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• Unity gizmos vs. referenced game objects

  - by DuckMaestro

  I'm designing a Unity script that I intend to be highly reusable and as easy as possible to setup within the editor. To this end, a number of properties of this script really need some kind of visual representation on screen. It is an unresolved question to me whether the design of the script should require references to placeholder game objects, OR just Vector3's and float's that have associated gizmos drawn for them. Normally a gizmo would be a natural choice, except that Unity gizmos are not directly manipulable (as far as I can tell). Because of this shortcoming I'm having to consider whether depending on references to placeholder game objects is a more designer-friendly approach ultimately, in spite of the extra setup required, and that it might be counter-intuitive when the placeholder game objects disappear at run-time (which my script would do). Is there a community standard or preference here in this case? Can a Unity-experienced game programmer / designer speak to which approach they feel is more intuitive or more convenient to setup, when using a 3rd party script? Or is this just splitting hairs as long as I ship an example prefab with my script?

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• Do we ethically have the right to use the MAC Address for verification purposes?

  - by Matt Ridge

  I am writing a program, or starting at the very beginning of it, and I am thinking of purchase verification systems as a final step. I will be catering to Macs, PCs, and possibly Linux if all is said and done. I will also be programming this for smartphones as well using C++ and Objective-C. (I am writing a blueprint before going head first into it) That being said, I am not asking for help on doing it yet, but what I’m looking for is a realistic measurement for what could be expected as a viable and ethical option for purchase verification systems. Apple through the Apple Store, and some other stores out there have their own "You bought it" check. I am looking to use a three prong verification system. Email/password 16 to 32 character serial number using alpha/numeric and symbols with Upper and lowercase variants. MAC Address. The first two are in my mind ok, but I have to ask on an ethical standpoint, is a MAC Address to lock the software to said hardware unethical, or is it smart? I understand if an Ethernet card changes if not part of the logic board, or if the logic board changes so does the MAC address, so if that changes it will have to be re-verified, but I have to ask with how everything is today... Is it ethical to actually use the MAC address as a validation key or no? Should I be forward with this kind of verification system or should I keep it hidden as a secret? Yes I know hackers and others will find ways of knowing what I am doing, but in reality this is why I am asking. I know no verification is foolproof, but making it so that its harder to break is something I've always been interested in, and learning how to program is bringing up these questions, because I don't want to assume one thing and find out it's not really accepted in the programming world as a "you shouldn't do that" maneuver... Thanks in advance... I know this is my first programming question, but I am just learning how to program, and I am just making sure I'm not breaking some ethical programmer credo I shouldn't...

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• Java and C# in web development [on hold]

  - by azalut

  I am wondering whether C# development(ASP.NET) is rather kind of "rapid development" or something "big" like JavaEE/Spring? We all know, that RoR or Django are really rapid-development frameworks - and so - is C# closer to Java "long-timed-development" or to frameworks like the two above - Django, RoR? I am, for now, an amateur Java programmer and sometimes I get annoyed with the amount of code that have to be written to create even a short CRUD app. We need a lot of skills to create at least a small app. I want some change, at least for some time and learn something new. I tried (just few hours) first: RoR, then Django and now I am writing in C#. It seems to be like Java but a little bit extended. In respect of future work as a professional coder - Is it profitable to know both competitive technologies like Java (and its frameworks) and C# with .NET(ASP.NET for example)? Maybe better choice is Python? Or just stop being stupid and still work with Java but with another framework(and master my Java skills) or JavaScript, jQuery to be better at web-development? Actually this question depends on your own opinions that is why I know that this question could be blocked by admins. But main question is in the top of the post I mean: is C# web-development rapid or closer to Java? I am afraid, that if I don't try, I will regret in the future, when I awake and think: oh my god, how could I not get familiar with (another_technology_or_language) Thanks for your attention :) ps I had asked the same question on stackoverflow, but it was hold because of being opinion based. Hope it fits here ;)

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• Is the Entity Component System architecture object oriented by definition?

  - by tieTYT

  Is the Entity Component System architecture object oriented, by definition? It seems more procedural or functional to me. My opinion is that it doesn't prevent you from implementing it in an OO language, but it would not be idiomatic to do so in a staunchly OO way. It seems like ECS separates data (E & C) from behavior (S). As evidence: The idea is to have no game methods embedded in the entity. And: The component consists of a minimal set of data needed for a specific purpose Systems are single purpose functions that take a set of entities which have a specific component I think this is not object oriented because a big part of being object oriented is combining your data and behavior together. As evidence: In contrast, the object-oriented approach encourages the programmer to place data where it is not directly accessible by the rest of the program. Instead, the data is accessed by calling specially written functions, commonly called methods, which are bundled in with the data. ECS, on the other hand, seems to be all about separating your data from your behavior.

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• Is Ruby on Rails supposed to have a steep learning curve or is it just me?

  - by Anita

  I'm a self-taught programmer. I've been learning RoR since October with varying intensity (sometimes all day, sometimes nothing for several weeks). Before that I knew only Java, but knew it pretty well. I've heard so much hype about RoR and how it's supposed to make you happy, productive, etc. So far it's only made me frustrated. I learned it out of the Agile book, and I suspect part of the difficulty might have to do with my not knowing JavaScript and CSS, and having only a shaky grasp of databases and HTML. But apparently it took me much longer to complete the project in the Agile book than other people, and I still don't remember much of it. There are some things about Rails that I just can't seem to get, e.g. when to use symbols and when NOT to, or how dynamic methods are called. Recently I was given a small Rails assignment where I'm asked to make a small change to the interface. It's taken me around 25 hours and although I've made some progress in understanding the code, I still have no idea how to proceed. I can't even ask Stack Overflow because there is so much code I'll have to provide to give context. So my question is in the title: is RoR supposed to take a long time to learn or am I just slow? Can it be that I've been learning from the wrong book? My learning style is such that I either understand nothing or understand everything, if that makes sense. Thanks!

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• Is embedded programming closer to electrical engineering or software development?

  - by Jeremy Heiler

  I am being approached with a job for writing embedded C on micro controllers. At first I would have thought that embedding programming is to low on the software stack for me, but maybe I am thinking about it wrong. Normally I would have shrugged off an opportunity to write embedded code, as I don't consider myself an electrical engineer. Is this a bad assumption? Am I able to write interesting and useful software for embedded systems, or will I kick myself for dropping too low on the software stack? I went to school for computer science and really enjoyed writing a compiler, managing concurrent algorithms, designing data structures, and developing frameworks. However, I am currently employed as a Flex developer, which doesn't scream the interesting things I just described. (I currently deal with issues like: "this check box needs to be 4 pixels to the left" and "this date is formatted wrong".) I appreciate everyone's input. I know I have to make the decision for myself, I just would like some clarification on what it means to be a embedded programmer, and if it fits what I find to be interesting.

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• Should I encrypt data in database?

  - by Tio

  I have a client, for which I'm going to do an Web application about patient care, managing patients, consults, history, calendars, everything about that basically. The problem is that this is sensitive data, patient history and such. The client insists on encrypting the data at the database level, but I think this is going to deteriorate the performance of the web app. ( But maybe I shouldn't be worried about this ) I've read the laws about data protection on health issues ( Portugal ), but isn't very specific about this ( I just questioned them about this, I'm waiting for their response ). I've read the following link, but my question is different, should I encrypt the data in the database, or not. One problem that I foresee in encrypting data, is that I'm going to need a key, this could be the user password, but we all know how user passwords are ( 12345 etc etc ), and generating a key I would have to store it somewhere, this means that the programmer, dba, whatever could have access to it, any thoughts on this? Even adding an random salt to the user password isn't going to solve the problem since I can always access it, and therefore decrypt the data.

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• Ternary and Artificial Intelligence

  - by user2957844

  Not much of a programmer myself, however I have been thinking about the future of AI. If a fully functional AI is programmed in a binary environment as is used in current computing, would that create a bit of a black and white personality? As in just yes/no, on/off, 1/0? I will use the Skynet computer from the Terminator series as a bad analogy; it is brought online and comes to the conclusion that humanity should just be destroyed so the problem is resolved, basically its only options were; fire the missiles or not. (The films do not really go into what its moves would be after doing such a thing, but that goes into the realms of AI evolution so does not really fit with this question.) It may also have been badly programmed. Now, the human mind has been akin to a ternary system which allows our "out of the box" thinking along with all the other wonderful things our minds can do. So, would it not be more prudent to create a functional ternary system and program an AI using it so the resulting personality would be able to benefit from the third "maybe" (so to speak) option? I understand that in binary there are ways to get around the whole yes/no etc. way of things, however the basic operations are still just 1's and 0's. Again with using the above bad Skynet analogy; if it could have had that third "maybe" option as part of its core system, it may have decided to not launch due to being able to make sense of the intricacies of human nature and the politics of such a move etc. In effect, my question is; Would an AI benefit more from ternary computing as opposed to binary due to the inclusion of -1, or 2, dependent on the system ("maybe," as I call it)?

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• Is "send us a page with code" a typical interview requirement?

  - by acm

  Recently I was asked to show "a page with code" for a job interview. Being mainly a back-end programmer, and that's the position I applied for, I first said to the person I was talking to exactly that: PHP is executed at the server and therefore not visible by just giving a "page". However, following their desire, I sent links to the pages I've worked on before. Obviously they couldn't see anything except for the HTML, CSS, JS... They said it was not enough, they could not see the PHP. Understanding that they probably just wanted to know my skills and/or interest I sent them my Stack Overflow profile. Among all my questions and answers, most of them with code, certainly the PHP is there. But it seems this is not what they wanted. Well, I don't have any code put together that I can simply publish for someone to see. And I would never do it for the code I have deployed, obviously. So my question is/are: What does "send us a page with code" mean? What should I send? Is this a typical interview requirement?

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• What is the *right* way to use gnome-shell integrated chat?

  - by stevejb

  Please bear with me as I am still figuring out how to use gnome-shell. My question concerns how to use the integrated chat correctly. I have the following questions: 1) When people chat with me, it pops up as a notification on the hidden bar at the bottom of the screen, and then that chat stays there so I can access it later. How do I initiate a chat in this manner, without opening an empathy window? What I have been doing is Hitting super key Typing in the person's name, which brings up contacts Initiate the chat using empathy Immediately close the chat window When the person responds, it comes through as a notification. I then proceed to interact with the chat this way. 2) What is the keyboard shortcut for bringing up the notifications bar? Ideally, I would like to have the following experience Use some keyboard shortcut to bring up notifications Begin typing the name of the notification that I wish to investigate, and have the matching work in a fuzzy manner, much like Ido mode's buffer switching matching in Emacs When then right name is matched, I hit enter and then bring up the chat with that person as that popup notification. Are these behaviours supported? If not, I would be happy to work on implementing them. I am an experienced programmer, but not familiar with gnome-shell. If someone would point me in the right direction in terms of if this behaviour is supported, or where in the gnome-shell framework would I add to to get this behaviour, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

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• English major new to programming. What language should I learn first? [closed]

  - by PJKaka

  After working extensively an internet startup in a marketing positions, I've decided to wade into the entrepreneurship pool with a startup of my own. The only problem: I don't have any particular technical skills to speak of. Although I can find a technical co-founder, I'd rather not be the stereotypical 'business guy' drumming his fingers on the desk and asking 'how much longer?' as my technical co-founder codes away. I would like to understand code and what's happening in the backend, even if I don't end up being anything more than a 'passable' programmer. With this in mind, which language should I try to learn first? For the record, I'm quite proficient with HTML, CSS, and a bit of JavaScript. I have some familiarity with PHP because I've toyed around with WordPress a lot, but my knowledge is limited at best. My math skills are quite strong. I took some advanced calculus courses in college since I've always enjoyed the subject. While my goals are to learn web development, I wouldn't mind learning some hardcore object oriented programming skills in C or Java as well.

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• How do I troubleshoot system slowness seen when viewing PDFs or videos?

  - by asp

  Whenever I watch videos, either online of local via Totem and/or open PDF files using evince. The system gets really, really bogged down. All apps get really slow, menus take forever to display, switching windows gives me time to make a coffee, etc. I have a couple of bug reports open on this, but what do I need to do to really troubleshoot the issue? I've purged Adobe Flash from the system, but YouTube HTML5 videos still have the issue. A bunch of PDFs saved locally trigger the problem. And to (temporarily) remove the slowness, I need to shutdown the computer, breath for a few minutes, then restart. A simple reboot does not do the trick. How can I identify the cause? This only started on 13.04. I've had Ubuntu on this machine for a year without a problem until "upgrading" to 13.04. I am not a programmer, but I suspect an issue with the Intel video driver. Is there something I can run which will diagnose this, or are there concrete steps I can follow to find the culprit?

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• Information I need to know as a Java Developer [on hold]

  - by Woy

  I'm a java developer. I'm trying to get more knowledge to become a better programmer. I've listed a number of technologies to learn. Instead of what I've listed, what technologies would you suggest to learn as well for a Junior Java Developer? I realize, there's a lot of things to study. Java: - how a garbage collector works - resource management - network programming - TCP/IP HTTP - transactions, - consistency: interfaces, classes collections, hash codes, algorithms, comp. complexity concurrent programming: synchronizing, semafores steam management metability: thread-safety byte code manipulations, reflections, Aspect-Oriented Programming as base to understand frameworks such as Spring etc. Web stack: servlets, filters, socket programming Libraries: JDK, GWT, Apache Commons, Joda-Time, Dependency Injections: Spring, Nano Tools: IDE: very good knowledge - debugger - profiler - web analyzers: Wireshark, firebugs - unit testing SQL/Databases: Basics SELECTing columns from a table Aggregates Part 1: COUNT, SUM, MAX/MIN Aggregates Part 2: DISTINCT, GROUP BY, HAVING + Intermediate JOINs, ANSI-89 and ANSI-92 syntax + UNION vs UNION ALL x NULL handling: COALESCE & Native NULL handling Subqueries: IN, EXISTS, and inline views Subqueries: Correlated ITH syntax: Subquery Factoring/CTE Views Advanced Topics Functions, Stored Procedures, Packages Pivoting data: CASE & PIVOT syntax Hierarchical Queries Cursors: Implicit and Explicit Triggers Dynamic SQL Materialized Views Query Optimization: Indexes Query Optimization: Explain Plans Query Optimization: Profiling Data Modelling: Normal Forms, 1 through 3 Data Modelling: Primary & Foreign Keys Data Modelling: Table Constraints Data Modelling: Link/Corrollary Tables Full Text Searching XML Isolation Levels Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs), Logical and Physical Transactions: COMMIT, ROLLBACK, Error Handling

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• What is a good way to refactor a large, terribly written code base by myself? [closed]

  - by AgentKC

  Possible Duplicate: Techniques to re-factor garbage and maintain sanity? I have a fairly large PHP code base that I have been writing for the past 3 years. The problem is, I wrote this code when I was a terrible programmer and now it's tens of thousands of lines of conditionals and random MySQL queries everywhere. As you can imagine, there are a ton of bugs and they are extremely hard to find and fix. So I would like a good method to refactor this code so that it is much more manageable. The source code is quite bad; I did not even use classes or functions when I originally wrote it. At this point, I am considering rewriting the whole thing. I am the only developer and my time is pretty limited. I would like to get this done as quickly as possible, so I can get back to writing new features. Since rewriting the code would take a long time, I am looking for some methods that I can use to clean up the code as quickly as possible without leaving more bad architecture that will come back to haunt me later. So this is the basic question: What is a good way for a single developer to take a fairly large code base that has no architecture and refactor it into something with reasonable architecture that is not a nightmare to maintain and expand?

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• Prepare For Oracle Certification Exams With Confidence

  - by Brandye Barrington

  Empower yourself to put your best foot forward on exam day! Oracle Certification Exam Candidates, test with confidence using preparation tools created by Oracle and Oracle's only Authorized Practice Test Provider, Kaplan SelfTest. Oracle wants to help protect your investment of time and money by offering tools to help you be as prepared as possible for your certification exam as well as your future job role. Use these valuable tools to get the most out of your exam preparation: Online Exam Preparation Seminars, Online Practice Tests and the new free Online Demos from Kaplan SelfTest. FREE ONLINE DEMOS Choose from 1Z0-851 Java 6 Programmer Certified Professional or 1Z0-047 Oracle Database SQL Expert. Get a feel for the type and difficulty of questions on the Oracle Certification exams and determine if you are ready for the exam or if you need more preparation. This is a powerful tool that will help you plan your preparation and make the most of your investment. Access Free Online Demos Now ONLINE EXAM PREPARATION SEMINARS These one-day self-paced streaming video seminars are 100% focused on exam preparation. The streaming video format lets you fast forward, rewind, and replay at your own pace so that you can identify and close any knowledge gaps before taking the exam. The Exam Prep Seminar structures your studying - so you don't have to. Access Online Exam Preparation Seminars ONLINE PRACTICE TESTS Test your knowledge with Kaplan SelfTest Practice Exams. These practice tests are one of the most effective ways to prepare for your Oracle Certification exam by helping you self-assess your knowledge using realistic exam simulations. You can purchase practice exams from Oracle with 30-day or 12-month access. Access Online Practice Tests Approach exam day with confidence using the tools above.

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• How to choose between Tell don't Ask and Command Query Separation?

  - by Dakotah North

  The principle Tell Don't Ask says: you should endeavor to tell objects what you want them to do; do not ask them questions about their state, make a decision, and then tell them what to do. The problem is that, as the caller, you should not be making decisions based on the state of the called object that result in you then changing the state of the object. The logic you are implementing is probably the called object’s responsibility, not yours. For you to make decisions outside the object violates its encapsulation. A simple example of "Tell, don't Ask" is Widget w = ...; if (w.getParent() != null) { Panel parent = w.getParent(); parent.remove(w); } and the tell version is ... Widget w = ...; w.removeFromParent(); But what if I need to know the result from the removeFromParent method? My first reaction was just to change the removeFromParent to return a boolean denoting if the parent was removed or not. But then I came across Command Query Separation Pattern which says NOT to do this. It states that every method should either be a command that performs an action, or a query that returns data to the caller, but not both. In other words, asking a question should not change the answer. More formally, methods should return a value only if they are referentially transparent and hence possess no side effects. Are these two really at odds with each other and how do I choose between the two? Do I go with the Pragmatic Programmer or Bertrand Meyer on this?

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• tips, guidelines, points to remember for rendering professional code?

  - by ronnieaka

  I'm talking about giving clients professional looking code. The whole nine yards, everything you hardcore professional highly experienced programmers here probably do when coding freelance or for the company you work in. I'm fresh out of college and I'm going into freelance. I just want to be sure that my first few projects leave a good after-taste of professionalism imprinted on the clients' minds. When I Googled what i'm asking here, I was given pages that showed various websites and tools that let you make flashy websites and templates etc. The $N package and such stuff. I can't recall the word experts use for it. Standard, framework [i know that's not it]. English isn't my first language so I'm sorry I don't really don't know the exact phrase for it. That abstract way of writing code so that you don't come across as a sloppy programmer. That above mentioned way for programming websites and desktop software [in python/C/C++/Java]. EDIT: i can work on the accruing vast knowledge and know-how and logic building etc. what i'm asking for is the programming standard/guidelines you guys follow so that the client on seeing code feels that its a professional solution. Like comment blocks, a particular indentation style something like that. Is there any book on it or specific list of points for enterprise type coding by them? Especially here as in my case, for building websites [php for now..], and desktop software [c/c++/java/python]

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• What Computing/Programming Qualifications should I aspire for

  - by indevel

  I am a computing science post graduate in my first job from after my degree. During my 12 month review my boss posed the question "What can we do for you in terms of progressing your career?". This got me thinking, after university I hadn't really thought about what other qualifications were available. So this is my question, what courses/qualifications should I be looking to do. Which are highly regarded and which would be really useful to complete. I've searched Google it but all I see is a jumble of courses with no idea of the credibility of each. Any help is much appreciated. I'm traditionally a systems architect, but with this job I've turned to more embedded work so Id like to edge towards electronics, embedded programming, real time OS to help with my work also it would be more likely to be accepted if it was related to my job. Finally UK based courses/ qualifications are a must as travel is probably out of the question. Help me grow as a programmer.

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• Use the &ldquo;using&rdquo; statement on objects that implement the IDisposable Interface

  - by mbcrump

  From MSDN : C#, through the .NET Framework common language runtime (CLR), automatically releases the memory used to store objects that are no longer required. The release of memory is non-deterministic; memory is released whenever the CLR decides to perform garbage collection. However, it is usually best to release limited resources such as file handles and network connections as quickly as possible. The using statement allows the programmer to specify when objects that use resources should release them. The object provided to the using statement must implement the IDisposable interface. This interface provides the Dispose method, which should release the object's resources. In my quest to write better, more efficient code I ran across the “using” statement. Microsoft recommends that we specify when to release objects. In other words, if you use the “using” statement this tells .NET to release the object specified in the using block once it is no longer needed.   So Using this block: private static string ReadConfig()         {             const string path = @"C:\SomeApp.config.xml";               using (StreamReader reader = File.OpenText(path))             {                 return reader.ReadToEnd();             }         }   The compiler converts this to: private static string ReadConfig1() {     StreamReader sr = new StreamReader(@"C:\SomeApp.config.xml");       try     {         return sr.ReadToEnd();     }     finally     {         if (sr != null)             ((IDisposable)sr).Dispose();     }   }

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• MVC design patterns

  - by insane-36

  I have an application and it does not use a very good structure. However it seems to me that I have tried to stick to mvc design pattern but a senior engineer claims that I have no design patterns and code are mesh. How I have structured the code : I have couple of nsmanagedobject model classes which represents model in my case and a reskit library which encapsulates the nsurlconnection and url request. I fetch the request from the view controller itself and then when the request get completed I create predicate and then populate it in tableview. Wherever I need custom view either I create it in nib or create in a custom subclass of UIView. I have use delegation pattern and notification to communication to view controller, views and block callback with restkit. But, the senior engineer is very new to ios. He has been doing it for 2 months now but he is a good java programmer. So, what is mvc pattern ? Is core data model not working as a model objects, view controller as controller and views. I dont seem to find any other places or any other cases to create my own model object since the most of the models are used as NSManagedObject subclass.

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• Can I make a business in teaching home users Ubuntu [on hold]

  - by Dorgaldir

  I was thinking about a way to bring Ubuntu to the bigger public, since it has great advantages for people in the lower income class that only use a PC for basic usage. They pay for a windows licence without actually needing windows because 95% of what they do is in a browser and the other 5% is typing a word document or making a simpel Excel sheet. So for these people something like Ubuntu is ideal, they can prolong the life of their old PC or laptop with Ubuntu and thus saving extra money. And as we all know, saving money is not only interesting for the lowest of income but for most of us. But when I talk to people they don't want to use Ubuntu because they know Windows and they don't know this, they'll complain about having to adapt to windows 8 but adapting to Ubuntu seems a bridge too far. But what if someone in the neighborhood gave simple Ubuntu courses. Teaching people about Ubuntu, stuff like: What is an OS What is Ubuntu How do I obtain Ubuntu How do I install Ubuntu How do I set up my email in Ubuntu How do I make a text document in Ubuntu How do I update my facebook wall in Ubuntu ... Simple basic PC usage, but within Ubuntu. But as much as I would like to work for free all day, I can't do this for free for people outside of my social circle. So I was wondering if it is possible to make a business and make money with giving Ubuntu courses, or are their steps to be taken before this is possible. However... Do I need an Ubuntu or Canonical license? Do I need to get a certificate? Do I have to make some kind of deal or contract with Canonical? Just to be clear this is all just an idea in my head at this point, I'm just gathering information. I'm not a teacher at a school, just a programmer that is thinking about options in life. Thanks in advance!

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• Reverse-Engineer Driver for Backlit Keyboard

  - by user87847

  Here's my situation: I recently purchased a Sager NP9170 (same as the Clevo P170EM) and it has a multi-colored, backlit keyboard. Under Windows 7, you can launch an app that allows you to change the color of the backlighting to any of a handful of colors (blue, green, red, etc). I want that same functionality under Linux. I haven't been able to find any software that does this, so I guess I'm going to have to write it myself. I'm a programmer by trade, but I've haven't done much low level programming, and I've certainly never written a device driver, so I was wondering if anyone could answer these two questions: 1) Is there any software already out there that does this sort of thing? I've looked fairly thoroughly but haven't found anything applicable. 2) Where would I start in trying to reverse engineer this sort of thing? Any useful articles, tutorials, books that might help? And just to clarify: The backlighting already works, that's not the problem. I just want to be able to change the color of the backlighting. This functionality is supported by the hardware. The laptop came with windows software that does this and I want the same functionality in Linux. I am willing to write this software myself, I just want to know the best way to go about it. Thanks!

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• Will all applications work fine on 64-bit Ubuntu?

  - by Qmal

  I used Ubuntu some time ago and now I want to switch on it again since community raised a lot and so did support for applications like Wine. I remember that when 64bit version just came out many applications didn't work as they did on 32bit version. Is it not better or still the same? Maybe they implemented something like WoW in Windows that simulates 32bit architecture and every possible app is working just fine. I am asking because I have lots of ram and I don't want to sit on 3GB when I have 8. Also, I am somewhat of a programmer, but that is not a problem because if I write PHP I use NetBeans on Windows anyway, and it works on Linux just as fine. But I also love to write C++/C# code. Is it well supported? I really like Visual Studio 2010, it is very slick and has good auto completion, debugging and so on... Is there any IDE on Ubuntu that is similar to Visual Studio in terms of auto-completion, code formatting, GUI designer, debugging? I really hope you will answer me these questions because I really like to "convert" myself to Ubuntu once and for all.

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• Is it reasonable to null guard every single dereferenced pointer?

  - by evadeflow

  At a new job, I've been getting flagged in code reviews for code like this: PowerManager::PowerManager(IMsgSender* msgSender) : msgSender_(msgSender) { } void PowerManager::SignalShutdown() { msgSender_->sendMsg("shutdown()"); } I'm told that last method should read: void PowerManager::SignalShutdown() { if (msgSender_) { msgSender_->sendMsg("shutdown()"); } } i.e., I must put a NULL guard around the msgSender_ variable, even though it is a private data member. It's difficult for me to restrain myself from using expletives to describe how I feel about this piece of 'wisdom'. When I ask for an explanation, I get a litany of horror stories about how some junior programmer, some-year, got confused about how a class was supposed to work and accidentally deleted a member he shouldn't have (and set it to NULL afterwards, apparently), and things blew up in the field right after a product release, and we've "learned the hard way, trust us" that it's better to just NULL check everything. To me, this feels like cargo cult programming, plain and simple. A few well-meaning colleagues are earnestly trying to help me 'get it' and see how this will help me write more robust code, but... I can't help feeling like they're the ones who don't get it. Is it reasonable for a coding standard to require that every single pointer dereferenced in a function be checked for NULL first—even private data members? (Note: To give some context, we make a consumer electronics device, not an air traffic control system or some other 'failure-equals-people-die' product.) EDIT: In the above example, the msgSender_ collaborator isn't optional. If it's ever NULL, it indicates a bug. The only reason it is passed into the constructor is so PowerManager can be tested with a mock IMsgSender subclass.

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• 16-bit PNGs in Slick2D

  - by Neglected

  I'm working on a project and I'm using some 3rd party sprites just to get it off the ground; recently I've come into a hitch. Slick2D doesn't seem to want to load my images. That is, it will warn me that images are the wrong bit-depth. All the images are in 16-bit PNG form (PNG is required for transparency). Is there any way I can disable the warning (being the bad guy programmer (the console print for each individual load REALLY SLOWS DOWN the image)) or is there another solution? I was thinking about converting all images (using imagemagick) to .gif (with an alpha channel). Would there be any loss in quality between formats? EDIT: I tried using imagemagick but some of the sprites use pure black so I can't do that without wrecking the image. EDIT2: using "identify" on any of the images show them as being 8-bit.. but Slick2D won't load them. What the hell? D: EDIT3: Issue solved (ish). If you are googling this then just disable the java png loader from slick by sticking this somewhere in your code (like the main method): System.setProperty("org.newdawn.slick.pngloader", "false");

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