bring this under control?

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  • Virus cleanup; Windows Automatic Updates service crashes in esent.dll

    - by quack quixote
    Background I'm doing system recovery on an old WinXP SP1 system brought to me on suspicion of virus infection. After taking preliminary backups, I used MalwareBytes to detect and clean the infection. I might've even gotten it all. In the process, I've discovered (a) the system drive is showing signs of impending failure, and (b) the owner has been using the system's old crusty IE-6 instead of the up-to-date Firefox I've provided for him. So naturally, thinking I had a relatively stable system, I tried to hit the Windows Update site to install IE-8, in case further training doesn't stick. The update site told me it needed to update the installer, and I started that process. Soon after, wuauclt.exe started crashing, reporting addresses in module esent.dll. There's a Microsoft KB (910437) on a problem with that DLL, so I downloaded the hotfix and installed. The crashing did not stop. I attempted to install SP3 from the offline installer, but that didn't fix the issue either. The system is reporting a few hard drive / IDE controller errors, but they don't correlate to the crashes, so they aren't the direct cause. I've also attempted to rollback to the time between the infection removal and the first crashes, but that doesn't help. Question The hotfix I tried to install dealt with problem in transaction logs of the Extensible Storage Engine (ESE) database. I suspect this issue is similar, but that the database itself (whatever the ESE database is) is corrupted. Is there a way to clean or clear this database so that system operation returns to normal? Can someone enlighten me as to what the ESE database actually is, and where it resides? Can I just locate some files and delete them to bring this under control?

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  • Automating first time login process in Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 virtual machine

    - by George Durzi
    I have a set of Windows 2008 Server R2 SP1 Enterprise Edition virtual machines running in Hyper-V. The host server has 64GB of RAM and two SSD drives (one drive for the host OS, and the second one for the VMs). The virtual machines are as follows: Domain Controller: 4GB RAM Exchange Server: 4GB RAM Terminal Services: 50GB RAM We use this setup for a travelling training class where users remote desktop to one of the VMs - let's call it the Terminal Services or "TS" VM - where tools such as Visual Studio are installed. The students go through some labs on the TS VMs in Visual Studio. Overall, this setup works great. However, when users are collectively logging in for the first time, the VM really struggles to keep up while all the user profiles are created. It can take some users up to 10 minutes to login. The number varies from 30 to 40 students. A workaround to this would be to manually remote desktop to the TS virtual machine using all the accounts to ensure that the local profile is created in advance. I'm looking for a way to automate the first time login process on the TS virtual machine. I am envisioning iterating through the accounts in a certain Active Directory OU, and then somehow initiating a remote desktop session to the TS VM to log them in for the first time. Are there ways to do this? Thanks

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  • What is Happening vs. What is Interesting

    - by Geertjan
    Devoxx 2011 was yet another confirmation that all development everywhere is either on the web or on mobile phones. Whether you looked at the conference schedule or attended sessions or talked to speakers at any point at all, it was very clear that no development whatsoever is done anymore on the desktop. In fact, that's something Tim Bray himself told me to my face at the speakers dinner. No new developments of any kind are happening on the desktop. Everyone who is currently on the desktop is working overtime to move all of their applications to the web. They're probably also creating a small subset of their application on an Android tablet, with an even smaller subset on their Android phone. Then you scratch that monolithic surface and find some interesting results. Without naming any names, I asked one of these prominent "ah, forget about the desktop" people at the Devoxx speakers dinner (and I have a witness): "Yes, the desktop is dead, but what about air traffic control, stock trading, oil analysis, risk management applications? In fact, what about any back office application that needs to be usable across all operating systems? Here there is no concern whatsoever with 100% accessibility which is, after all, the only thing that the web has over the desktop, (except when there's a network failure, of course, or when you find yourself in the 3/4 of the world where there's bandwidth problems)? There are 1000's of hidden applications out there that have processing requirements, security requirements, and the requirement that they'll be available even when the network is down or even completely unavailable. Isn't that a valid use case and aren't there 1000's of applications that fall into this so-called niche category? Are you not, in fact, confusing consumer applications, which are increasingly web-based and mobile-based, with high-end corporate applications, which typically need to do massive processing, of one kind or another, for which the web and mobile worlds are completely unsuited?" And you will not believe what the reply to the above question was. (Again, I have a witness to this discussion.) But here it is: "Yes. But those applications are not interesting. I do not want to spend any of my time or work in any way on those applications. They are boring." I'm sad to say that the leaders of the software development community, including those in the Java world, either share the above opinion or are led by it. Because they find something that is not new to be boring, they move on to what is interesting and start talking like the supposedly-boring developments don't even exist. (Kind of like a rapper pretending classical music doesn't exist.) Time and time again I find myself giving Java desktop development courses (at companies, i.e., not hobbyists, or students, but companies, i.e., the places where dollars are earned), where developers say to me: "The course you're giving about creating cross-platform, loosely coupled, and highly cohesive applications is really useful to us. Why do we never find information about this topic at conferences? Why can we never attend a session at a conference where the story about pluggable cross-platform Java is told? Why do we get the impression that we are uncool because we're not on the web and because we're not on a mobile phone, while the reason for that is because we're creating $1000,000 simulation software which has nothing to gain from being on the web or on the mobile phone?" And then I say: "Because nobody knows you exist. Because you're not submitting abstracts to conferences about your very interesting use cases. And because conferences tend to focus on what is new, which tends to be web related (especially HTML 5) or mobile related (especially Android). Because you're not taking the responsibility on yourself to tell the real stories about the real applications being developed all the time and every day. Because you yourself think your work is boring, while in fact it is fascinating. Because desktop developers are working from 9 to 5 on the desktop, in secure environments, such as banks and defense, where you can't spend time, nor have the interest in, blogging your latest tip or trick, as opposed to web developers, who tend to spend a lot of time on the web anyway and are therefore much more inclined to create buzz about the kind of work they're doing." So, next time you look at a conference program and wonder why there's no stories about large desktop development projects in the program, here's the short answer: "No one is going to put those items on the program until you start submitting those kinds of sessions. And until you start blogging. Until you start creating the buzz that the web developers have been creating around their work for the past 10 years or so. And, yes, indeed, programmers get the conference they deserve." And what about Tim Bray? Ask yourself, as Google's lead web technology evangelist, how many desktop developers do you think he talks to and, more generally, what his frame of reference is and what, clearly, he considers to be most interesting.

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  • Linux Distro - GUI similar to Windows

    - by DeaconDesperado
    I am in the process of refurbing several older laptop machines for use by a couple college guys we have in training to learn basic web development in python. These are students who intern at my company and are hoping to do some work when the summer comes building simple client-oriented webapps (learning the basics of OOP, MVC webapp design in flask, etc.). We're trying to function as the "practical" side of their education. I would like to get them set up on these machines we have sitting about, but I'd like to use a linux distro that would have a gui that closely approximates what they are being compelled to use at school (windows.) I don't really have much of a preference as far as GUI goes since much of what we'll be learning together is accomplished on the command line. I just see this as an easier adjustment for them while they are still reliant on a graphical environment. In the past I'd go straight for Ubuntu, but since they started using the Unity GUI the responsiveness overall can be pretty clunky on older machines, especially since these machines (there are four of them) run the gambit on specs (though all are at least 1.0Ghz and none have anything better than basic integrated video.) Has anyone had to setup a similar working environment in Mint, bare Debian or Zorin? Thanks.

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  • Silverlight Update/Trigger IValueConverter in Listbox DataTemplate in a DataGrid

    - by LJ
    Hi I am building an application to display a datagrid bound to an ObservableCollection of Records, where each record has a Course Object and an ObservableCollection of Results Objects. The course is changed using an autocomplete box. The results collection is displayed in a Listbox with an IValueConverter implementation to change the colour of the ellipse template based on criteria of the course currently selected. It works great on loading, but subsequent updates to the course selection via the autocomplete does not trigger a recalculation/refresh of the value converter. Is there a way to trigger the refresh in XAML. I added UpdateSource=Property changed to the binding of the list box - but this caused a stack overflow (haha). Here is the code: <data:DataGrid x:Name="MyDatGrid"> <data:DataGrid.Columns> <data:DataGridTemplateColumn Header="Results"> <data:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate> <DataTemplate> <ListBox ItemsSource="{Binding ListOfResults}"> <ListBox.ItemsPanel> <ItemsPanelTemplate> <StackPanel Orientation="Horizontal"/> </ItemsPanelTemplate> </ListBox.ItemsPanel> <ListBox.ItemTemplate> <DataTemplate> <Ellipse Width="20" Height="20" Fill="{Binding Converter={StaticResource resultToBrushConverter} }" Stroke="Black" StrokeThickness="1" /> </DataTemplate> </ListBox.ItemTemplate> </ListBox> </DataTemplate> </data:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate> </data:DataGridTemplateColumn> <data:DataGridTemplateColumn Header="Course" > <data:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate> <DataTemplate> <Border> <input:AutoCompleteBox ItemsSource="{Binding Courses, Source={StaticResource coursesSource}}"/> </Border> </DataTemplate> </data:DataGridTemplateColumn.CellTemplate> I managed to subscribe to the LostFocus Event on the autocomplete box and reset a filter that I already have on the datagrid. But isn;t this very inefficient ? Refreshing the view on the datagrid does not have any effect in that method. Any steps in the right direction are greatly appreciated. Trying to prevent myself going anymore grey :) Had thoughts of getting the binding expression of the list in the grid and updating it, but no clue ? Thanks guys

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  • Going from a math career to a cs career: how to do it?

    - by Joseph
    Hey, I'm looking for some advice on how to successfully make the transition from mathematics to CS. My academic background is in mathematics (BS and MSc), and I've taken loads of math courses as well. You name it, and I took it: Measure Theory, Algebra, PDES, Manifolds, Complex Analysis, etc. I progressed quite far along this track, and at one point, I thought I would be a professional mathematician...But around the time I was finishing my MSc, I really got sick of it. Studying very abstract mathematics was fun, but it really lost it's appeal to me. Outside of a couple hundred people, I'm not sure if anybody would understand my research. I did not want to be 60 years old and say that my only contribution to the world consisted of published papers. Anyways, I've been an off and on hobbyist programmer since 2002. I've programmed in C and Java (just small projects), and I really started to be drawn to the area as time passed. There's a real appeal to CS work because, well, it actually means something to other people out there! I enjoy all parts of it: designing webpages (a real artistic appeal). On the other end, I do enjoy toying with compilers and more nitty-gritty stuff as well. Suffice to say, I have broad interests out there. Anyways, I know it's a bit late, but I was wondering if there were other folks out there who made the change, and if so, how I could do so. I know I have some fairly big gaps to fill in terms of data structures, lack of internship experience, etc. But I really would like to make this work. So my question is simply: How can I make the switch from math to CS? To pay the bills, I'll be doing financial analysis for a company, but I'd like to eventually transition into a developer type position. I've been reading "Algorithm Design" by Tardos and doing all the problems. It's not hard to make progress since the problems are far more concrete than the stuff I've been doing the past six years. I feel I can make fairly rapid progress in picking up all the materials from data structures, etc. but none of it can substitute the past several years I've lost. Anyways, I'm eager to learn but would love some advice/concrete direction. Thanks, Joseph

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  • How to update strongly typed Html.DropDownList using Jquery

    - by Remnant
    I have a webpage with two radiobuttons and a dropdownlist as follows: <div class="sectionheader">Course <div class="dropdown"><%=Html.DropDownList("CourseSelection", Model.CourseList, new { @class = "dropdown" })%> </div> <div class="radiobuttons"><label><%=Html.RadioButton("CourseType", "Advanced", false )%> Advanced </label></div> <div class="radiobuttons"><label><%=Html.RadioButton("CourseType", "Beginner", true )%> Beginner </label></div> </div> The dropdownlist is strongly typed and populated with Model.CourseList (NB - on the first page load, 'Beginner' is the default selection and the dropdown shows the beginner course options accordingly) What I want to be able to do is to update the DropDownList based on which radiobutton is selected i.e. if 'Advanced' selected then show one list of course options in dropdown, and if 'Beginner' selected then show another list of courses. The code I would like to call sits within my Controller: public JsonResult UpdateDropDown(string courseType) { IDropDownList dropdownlistRepository = new DropDownListRepository(); IEnumerable<SelectListItem> courseList = dropdownlistRepository.GetCourseList(courseType); return Json(courseList); } Edit - Updated below to show latest position Using examples provided in jQuery in Action, I now have the following jQuery code: $('.radiobuttons input:radio').click(function() { var courseType = $(this).val(); //Get selected courseType from radiobutton var dropdownList = $(".dropdown"); //Ref for dropdownlist $.getJSON("/ByCourse/UpdateDropDown", { courseType: courseType }, function(data) { $(dropdownList).loadSelect(data); }); }); The loadSelect function is taken straight from the book and is as follows: (function($) { $.fn.emptySelect = function() { return this.each(function() { if (this.tagName == 'SELECT') this.options.length = 0; }); } $.fn.loadSelect = function(optionsDataArray) { return this.emptySelect().each(function() { if (this.tagName == 'SELECT') { var selectElement = this; $.each(optionsDataArray, function(index, optionData) { var option = new Option(optionData.Text, optionData.Value); if ($.browser.msie) { selectElement.add(option); } else { selectElement.add(option, null); } }); } }); } })(jQuery); 1 day+ later I still cannot get this to work. Assuming the jQuery code is correct then I can only think that the issue is with retrieving the actual data with $getJSON. I have verified that JsonResult UpdateDropDown does actually retrieve valid data. What am I missing? Assembly reference? (NB: I have MicrosoftAjax.js and MicrosoftMvcAjax.js in my head tags of the master page Should JsonResult be ActionResult? (I have seen both used in samples on web) Do I need to register route Controller/UpdateDropDown in Global.asax? Any further guidance would be appreciated.

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  • How can I model the data in a multi-language data editor in WPF with MVVM?

    - by Patrick Szalapski
    Are there any good practices to follow when designing a model/ViewModel to represent data in an app that will view/edit that data in multiple languages? Our top-level class--let's call it Course--contains several collection properties, say Books and TopicsCovered, which each might have a collection property among its data. For example, the data needs to represent course1.Books.First().Title in different languages, and course1.TopicsCovered.First().Name in different languages. We want a app that can edit any of the data for one given course in any of the available languages--as well as edit non-language-specific data, perhaps the Author of a Book (i.e. course1.Books.First().Author). We are having trouble figuring out how best to set up the model to enable binding in the XAML view. For example, do we replace (in the single-language model) each String with a collection of LanguageSpecificString instances? So to get the author in the current language: course1.Books.First().Author.Where(Function(a) a.Language = CurrentLanguage).SingleOrDefault If we do that, we cannot easily bind to any value in one given language, only to the collection of language values such as in an ItemsControl. <TextBox Text={Binding Author.???} /> <!-- no way to bind to the current language author --> Do we replace the top-level Course class with a collection of language-specific Courses? So to get the author in the current language: course1.GetLanguage(CurrentLanguage).Books.First.Author If we do that, we can only easily work with one language at a time; we might want a view to show one language and let the user edit the other. <TextBox Text={Binding Author} /> <!-- good --> <TextBlock Text={Binding ??? } /> <!-- no way to bind to the other language author --> Also, that has the disadvantage of not representing language-neutral data as such; every property (such as Author) would seem to be in multiple languages. Even non-string properties would be in multiple languages. Is there an option in between those two? Is there another way that we aren't thinking of? I realize this is somewhat vague, but it would seem to be a somewhat common problem to design for. Note: This is not a question about providing a multilingual UI, but rather about actually editing multi-language data in a flexible way.

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  • How to I serialize a large graph of .NET object into a SQL Server BLOB without creating a large bu

    - by Ian Ringrose
    We have code like: ms = New IO.MemoryStream bin = New System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary.BinaryFormatter bin.Serialize(ms, largeGraphOfObjects) dataToSaveToDatabase = ms.ToArray() // put dataToSaveToDatabase in a Sql server BLOB But the memory steam allocates a large buffer from the large memory heap that is giving us problems. So how can we stream the data without needing enough free memory to hold the serialized objects. I am looking for a way to get a Stream from SQL server that can then be passed to bin.Serialize() so avoiding keeping all the data in my processes memory. Likewise for reading the data back... Some more background. This is part of a complex numerical processing system that processes data in near real time looking for equipment problems etc, the serialization is done to allow a restart when there is a problem with data quality from a data feed etc. (We store the data feeds and can rerun them after the operator has edited out bad values.) Therefore we serialize the object a lot more often then we de-serialize them. The objects we are serializing include very large arrays mostly of doubles as well as a lot of small “more normal” objects. We are pushing the memory limit on a 32 bit system and make the garage collector work very hard. (Effects are being made elsewhere in the system to improve this, e.g. reusing large arrays rather then create new arrays.) Often the serialization of the state is the last straw that courses an out of memory exception; our peak memory usage is while this serialization is being done. I think we get large memory pool fragmentation when we de-serialize the object, I expect there are also other problem with large memory pool fragmentation given the size of the arrays. (This has not yet been investigated, as the person that first looked at this is a numerical processing expert, not a memory management expert.) Are customers use a mix of Sql Server 2000, 2005 and 2008 and we would rather not have different code paths for each version of Sql Server if possible. We can have many active models at a time (in different process, across many machines), each model can have many saved states. Hence the saved state is stored in a database blob rather then a file. As the spread of saving the state is important, I would rather not serialize the object to a file, and then put the file in a BLOB one block at a time. Other related questions I have asked How to Stream data from/to SQL Server BLOB fields? Is there a SqlFileStream like class that works with Sql Server 2005?

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  • Opinion on "loop invariants", and are these frequently used in the industry?

    - by Michael Aaron Safyan
    I was thinking back to my freshman year at college (five years ago) when I took an exam to place-out of intro-level computer science. There was a question about loop invariants, and I was wondering if loop invariants are really necessary in this case or if the question was simply a bad example... the question was to write an iterative definition for a factorial function, and then to prove that the function was correct. The code that I provided for the factorial function was as follows: public static int factorial(int x) { if ( x < 0 ){ throw new IllegalArgumentException("Parameter must be = 0"); }else if ( x == 0 ){ return 1; }else{ int result = 1; for ( int i = 1; i <= x; i++ ){ result*=i; } return result; } } My own proof of correctness was a proof by cases, and in each I asserted that it was correct by definition (x! is undefined for negative values, 0! is 1, and x! is 1*2*3...*x for a positive value of x). The professor wanted me to prove the loop using a loop invariant; however, my argument was that it was correct "by definition", because the definition of "x!" for a positive integer x is "the product of the integers from 1... x", and the for-loop in the else clause is simply a literal translation of this definition. Is a loop invariant really needed as a proof of correctness in this case? How complicated must a loop be before a loop invariant (and proper initialization and termination conditions) become necessary for a proof of correctness? Additionally, I was wondering... how often are such formal proofs used in the industry? I have found that about half of my courses are very theoretical and proof-heavy and about half are very implementation and coding-heavy, without any formal or theoretical material. How much do these overlap in practice? If you do use proofs in the industry, when do you apply them (always, only if it's complicated, rarely, never)?

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  • How do we, as a community, help encourage programming in public schools? (Or state Schools for the U

    - by NoMoreZealots
    PRIMARY MOTIVATION My office gets involved with the "First Robotics" competitions and one thing that lingers year to year is the students typically have no preparation for doing even simple programming as part of the public schools system. While the science classes provide some basic grasp of mechanical and electrical concepts, by in large computer programming gets no coverage from the curriculum. (This my be different in other areas of the country/world.) What makes it worse is there is only a short period of time you have to prepare the student's and help them design the robot. Talking to some professors from local colleges, it's a problem because you can't assume even the most basic understanding for freshman CS majors. Languages like Python, Lua and BASIC are simple enough for at least high school level students, if not younger. SCOPE So how do you get public schools to support a programming, at least to the level of "Try it in BASIC" examples that used to be at the end of a chapter in my Algebra book? At least enough to prepare them for event's such as the FIRST Robotic competitions. Which the primary objectives are to teach problem solving and team work, and to possible foster an interest in Math, Science and Engineering in general. (Not force feed to them, as some people her seem to be implying.) Edit: Why teach kids: (Since 2000 CS enrollment in US colleges has decreased by 70% while college enrollment has increased, this is a PROBLEM.) Saying there is no value in teaching someone programming in Jr./High school because they might think "they know programming." Is like saying there's no value in teaching High school science and physics, because they might decide they "know physics." Leading to abuse like: "I passed a high school physics class, I'm going to develop a Unified Quantum Gravitational Theory." Better Prepared students are better students. Instead it would allows college programs to raise the bar on the entry level courses, allowing students to be weeded out based on their understanding of more advanced material. Plus people who did poorly in that in topic in High school aren't as likely to say "I think there's money in computer's so I'll computer science." Plus if people take it in high school and decide THEN that it's not for them, it's better than them wasting their money to PAY a college to figure that out. The result is that people who take the degree are more likely to succeed and be there for the RIGHT reasons. (i.e. It's what they REALLY want to do. And that's REALLY the key to being good at anything.) Programming is like anything else, the more practice and genuine interest you have the better you get. If you start them later, they get less practice. The earlier give them the opportunity to start, the more practice they will get. All other things equal, the more practice the better the programmer.

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  • JComobox is not showing in the JDialog

    - by Pujan Srivastava
    I have 2 classes. when I put bold 3 lines in the method addCourses() the dialog does not show combobox in the Panel but when I remove from addCourses and put those bold lines in the constructor, JComboBox are shown in the Panel. But data will not show because data items updates to ComboBox will happen after Constructor is created. How can I solve this problem. this.mainPanel.add(courseCombo, BorderLayout.NORTH); this.mainPanel.add(sessionCombo, BorderLayout.CENTER); this.mainPanel.add(courseButton, BorderLayout.SOUTH); public class Updator { CourseListFrame clf = new CourseListFrame(); for(...){ clf.addContentsToBox(displayName, className); } clf.addCourses(); } and second class is public class CourseListFrame extends JDialog implements ActionListener { public JPanel mainPanel = new JPanel(new BorderLayout(2, 2)); public JButton courseButton = new JButton(("Submit")); public JComboBox courseCombo; public JComboBox sessionCombo; public Multimap<String, String> map; // = HashMultimap.create(); public static CourseListFrame courseListDialog; public CourseListFrame() { super(this.getMainFrame()); this.getContentPane().add(mainPanel); map = HashMultimap.create(); courseCombo = new JComboBox(); courseCombo.addItem("Select Courses"); courseCombo.addActionListener(this); sessionCombo = new JComboBox(); } public void addContentsToBox(String course, String session) { map.put(course, session); courseCombo.addItem(course); } public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e) { JComboBox cb = (JComboBox) e.getSource(); String str = (String) cb.getSelectedItem(); setSessionCombo(str); } public void setSessionCombo(String course) { if (map.containsKey(course)) { sessionCombo.removeAllItems(); Iterator it = map.get(course).iterator(); while (it.hasNext()) { sessionCombo.addItem(it.next()); } } } public void addCourses() { this.mainPanel.add(courseCombo, BorderLayout.NORTH); this.mainPanel.add(sessionCombo, BorderLayout.CENTER); this.mainPanel.add(courseButton, BorderLayout.SOUTH); } public static void showCourseListDialog() { if (courseListDialog == null) { courseListDialog = new CourseListFrame(); } courseListDialog.pack(); courseListDialog.setVisible(true); courseListDialog.setSize(260, 180); } }

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  • Python: How best to parse a simple grammar?

    - by Rosarch
    Ok, so I've asked a bunch of smaller questions about this project, but I still don't have much confidence in the designs I'm coming up with, so I'm going to ask a question on a broader scale. I am parsing pre-requisite descriptions for a course catalog. The descriptions almost always follow a certain form, which makes me think I can parse most of them. From the text, I would like to generate a graph of course pre-requisite relationships. (That part will be easy, after I have parsed the data.) Some sample inputs and outputs: "CS 2110" => ("CS", 2110) # 0 "CS 2110 and INFO 3300" => [("CS", 2110), ("INFO", 3300)] # 1 "CS 2110, INFO 3300" => [("CS", 2110), ("INFO", 3300)] # 1 "CS 2110, 3300, 3140" => [("CS", 2110), ("CS", 3300), ("CS", 3140)] # 1 "CS 2110 or INFO 3300" => [[("CS", 2110)], [("INFO", 3300)]] # 2 "MATH 2210, 2230, 2310, or 2940" => [[("MATH", 2210), ("MATH", 2230), ("MATH", 2310)], [("MATH", 2940)]] # 3 If the entire description is just a course, it is output directly. If the courses are conjoined ("and"), they are all output in the same list If the course are disjoined ("or"), they are in separate lists Here, we have both "and" and "or". One caveat that makes it easier: it appears that the nesting of "and"/"or" phrases is never greater than as shown in example 3. What is the best way to do this? I started with PLY, but I couldn't figure out how to resolve the reduce/reduce conflicts. The advantage of PLY is that it's easy to manipulate what each parse rule generates: def p_course(p): 'course : DEPT_CODE COURSE_NUMBER' p[0] = (p[1], int(p[2])) With PyParse, it's less clear how to modify the output of parseString(). I was considering building upon @Alex Martelli's idea of keeping state in an object and building up the output from that, but I'm not sure exactly how that is best done. def addCourse(self, str, location, tokens): self.result.append((tokens[0][0], tokens[0][1])) def makeCourseList(self, str, location, tokens): dept = tokens[0][0] new_tokens = [(dept, tokens[0][1])] new_tokens.extend((dept, tok) for tok in tokens[1:]) self.result.append(new_tokens) For instance, to handle "or" cases: def __init__(self): self.result = [] # ... self.statement = (course_data + Optional(OR_CONJ + course_data)).setParseAction(self.disjunctionCourses) def disjunctionCourses(self, str, location, tokens): if len(tokens) == 1: return tokens print "disjunction tokens: %s" % tokens How does disjunctionCourses() know which smaller phrases to disjoin? All it gets is tokens, but what's been parsed so far is stored in result, so how can the function tell which data in result corresponds to which elements of token? I guess I could search through the tokens, then find an element of result with the same data, but that feel convoluted... What's a better way to approach this problem?

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