Search Results

Search found 4289 results on 172 pages for 'focus stealing'.

Page 96/172 | < Previous Page | 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103  | Next Page >

  • The lifecycle of "cool"

    - by Dori
    I've been thinking lately about how some programming projects/products become "cool," and in particular, how that trend can later reverse. Here are two examples that might better explain my context: Textmate Whenever someone asks about text editors on OS X, the answer on the SE sites is an automatic "Textmate!" But looked at objectively: Textmate 1.0 shipped October 2004 Textmate 1.5 shipped January 2006 Textmate 2 was announced February 2006 As of September 2010, the currently shipping version is 1.5.9 In all of 2010, there have been a total of three posts on the Textmate blog At what point (if ever) do Textmate fans start thinking about switching to another text editor? When it breaks after some future Apple update? When alpha geeks they respect start recommending something else? Or? jQuery Whenever a JavaScript-related question is asked on the SE sites, the knee-jerk response is "jQuery!" I've seen it happen even when the question itself only required a single line of JavaScript. Or when the question could be better answered by using CSS. Do the answerers understand they're suggesting a blowtorch to light a candle? That they're recommending adding 70K or so of code to do something trivial? Or is it a symptom of "When you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail"—that is, jQuery is all they know how to do, so that's their recommendation? And do they understand that while they may know jQuery well, that doesn't necessarily mean that they know JavaScript? Is there a way to explain that learning JavaScript would make them better jQuery programmers? My bigger-picture questions: Is this niche focus primarily a trait of programmers? How do you get programmers to not immediately jump to recommending their personal favorites? What can motivate programmers to review their initial selection criteria and possibly modify their choice? Your thoughts?

    Read the article

  • Closer Aero-snap in ubuntu

    - by Andrew Redd
    Before I get screamed at for duplicating a question. Ive read windows 7-like snap window maximize and vertical feature and http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2009/11/get-aero-snap-in-ubuntu/ There are two problems with this solution that I am trying to get around. It's not sensitive to dragging a window It's not intelligent for Twin-view monitors. The first problem is the more pressing. I have the compiz settings with wmctrl, but this is not sensitive to dragging windows if I have a window with the focus and place my mouse in the panel I get the window maximized, even though I'm not dragging the window. A good solution would be sensitive to the state of the mouse, clicked, right clicked, middle clicked. An ideal solution would be sensitive to dragging a window or not. Second is a minor annoyance to me at least. With the commands as they are listed are equivalent to maximizing the windows since I have a Twinview monitors setup. Is there any way to add these sensitivities to the commands?

    Read the article

  • High-Level Application Architecture Question

    - by Jesse Bunch
    So I'm really wanting to improve how I architect the software I code. I want to focus on maintainability and clean code. As you might guess, I've been reading a lot of resources on this topic and all it's doing is making it harder for me to settle on an architecture because I can never tell if my design is the one that the more experienced programmer would've chosen. So I have these requirements: I should connect to one vendor and download form submissions from their API. We'll call them the CompanyA. I should then map those submissions to a schema fit for submitting to another vendor for integration with the email service provider. We'll call them the CompanyB. I should then submit those responses to the ESP (CompanyB) and then instruct the ESP to send that submitter an email. So basically, I'm copying data from one web service to another and then performing an action at the latter web service. I've identified a couple high-level services: The service that downloads data from CompanyA. I called this the CompanyAIntegrator. The service that submits the data to CompanyB. I called this CompanyBIntegrator. So my questions are these: Is this a good design? I've tried to separate the concerns and am planning to use the facade pattern to make the integrators interchangeable if the vendors change in the future. Are my naming conventions accurate and meaningful to you (who knows nothing specific of the project)? Now that I have these services, where should I do the work of taking output from the CompanyAIntegrator and getting it in the format for input to the CompanyBIntegrator? Is this OK to be done in main()? Do you have any general pointers on how you'd code something like this? I imagine this scenario is common to us engineers---especially those working in agencies. Thanks for any help you can give. Learning how to architect well is really mind-cluttering.

    Read the article

  • Programming Practice/Test Contest?

    - by Emmanuel
    My situation: I'm on a programming team, and this year, we want to weed out the weak link by making a competition to get the best coder from our group of candidates. Focus is on IEEExtreme-like contests. What I've done: I've been trying already for 2 weeks to get a practice or test site, like UVa or codechef. The plan after I find one: Send them (the candidates) a list of direct links to the problems (making them the "contest's problem list) get them to email me their correct answers' code at the time the judge says they have solved it and accept the fastest one into the team. Issues: We had practiced on UVa already (on programming challenges too), so our former teammate (which will be in the candidate group) already has an advantage if we used it. Codechef has all it's answers public, and since it shows the latest ones it will be extremely hard to verify if the answer was copied. And I've found other sites, like SPOJ, but they share at least some problems with codechef, making them inherit the issue of Codechef So, what alternatives do you think there are? Any site that may work? Any place to get all stuff to set up a Mooshak or similar contest (as in the stuff to get the problems, instructions to set up the server itself are easy to google)? Any other idea?

    Read the article

  • Character progression through leveling, skills or items?

    - by Anton
    I'm working on a design for an RPG game, and I'm having some doubts about the skill and level system. I'm going for a more casual, explorative gaming experience and so thought about lowering the game complexity by simplifying character progression. But I'm having trouble deciding between the following: Progression through leveling, no complex skill progression, leveling increases base stats. Progression through skills, no leveling or base stat changes, skills progress through usage. Progression through items, more focus on stat-changing items, items confer skills, no leveling. However, I'm uncertain what the effects on gameplay might be in the end. So, my question is this: What would be the effects of choosing one of the above alternatives over the others? (Particularly with regards to the style and feel of the gameplay) My take on it is that the first sacrifices more frequent rewards and customization in favor of a simpler gameplay; the second sacrifices explicit customization and player control in favor of more frequent rewards and a somewhat simpler gameplay; while the third sacrifices inventory simplicity and a player metric in favor of player control, customization and progression simplicity. Addendum: I'm not really limiting myself to the above three, they are just the ones I liked most and am primarily interested in.

    Read the article

  • Extreme Optimization Numerical Libraries for .NET – Part 1 of n

    - by JoshReuben
    While many of my colleagues are fascinated in constructing the ultimate ViewModel or ServiceBus, I feel that this kind of plumbing code is re-invented far too many times – at some point in the near future, it will be out of the box standard infra. How many times have you been to a customer site and built a different variation of the same kind of code frameworks? How many times can you abstract Prism or reliable and discoverable WCF communication? As the bar is raised for whats bundled with the framework and more tasks become declarative, automated and configurable, Information Systems will expose a higher level of abstraction, forcing software engineers to focus on more advanced computer science and algorithmic tasks. I've spent the better half of the past decade building skills in .NET and expanding my mathematical horizons by working through the Schaums guides. In this series I am going to examine how these skillsets come together in the implementation provided by ExtremeOptimization. Download the trial version here: http://www.extremeoptimization.com/downloads.aspx Overview The library implements a set of algorithms for: linear algebra, complex numbers, numerical integration and differentiation, solving equations, optimization, random numbers, regression, ANOVA, statistical distributions, hypothesis tests. EONumLib combines three libraries in one - organized in a consistent namespace hierarchy. Mathematics Library - Extreme.Mathematics namespace Vector and Matrix Library - Extreme.Mathematics.LinearAlgebra namespace Statistics Library - Extreme.Statistics namespace System Requirements -.NET framework 4.0  Mathematics Library The classes are organized into the following namespace hierarchy: Extreme.Mathematics – common data types, exception types, and delegates. Extreme.Mathematics.Calculus - numerical integration and differentiation of functions. Extreme.Mathematics.Curves - points, lines and curves, including polynomials and Chebyshev approximations. curve fitting and interpolation. Extreme.Mathematics.Generic - generic arithmetic & linear algebra. Extreme.Mathematics.EquationSolvers - root finding algorithms. Extreme.Mathematics.LinearAlgebra - vectors , matrices , matrix decompositions, solvers for simultaneous linear equations and least squares. Extreme.Mathematics.Optimization – multi-d function optimization + linear programming. Extreme.Mathematics.SignalProcessing - one and two-dimensional discrete Fourier transforms. Extreme.Mathematics.SpecialFunctions

    Read the article

  • ADF sessions at UKOUG conference by Grant Ronald

    - by JuergenKress
    For those in the UK, or those who have a few travel dollars left in their budget I just wanted to hi-light a couple of reasons you might want to present to your management as to why you should attend the UKOUG conference this year to get your ADF fill. Firstly, there are three days packed with the ADF content from the brightest minds in ADF-land. In no particular order, some of the stand out sessions for me will be: Duncan Mills presenting a keynote on the Future of Oracle's Fusion Development Luc Bors will be demoing ADF Mobile Frank Nimphius will be giving a tour around JDeveloper 12c Steven Davelaar of JHeadstart fame will be giving an insight on task flows and ADF Faces. Aino Andriessen will focus on build and deployment Frank Houweling will tell us how he can make your ADF application run 70% faster Chris Muir will give a masterclass on ADF architecture. In addition, the UKOUG will be running a 3 days of ADF Mobile hands-on sessions. Mobile is just about the hottest development topic at this time so this is an ideal opportunity to roll up your sleeves and build on-device mobile applications. There will also be a roundtable discussion on which development tool is right for you, and a roundtable on the strategic importance of ADF. Of course, the conference is not all about ADF; Tom Kyte will be there, Cliff Godwin (SVP who looks after Oracle Applications) and a host of others. This might be a great opportunity to get some ADF education. For more adf information visit Grant Ronald’s blog. WebLogic Partner Community For regular information become a member in the WebLogic Partner Community please visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners/goto/wls-emea ( OPN account required). If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. BlogTwitterLinkedInMixForumWiki Technorati Tags: ADF,UKOUG,conference,WebLogic Community,Oracle,OPN,Jürgen Kress

    Read the article

  • Google Analytics checkout page tracking problem

    - by Amir E. Habib
    I am running a multilingual website, each lang on a different domain name. I am trying to lead all purchase requests to the checkout progress, which has its own domain too. In order to keep Google Analytics tracking I've updated the Google Analytics code accordingly. I set the source domain to 'multiple top-level domains'. Everything is going fine so far unless in E-commerce Overview; the "Sources / Medium" is always showing as (direct) - or the name of the source domain. Since I am redirecting using PHP header(location:.. etc.) the Google _link method doesn't seem to be working properly - I want to focus on two questions: Should I create a new profile for the checkout domain in Google Analytics? (I am now using the profile ID of the source domain even though I move to the checkout domain, si that OK?) When I'm trying to pass the cookies of the source domain to the checkout domain, I notice that the Google cookies are copied to the new domain (the cookie path is .checkout-domain/) and they have the same values of the original cookies - But for some reason another set of cookies is created once I access a page with google analytics code in the checkout pages, with different values (same path). Feels like I'm doing something wrong here, so my question is - What am I doing wrong here? Does anyone have an idea how to pass the cookies to the checkout domain?

    Read the article

  • Is It Time To Specialize?

    - by Tim Murphy
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/tmurphy/archive/2013/06/18/is-it-time-to-specialize.aspx Over my career I have made a living as a generalist.  I have been a jack of all trades and a master of none.  It has served me well in that I am able to move from one technology to the other quickly and make myself productive.  Where it becomes a problem is deep knowledge.  I am constantly digging for the things that aren’t basic knowledge.  How do you make a product like WCF or Windows RT do more than just “Hello World”? As an architect I need to be a jack of all trades.  This is what helps me to bring the big picture of a project into focus for developers with different skills to accomplish the goals of the project. It is a key when the mix technologies crosses Windows, Unix and Mainframe with different languages and databases.  The larger the company that the project is for the more likely this scenario will arise. As a consultant and a developer I need to have specialized skills in order to get the job done efficiently.  if I have a SharePoint or Windows Phone project knowing the object model details and possible roadblocks of the technology allow me to stay within budgets as well as better advise the client on technology decisions. What is the solution?  Constant learning and associating with developers who specialize in a variety of technologies is the best thing you can do.  You may have thought you were done with classes when you left college, but in this industry you need to constantly be learning new products and languages.  The ultimate answer is you must generally specialize.  Learn as many subject areas as possible, but go deep when ever you can.  Sleep is overrated.  Good luck. del.icio.us Tags: software development,software architecture,specialization,generalist

    Read the article

  • links for 2011-03-07

    - by Bob Rhubart
    DON CIO News: DON CIO Discusses Future IT Initiatives Audio links and a little background information on a recent town hall meetings hosted by Department of the Navy Chief Information Officer Terry Halvorsen. (tags: usgov usnavy cio enterprisearchitecture) Strassmann's Blog: Why So Many Data Centers? "The idea of datacenter consolidation involves much more that applying simple technical solutions." - Paul Strassmann (tags: enterprisearchitecture datacenter consolidation) Satyajith Nair: Coherence - The next big thing for the cloud!! "Disk-based computing is fraught with performance and management issues and doing away with Disks though not practical now, maybe true in the future. This also calls for a re-think of our current application architecture which is so focussed on disk-based persistence." - Satyajith Nair (tags: oracle infosys coherence grid cloud) TechCast: GlassFish Server and WebLogic - Interoperability and Integration - Oracle media - developer Fusion VP Development Anil Gaur and Product Manager Adam Leftik explain Oracle&#39;s strategy for creating increasing integration between GlassFish Server and Oracle WebLogic Server with an overview of new features and functionality for developers in GlassFish 3.1. (tags: ping.fm) Oracle Fusion and Oracle Fusion Applications : Overview | OracleApps Epicenter So WHAT IS ORACLE FUSION? People often get confuse with this term .To start with, it will be a good idea to know the difference between Fusion (tags: ping.fm) Marc Kelderman: OSB: Automatic update of Service Acounts Solution architect Marc Kelderman shares a work-around for using different Service Accounts for multiple environments. (tags: oracle otn sca bpel soa bpm servicebus) Perfect Integration 1 - Architectural Approach "First post in a series of 5-10, I will release all my views and opinions on the Art of Integration. I challenge you to disagree, and bash me with arguments and reasoning." -- Martijn Linssen (tags: enterprisearchitecture integration) Edwin Biemond: Set the Initial Focus on a component in a Page or a Fragment Edwin says: "This is not so hard to do, but sometimes it can be tricky to find the id of a component when you use regions ( Bounded Task Flows )." (tags: oracle otn oracleace java soa) Oracle Linux and Oracle Virtualization at Collaborate 2011 Information on more than 200 Oracle-hosted sessions with the latest insights and guidance from Oracle executives, product managers, and developers. (tags: oracle virtualization linux ioug oaug)

    Read the article

  • Issue 55 - Skin Object Tokens, Optimized Control Panel, OWS Validation and Security, RAD

    April 2010 Welcome to Issue 55 of DNN Creative Magazine In this issue we focus on the new Skin Object token method introduced in DotNetNuke 5 for adding tokens into a DotNetNuke skin. A Skin Object Token is a web user control which covers skin elements such as the logo, menu, search, login links, date, copyright, languages, links, banners, privacy, terms of use, etc. Following this we demonstrate how to install and use two Advanced DotNetNuke Admin Control Panels which are available for free from Oliver Hine. These control panels provide an optimized version of the admin control panel to improve performance and page load times, as well as a ribbon bar control panel which adds additional features. Next, we continue the Open Web Studio tutorials, this month we demonstrate some very advanced techniques for building a car parts application in Open Web Studio. Throughout the tutorial we cover form input, validation, how to use dependant drop down lists, populating checkbox lists and introduce a new concept of data level security. Data level security allows you to control which data a user can access within a module. To finish, we have part five of the "How to Build a News Application with DotNetMushroom Rapid Application Developer (RAD)" article, where we demonstrate how to implement paging. This issue comes complete with 14 videos. Skinning: Skin Object Tokens for DotNetNuke 5 (8 videos - 64mins) Free Module: Advanced Optimized Control Panel by Oliver Hine (1 video - 11mins) Module Development Series: Form Validation, Dependant Drop Downs and Data Level Security in OWS (5 videos - 44mins) How to Implement Paging with DotNetMushroom RAD View issue 55 to download all of the videos in one zip file DNN Creative Magazine for DotNetNuke Web Designers Covering DotNetNuke module video reviews, video tutorials, mp3 interviews, resources and web design tips for working with DotNetNuke. In 55 issues we have created 563 videos!Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

    Read the article

  • The Customer Experience Revolution is Now

    - by Christie Flanagan
    To conclude this week’s focus on customer experience, I’ll end by recapping how my week began in New York City at The Experience Revolution. We all know that customers increasingly call the shots, and that winning or losing depends on how well we manage to meet their expectations. Today’s customers have a multitude of choices and are quick to jump ship following a poor experience. As a result, delivering an experience that is relevant, interactive, engaging, and consistent across channels and fostering rewarding relationships are increasingly important to business success.  It is only through exceptional customer experiences that companies can expect to acquire new customers and maintain their loyalty.  Over 400 of us gathered at Gotham Hall on Monday night to hear Oracle President Mark Hurd introduce Oracle Customer Experience, a cross-stack suite of customer experience products that include Oracle RightNow CX Cloud Service, Oracle Endeca, Oracle ATG Web Commerce, Oracle WebCenter,Oracle Siebel CRM, Oracle Fusion CRM, Oracle Social Network, and Oracle Knowledge Management. I'd encourage you check out this video to hear Mark explain why having a good product isn't good enough in the wake of the customer experience revolution. The Experience Revolution event itself was designed to deliver the kind of rich experience that sticks with you, using an interactive gallery of customer experience to deliver an individualized experience to each attendee through a combination of touch screens and near field communication technology.  Over the coming weeks we’ll share some of these customer experience vignettes with you. In the interim, you can learn more about Oracle Customer Experience solutions here.

    Read the article

  • SQL Query for Determining SharePoint ACL Sizes

    - by Damon Armstrong
    When a SharePoint Access Control List (ACL) size exceeds more than 64kb for a particular URL, the contents under that URL become unsearchable due to limitations in the SharePoint search engine.  The error most often seen is The Parameter is Incorrect which really helps to pinpoint the problem (its difficult to convey extreme sarcasm here, please note that it is intended).  Exceeding this limit is not unheard of – it can happen when users brute force security into working by continually overriding inherited permissions and assigning user-level access to securable objects. Once you have this issue, determining where you need to focus to fix the problem can be difficult.  Fortunately, there is a query that you can run on a content database that can help identify the issue: SELECT [SiteId],      MIN([ScopeUrl]) AS URL,      SUM(DATALENGTH([Acl]))/1024 as AclSizeKB,      COUNT(*) AS AclEntries FROM [Perms] (NOLOCK) GROUP BY siteid ORDER BY AclSizeKB DESC This query results in a list of ACL sizes and entry counts on a site-by-site basis.  You can also remove grouping to see a more granular breakdown: SELECT [ScopeUrl] AS URL,       SUM(DATALENGTH([Acl]))/1024 as AclSizeKB,      COUNT(*) AS AclEntries FROM [Perms] (NOLOCK) GROUP BY ScopeUrl ORDER BY AclSizeKB DESC

    Read the article

  • Can unit tests verify software requirements?

    - by Peter Smith
    I have often heard unit tests help programmers build confidence in their software. But is it enough for verifying that software requirements are met? I am losing confidence that software is working just because the unit tests pass. We have experienced some failures in production deployment due to an untested\unverified execution path. These failures are sometimes quite large, impact business operations and often requires an immediate fix. The failure is very rarely traced back to a failing unit test. We have large unit test bodies that have reasonable line coverage but almost all of these focus on individual classes and not on their interactions. Manual testing seems to be ineffective because the software being worked on is typically large with many execution paths and many integration points with other software. It is very painful to manually test all of the functionality and it never seems to flush out all the bugs. Are we doing unit testing wrong when it seems we still are failing to verify the software correctly before deployment? Or do most shops have another layer of automated testing in addition to unit tests?

    Read the article

  • Will HTML5/JS Eventually Replace All Client Side Languages? [closed]

    - by Shnitzel
    I'm just wondering about the future of it all. IMHO, there are 4 forces that define where technology goes: Microsoft, Apple, Google, Adobe. It looks like in Apple's iPhone/iPad iADs can now be programmed in HTML5. So does that mean HTML5 will eventually replace objective-c? Also, Microsoft has now shifted it's focus from WPF/Silverlight to HTML5 and I assume Visual Studio 2011 will be all about tooling support for HTML5. Because that's what Microsoft do. (Tools). In a few months IE9 the last major browser will support HTML5. Similarly Adobe is getting on the HTML5 bandwagon and allows to export flash content to HTML5 in their latest tools. And we all know how much in bed Google is with html5. Heck, their latest Operating System (Chrome OS) is nothing but a big fat web browser. Apps for Mobile (i.e., iPhone, Android, WM7) are very hard for a company to program especially for many different devices (each with their own language) so I'm assuming this won't last too long. I.e., HTML5 will be the unifying language. Which is somewhat sad for app developers because now users will be able to play the "cool" html5 apps for free on the web and it'll be hard to charge for them. So are strongly-typed languages really doomed, and in the future, say 5-10 years, will client side programming only be in HTML5? Will all of us become javascript programmers? :) Because the signs are sure pointing that way...

    Read the article

  • EVENT RECAP: Oracle Health Sciences Conference

    - by cwarticki
    Monaco served as an intense location for this year's Oracle Health Sciences User Group conference.  It was a "Grand Prix" event with nearly 200 attendees from all over the world.  In a country famous for high performance race cars, luxury super yachts and lifestyles of the rich & famous, the conference was very Ellison-esque. I think the Superyachts were being paired with Exadata. The OSHUG staff were fantastic . Robin and Taylor (pictured left) from Drohan Management took care of all the details and were wonderful to get to know. I met with some real Oracle loyalists.  Stan Sachar,  I.T. Manager for Westat, and the Focus Group co-chair for Admin Configuration Mgmt (ACM).  Westat was an early adopter of Oracle Clinical for clinical trial projects with installations in 1997-98.  I had a chance to talk with Stan during the reception and he is an Oracle advocate and evangelist. He's invested in his career in using Oracle products. (Stan Sachar pictured right with Dick Wolnick from Oracle, on left) I also met with Mirco Becker from Grunenthal Gmbh.  He's been working with the Argus product for over 6 years.  He's a big user of Oracle Support. Mirco attended my support best practices session and was actively engaged and asked several questions.  He's excited to adopt those best practices and work more efficiently and effectively with Support. Finally, I thank the many who attended my session.  I admit, the beautiful weather and view of the ocean was a distraction, but nonetheless my mission was to provide you with all the necessary support resources for Health Sciences users. You will find a copy of my presentation on the OSHUG website. Bon Voyage Monaco.  Thanks for the memories.  I'll see everyone next year, in Miami. -Chris WartickiGlobal Customer Management

    Read the article

  • Speaking at MySQL Connect 2012

    - by jonathonc
    At the end of September, the MySQL Connect 2012 conference will be held as part of Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco. MySQL Connect is a two day event that allows attendees to focus on MySQL at a technical depth with presentations and interaction with many of the MySQL developers, engineers and other knowledgeable staff. There is also a range a international speakers to give broader knowledge to the presentations. I am presenting a Hands-On Lab on Sunday 30th September 16:15 - 17:15 entitled HOL10474 - MySQL Security: Authentication and Auditing. The sessions goes through an introduction to the plugin API and how it can help expand the capabilities of MySQL. Since it is a hands-on lab, attendees will use practical examples of implementing simple plugins to get a start in developing their own plugins. These plugin examples are based around implementing PAM authentication and how it can be utilized to offer greater security for the MySQL Server. Once the authentication has been tested, a method to monitor it will be implemented using the auditing API and logging different events as they happen in the service. There is a total of 78 sessions at MySQL Connect 2012 with a great range of speakers. Hope to see you there!

    Read the article

  • Fraud Detection with the SQL Server Suite Part 1

    - by Dejan Sarka
    While working on different fraud detection projects, I developed my own approach to the solution for this problem. In my PASS Summit 2013 session I am introducing this approach. I also wrote a whitepaper on the same topic, which was generously reviewed by my friend Matija Lah. In order to spread this knowledge faster, I am starting a series of blog posts which will at the end make the whole whitepaper. Abstract With the massive usage of credit cards and web applications for banking and payment processing, the number of fraudulent transactions is growing rapidly and on a global scale. Several fraud detection algorithms are available within a variety of different products. In this paper, we focus on using the Microsoft SQL Server suite for this purpose. In addition, we will explain our original approach to solving the problem by introducing a continuous learning procedure. Our preferred type of service is mentoring; it allows us to perform the work and consulting together with transferring the knowledge onto the customer, thus making it possible for a customer to continue to learn independently. This paper is based on practical experience with different projects covering online banking and credit card usage. Introduction A fraud is a criminal or deceptive activity with the intention of achieving financial or some other gain. Fraud can appear in multiple business areas. You can find a detailed overview of the business domains where fraud can take place in Sahin Y., & Duman E. (2011), Detecting Credit Card Fraud by Decision Trees and Support Vector Machines, Proceedings of the International MultiConference of Engineers and Computer Scientists 2011 Vol 1. Hong Kong: IMECS. Dealing with frauds includes fraud prevention and fraud detection. Fraud prevention is a proactive mechanism, which tries to disable frauds by using previous knowledge. Fraud detection is a reactive mechanism with the goal of detecting suspicious behavior when a fraudster surpasses the fraud prevention mechanism. A fraud detection mechanism checks every transaction and assigns a weight in terms of probability between 0 and 1 that represents a score for evaluating whether a transaction is fraudulent or not. A fraud detection mechanism cannot detect frauds with a probability of 100%; therefore, manual transaction checking must also be available. With fraud detection, this manual part can focus on the most suspicious transactions. This way, an unchanged number of supervisors can detect significantly more frauds than could be achieved with traditional methods of selecting which transactions to check, for example with random sampling. There are two principal data mining techniques available both in general data mining as well as in specific fraud detection techniques: supervised or directed and unsupervised or undirected. Supervised techniques or data mining models use previous knowledge. Typically, existing transactions are marked with a flag denoting whether a particular transaction is fraudulent or not. Customers at some point in time do report frauds, and the transactional system should be capable of accepting such a flag. Supervised data mining algorithms try to explain the value of this flag by using different input variables. When the patterns and rules that lead to frauds are learned through the model training process, they can be used for prediction of the fraud flag on new incoming transactions. Unsupervised techniques analyze data without prior knowledge, without the fraud flag; they try to find transactions which do not resemble other transactions, i.e. outliers. In both cases, there should be more frauds in the data set selected for checking by using the data mining knowledge compared to selecting the data set with simpler methods; this is known as the lift of a model. Typically, we compare the lift with random sampling. The supervised methods typically give a much better lift than the unsupervised ones. However, we must use the unsupervised ones when we do not have any previous knowledge. Furthermore, unsupervised methods are useful for controlling whether the supervised models are still efficient. Accuracy of the predictions drops over time. Patterns of credit card usage, for example, change over time. In addition, fraudsters continuously learn as well. Therefore, it is important to check the efficiency of the predictive models with the undirected ones. When the difference between the lift of the supervised models and the lift of the unsupervised models drops, it is time to refine the supervised models. However, the unsupervised models can become obsolete as well. It is also important to measure the overall efficiency of both, supervised and unsupervised models, over time. We can compare the number of predicted frauds with the total number of frauds that include predicted and reported occurrences. For measuring behavior across time, specific analytical databases called data warehouses (DW) and on-line analytical processing (OLAP) systems can be employed. By controlling the supervised models with unsupervised ones and by using an OLAP system or DW reports to control both, a continuous learning infrastructure can be established. There are many difficulties in developing a fraud detection system. As has already been mentioned, fraudsters continuously learn, and the patterns change. The exchange of experiences and ideas can be very limited due to privacy concerns. In addition, both data sets and results might be censored, as the companies generally do not want to publically expose actual fraudulent behaviors. Therefore it can be quite difficult if not impossible to cross-evaluate the models using data from different companies and different business areas. This fact stresses the importance of continuous learning even more. Finally, the number of frauds in the total number of transactions is small, typically much less than 1% of transactions is fraudulent. Some predictive data mining algorithms do not give good results when the target state is represented with a very low frequency. Data preparation techniques like oversampling and undersampling can help overcome the shortcomings of many algorithms. SQL Server suite includes all of the software required to create, deploy any maintain a fraud detection infrastructure. The Database Engine is the relational database management system (RDBMS), which supports all activity needed for data preparation and for data warehouses. SQL Server Analysis Services (SSAS) supports OLAP and data mining (in version 2012, you need to install SSAS in multidimensional and data mining mode; this was the only mode in previous versions of SSAS, while SSAS 2012 also supports the tabular mode, which does not include data mining). Additional products from the suite can be useful as well. SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS) is a tool for developing extract transform–load (ETL) applications. SSIS is typically used for loading a DW, and in addition, it can use SSAS data mining models for building intelligent data flows. SQL Server Reporting Services (SSRS) is useful for presenting the results in a variety of reports. Data Quality Services (DQS) mitigate the occasional data cleansing process by maintaining a knowledge base. Master Data Services is an application that helps companies maintaining a central, authoritative source of their master data, i.e. the most important data to any organization. For an overview of the SQL Server business intelligence (BI) part of the suite that includes Database Engine, SSAS and SSRS, please refer to Veerman E., Lachev T., & Sarka D. (2009). MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-448): Microsoft® SQL Server® 2008 Business Intelligence Development and Maintenance. MS Press. For an overview of the enterprise information management (EIM) part that includes SSIS, DQS and MDS, please refer to Sarka D., Lah M., & Jerkic G. (2012). Training Kit (Exam 70-463): Implementing a Data Warehouse with Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012. O'Reilly. For details about SSAS data mining, please refer to MacLennan J., Tang Z., & Crivat B. (2009). Data Mining with Microsoft SQL Server 2008. Wiley. SQL Server Data Mining Add-ins for Office, a free download for Office versions 2007, 2010 and 2013, bring the power of data mining to Excel, enabling advanced analytics in Excel. Together with PowerPivot for Excel, which is also freely downloadable and can be used in Excel 2010, is already included in Excel 2013. It brings OLAP functionalities directly into Excel, making it possible for an advanced analyst to build a complete learning infrastructure using a familiar tool. This way, many more people, including employees in subsidiaries, can contribute to the learning process by examining local transactions and quickly identifying new patterns.

    Read the article

  • Does a team of developers need a manager?

    - by Amadiere
    Background: I'm currently part of a team of four: 1 manager, 1 senior developer and 2 developers. We do a range of bespoke in-house systems / projects (e.g. 6-8 weeks) for an organisation of around 3500 staff, as well as all the maintenance and support required from the systems that have been created before. There is not enough of us to do all the work that is potentially coming our way - we're understaffed. Management acknowledge this, but budget restraints limit our ability to recruit additional members to the team (even if we make the salary back in savings). The Change This leaves us where we are now. Our manager is due to leave his role for pastures new, leaving a vacancy in the team. Management are using this opportunity to restructure our team which would see the team manager role replaced by another developer and another senior developer. Their logic being that we need more developers, so here's a way of funding it (one of the roles is partially funded from another vacant post). The team would have no direct line manager and the roles and responsibilities would be divided up between the seniors and the (relatively new to post) service manager (a non-technical role with little-to-no development knowledge/experience whose focus is shared amongst a number of other teams and individuals) - who would be our next actual manager up the food chain. I guess the final question is: Is it possible to run a development team without an manager? Have you had experience of this? And what things could go wrong / could be of benefit to us? I'd ideally like to "see the light" and the benefits of doing things this way, or come up with some points for argument against it.

    Read the article

  • Register Now! Oracle 'In Touch' PartnerCast: Be prepared for a year of growth

    - by Julien Haye
    Dear Oracle partners, We would like to invite you to join David Callaghan, Senior Vice President Oracle EMEA Alliances and Channels, and his studio guests for the next broadcast of the ‘In Touch’ PartnerCast on Tuesday 1st July 2014 from 10:30am UK/ 11:30 CET. In this cast, David’s studio guests and his regional reporters will be looking at your priorities as EMEA partners and how best to grow with Oracle. We also look forward to the the broadcast covering the following hot topics: Highlights of FY14 Strategic themes for FY15 SaaS - HCM, CRM, ERP Oracle on Oracle Exclusive for ‘In Touch’ David Callaghan questions Rich Geraffo, Senior Vice President, Global Alliances & Channels, on how the FY15 Global partner kick off relates to EMEA. Plus David provides your chance to hear from some of the newly appointed Oracle Worldwide A&C Leadership team as he discusses with Bruce Chumley VP Oracle Channel Distribution Sales & Troy Richardson VP Oracle Strategic Alliances; their core focus and strategy of growth and what they intend on bringing to the table in their new role. You can now register for the cast here: With lots of studio guests joining David, why not get in touch on Twitter using the hashtag #OracleInTouch or by emailing [email protected] to get your questions featured in the cast! To find out more information and to watch previous episodes on-demand, please visit our webpage here. Best regards, Oracle EMEA Alliances & Channels

    Read the article

  • Growing mobile developers inside a web development org

    - by Arkaaito
    I work for a "mature web startup" as a web developer (mainly using PHP). Our main site has about 8 million registered members at the moment. However, the site is basically impossible to use on anything that's not a real computer. One of our most-requested features, if not the most requested, is a mobile app or mobile version of the site. I think we need to do it. Management thinks we need to do it. In fact, everyone in the company thinks we need to do it. But it's nigh impossible to hire someone with iPhone/Android skills in the present market. I'm the only person at the company with any level of mobile development experience currently, and I'm not that good (yet), so I'm seeking comments on how to bootstrap a capacity for mobile development. Anything from general tips (should I focus on developing my personal skills first or try to pick up a more experienced mobile dev?) to specific recommendations on training, etc., may be helpful, as long as it doesn't reduce to "sucks to be you." :-)

    Read the article

  • Learning to be a good developer: what parts can you skip over?

    - by Andrew M
    I have set myself the goal of becoming a decent developer by this time next year. By this I mean full experience of the development 'lifecycle,' a few good apps/sites/webapps under my belt, and most importantly being able to work at a steady pace without getting sidelined for hours by some should-know-this-already technique. I'm not starting from scratch. I've written a lot of html/css, SQL, javascript, python and VB.net, and studied other languages like C and Java. I know about things like OOP, design patterns, TDD, complexity, computational linguistics, pointers/references, functional programming, and other academic/theoretical matters. It's just I can't say I've really done these things yet. So I want to get up to speed, and I want to know what things I can leave till a later date. For instance, studying algorithms and the maths behind them is interesting and all, but so far I've hardly needed to write anything but the most basic nested loops. Investigating Assembly to have a clearer picture of low-level operations would be cool... but I imagine rarely infringes on daily work. On the other hand, looking at a functional programming language might help me write programs that are more comprehensible and less prone to hidden failures (at the moment I'm finding the biggest difficulty is when the complexity of the app exceeds my capacity to understand it - for instance passing data around was fine... until I had to start doing it with AJAX, which was a painful step up). I could spend time working through case studies of design patterns, but I'm not sure how many of them get used in 'real life.' I'm a programmer with basic abilities - what skills should I focus on developing? (also my Unix skills are very weak, and also knowledge of Windows configuration... not sure how much time I should spend on that)

    Read the article

  • Optimizing lifestyle and training

    - by Gabe
    I am a college freshman who has recently discovered a passion for computer science. Having had my first lick of formal python training last semester, I have cast aside my previously hedonist way of life and tunneled my sights on becoming the most rounded and proficient programmer I can be. I know that I'm taking strides in the right direction (I've stopped smoking, I've been exercising every day, I've taught myself C++ and OpenGL, and I've begun training in kung-fu and meditation), yet I am still finding myself struggling to achieve satisfactory results. I would like to be able to spend a good 3-4 hours every day burning through textbooks. I have the time cleared and the resources allocated. The problem lies in the logistics-- I have never taken anything seriously before. Recently I've realized that I am clueless when it comes to taking care of myself and gaining control of my mind, and it drastically hinders my productivity. My question is this: How can I learn to manage my time and take care of myself such that I can spend the maximum amount of time every day studying with steady concentration? Personal tricks would be key here: techniques you use to get yourself to sleep, a diet that yields focus, even computer break stretching routines or active reading techniques. Anything you could think of here would be great. I was a low-life in high school and I have the drive to turn my life around, I'm just quite a bit behind in the way of good habits :)

    Read the article

  • Oracle’s Java Community Outreach Plan

    - by Tori Wieldt
    As the steward of Java, Oracle recognizes the importance and value of the Java community, and the relevant role it plays in keeping Java the largest, most vibrant developer community in the world.   In order to increase Oracle’s touch with Java developers worldwide, we are shifting our focus from a flagship JavaOne event followed by several regional JavaOne conferences, to a new outreach model which continues with the JavaOne flagship event, as well as a mix of online content, regional Java Tours, and regional 3rd party event participation.  1. JavaOne JavaOne continues to remain the premier hub for Java developers where you are given the opportunity to improve your Java technical skills, and interact with other members of the Java community. JavaOne is centered on open collaboration and sharing, and Oracle will continue to invest in JavaOne as a unique stand-alone event for the Java community. Oracle recognizes that many developers cannot attend JavaOne in person, therefore Oracle will share the wealth of the unique event material to those developers through a new and easy-to-access online Java program. While online JavaOne content cannot address the importance of actual face-to-face community/developer engagements and networking, online content does aide in extending the Java technical learning opportunity to a broader collection of developers. 2. Java Developer Day Tours Oracle will execute regional Java Developer Days with recognized Java User Groups (JUGs) with participation from Java Evangelist and Java Champions. This allows local, regional specific Java topics to be addressed both by Oracle and the Java community. In addition, Oracle will deliver more virtual technical content programs to reach developers where an existing JUG may not have a presence. 3. Sponsorship of Community-Driven Regional Events/Conferences Oracle also recognizes that improved community dialog and relations are achievable by continued Oracle sponsorship and onsite participation at both established/well-recognized 3rd party events and new emerging/growing 3rd party events. Oracle’s ultimate goal is to be an even better steward for Java by reaching more of the Java ecosystem with face-to-face and online community engagements. We look forward to planning tours and events with you, members of the Java community.

    Read the article

  • What You Said: How You Track Your Time

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Earlier this week we asked you to share your favorite time tracking tips, tricks, and tools. Now we’re back to highlight the techniques HTG readers use to keep tabs on their time. While more than one of you expressed confusion over the idea of tracking how you spend all your time, many of you were more than happy to share the reasons for and the methods you use to stay on top of your time expenditures. Scott uses a fluid and flexible project management tool: I use kanbanflow.com, with two boards to manage task prioritisation and backlog. One board called ‘Current Work’ has three columns ‘Do Today’, ‘In Progress’ and ‘Done’. The other is called ‘Backlog’, which splits tasks into priority groups – ‘Distractions (NU+NI)’, ‘Goals (NU+I)’, ‘Interruptions (U+NI)’, ‘Interruptions (U+NI)’ and ‘Critical (U+I)’, where U is Urgent and I is Important (and N is Not). At the end of each day, I move things from my Backlog to my ‘Current Work’ board, with the idea to keep complete Goals before they become Critical. That way I can focus on ‘Current Work’ Do Today so I don’t feel overwhelmed and can plan my day. As priorities change or interruptions pop up, it’s just a matter of moving tasks between boards. I have both tabs open in my browser all day – this is probably good for knowledge workers strapped to their desk, not so good for those in meetings all day. In that case, go with the calendar on your phone. While the above description might make it sound really technical, we took the cloud-based app for a spin and found the interface to be very flexible and easy to use. Can Dust Actually Damage My Computer? What To Do If You Get a Virus on Your Computer Why Enabling “Do Not Track” Doesn’t Stop You From Being Tracked

    Read the article

< Previous Page | 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103  | Next Page >