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Articles indexed Sunday February 13 2011

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• How to explain to non-technical person why the task will take much longer then they think?

  - by Mag20

  Almost every developer has to answer questions from business side like: Why is going to take 2 days to add this simple contact form? When developer estimates this task, they may divide it into steps: make some changes to Database optimize DB changes for speed add front end HTML write server side code add validation add client side javascript use unit tests make sure SEO is setup is working implement email confirmation refactor and optimize the code for speed ... These maybe hard to explain to non-technical person, who basically sees the whole task as just putting together some HTML and creating a table to store the data. To them it could be 2 hours MAX. So is there a better way to explain why the estimate is high to non-developer?

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• Why is facebook cache buggy?

  - by IAdapter

  I just started using facebook and I see that many times when I add something to my profile and visit it later its not there. I bet the reason is that the page is cached and not updated very often. Is this on purpose or is it a bug? P.S. For example I added the music I like and later I see that I did not add it, but next day when I visit again its there. I saw it in two web-browsers, so its a facebook bug. Does it has something to do with scalability?

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• What is the best toolkit for writing long technical texts?

  - by thr

  I'm looking for a toolkit in the form of one or a couple of applications that can be used to write long technical texts (such as an introduction to a programming language). What applications (or combination of) are suitable for this? How should said applications be setup (for example how would one setup MS Word to best fit writing a technical text)? How do you deal with source code, syntax coloring and formatting? In the case of it being several applications, how do you interact between them?

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• What are the most common schools of knowledge prevalent in 'great' programmers?

  - by DaveDev

  I asked this question on StackOverflow but it got shot down fairly quickly. It was suggested that I ask it here, so I've copied it from there. Hope that's ok: The question: I think that the 'great' programmers become so mostly from being exposed to and interested in programming from early ages, as well as huge amounts of dedication. Unfortunately I only discovered programming at a later age, and I sometimes feel frustrated with the difficulties I experience in trying to grok some of the more fundamental concepts the 'greats' seem to take for granted.. So my question is in relationt to that, if a 'great' programmer (i.e. top 10%) had to distill his or her knowledge into a few recommendations / books / concepts / suggestions / lessons, what would they be? What does a programmer who's willing to learn need to do to get on the right track towards becoming great? And to be more specific, I don't mean 'what does that person need to do', because the answer is almost invariably, 'practice!'. What I mean is, what does the programmer need to know?

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• Java dev learning Python: what concepts do I need to wrap my head around?

  - by LRE

  I've run through a few tutorials and written some small projects. I'm right in the middle of a small project now infact. All is going well enough thanks in no small part to Uncle Google (who usually points me to Stackoverflow ;-) Several times in the last few days I've found myself wondering "what am I missing?" - I feel that I'm still thinking in Java as I write in Python. This question over at StackOverflow is full of tips about what resources to read up on for learning Python, but I still feel that I'm a Java dev with a dictionary (pun unintended) to translate into Python. What I really want to do is refactor my head to be able to write Pythonic Python instead of Java disguised as Python (not that I want to loose my Java skills). So, the crux of my question is: what concepts does a Java dev really need to learn to think Pythonic? This includes anything that needs to be un-learnt. ps: I consider language syntax to not be particularly relevant to this question.

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• Integration of advertisement into WP7 apps: Any experiences?

  - by OneWorld

  Has anyone of you guys integrated or is thinking about integrating either admob, MS pubCenter, adwhirl or any other advertising provider into your apps? Please share your experience... Who pays best? Any regulations? Any problems with getting the app approved by Microsoft Market? If you chose Admob: Which plugin do you suggest? This or that or another one? Any experiences in Europe or Germany? (MS pubCenter is US only so far) Edit: I think we discussed enough about acceptance of mobile advertisement. Let's focus now on the questions I asked. Edit 2: Hmm, maybe Stackoverlfow is a better place to discuss question 2-5. Could somebody migrate this one?

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• Why is Robert C. Martin called Uncle Bob?

  - by Lernkurve

  Is there a story behind it? I did a Google search for "Why is Robert C. Martin called Uncle Bob?" but didn't find an answer. More context There is this pretty well-know person in the software engineering world named Robert C. Martin. He speaks at conferences and has published many excellent books one of which is Clean Code (Amazon). He is the founder and CEO of Object Mentor Inc. Robert C. Martin is also called Uncle Bob. But I can't figure out why.

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• Why is (Ogg) Vorbis not automatically supported by Windows?

  - by flying sheep

  Vorbis was never threatened by MPEG LA, so it is undoubtedly completely patent free. (MPEG LA never misses a chance to spread patent FUD) Windows supports mp3, so it isn’t because they want to push their crappy wma. The GPL allows distribution alongside commercial products, and Even if they fear to ship GPL software, they can still load it automatically, like they do with XviD So why can’t a windows customer not simply drop a ogg vorbis file into his/her music library and listen to it via WMP? PS: To counter misconceptions: They already download the GPL’d XviD codec on demand, so they already have 99% of what it takes to do the same with Vorbis. It would take me about 5 minutes to do this, if I were familiar with the WMP code base and directshow filter system. PSS: I was told to ask this here rather than on stackoverflow, so i do.

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• Learning Programming, Suggestions for a roadmap

  - by RisingSun

  Hi, Some background first- I am new to programming and have discovered it rather late in life; Like many hobbyists, my introduction to the subject has been through php/jquery (yes, i know the popular mood around here... they-are-not-real-programminng-languages ;-) ). I like to believe that I am reasonably competent at what I do in my other life and this developing addiction to coding has taken a very heavy toll on my professional prospects. This is the question: What programming languages next? (No plans to ditch php in the immediate future, that will involve rewriting much of my code) Any absolutely essential books I must read? Is it necessary to join a college/university course? Do I need to ditch my other profession to continue serious learning? My goals are: Develop a solid understanding of the science and art of programming. Continue to work on my own web application (Hands on learning suits me best) I am something of a generalist interested in everything from UI to database performance

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• Toshiba Satellite a300 with Maverick keeps crashing.

  - by Martin

  I just installed 10.10 on my girlfriends Toshiba Satellite a300 and for about two days it has been working just fine for two days but today it started acting pretty wonky. Several times over the machine just dies as if it didn't have a battery and someone yanked out the power supply. After such a crash I'll have to wait a while before powering it up again or it will die before it even reaches the startup screen. It sort of seems like it's reacting to something I do. I kept it on for several hours while we were out of the house and it was still fine when I came back. I haven't been doing anything I can imagine is especially CPU-intensive when the crashes occur, but I have been trying to set up her iPod with Rythmbox and / or Banshee. If anyone can point me in the right direction I'd be very grateful.

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• WinTV-HVR-1900 no picture in VLC

  - by nLinked

  I've connected a Hauppauge WinTV-HVR-1900 to my Ubuntu 10.10 PC and used the instructions here to install the firmware and test that it is detected using dmesg. Detection is successful. The WinTV is connected to my TV using component connections. I run this command to enable the component interface: v4l2-ctl -i 1. Then I use cat /dev/video0 test.mpg, and that file is created and plays perfectly with video and sound. However, when I try to play /dev/video0 in VLC Player (and other players), I just get a black screen. I also try the v4l2-ctl -i 1 command before I try it in VLC, but I still get a black screen, and when I use v4l2-ctl -I, it shows it has connection 0 again (Television), so it reverts back to connection 0 instead of connection 1 (component). So I'm a little stuck with getting VLC to get a picture, even though the CAT command works fine. Anything I can try?

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• Where should I store 3rd party jar (Java archive) files?

  - by Martijn

  Hi folks, What would be the best place to save jar files of libraries I want to use in a project, that are not in any repositories, and how should I set permissions? Should I put them in /usr/share/java, or is it better to store them somewhere in my home folder? What would be the most usefull access rights? Does it make sense to follow the convention in /usr/share/java of making a symlink with the package name to the specific version of the jar, and follow the permissions as used there?

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• Upload to PPA succeeded but packages doesn't appear

  - by lorin

  I'm trying to upload packages to my PPA for the first time. I want to use the PPA for customized versions of the OpenStack Compute (nova) project, so I tried to do a test by uploading packages corresponding to the bexar release of this project (lp:nova/bexar), with a new version number and changelog entry. I signed the source packages using my OpenGPG key, which has been uploaded to the ubuntu keyserver: $ dch -v 2011.1-0ubuntu2-isi1 -D lucid "ISI bexar build #1" $ dpkg-buildpackage -s -rfakeroot -tc -D -k4C8A14AB When I tried to upload the files to the repository, it seemed to work (real email obscured): $ dput ppa:lorinh/ppa nova_2011.2~bzr663-1isi1_source.changes Checking signature on .changes gpg: Signature made Fri 11 Feb 2011 03:52:50 PM EST using RSA key ID 4C8A14AB gpg: Good signature from "Lorin Hochstein <lorin@...>" Good signature on /home/lorin/packaging/nova_2011.2~bzr663-1isi1_source.changes. Checking signature on .dsc gpg: Signature made Fri 11 Feb 2011 03:52:44 PM EST using RSA key ID 4C8A14AB gpg: Good signature from "Lorin Hochstein <lorin@...>" Good signature on /home/lorin/packaging/nova_2011.2~bzr663-1isi1.dsc. Uploading to ppa (via ftp to ppa.launchpad.net): Uploading nova_2011.2~bzr663-1isi1.dsc: done. Uploading nova_2011.2~bzr663-1isi1.tar.gz: done. Uploading nova_2011.2~bzr663-1isi1_source.changes: done. However, the packages aren't listed on my PPA page. If I try to upload again, I get the error: $ dput ppa:lorinh/ppa nova_2011.2~bzr663-1isi1_source.changes Package has already been uploaded to ppa on ppa.launchpad.net Nothing more to do for nova_2011.2~bzr663-1isi1_source.changes Am I supposed to do something next? How do I track down what wrong? As of this writing, it's been a day and a half since I've done the upload.

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• Ubuntu does not recognized local webserver

  - by Syed Khalil-ur-Rehman

  My Internet Cable provider has set up a web server which hosts different entertainment material like movies, songs, tv shows and games etc. While using windows the pc recognises it as a local web server and downloads files with full LAN speed of 10 mb per second. On the contrary when using Ubuntu I am only able to download the files on my Internet speed not more than 100 kb per second. What ever I try ubuntu does not recognizes the webserver as a local area network web server but as a normal internet website. How to make Ubuntu download files from this server with full LAN speed. Please help in this regard.

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• What is default password?

  - by Benjamin

  What is the difference between default and login? And what does Default Keyring mean? When I run some applications(Emphaty etc), Unlock Keyring window launched first, then it requires me password. Why? This is a screen-shot when I run Emphaty. Why does it require me a password? It's a just messenger. It makes me crazy. I was able to find this Window. I guess this Windows could give me a solution. Before trying something to fix it, I'd like know about what they are. Please explain them to me. P.S My login password is not equal to default password now.

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• Why won't Opera let me use the Ubuntu font?

  - by Roddie

  This is driving me crazy. I'm using monochrome rendering for fonts and this causes a few problems in my browser so I wanted to make Ubuntu the standard sans-serif font. I changed it in the preferences and it initially works okay but after a while it reverts to the default. If I go into the font section in the menu, it still lists Ubuntu and if I click OK the pages will correct themselves. Does anyone know I can stop this behaviour? I'm using Opera 11 on Ubuntu 10.10

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• Will there be a Ubuntu Serif font in the future?

  - by Ingo Gerth

  Since 10.10 we have the wonderful new Ubuntu sans serif font. If everything goes well 11.04 will bring a great looking new monospace font. It would only be a logical step to also develop a serif font! This way, the Ubuntu experience would get its definite touch. It could for example give a very special web experience as proposed and supported in this post, by covering the three major font families. Now of course the question remains, are there any plans for this?

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• is it ok to have 2 sitemaps on 1 website?

  - by user615041

  Do I have to have a sitemap page on my index page for bots to read it or can I just have it anywhere on my server? I have a phpbb/wordpress integration and I need 2 sitemaps mods for each one (or I need to have them somehow integrated together into one xml sitemap). Is this possible? Whats my best option? I would have the phpbb one something like this: http://www.example.com/phpbb/sitemap.html and the wordpress one something like this: http://www.example.com/wordpress/sitemap.html and then I would submit both off..but not have the links on my footer to confuse anyone.., the sitemaps would strictly be for search engines. Is this a good idea? what are you thoughts?

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• What are the benefits of designing a KeyBinding relay?

  - by Adam Naylor

  The input system of Quake3 is handled using a Keybinding relay, whereby each keypress is matched against a 'binding' which is then passed to the CLI along with a time stamp of when the keypress (or release) occurred. I just wanted to get an idea from developers what they considered to be the key benefits of designing your input system around this approach? One thing i don't particularly like is the appending of the timestamp to the bound command. This seems like a bit of a hack to bend the CLI into handling the games input? Also I feel that detecting the keypress only to add the command to a stream of text that gets parsed at a later date to be a slightly latent way of responding to input? (or is this unfounded?) The only real benefit i can see is that it allows you to bind 'complex' commands to keypresses; like 'switch weapon;+fire;' for example. Or maybe for journaling purposes? Thanks for any insights!

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• How to design a game engine in an object-oriented language?

  - by chuzzum

  Whenever I try and write a game in any object-oriented language, the first problem I always face (after thinking about what kind of game to write) is how to design the engine. Even if I'm using existing libraries or frameworks like SDL, I still find myself having to make certain decisions for every game, like whether to use a state machine to manage menus, what kind of class to use for resource loading, etc. What is a good design and how would it be implemented? What are some tradeoffs that have to be made and their pros/cons?

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• Is chess-like AI really inapplicable in turn-based strategy games?

  - by Joh

  Obviously, trying to apply the min-max algorithm on the complete tree of moves works only for small games (I apologize to all chess enthusiasts, by "small" I do not mean "simplistic"). For typical turn-based strategy games where the board is often wider than 100 tiles and all pieces in a side can move simultaneously, the min-max algorithm is inapplicable. I was wondering if a partial min-max algorithm which limits itself to N board configurations at each depth couldn't be good enough? Using a genetic algorithm, it might be possible to find a number of board configurations that are good wrt to the evaluation function. Hopefully, these configurations might also be good wrt to long-term goals. I would be surprised if this hasn't been thought of before and tried. Has it? How does it work?

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• Setting effects variables in XNA

  - by Badescu Alexandru

  Hello ! I am currently reading a book named "3D Graphics with XNA Game Studio 4.0" by Sean James and have some questions to ask : If i create a effect parameter named lets say SpecularPower and have in my effect a variable named SpecularPower , if i do something like effect.Parameters["SpecularPower"].SetValue(3) That wil change the SpecularPower variable in my effect ? And a second question, not regarding the book : If i have a spaceship and i've created a "boost" functionality that speeds up my spaceship, what effects should i implement to create the impresion oh high speed ? I was thinking of making everything except my spaceship blurry but i think there would be something missing . Any ideas ? Regards, Alex Badescu

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• Java PropertyChangeListener

  - by Laphroaig

  Hi, i'm trying to figure out how to listen a property change on another class. this is my code: class with the property to listen: public class ClassWithProperty { private PropertyChangeSupport changes = new PropertyChangeSupport(this); private int usersOnline; public int getUsersOnline() { return usersOnline; } public ClassWithProperty() { usersOnline = 0; while (usersOnline<10) { changes.firePropertyChange("usersOnline", usersOnline, usersOnline++); } } public void addPropertyChangeListener( PropertyChangeListener l) { changes.addPropertyChangeListener(l); } public void removePropertyChangeListener( PropertyChangeListener l) { changes.removePropertyChangeListener(l); } } class where i need to know when the property change: public class Main { private static ClassWithProperty test; public static void main(String[] args) { test = new ClassWithProperty(); test.addPropertyChangeListener(listen()); } private static PropertyChangeListener listen() { System.out.println(test.getUsersOnline()); return null; } } I have the event fired only the last time (usersOnline=10). Sorry if it can be a stupid question, i'm learning now java and can't find a solution.

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• How do I tell gdb how long my zero-length array is?

  - by Joe

  Slightly oxymoronic title! Bonus points for Xcode answer but it's a gdb question. If I have a standard, statically sized array gdb will print all its elements [and Xcode will let me browse through it] but if I have a zero length array, it won't, because it doesn't know. Obviously I can print the array indexes one by one, but I'd like a dump of the whole thing. How do I tell gdb how much space I have allocated for the array to allow it to print the array (or to allow Xcode to view the array). Is it even possible?

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• Help with implementing a function to change size of dynamic array

  - by iRobot

  I'm trying to write a function that will change the size of a dynamic array to a new size. In my header file, I have: Image **images; //pointer to a dynamic array of image pointers int maximum; //size I want to do this by allocating a new array and copying the values over without changing their indices. If there are non-null pointers outside the range newmax, then we cant do this. So heres what I have: There are no compilation or runtime errors. However, I find that the new array isnt getting sized right. When I run the following test case: I should get an index out of bounds error, but instead the system lets it slide. Can anyone see the mistake? I've looked for hours but cant find anything.

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