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  • In a state machine, is it a good idea to separate states and transitions?

    - by codablank1
    I have implemented a small state machine in this way (in pseudo code): class Input {} class KeyInput inherits Input { public : enum { Key_A, Key_B, ..., } } class GUIInput inherits Input { public : enum { Button_A, Button_B, ..., } } enum Event { NewGame, Quit, OpenOptions, OpenMenu } class BaseState { String name; Event get_event (Input input); void handle (Event e); //event handling function } class Menu inherits BaseState{...} class InGame inherits BaseState{...} class Options inherits BaseState{...} class StateMachine { public : BaseState get_current_state () { return current_state; } void add_state (String name, BaseState state) { statesMap.insert(name, state);} //raise an exception if state not found BaseState get_state (String name) { return statesMap.find(name); } //raise an exception if state or next_state not found void add_transition (Event event, String state_name, String next_state_name) { BaseState state = get_state(state_name); BaseState next_state = get_state(next_state_name); transitionsMap.insert(pair<event, state>, next_state); } //raise exception if couple not found BaseState get_next_state(Event event, BaseState state) { return transitionsMap.find(pair<event, state>); } void handle(Input input) { Event event = current_state.get_event(input) current_state.handle(event); current_state = get_next_state(event, current_state); } private : BaseState current_state; map<String, BaseState> statesMap; //map of all states in the machine //for each couple event/state, this map stores the next state map<pair<Event, BaseState>, BaseState> transitionsMap; } So, before getting the transition, I need to convert the key input or GUI input to the proper event, given the current state; thus the same key 'W' can launch a new game in the 'Menu' state or moving forward a character in the 'InGame' state; Then I get the next state from the transitionsMap and I update the current state Does this configuration seem valid to you ? Is it a good idea to separate states and transitions ? And I have some kind of trouble to represent a 'null state' or a 'null event'; What initial value can I give to the current state and which one should be returned by get_state if it fails ?

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  • Learn programming backwards, or "so I failed the FizzBuzz test. Now what?"

    - by moraleida
    A Little Background I'm 28 today, and I've never had any formal training in software development, but I do have two higher education degrees equivalent to a B.A in Public Relations and an Executive MBA focused on Project Management. I've worked on those fields for about 6 years total an then, 2,5 years ago I quit/lost my job and decided to shift directions. After a month thinking things through I decided to start freelancing developing small websites in WordPress. I self-learned my way into it and today I can say I run a humble but successful career developing themes and plugins from scratch for my clients - mostly agencies outsourcing some of their dev work for medium/large websites. But sometimes I just feel that not having studied enough math, or not having a formal understanding of things really holds me behind when I have to compete or work with more experienced developers. I'm constantly looking for ways to learn more but I seem to lack the basics. Unfortunately, spending 4 more years in Computer Science is not an option right now, so I'm trying to learn all I can from books and online resources. This method is never going to have NASA employ me but I really don't care right now. My goal is to first pass the bar and to be able to call myself a real programmer. I'm currently spending my spare time studying Java For Programmers (to get a hold on a language everyone says is difficult/demanding), reading excerpts of Code Complete (to get hold of best practices) and also Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software (to grasp the inner workings of computers). TL;DR So, my current situation is this: I'm basically capable of writing any complete system in PHP (with the help of Google and a few books), integrating Ajax, SQL and whatnot, and maybe a little slower than an experienced dev would expect due to all the research involved. But I was stranded yesterday trying to figure out (not Google) a solution for the FizzBuzz test because I didn't have the if($n1 % $n2 == 0) method modulus operator memorized. What would you suggest as a good way to solve this dilemma? What subjects/books should I study that would get me solving problems faster and maybe more "in a programmers way"? EDIT - Seems that there was some confusion about what did I not know to solve FizzBuzz. Maybe I didn't express myself right: I knew the steps needed to solve the problem. What I didn't memorize was the modulus operator. The problem was in transposing basic math to the program, not in knowing basic math. I took the test for fun, after reading about it on Coding Horror. I just decided it was a good base-comparison line between me and formally-trained devs. I just used this as an example of how not having dealt with math in a computer environment before makes me lose time looking up basic things like modulus operators to be able to solve simple problems.

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  • I owe you an explanation

    - by Blueberry Coder
    Welcome to my blog! I am Frédéric Desbiens, a new member of the ADF Product Management team.  I joined Oracle only a few weeks ago. My boss is Grant Ronald, and I have the privilege to work in the same team as Susan Duncan, Frank Nimphius, Lynn Munsinger and Chris Muir. I share with them a passion for all things Java and ADF. With this blog, I hope to help you be more successful with our products – whether you are a customer or a partner. You may have heard of me before. Maybe you have my book in your bookshelf; or maybe we met at a conference. I went to JavaOne, ODTUG Kaleidoscope and Oracle OpenWorld in the past, when I worked for a major consulting firm. I will spare you all the details of my career; you can have a look at my LinkedIn profile if you are curious about my past.  Usually, my posts will be of a technical nature, and will focus on Oracle ADF and Oracle JDeveloper. SOA and portals have always been two topics of interest for me, however, and I will write about them. Over time, you will probably get acquainted with my « strategic » side as well. I devour history books, and always had a tendency to look at the big picture. I will probably not resist to the temptation of mixing IT and history, but this will be occasional, I promise!  At this point, I owe you an explanation about the title of the blog. I am French-Canadian, and wanted to evoke my roots in an obvious yet unobtrusive way. I was born in Chicoutimi, which is one of the main cities found in the Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region. Traditionally, a large part of the wild blueberry production of the province of Québec come from there. A common nickname for the inhabitants is thus Les Bleuets, « The Blueberries » in English. I hope to see you around. You can also follow me on Twitter under  @BlueberryCoder.

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  • C-states and P-states : confounding factors for benchmarking

    - by Dave
    I was recently looking into a performance issue in the java.util.concurrent (JUC) fork-join pool framework related to particularly long latencies when trying to wake (unpark) threads in the pool. Eventually I tracked the issue down to the power & scaling governor and idle-state policies on x86. Briefly, P-states refer to the set of clock rates (speeds) at which a processor can run. C-states reflect the possible idle states. The deeper the C-state (higher numerical values) the less power the processor will draw, but the longer it takes the processor to respond and exit that sleep state on the next idle to non-idle transition. In some cases the latency can be worse than 100 microseconds. C0 is normal execution state, and P0 is "full speed" with higher Pn values reflecting reduced clock rates. C-states are P-states are orthogonal, although P-states only have meaning at C0. You could also think of the states as occupying a spectrum as follows : P0, P1, P2, Pn, C1, C2, ... Cn, where all the P-states are at C0. Our fork-join framework was calling unpark() to wake a thread from the pool, and that thread was being dispatched onto a processor at deep C-state, so we were observing rather impressive latencies between the time of the unpark and the time the thread actually resumed and was able to accept work. (I originally thought we were seeing situations where the wakee was preempting the waker, but that wasn't the case. I'll save that topic for a future blog entry). It's also worth pointing out that higher P-state values draw less power and there's usually some latency in ramping up the clock (P-states) in response to offered load. The issue of C-states and P-states isn't new and has been described at length elsewhere, but it may be new to Java programmers, adding a new confounding factor to benchmarking methodologies and procedures. To get stable results I'd recommend running at C0 and P0, particularly for server-side applications. As appropriate, disabling "turbo" mode may also be prudent. But it also makes sense to run with the system defaults to understand if your application exhibits any performance sensitivity to power management policies. The operating system power management sub-system typically control the P-state and C-states based on current and recent load. The scaling governor manages P-states. Operating systems often use adaptive policies that try to avoid deep C-states for some period if recent deep idle episodes proved to be very short and futile. This helps make the system more responsive under bursty or otherwise irregular load. But it also means the system is stateful and exhibits a memory effect, which can further complicate benchmarking. Forcing C0 + P0 should avoid this issue.

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  • Workflow 4.5 is Awesome, cant wait for 5.0!

    - by JoshReuben
    About 2 years ago I wrote a blog post describing what I would like to see in Workflow vnext: http://geekswithblogs.net/JoshReuben/archive/2010/08/25/workflow-4.0---not-there-yet.aspx At the time WF 4.0 was a little rough around the edges – the State Machine was on codeplex and people were simulating state machines with Flowcharts. Last year I built a near- realtime machine management system using WF 4.0.1 – its managing the internal operations of this device: http://landanano.com/products/commercial   Well WF 4.5 has come a long way – many of my gripes have been addressed: C# expressions - no more VB 'AndAlso' clauses state machine awesomeness - can query current state many designer improvements - Document Outline is so much more succinct than Designer! Separate WCF Service Contract interfaces and ability to generate activities from contract operations ability to rehydrate to updated flow definitions via DynamicUpdateMap and WorkflowIdentity you can read about the new features here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh305677(VS.110).aspx   2013 could be the year of Workflow evangelism for .NET, as it comes together as the DSL language. Eg on Azure it could be used to graphically orchestrate between WebRoles, WorkerRoles and AppFabric Queues and the ServiceBus – that would be grand.   Here’s a list of things I’d like to see in Workflow 5.0: Stronger Parallelism support for true multithreaded workflows . A Workflow executes on a single thread – wouldn’t it be great if we had the ability to model TPL DataFlow? Parallel is not really parallel, just allows AsyncCodeActivity.     support for recursion an ExpressionTree activity with an editor design surface a math activity pack return of application level protocol (3.51 WF services) – automatically expose a state machine as a WCF service with bookmark Receive activities generated from OperationContract automatically placed in state transition triggers. A new HTML5 ActivityDesigner control – support with different CSS3  skinnable hooks,  remote connectivity (had to roll my own) A data flow view – crucial to understanding the big picture Ability to refactor a Sequence to custom activity in a separate .xaml file – like Expression Blend does for UserControl state machine global error handling - if all states goto an error state, you quickly get visual spagetti. Now you could nest a state machine, but what if you want an application level protocol whereby each state exposes certain WCF ops. DSL RAD editing - Make the Document Outline into a DSL editor for adding activities  – For WF to really succeed as a higher level of abstraction, It needs to be more productive than raw coding - drag & drop on the designer is currently too slow compared to just typing code. Extensible Wizard API - for pluggable WF editor experience other execution models beyond Sequence, Flowchart & StateMachine: SSIS, Behavior Trees,  Wolfram Model tool – surprise us! improvements to Designer debugging API - SourceLocation is tied to XAML file line number and char position, and ModelService access seems convoluted - why not leverage WPF LogicalTreeHelper / VisualTreeHelper ? Workflow Team , keep on rocking!

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  • JDK bug migration milestone: JIRA now the system of record

    - by darcy
    I'm pleased to announce the OpenJDK bug database migration project has reached a significant milestone: the JDK has switched from the legacy Sun "bugtraq" system to a new internal JIRA instance as the system of record for our bug tracking. This completes the initial phase of the previously described plan of getting OpenJDK onto an externally visible and writable bug tracker. The identities contained in the current system include recognized OpenJDK contributors. The bug migration effort to date has been sizable in multiple dimensions. There are around 140,000 distinct issues imported into the JDK project of the JIRA instance, nearly 165,000 if backport issues to track multiple-release information are included. Separately, the Code Tools OpenJDK project has its own JIRA project populated with several thousands existing bugs. Once the OpenJDK JIRA instance is externalized, approved OpenJDK projects will be able to request the creation of a JIRA project for issue tracking. There are many differences in the schema used to model bugs between the legacy bug system and the schema for the new JIRA projects. We've favored simplifications to the existing system where possible and, after much discussion, we've settled on five main states for the OpenJDK JIRA projects: New Open In progress Resolved Closed The Open and In-progress states can have a substate Understanding field set to track whether the issues has its "Cause Known" or "Fix understood". In the closed state, a Verification field can indicate whether a fix has been verified, unverified, or if the fix has failed. At the moment, there will be very little externally visible difference between JIRA for OpenJDK and the legacy system it replaces. One difference is that bug numbers for newly filed issues in the JIRA JDK project will be 8000000 and above. If you are working with JDK Hg repositories, update any local copies of jcheck to the latest version which recognizes this expanded bug range. (The bug numbers of existing issues have been preserved on the import into JIRA). Relatively soon, we plan for the pages published on bugs.sun.com to be generated from information in JIRA rather than in the legacy system. When this occurs, there will be some differences in the page display and the terminology used will be revised to reflect JIRA usage, such as referring to the "component/subcomponent" of an issue rather than its "category". The exact timing of this transition will be announced when it is known. We don't currently have a firm timeline for externalization of the JIRA system. Updates will be provided as they become available. However, that is unlikely to happen before JavaOne next week!

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  • How to interview a natural scientist for a dev position?

    - by Silas
    I already did some interviews for my company, mostly computer scientists for dev positions but also some testers and project managers. Now I have to fill a vacancy in our research group within the R&D department (side note: “research” means that we try to solve problems in our professional domain/market niche using software in research projects together with universities, other companies, research centres and end user organisations. It’s not computer science research; we’re not going to solve the P=NP problem). Now we invited a guy holding an MSc in chemistry (with a lot of physics in his CV, too), who never had any computer science lesson. I already talked with him about half an hour at a local university’s career days and there’s no doubt the guy is smart. Also his marks are excellent and he graduated with distinction. For his BSc he needed to teach himself programming in Mathematica and told me believably that he liked programming a lot. Also he solved some physical chemistry problem that I probably don’t understand using his own software, implemented in Mathematica, for his MSc thesis. It includes a GUI and a notable size of 8,000 LoC. He seems to be very attracted by what we’re doing in our research group and to be honest it’s quite difficult for an SME like us to get good people. I also am very interested in hiring him since he could assist me in writing project proposals, reports, doing presentations and so on. He would probably fit to our team, too. The only question left is: How can I check if he will get the programming skills he needs to do software implementation in our projects since this will be a significant part of the job? Of course I will ask him what it is, that is fascinating him about programming. I’ll also ask how he proceeded to write his natural science software and how he structured it. I’ll ask about how he managed to obtain the skills and information about software development he needed. But is there something more I could ask? Something more concrete perhaps? Should I ask him to explain his Mathematica solution? To be clear: I’m not looking for knowledge in a particular language or technology stack. We’re a .NET shop in product development but I want to have a free choice for our research projects. So I’m interested in the meta-competence being able to learn whatever is actually needed. I hope this question is answerable and not open-ended since I really like to know if there is a default way to check for the ability to get further programming skills on the job. If something is not clear to you please give me some comments and let me improve my question.

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  • SOA Summit - Oracle Session Replay

    - by Bruce Tierney
    If you think you missed the most recent Integration Developer News (IDN) "SOA Summit" 2013...good news, you didn't.  At least not the replay of the Oracle session titled: Three Solutionsfor Simplifying Cloud/On-Premises Integration As you will see in the reply below, this session introduces Three common reasons for integration complexity: Disparate Toolkits Lack of API Management Rigid, Brittle Infrastructure and then the Three solutions to these challenges: Unify Cloud On-premises Integration Enable Multi-channel Development with API Management Plan for the Unexpected - Future Readiness The last solution on future readiness describes how you can transition from being reactive to new trends, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), by modifying your integration strategy to enable business agility and how to recognize trends through Fast Data event processing ahead of your competition. Oracle SOA Suite customer SFpark's (San Francisco Metropolitan Transit Authority) implementation with API Management is covered as shown in the screenshot to the right This case study covers the core areas of API Management for partners to build their own applications by leveraging parking availability and real-time pricing as well as mobile enablement of data integrated by SOA Suite underneath.  Download the free SFpark app from the Apple and Android app stores to check it out. When looking into the future, the discussion starts with a historical look to better prepare for what comes next.   As shown in the image below, one of the next frontiers after mobile and cloud integration is a deeper level of direct "enterprise to customer" interaction.  Much of this relates to the Internet of Things.  Examples of IoT from the perspective of SOA and integration is also covered in the session. For example, early adopter Turkcell and their tracking of mobile phone users as they move from point A to B to C is shown in the image the right.   As you look into more "smart services" such as Location-Based Services, how "future ready" is your application infrastructure?  . . . Check out the replay by clicking the video image below to learn about these three challenges and solution including how to "future ready" your application infrastructure:

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  • How to Add a Taskbar to the Desktop in Ubuntu 14.04

    - by Lori Kaufman
    If you’ve switched to Ubuntu from Windows, it may take some time to get used to the new and different interface. However, you can easily incorporate a familiar Windows feature, the Taskbar, into Ubuntu to make the transition easier. A tool called Tint2 provides a bar at the bottom of the Ubuntu Desktop that resembles the Windows Taskbar. We will show you how to install it and make it start every time you log into Ubuntu. NOTE: When we say to type something in this article and there are quotes around the text, DO NOT type the quotes, unless we specify otherwise. Press Ctrl + Alt + T to open a Terminal window. To install Tint2, type the following line at the prompt and press Enter. sudo apt-get install tint2 Type your password at the prompt and press Enter. The progress of the installation displays and then a message displays saying how much disk space will be used. When asked if you want to continue, type a “y” and press Enter. When the installation has finished, close the Terminal window by typing “exit” at the prompt and pressing Enter. Click the Search button at the top of the Unity bar. Start typing “startup applications” in the Search box. Items that match what you type start displaying below the Search box. When the Startup Applications tool displays, click the icon to open it. On the Startup Applications Preferences window, click Add. On the Add Startup Program dialog box, enter a name for the startup application. This name displays in the list on the Startup Applications Preferences window. Type “tint2” in the Command edit box, enter a description in the Comment edit box, if desired, and click Add. Tint2 is added as a startup program and will start every time you log into Ubuntu. Click Close to close the Startup Applications Preferences window. Log out and log back in to make the Taskbar available on the desktop. You do not need to reboot the computer for this change to take effect. Now, when you minimize a program, an icon for it displays on the Taskbar at the bottom of the screen, just like the Taskbar in Windows. If you decide that you don’t want the Taskbar to display every time you log into Ubuntu, you can uncheck the Tint2 startup program on the Startup Applications Preferences window. You don’t need to delete it from the list.

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  • Techniques to re-factor garbage and maintain sanity?

    - by Incognito
    So I'm sitting down to a nice bowl of c# spaghetti, and need to add something or remove something... but I have challenges everywhere from functions passing arguments that doesn't make sense, someone who doesn't understand data structures abusing strings, redundant variables, some comments are red-hearings, internationalization is on a per-every-output-level, SQL doesn't use any kind of DBAL, database connections are left open everywhere... Are there any tools or techniques I can use to at least keep track of the "functional integrity" of the code (meaning my "improvements" don't break it), or a resource online with common "bad patterns" that explains a good way to transition code? I'm basically looking for a guidebook on how to spin straw into gold. Here's some samples from the same 500 line function: protected void DoSave(bool cIsPostBack) { //ALWAYS a cPostBack cIsPostBack = true; SetPostBack("1"); string inCreate ="~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"; parseValues = new string []{"","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","","",""}; if (!cIsPostBack) { //....... //.... //.... if (!cIsPostBack) { } else { } //.... //.... strHPhone = StringFormat(s1.Trim()); s1 = parseValues[18].Replace(encStr," "); strWPhone = StringFormat(s1.Trim()); s1 = parseValues[11].Replace(encStr," "); strWExt = StringFormat(s1.Trim()); s1 = parseValues[21].Replace(encStr," "); strMPhone = StringFormat(s1.Trim()); s1 = parseValues[19].Replace(encStr," "); //(hundreds of lines of this) //.... //.... SQL = "...... lots of SQL .... "; SqlCommand curCommand; curCommand = new SqlCommand(); curCommand.Connection = conn1; curCommand.CommandText = SQL; try { curCommand.ExecuteNonQuery(); } catch {} //.... } I've never had to refactor something like this before, and I want to know if there's something like a guidebook or knowledgebase on how to do this sort of thing, finding common bad patterns and offering the best solutions to repair them. I don't want to just nuke it from orbit,

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  • JSR 355 Final Release, and moves JCP to version 2.9

    - by heathervc
    JSR 355, JCP EC Merge, passed the JCP EC Final Approval Ballot on 13 August 2012, with 14 Yes votes, 1 abstain (1 member did not vote) on the SE/EE EC, and 12 yes votes (2 members were not eligible to vote) on the ME EC.  JSR 355 posted a Final Release this week, moving the JCP program version to JCP 2.9.  The transition to a merged EC will happen after the 2012 EC Elections, as defined in the Appendix B of the JCP (pasted below), and the EC will operate under the new EC Standing Rules. In the previous version (2.8) of this Process Document there were two separate Executive Committees, one for Java ME and one for Java SE and Java EE combined. The single Executive Committee described in this version of the Process Document will be implemented through the following process: The 2012 annual elections will be held as defined in JCP 2.8, but candidates will be informed that if they are elected their term will be for only a single year, since all candidates must stand for re-election in 2013. Immediately after the 2012 election the two ECs will be merged. Oracle and IBM's second seats will be eliminated, resulting in a single EC with 30 members. All subsequent JSR ballots (even for in-progress JSRs) will then be voted on by the merged EC. For the 2013 annual elections three Ratified and two Elected Seats will be eliminated, thereby reducing the EC to 25 members. All 25 seats will be up for re-election in 2013. Members elected in 2013 will be ranked to determine whether their initial term will be one or two years. The 50% of Ratified and 50% of Elected members who receive the most votes will serve an initial two-year term, while all others will serve an initial one year term. All members elected in 2014 and subsequently will serve a two-year term. For clarity, note that the provisions specified in this version of the Process Document regarding a merged EC will apply to subsequent ballots on all existing JSRs, whether or not the Spec Leads of those JSRs chose to adopt this version of the Process Document in its entirety. <end of Appendix> Also of note:  the materials and minutes from the July EC meeting and the June EC Meeting are now available--following the July EC Meeting, Samsung and SK Telecom lost their EC seats. The June EC meeting also had a public portion--the audio from the public portion of the EC meeting are now posted online.  For Spec Leads there is also the recording of the EG Nominations call.

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  • S11 launched

    - by unixman
    Now that Oracle Solaris 11 is out, its time to do 2 things -- 1) Its time to see what's in it, what's new and why its important, and then assess why it might make sense to begin evaluating it for your needs and 2) Its time to acknowledge, give thanks to and congratulate all the R&D personnel, architects, engineers, designers and testers who've put in so much effort and energy into helping make Solaris 11 (and SunOS 5.11) what it has become -- starting way back circa 2004 and, more importantly, culminating in the recent years and months -- staying focused on the execution, unwavering in the face of various challenges. For #1 above, here are a few good things to get going with - Watch the product launch replay - Visit the Solaris 11 Spotlight section on oracle.com - Get comfortable through introductory videos and detailed "how-to" guides (ex: how to create and publish IPS packages), white papers on the new default root file system, ZFS, and reap the benefits brought on by the fundamental shift in easing the administration experience - Look at the next level of software lifecycle management that is enabled by technologies such as Automated Installer and Image Packaging System -- that dramatically address patch management-related challenges - Understand how we continue to innovate in areas of service intelligence, reliability and availability - Start to evaluate enhancements in virtualization capabilities -- whether influenced by the need to consolidate or motivated by the need to have increased service mobility across physical systems, leveraging hardware-level abstractions - Gain more control over your network-centric services through enhancements in network resource management, observability and I/O performance - Look beyond your existing infrastructure with confidence that you can re-host and transition to newer systems with the use of Solaris 10 zones running on top of Solaris 11 - Relish in the fact that you can do all this, get your data to be secure and encrypted and more, on both, SPARC and x86-based systems. - Stay informed by keeping an eye on relevant blogs, which we've begun turning up recently. - Go through a hands-on lab - Sign up to take a class or just opt to watch various videos to begin to raise your comfort level with these technologies For #2 above -- There are many ways to do that. One way is to just say "thanks" with an email, a post, or a simple card,  similar to this one seen at a Barnes and Noble store recently.  The front of the card is followed by what's inside... and as the saying goes, now more then ever "it's what's inside that counts" And here's the inside of the card: So, what are you waiting for ? Go download and try it out, and please let us know what you think of it!

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  • Good, simple reasons for having multiple environments

    - by smp7d
    Throughout my career I had worked at companies that had a collection of different environments for different purposes. We always had more or less our desktop environment, a test environment, a QA environment, a staging environment and a production environment. This went for both servers/applications and any data sources we were using. When I started at my current company I found that 90% of the apps were either developed on a desktop environment against production data sources or developed directly on the production server depending on the platform. I wasn't fazed because I was hired in part to make changes to improve the way the development team functioned, which was clear from my interview process. We slowly started to turn the philosophy and pretty soon, most of the apps could be run in either a desktop, test or production environment. Not too long after that staging came around as well. Now most of our developers see the benefit of this methodology and defend it vigilantly. However, we have a number of legacy apps that never got migrated. We also have a number of legacy programmers who think of this as a waste of time. Unfortunately, we got lip service but never full buy-in from management. We got what we thought was a commitment to invest substantially in this about a year ago, but nothing materialized despite the considerable planning that we put into it. Now we are finding that we need more and more environments. We need help from the server/network administration teams for setup and we need participation from the business stakeholders to support the release cycle. We are at a place now where a project can function what I consider "normally" only if you have the right people on the project and the time to set up the proper environments. I'd love to present a complete argument, but management really has no time and interest in hearing me out until there is a critical issue. I can't really articulate the benefits simply as it always just seemed second nature to me. I was wondering if there are any good, simple, irrefutable reasons for the separation of environments that would get managers with no development experience to get behind this idea. Are there any good resources/literature on the topic?

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  • Speaker Notes...

    - by wulfers
    At a .Net User Group meeting this week, I experienced two poorly prepared speakers floundering through presentations….  As a Lead Technologist at the company I work for, I have experience training technical staff and also giving presentations at code camps.  Here are a few guidelines for aspiring speakers you might find helpful…   1.       Do not stand in front of your audience and read your slides.  This is  offensive to your audience and not what they came for...  Your slides are there to reinforce the information you are presenting and to give the audience a little clarification on some terms you may use and as a visual aid for some complicated issues. 2.       Have someone review your presentation (slides, notes, …) who speaks the language you will be presenting in fluently.  Also record at least ten minutes of your presentation and have that same person review that.  One of the speakers this week used the word “Basically” fifty times in less than thirty minutes…  I started to flinch every time he used the term. 3.       Be Prepared  -  before the presentation begins.  Don’t make any last minute changes to your presentation or demo code the night before.  Don’t patch your laptop or demo servers the night before.  If possible create a virtual image that you only use for presentations and use that (refreshed before every presentation). 4.       Know the level of expertise of your audience.  Speaking above or below their abilities will make or break your presentation. 5.       Deliver what you promise. The presentation this week was supposed to be on BDD (Behavior Driven Develpment).  The presenter completely ran off track and 90% of the discussion was how his team mistakenly used TDD (Test Driven Development), and was unhappy with the results.  Based on his loss of focus we only heard a rushed 10 minute presentation on DBB which was a disservice to the audience. 6.       Practice your presentation with your own small team before you try this on a room full of people you don’t know.  A side benefit of doing this with your own team is that you can get candid feedback from your team and also get kudos for training your own team.  I find I can also turn my presentations into technical white papers and get a third benefit from the work I’ve put into a presentation. 7.       Sharpen your own saw.  Pick a topic that is fairly current.  Something you would like to learn about and would benefit your current career path. 8.       Have fun doing it.

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  • How to send multiple MVP matrices to a vertex shader in OpenGL ES 2.0

    - by Carbon Crystal
    I'm working my way through optimizing the rendering of sprites in a 2D game using OpenGL ES and I've hit the limit of my knowledge when it comes to GLSL and vertex shaders. I have two large float buffers containing my vertex coordinates and texture coordinates (eventually this will be one buffer) for multiple sprites in order to perform a single glDrawArrays call. This works but I've hit a snag when it comes to passing the transformation matrix into the vertex shader. My shader code is: uniform mat4 u_MVPMatrix; attribute vec4 a_Position; attribute vec2 a_TexCoordinate; varying vec2 v_TexCoordinate; void main() { v_TexCoordinate = a_TexCoordinate; gl_Position = u_MVPMatrix * a_Position; } In Java (Android) I am using a FloatBuffer to store the vertex/texture data and this is provided to the shader like so: mGlEs20.glVertexAttribPointer(mVertexHandle, Globals.GL_POSITION_VERTEX_COUNT, GLES20.GL_FLOAT, false, 0, mVertexCoordinates); mGlEs20.glVertexAttribPointer(mTextureCoordinateHandle, Globals.GL_TEXTURE_VERTEX_COUNT, GLES20.GL_FLOAT, false, 0, mTextureCoordinates); (The Globals.GL_POSITION_VERTEX_COUNT etc are just integers with the value of 2 right now) And I'm passing the MVP (Model/View/Projection) matrix buffer like this: GLES20.glUniformMatrix4fv(mMVPMatrixHandle, 1, false, mModelCoordinates); (mModelCoordinates is a FloatBuffer containing 16-float sequences representing the MVP matrix for each sprite) This renders my scene but all the sprites share the same transformation, so it's obviously only picking the first 16 elements from the buffer which makes sense since I am passing in "1" as the second parameter. The documentation for this method says: "This should be 1 if the targeted uniform variable is not an array of matrices, and 1 or more if it is an array of matrices." So I tried modifying the shader with a fixed size array large enough to accomodate most of my scenarios: uniform mat4 u_MVPMatrix[1000]; But this lead to an error in the shader: cannot convert from 'uniform array of 4X4 matrix of float' to 'Position 4-component vector of float' This just seems wrong anyway as it's not clear to me how the shader would know when to transition to the next matrix anyway. Anyone have an idea how I can get my shader to pick up a different MVP matrix (i.e. the NEXT 16 floats) from my MVP buffer for every 4 vertices it encounters? (I am using GL_TRIANGLE_STRIP so each sprite has 4 vertices). Thanks!

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  • New grad; To overcome complete lack of experience, should I ditch a creative pet project in lieu of one that would demonstrate more applicable skills?

    - by Hart Simha
    I am currently working on a project on github that I think would be a good demonstration of my initiative, creativity and enthusiasm. It is an educational game I am developing in pygame that enables the user to learn to improve their development productivity by using vim, specifically with python, though learning to code faster with vim should be transferable to any language. I think this is something that might have a mass appeal and benefit to a lot of people in a measurable way. -However- I am graduating from college in a month (my degree is computer science with a minor in English), with no experience that is relevant to helping me get any kind of job in the field, and a gpa that doesn't tout my merits. I could pursue a career in game development, but it's not necessarily what I'm most interested in, and see myself applying to startups around the country. To the places I am looking at applying, showing that I have experience with pygame is going to be largely irrelevant, except in demonstration of my ability to code, period. A lot of skills that ARE more marketable, such a data modeling, GIS, mobile application, development, javascript, .net framework, and various web development technologies, are not going to be showcased by this project (on the upside, employers do like to see familiarity with git and python). I'm wondering if I should sink all my free time in the next couple of months into this project, since I'm motivated and interested in it, and if the value of being able to demonstrate ambition and 'good ideas' (for lack of a better term, and in my own opinion) will compensate for the absence of demonstrating more sought-after skills. I am probably at a point where I should either commit fully to this project now, or put it on the backburner in favor of something else, and I am leaning towards continuing with what I am already working on, because I think it's a great idea, and something achievable to me with enough dedication over the next couple months. But the most important thing to me is being able to get a job out of college, which I am exceedingly concerned about as the professional landscape which I am navigating for the first time is a lot more intimidating than I could have anticipated, with almost every job (even short-term contract positions) requiring years of experience which I lack. So in brief, the common denominator to answering the question "How can I overcome experience requirements for a job" seems to be "Show off your own project." I want to know WHICH project I should work on to best increase my chances of getting a job out of college, keeping in mind that I have no experience. I believe this question is applicable to any new grad that lacks demonstrable experience.

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  • Oracle Brings Java to iOS Devices (and Android too)

    - by Shay Shmeltzer
    Java developer, did you ever wish that you can take your Java skills and apply them to building applications for iOS mobile devices? Well, now you can! With the new Oracle ADF Mobile solution, Oracle has created a unique technology that allows developers to use the Java language and develop applications that install and run on both iOS and Android mobile devices. The solution is based on a thin native container that installs as part of your application. The container is able to run the same application you develop unchanged on both Android and iOS devices. One part of the container is a headless lightweight JVM based on the Java ME CDC technology. This allows the execution of Java code on your mobile device. Java is used for building business logic, accessing local SQLite encrypted database, and invoking and interacting with remote services. Java concept on the UI too To further help transition Java developers to mobile developers, ADF Mobile borrows familiar concepts from the world of JSF to make the UI development experience simpler. The user interface layer of Oracle ADF Mobile is rendered with HTML5 which delivers native user experience on the devices, including animations and gesture support. Using a set of rich components, developers can create mobile pages without needing to write low level HTML5 and JavaScript code. The components cover everything from simple controls such as text fields, date pickers, buttons and links, to advanced data visualization components such as graphs, gauges and maps, and including unique mobile UI patterns such as lists, and toggle selectors. Want to see the components in action? Access this demo instance from your mobile device. Need to further customize the look and feel? You can use CSS3 to achieve this. A controller layer - similar in functionality to the JSF controller - allows developer to simplify the way they build navigation between pages. The logic behind the pages is written in managed beans with various scopes – again similar to the JSF approach. Need to interact with device features like camera, SMS, Contacts etc? Oracle conveniently packaged access to these services in a set of services that you can just drag and drop into your pages as buttons and links, or code into your managed beans Java calls to activate. Underneath the covers this layer is implemented using the open source phonegap solution. With the new Oracle ADF Mobile solution, transferring your Java skills into the Mobile world has become much easier. Check out this development experience demo. And then go and download JDeveloper and the ADF Mobile extension and try it out on your own. For more on ADF Mobile, see the ADF Mobile OTN page.

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  • How to get lookahead symbol when constructing LR(1) NFA for parser?

    - by greenoldman
    I am reading an explanation (awesome "Parsing Techniques" by D.Grune and C.J.H.Jacobs; p.292 in the 2nd edition) about how to construct an LR(1) parser, and I am at the stage of building the initial NFA. What I don't understand is how to get/compute a lookahead symbol. Here is the example from the book, the grammar: S -> E E -> E - T E -> T T -> ( E ) T -> n n is terminal. The "weird" transitions for me are is the sequence: 1) S -> . E eof 2) E -> . E - T eof 3) E -> . E - T - 4) E -> E . - T - 5) E -> E - . T - (Note: In the above table, the state numbers are in front and the lookahead symbol is at the end.) What puzzles me is that transition from (4) to (5) means reading - token, right? So how is it that - is still a lookahead symbol and even more important why is it that eof is no longer a lookahead symbol? After all in an input such as n - n eof there is only one - symbol. My naive thinking tells me (5) should be written as: 5) E -> E - . T - eof And another thing -- n is terminal. Why it is not used at all as a lookahead symbol? I mean -- we expect to see - or (, it is ok, but lack of n means we are sure it won't appear in input? Update: after more reading I am only more confused ;-) I.e. what is really a lookahead? Because I see such state as (p.292, 2nd column, 2nd row): E -> E . - T eof Lookahead says eof but the incoming input says -. Isn't it a contradiction? And it is not only in this book.

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  • Can't change color of sprites in unity

    - by Aceleeon
    I would like to create a script that targets a 2d sprite "enemy" and changes their color to red (slightly opaque red if possible) when you hit tab. I have this code from a 3d tutorial hoping the transition would work. But it does not. I only get the script to cycle the enemy tags but never changes the color of the sprite. I have the code below I'm very new to coding, and any help would be FANTASTIC! HELP! hahah. TL;DR Cant get 3d color targeting to work for 2D. Check out the c#code below using UnityEngine; using System.Collections; using System.Collections.Generic; public class Targetting : MonoBehaviour { public List targets; public Transform selectedTarget; private Transform myTransform; // Use this for initialization void Start () { targets = new List(); selectedTarget = null; myTransform = transform; AddAllEnemies(); } public void AddAllEnemies() { GameObject[] go = GameObject.FindGameObjectsWithTag("Enemy"); foreach(GameObject enemy in go) AddTarget(enemy.transform); } public void AddTarget(Transform enemy) { targets.Add(enemy); } private void SortTargetsByDistance() { targets.Sort(delegate(Transform t1,Transform t2) { return Vector3.Distance(t1.position, myTransform.position).CompareTo(Vector3.Distance(t2.position, myTransform.position)); }); } private void TargetEnemy() { if(selectedTarget == null) { SortTargetsByDistance(); selectedTarget = targets[0]; } else { int index = targets.IndexOf(selectedTarget); if(index < targets.Count -1) { index++; } else { index = 0; } selectedTarget = targets[index]; } } private void SelectTarget() { selectedTarget.GetComponent().color = Color.red; } private void DeselectTarget() { selectedTarget.GetComponent().color = Color.blue; selectedTarget = null; } // Update is called once per frame void Update() { if(Input.GetKeyDown(KeyCode.Tab)) { TargetEnemy(); } } }

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  • Merging the Executive Committees

    - by Patrick Curran
    As I explained in this blog last year, we use the Process to change the Process. The first of three planned JSRs to modify the way the JCP operates (JSR 348: Towards a new version of the Java Community Process) completed in October 2011. That JSR focused on changes to make our process more transparent and to enable broader participation. The second JSR was inspired by our conviction that Java is One Platform and by our expectation that Java ME and Java SE will become more aligned over time. In anticipation of this change JSR 355: JCP Executive Committee Merge will merge the two Executive Committees into one. The JSR is going very well. We have reached consensus within the Executive Committees, which serve as the Expert Group for process-change JSRs. How we intend to make the transition to a single EC is explained in the revised versions of the Process and EC Standing Rules documents that are currently posted for Early Draft Review. Our intention is to reduce the total number of EC seats but to keep the same ratio (2:1) of ratified and elected seats. Briefly, the plan will be implemented in two stages. The October 2012 elections will be held as usual, but candidates will be informed that they will serve only a one-year term if elected. The two ECs will be merged immediately after this election; at the same time, Oracle's second permanent seat and one of IBM's two ratified seats will be eliminated. The initial merged EC will therefore have 30 members. In the October 2013 elections we will eliminate three more ratified seats and two elected seats, thereby reducing the size of the combined EC to 25 members (16 ratified seats, 8 elected seats, plus Oracle's permanent seat.) All remaining seats, including those of members who were elected in 2012, will be up for re-election in 2013; that election should be particularly interesting. Starting in 2013 we will change from a three-year to a two-year election cycle (half of all EC members will be up for re-election each year.) We believe that these changes will streamline our operations, and position us for a future in which the distinctions between desktop and mobile devices become increasingly blurred. Please take this opportunity to review and comment on our proposed changes - we appreciate your input. Thank you, and onward to JCP.next.3!

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  • How quickly to leave contract-to-hire gig where you don't want to be hired? [closed]

    - by nono
    So you move to a big new city with tons of software development opportunity, having taken a six month contract-to-hire job. The company treats you really well and has a good team and work environment. However, the recruiter assured you when offering the gig that it would be a good position in which you can advance your learning from more senior developers (a primary concern of yours) but you're starting to realize that a job recruiter isn't going to understand that the team in question isn't very up on modern software practices (you start to sympathize with this guy and read his post over and over again: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1586166/career-killer-nhibernate-oop-design-patterns-domain-driven-design-test-driv) and that much of the company's software is very old and very very poorly architected, and the company (like so many others) seems to be only concerned with continually extending the software without investing in any structural improvements. You're absolutely dismayed at how long it takes your team (including) to fulfill simple feature requests (maybe 500-1000% longer than with better designed software that you've worked on in the past), but no one else there seems to think anything of it. You find that the work and the company's business are intensely uninteresting to you, but due to the convoluted design of their various software systems, fulfilling the work will require as much mental engagement as any other development position. You feel a bit naive about not having asked the right questions during your interview process, and for not having anticipated that your team at your former podunk company might possibly be light-years ahead of any team in Big Shiny City, but you know you don't want to stay at this place, and (were it not for your personal, after-hours studying and personal programming efforts) fear that you might actually give a worse interview after completing your 6 months than you did when you started at the place. You read about how hard of a time local companies are having filling their positions with qualified software development candidates. You read all sorts of fabulous sounding job postings online and feel like you're really missing out. In spite of the comfortable environment you feel like you would willingly accept a somewhat more demanding or aggressive lifestyle to feel like you are learning and progressing and producing something meaningful. My questions are: how quickly do you leave and how do you go about giving a polite reason for departing? The contract is written to allow them to "can" you and to allow you to leave with 2 weeks notice. Do you ethically owe the 6 months? Upon taking the position, the company told you they were not interested in candidates who were intending to only stay for 6 months and then leave (you were not intending to bail after 6 months, at that time), so perhaps they might be fine if you split now, knowing that you don't want to stick around for the full time hire?

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  • The Problem Should Define the Process, Not the Tool

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

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  • Is it appropriate to try to control the order of finalization?

    - by Strilanc
    I'm writing a class which is roughly analogous to a CancellationToken, except it has a third state for "never going to be cancelled". At the moment I'm trying to decide what to do if the 'source' of the token is garbage collected without ever being set. It seems that, intuitively, the source should transition the associated token to the 'never cancelled' state when it is about to be collected. However, this could trigger callbacks who were only kept alive by their linkage from the token. That means what those callbacks reference might now in the process of finalization. Calling them would be bad. In order to "fix" this, I wrote this class: public sealed class GCRoot { private static readonly GCRoot MainRoot = new GCRoot(); private GCRoot _next; private GCRoot _prev; private object _value; private GCRoot() { this._next = this._prev = this; } private GCRoot(GCRoot prev, object value) { this._value = value; this._prev = prev; this._next = prev._next; _prev._next = this; _next._prev = this; } public static GCRoot Root(object value) { return new GCRoot(MainRoot, value); } public void Unroot() { lock (MainRoot) { _next._prev = _prev; _prev._next = _next; this._next = this._prev = this; } } } intending to use it like this: Source() { ... _root = GCRoot.Root(callbacks); } void TransitionToNeverCancelled() { _root.Unlink(); ... } ~Source() { TransitionToNeverCancelled(); } but now I'm troubled. This seems to open the possibility for memory leaks, without actually fixing all cases of sources in limbo. Like, if a source is closed over in one of its own callbacks, then it is rooted by the callback root and so can never be collected. Presumably I should just let my sources be collected without a peep. Or maybe not? Is it ever appropriate to try to control the order of finalization, or is it a giant warning sign?

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  • Spotlight on an office - Nairobi, Kenya

    - by Maria Sandu
    Hi everyone, my name is Joash Mitei. I am a graduate Intern at Oracle Systems Kenya and I will briefly take you through our offices and the working environment here in Nairobi, Kenya. I’ve been with Oracle since February 2012 and I’m responsible for Applications Pre-sales focusing on Oracle EPM and E-Business Suite. My background is Finance and Accounting therefore joining Oracle was almost a totally a different ball game but the transition has been smooth. The Oracle offices here are located on the second floor of Mebank Towers. We moved to the 2nd floor just three months ago from the 5th floor mainly because of the growing workforce. We are covering the whole Eastern Africa region hence diversity in culture is evident. This is a plus since you get to interact with people of very different backgrounds, cultures and ways of thinking. The building itself is on the outskirts of the CBD hence free from the hustle and bustle of the town. The office is split into different sections; there is a main working area which has an open desk design that fosters interaction between colleagues, there are 4 conference rooms for meetings and presentations, there are 3 quiet rooms for a little privacy when needed and there is a dining area for meals and ‘hanging out’. The working environment is world-class, to say the least. The employees are very professional, quite smart and needless to say, very busy. There are 4 interns covering sales and pre-sales in both Tech and Apps. As an intern you get support from your supervisor but you are required to show initiative yourself and thus the need to be very pro-active and inquisitive. The local management is well structured and communicative to ensure effectiveness and efficiency in the office. Apart from the daily work, we usually have events to boost staff morale such as ‘TGIF hang -out’, football matches against each other or versus other companies, and team building retreats. All these are monumental in fostering the RED POTENTIAL. We also do numerous CSR activities in the local communities . Well, that’s the Kenyan office for you. Glad to be your tour guide. Have a superb day!

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  • Agile team with no dedicated Tester members. Insane or efficient?

    - by MetaFight
    I'm a software developer. I've been thinking a lot about the efficiency of the Software Testers I've worked with so far in my career. In fact, I've been thinking a lot about the Software Testers role in general and have reached a potentially contentious conclusion: Non-developer Software Testers staff are less efficient at software testing than developers. Now, before everyone gets upset, hear me out. This isn't mere opinion: Software Testing and Software Development both require a lot of skills in common: Problem solving Thinking about corner cases Analytical skills The ability to define clear and concise step-by-step scenarios What developers have in addition to this is the ability to automate their tests. Yes, I know non-dev testers can automate their tests too, but that often then becomes a test maintenance issue. Because automating UI tests is essentially programming, non-dev members encounter all the same difficulties software developers encounter: Copy-pasta, lack of code reusibility/maintainability, etc. So, I was wondering. Why not replace all non-dev roles with developer roles? Developers have the skills required to perform Software Testing tasks, and they have the skills to automate tests and keep them maintainable. Would the following work: Hire a bunch of developers and split them into 2 roles: Software developers Software developers doing testing (some manual, mostly automated by writing integration tests, unit tests, etc) Software developers doing application support. (I've removed this as it is probably a separate question altogether) And, in our case since we're doing Agile development, rotate the roles every sprint or two. Also, if at all possible, try to have people spend their Developer stints and Testing stints on different projects. Ideally you would want to reduce the turnover rate per rotation. So maybe you could have 2 groups and make sure the rotation cycles of the groups are elided. So, for example, if each rotation was two sprints long, the two groups would have their rotations 1 sprint apart. That way there's only a 50% turn-over rate per sprint. Am I crazy, or could this work? (Obviously a key component to this working is that all devs want to be in the 3 roles. Let's assume I'm starting a new company and I can hire these ideal people) Edit I've removed the phrase "QA", as apparently we are using it incorrectly where I work.

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