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• SQLAuthority News – Presenting at Great Indian Developer Summit 2012 – SQL Server Misconception and Resolutions

  - by pinaldave

  Earlier during TechEd 2012, I presented a session on SQL Server Misconception and Resolutions. It was a pleasure to present this session with Vinod Kumar during the event. Great Indian Developer Summit is around the corner and I will be presenting there once again with the same topic. We had an excellent response during the last event; the hall was so filled, but there were plenty who were not able to get into the session as there was no place for them to sit or stand inside. Well, here is another chance for all who missed the presentation. New Additions During the last session, we were a two-presenter tag team, and we presented the session in a sense that it would suit two speakers in one stage. But this time, I am the only presenter, so I decided to present this session in a much different way. I will still assume there are two presenters. One of the presenters will be me, of course, and the second person will be YOU! Yes, you read that right – you will be presenting this session with me. If you wonder how, well, you will have to attend the session to figure it out. Talking Points We will be talking about the following topics in the session which we will relate to SQL Server: Moon Landing Napoléon Bonaparte Wall of China Bollywood …and of course, SQL Server itself. I promise that this 45 minute- presentation will be the one of the highlights of the event for you. Goodies I can only promise 20 goodies as of the moment. I might bring more when you meet me there. Session Details Title: SQL Server Misconceptions and Resolution – A Practical Perspective (Add to Calendar) Abstract: “The earth is flat”! – An ancient common misconception, which has been proven incorrect as we progressed in modern times. In this session, we will see various database misconceptions prevailing and their resolutions with the aid of the demos. In this unique session, the audience will be a part of the conversation and resolution. Date and Time: April 17, 2012, 16:55 to 17:40 Location: J. N. Tata Auditorium, National Science Symposium Complex (NSSC), Bangalore, India Add to Calendar Reference : Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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• World Record Oracle E-Business Consolidated Workload on SPARC T4-2

  - by Brian

  Oracle set a World Record for the Oracle E-Business Suite Standard Medium multiple-online module benchmark using Oracle's SPARC T4-2 and SPARC T4-4 servers which ran the application and database. Oracle's SPARC T4 servers demonstrate performance leadership and world-record results on Oracle E-Business Suite Applications R12 OLTP benchmark by publishing the first result using multiple concurrent online application modules with Oracle Database 11g Release 2 running Solaris.   This results shows that a multi-tier configuration of SPARC T4 servers running the Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1.2 application and Oracle Database 11g Release 2 is capable of supporting 4,100 online users with outstanding response-times, executing a mix of complex transactions consolidating 4 Oracle E-Business modules (iProcurement, Order Management, Customer Service and HR Self-Service).   The SPARC T4-2 server in the application tier utilized about 65% and the SPARC T4-4 server in the database tier utilized about 30%, providing significant headroom for additional Oracle E-Business Suite R12.1.2 processing modules, more online users, and future growth.   Oracle E-Business Suite Applications were run in Oracle Solaris Containers on SPARC T4 servers and provides a consolidation platform for multiple E-Business instances.   Performance Landscape Multiple Online Modules (Self-Service, Order-Management, iProcurement, Customer-Service) Medium Configuration System Users AverageResponse Time 90th PercentileResponse Time SPARC T4-2 4,100 2.08 sec 2.52 sec Configuration Summary Application Tier Configuration: 1 x SPARC T4-2 server 2 x SPARC T4 processors, 2.85 GHz 256 GB memory 3 x 300 GB internal disks Oracle Solaris 10 Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.2 Database Tier Configuration: 1 x SPARC T4-4 server 4 x SPARC T4 processors, 3.0 GHz 256 GB memory 2 x 300 GB internal disks Oracle Solaris 10 Oracle Solaris Containers Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Storage Configuration: 1 x Sun Storage F5100 Flash Array (80 x 24 GB flash modules) Benchmark Description The Oracle R12 E-Business Suite Standard Benchmark combines online transaction execution by simulated users with multiple online concurrent modules to model a typical scenario for a global enterprise. The online component exercises the common UI flows which are most frequently used by a majority of our customers. This benchmark utilized four concurrent flows of OLTP transactions, for Order to Cash, iProcurement, Customer Service and HR Self-Service and measured the response times. The selected flows model simultaneous business activities inclusive of managing customers, services, products and employees. See Also Oracle R12 E-Business Suite Standard Benchmark Results Oracle R12 E-Business Suite Standard Benchmark Overview Oracle R12 E-Business Benchmark Description E-Business Suite Applications R2 (R12.1.2) Online Benchmark - Using Oracle Database 11g on Oracle's SPARC T4-2 and Oracle's SPARC T4-4 Servers oracle.com SPARC T4-2 Server oracle.com OTN SPARC T4-4 Server oracle.com OTN Oracle E-Business Suite oracle.com OTN Oracle Solaris oracle.com OTN Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Enterprise Edition oracle.com OTN Disclosure Statement Oracle E-Business Suite R12 medium multiple-online module benchmark, SPARC T4-2, SPARC T4, 2.85 GHz, 2 chips, 16 cores, 128 threads, 256 GB memory, SPARC T4-4, SPARC T4, 3.0 GHz, 4 chips, 32 cores, 256 threads, 256 GB memory, average response time 2.08 sec, 90th percentile response time 2.52 sec, Oracle Solaris 10, Oracle Solaris Containers, Oracle E-Business Suite 12.1.2, Oracle Database 11g Release 2, Results as of 9/30/2012.

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• The Social Business Thought Leaders - Ray Wang

  - by kellsey.ruppel

  It seems both consumers and businesses are at the peak of the social hype. Overwhelmed by social media channels, platforms, and processes both in their private and professional life, many early adopters are starting to feel the social fatigue. Mirroring what happened with email and web sites during the late 1990's - early 2000's, more and more managers are looking to move from ubiquitous social media tactics to the most appropriate business use case and processes. This step becomes even more important considering the year over year contraction in IT budgets and the consequent need to maximize return on every dollar spent in new technologies. Ray Wang, CEO and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research, suggests engagement through collaborative technologies both as a conceptual model and a transformational tool for enterprises to reap business value. Without participation - the reasoning goes - there is no value and good technology alone is not enough to guarantee employee and customer adoption. Enterprise gamification is a new lever to succeed with Social Business by directing a critical mass of participation towards desired outcomes. What kind of outcomes? A recent study from Constellation Research (see 2012 Q1 Gamification Early Adopters Best Practices) highlights how Marketing, Customer Service and HR are leading the pack with gamification in processes such as: Sustaining long term customer loyalty (76.4%) Improving response in campaign to lead (74.5%) Right channeling incidents for resolution in social media (67.3%) Growing the number service and support incidents resolved by the community (63.6%) Improving employee referral rates and effective recruiting (43.6%) Driving on-boarding success with new hires (20%) More than simply adding badges, points and leaderboards to existing processes, enterprise gamification should be holistically embedded into employee and customer experience to stimulate specific behaviors. According to Ray Wang this can be done at three core levels: Measurable actions. The behaviors we want to facilitate consist of granular actions (i.e likes, comments, posts, recommendations, etc) and more complex actions (i.e projects, initiatives, programmes) attributed to individuals, groups and/or external actors  Reputation. The reputation an individual has earned through his actions is a key factor in building motivation among others and it is determined by its identity, social standing status and competitiveness Incentives or the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards that motivate behaviors and drive actions Listen to Ray Wang's video-interview to learn more about the dynamics that are shaping the future of collaboration and how gamification can help organizations attain new levels of engagement.

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• BPEL 11.1.1.6 Certified for Prebuilt E-Business Suite 12.1.3 SOA Integrations

  - by Steven Chan (Oracle Development)

  Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) integrations with Oracle E-Business Suite can either be custom integrations that you build yourself or prebuilt integrations from Oracle.  For more information about the differences between the two options for SOA integrations, see this previously-published certification announcement. There are five prebuilt BPEL business processes by Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 product teams: Oracle Price Protection (DPP) Complex Maintenance, Repair & Overhaul (CMRO/AHL) Oracle Transportation Management (WMS, WSH, PO) Advanced Supply Chain Planning (MSC) Product Information Management (PIM/EGO) Last year we announced the certification of BPEL 11.1.1.5 for Prebuilt E-Business Suite 12.1.3 SOA integrations.  The five prebuilt BPEL processes have now been certified with Oracle BPEL Process Manager 11g version 11.1.1.6 (in Oracle Fusion Middleware SOA Suite 11g).  These prebuilt BPEL processes are certified with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3 and higher. Note: The Supply Chain Trading Connector (CLN) product team has opted not to support BPEL 11g with their prebuilt business processes previously certified with BPEL 10.1.3.5.  If you have a requirement for that certification, I would recommend contacting your Oracle account manager to ensure that the Supply Chain team is notified appropriately.  For additional information about prebuilt integrations with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12.1.3, please refer to the following documentation: Integrating Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12 with Oracle BPEL available in Oracle SOA Suite 11g (Note 1321776.1) Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g (11.1.1.6.0) Documentation Library Installing Oracle SOA Suite and Oracle Business Process Management Suite Release Notes for Oracle Fusion Middleware 11g (11.1.1.6) Certified Platforms Linux x86 (Oracle Linux 4, 5) Linux x86 (RHEL 5) Linux x86 (SLES 10) Linux x86-64 (Oracle Linux 4, 5, 6) Linux x86-64 (RHEL 5) Linux x86-64 (SLES 10)  Oracle Solaris on SPARC (64-bit) (9, 10, 11) HP-UX Itanium (11.23, 11.31) HP-UX PA-RISC (64-bit) (11.23, 11.31) IBM AIX on Power Systems (64-bit) (5.3, 6.1, 7) IBM: Linux on System z (RHEL 5, SLES 10) Microsoft Windows Server (32-bit) (2003, 2008)  Microsoft Windows x64 (64-bit) (2008 R2) Getting SupportIf you need support for the prebuilt EBS 12.1.3 BPEL business processes, you can log Service Requests against the Applications Technology Group product family. Related Articles BPEL 11.1.1.5 Certified for Prebuilt E-Business Suite 12.1.3 SOA Integrations Webcast Replay Available: SOA Integration Options for E-Business Suite Securing E-Business Suite Web Services with Integrated SOA Gateway

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• SSIS Expression Editor & Tester

  Published today on CodePlex is the SSIS Expression Editor & Tester project. If you want to try it just pop over to CodePlex and download it. About five years ago I developed my own expression editor control. It first got used in our custom tasks as the MS editor didn’t become available until SQL 2005 SP1, but even then it had some handy features I preferred. For example resizable panes so that if your expression result was more than two lines you could see them all. It also meant I could change the functions available in the tree view, the most obvious use being to add some handy snippets and samples that I used a lot. This quickly developed into a small expression testing tool. I’d develop complex expressions using my editor and then copy it back into the package itself. I have been meaning to make the tool available for some time and finally made the effort, the code is checked-in and the signed downloads are published on CodePlex. There are two flavours, SQL 2005 or 2008, and just a simple zip file to download and extract. The tool doesn’t need installing, and is completely portable. It does need SSIS to be installed on the local machine though. Each zip file contains two files: ExpressionTester.exe – The tool itself, run this. ExpressionEditor.dll – The reusable editor control. A while ago the gentlemen behind BIDS Helper noticed the editor on a task and asked about using it. This became incorporated into their variable window extensions feature. To try and help them and anyone else that wants to use the editor control, it is available as a single assembly that you can reference yourself, and of course all the source code is on CodePlex too. Just add a reference to the ExpressionEditor.dll assembly and you should be up and running in no time. There is a sample project Package Test in the source code which shows how to use the editor control form in it’s simplest form, or if you want to host control directly then the tester tool is a perfect example.

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• Getting developers and support to work together

  - by Matt Watson

  Agile development has ushered in the norm of rapid iterations and change within products. One of the biggest challenges for agile development is educating the rest of the company. At my last company our biggest challenge was trying to continually train 100 employees in our customer support and training departments. It's easy to write release notes and email them to everyone. But for complex software products, release notes are not usually enough detail. You really have to educate your employees on the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY, WHEN of every item. If you don't do this, you end up with customer service people who know less about your product than your users do. Ever call a company and feel like you know more about their product than their customer service people do? Yeah. I'm talking about that problem.WHO does the change effect?WHAT was the actual change?WHERE do I find the change in the product?WHY was the change made? (It's hard to support something if you don't know why it was done.)WHEN will the change be released?One thing I want to stress is the importance of the WHY something was done. For customer support people to be really good at their job, they need to understand the product and how people use it. Knowing how to enable a feature is one thing. Knowing why someone would want to enable it, is a whole different thing and the difference in good customer service. Another challenge is getting support people to better test and document potential bugs before escalating them to development. Trying to fix bugs without examples is always fun... NOT. They might as well say "The sky is falling, please fix it!"We need to over train the support staff about product changes and continually stress how they document and test potential product bugs. You also have to train the sales staff and the marketing team. Then there is updating sales materials, your website, product documentation and other items there are always out of date. Every product release causes this vicious circle of trying to educate the rest of the company about the changes.Do we need to record a simple video explaining the changes and email it to everyone? Maybe we should  use a simple online training type app to help with this problem. Ultimately the struggle is taking the time to do the training, but it is time well spent. It may save you a lot of time answering questions and fixing bugs later. How do we efficiently transfer key product knowledge from developers and product owners to the rest of the company? How have you solved these issues at your company?

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• Patterns for Handling Changing Property Sets in C++

  - by Bhargav Bhat

  I have a bunch "Property Sets" (which are simple structs containing POD members). I'd like to modify these property sets (eg: add a new member) at run time so that the definition of the property sets can be externalized and the code itself can be re-used with multiple versions/types of property sets with minimal/no changes. For example, a property set could look like this: struct PropSetA { bool activeFlag; int processingCount; /* snip few other such fields*/ }; But instead of setting its definition in stone at compile time, I'd like to create it dynamically at run time. Something like: class PropSet propSetA; propSetA("activeFlag",true); //overloading the function call operator propSetA("processingCount",0); And the code dependent on the property sets (possibly in some other library) will use the data like so: bool actvFlag = propSet["activeFlag"]; if(actvFlag == true) { //Do Stuff } The current implementation behind all of this is as follows: class PropValue { public: // Variant like class for holding multiple data-types // overloaded Conversion operator. Eg: operator bool() { return (baseType == BOOLEAN) ? this->ToBoolean() : false; } // And a method to create PropValues various base datatypes static FromBool(bool baseValue); }; class PropSet { public: // overloaded[] operator for adding properties void operator()(std::string propName, bool propVal) { propMap.insert(std::make_pair(propName, PropVal::FromBool(propVal))); } protected: // the property map std::map<std::string, PropValue> propMap; }; This problem at hand is similar to this question on SO and the current approach (described above) is based on this answer. But as noted over at SO this is more of a hack than a proper solution. The fundamental issues that I have with this approach are as follows: Extending this for supporting new types will require significant code change. At the bare minimum overloaded operators need to be extended to support the new type. Supporting complex properties (eg: struct containing struct) is tricky. Supporting a reference mechanism (needed for an optimization of not duplicating identical property sets) is tricky. This also applies to supporting pointers and multi-dimensional arrays in general. Are there any known patterns for dealing with this scenario? Essentially, I'm looking for the equivalent of the visitor pattern, but for extending class properties rather than methods. Edit: Modified problem statement for clarity and added some more code from current implementation.

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• ArchBeat Link-o-Rama for 2012-06-22

  - by Bob Rhubart

  Guide to integration architecture | Stephanie Mann "The landscape of integration architecture is shifting as service-oriented and cloud-based architecture take the fore," says Stephanie Mann. "To ensure success, enterprise architects and developers are turning to lighter-weight infrastructure to support more complex integration projects." FY13 Oracle PartnerNetwork Kickoff - Tues June 26, 2012 Join us for a one-hour live online event hosted by the Oracle PartnerNetwork team as we kickoff FY13. Other dates/times for EMEA/LAD/JAPAN/APAC. Click the link for details. Why should you choose Oracle WebLogic 12c instead of JBoss EAP 6? | Ricardo Ferreira Okay, you would expect an Oracle guy to make this argument. But Ferreira takes a very deep, very detailed technical dive into the issue. So hear the man out, will ya? Hibernate4 and Coherence | Rene van Wijk According to Oracle ACE Rene van Wijk, "there are two ways to integrate Hibernate and Coherence." In this post he illustrates one of them. Simple Made Easy | Rich Hickey Rich Hickey discusses simplicity, why it is important, how to achieve it in design and how to recognize its absence in the tools, language constructs and libraries in this presentation from QCon London 2012. Starting a cluster | Mark Nelson Fusion Middleware A-Team blogger Mark Nelson looks at Oracle SOA Suite, Oracle BPM, and Oracle Coherence, three products that are " commonly clustered, and which have somewhat different requirements." Why building SaaS well means giving up your servers | GigaOM The biggest benefit to PaaS, reports GigaOM's Derrick Harris, "might be a better product because the company is able to focus on building the app rather than managing servers." Personas - what, why & how | Mascha van Oosterhout "To be able to create a successful, user-friendly website or application," says Mascha van Oosterhout, "every decision you take, whether you are part of the marketing team, the design team or the development team, should be based on what you know about the user." Thought for the Day "Machines take me by surprise with great frequency." — Alan Turing(June 23, 1912 - June 7, 1954) Source: Brainy Quote

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• Enterprise MDM: Rationalizing Reference Data in a Fast Changing Environment

  - by Mala Narasimharajan

  By Rahul Kamath Enterprises must move at a rapid pace to establish and retain global market leadership by continuously focusing on operational efficiency, customer intimacy and relentless execution. Reference Data Management    As multi-national companies with a presence in multiple industry categories, market segments, and geographies, their ability to proactively manage changes and harness them to align their front office with back-office operations and performance management initiatives is critical to make the proverbial elephant dance. Managing reference data including types and codes, business taxonomies, complex relationships as well as mappings represent a key component of the broader agenda for enabling flexibility and agility, without sacrificing enterprise-level consistency, regulatory compliance and control. Financial Transformation  Periodically, companies find that processes implemented a decade or more ago no longer mirror the way of doing business and seek to proactively transform how they operate their business and underlying processes. Financial transformation often begins with the redesign of one’s chart of accounts. The ability to model and redesign one’s chart of accounts collaboratively, quickly validate against historical transaction bases and secure business buy-in across multiple line of business stakeholders, while continuing to manage changes within the legacy general ledger systems and downstream analytical applications while piloting the in-flight transformation can mean the difference between controlled success and project failure. Attend the session titled CON8275 - Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management: Enabling Enterprise Transformation at Oracle Openworld on Monday, October 1, 2012 at 4:45pm in Ballroom A of the InterContinental Hotel to learn how Oracle’s Data Relationship Management solution can help you stay ahead of the competition and proactively harness master (and reference) data changes to transform your enterprise. Hear in-depth customer testimonials from GE Healthcare and Old Mutual South Africa to learn how others have harnessed this technology effectively to build enduring competitive advantage through business process innovation and investments in master data governance. Hear GE Healthcare discuss how DRM has enabled financial transformation, ERP consolidation, mergers and acquisitions, and the alignment reference data across financial and management reporting applications. Also, learn how Old Mutual SA has upgraded to EBS R12 Financials and is transforming the management of chart of accounts for corporate reporting. Separately, an esteemed panel of DRM customers including Cisco Systems, Nationwide Insurance, Ralcorp Holdings and Mentor Graphics will discuss their perspectives on how DRM has helped them address business challenges associated with enterprise MDM including major change management initiatives including financial transformations, corporate restructuring, mergers & acquisitions, and the rationalization of financial and analytical master reference data to support alternate business perspectives for the alignment of EPM/BI initiatives. Attend the session titled CON9377 - Customer Showcase: Success with Oracle Hyperion Data Relationship Management at Openworld on Thursday, October 4, 2012 at 12:45pm in Ballroom of the InterContinental Hotel to interact with our esteemed speakers first hand.

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• Unit testing in Django

  - by acjohnson55

  I'm really struggling to write effective unit tests for a large Django project. I have reasonably good test coverage, but I've come to realize that the tests I've been writing are definitely integration/acceptance tests, not unit tests at all, and I have critical portions of my application that are not being tested effectively. I want to fix this ASAP. Here's my problem. My schema is deeply relational, and heavily time-oriented, giving my model object high internal coupling and lots of state. Many of my model methods query based on time intervals, and I've got a lot of auto_now_add going on in timestamped fields. So take a method that looks like this for example: def summary(self, startTime=None, endTime=None): # ... logic to assign a proper start and end time # if none was provided, probably using datetime.now() objects = self.related_model_set.manager_method.filter(...) return sum(object.key_method(startTime, endTime) for object in objects) How does one approach testing something like this? Here's where I am so far. It occurs to me that the unit testing objective should be given some mocked behavior by key_method on its arguments, is summary correctly filtering/aggregating to produce a correct result? Mocking datetime.now() is straightforward enough, but how can I mock out the rest of the behavior? I could use fixtures, but I've heard pros and cons of using fixtures for building my data (poor maintainability being a con that hits home for me). I could also setup my data through the ORM, but that can be limiting, because then I have to create related objects as well. And the ORM doesn't let you mess with auto_now_add fields manually. Mocking the ORM is another option, but not only is it tricky to mock deeply nested ORM methods, but the logic in the ORM code gets mocked out of the test, and mocking seems to make the test really dependent on the internals and dependencies of the function-under-test. The toughest nuts to crack seem to be the functions like this, that sit on a few layers of models and lower-level functions and are very dependent on the time, even though these functions may not be super complicated. My overall problem is that no matter how I seem to slice it, my tests are looking way more complex than the functions they are testing.

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• Are there deprecated practices for multithread and multiprocessor programming that I should no longer use?

  - by DeveloperDon

  In the early days of FORTRAN and BASIC, essentially all programs were written with GOTO statements. The result was spaghetti code and the solution was structured programming. Similarly, pointers can have difficult to control characteristics in our programs. C++ started with plenty of pointers, but use of references are recommended. Libraries like STL can reduce some of our dependency. There are also idioms to create smart pointers that have better characteristics, and some version of C++ permit references and managed code. Programming practices like inheritance and polymorphism use a lot of pointers behind the scenes (just as for, while, do structured programming generates code filled with branch instructions). Languages like Java eliminate pointers and use garbage collection to manage dynamically allocated data instead of depending on programmers to match all their new and delete statements. In my reading, I have seen examples of multi-process and multi-thread programming that don't seem to use semaphores. Do they use the same thing with different names or do they have new ways of structuring protection of resources from concurrent use? For example, a specific example of a system for multithread programming with multicore processors is OpenMP. It represents a critical region as follows, without the use of semaphores, which seem not to be included in the environment. th_id = omp_get_thread_num(); #pragma omp critical { cout << "Hello World from thread " << th_id << '\n'; } This example is an excerpt from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenMP Alternatively, similar protection of threads from each other using semaphores with functions wait() and signal() might look like this: wait(sem); th_id = get_thread_num(); cout << "Hello World from thread " << th_id << '\n'; signal(sem); In this example, things are pretty simple, and just a simple review is enough to show the wait() and signal() calls are matched and even with a lot of concurrency, thread safety is provided. But other algorithms are more complicated and use multiple semaphores (both binary and counting) spread across multiple functions with complex conditions that can be called by many threads. The consequences of creating deadlock or failing to make things thread safe can be hard to manage. Do these systems like OpenMP eliminate the problems with semaphores? Do they move the problem somewhere else? How do I transform my favorite semaphore using algorithm to not use semaphores anymore?

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• Oracle Ebusiness Suite 12.1.3 Oracle VM templates

  - by wcoekaer

  Steven Chan just published a great blog entry that talks about the release of a new set of Oracle VM templates. Oracle Ebusiness Suite 12.1.3. You can find the blog post here. Templates are available for: E-Business Suite 12.1.3 Vision (64-bit) E-Business Suite 12.1.3 Production (32-bit) E-Business Suite 12.x Sparse Middle Tiers (32-bit and 64-bit) Thanks Steven! Why does this stuff matter? Well, in general, virtualization (or cloud) solutions provide an easy way to create Virtual Machines. Whether it's through a "cloud api" or just a virtualization API. But all you end up with, in the end, is still just a Virtual Machine... Maybe with an OS pre-installed/pre-configured. So you have flexibility of moving VMs around and providing a VM but what about the actual applications (anything more than a very basic app)? The application administrator then still has to go and install and configure the OS for that application and install the application and its patches and basic configuration so that the application user then can go in. Building gold images for complex software stacks that are not owned by the users/admins is always very difficult. With our templates, we provide a number of things : Oracle Linux pre-installed and pre-configured with the minimum required packages for that application to run. (so it's secure) Oracle Linux can be distributed and used for free or with a support subscription. There is no trial license, there is no registration key, no alpha version or community version versus enterprise version. You get what we provide in our engineered systems, what we provide support for, without change. Supported out of the box. No virtual Trial appliances, no prototypes, no POC. What you download is production ready without change. The applications are installed by the developers of the application. The database team builds database templates, the applications engineering team builds applications templates. The first boot/configuration scripts ask for the basic information such as hostname, ip address, user passwords and then go off and set everything up correctly. All tested together - application - operating system - hypervisor. not 3 (or more) products from 3(or more) different companies.

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• need some concrete examples on user stories, tasks and how they relate to functional and technical specifications

  - by gideon

  Little heads up, Im the only lonely dev building/planning/mocking my project as I go. Ive come up with a preview release that does only the core aspects of the system, with good business value and I've coded most of the UI as dirty throw-able mockups over nicely abstracted and very minimal base code. In the end I know quite well what my clients want on the whole. I can't take agile-ish cowboying anymore because Im completely dis-organized and have no paper plan and since my clients are happy, things are getting more complex with more features and ideas. So I started using and learning Agile & Scrum Here are my problems: I know what a functional spec is.(sample): Do all user stories and/or scenarios become part of the functional spec? I know what user stories and tasks are. Are these kinda user stories? I dont see any Business Value reason added to them. I made a mind map using freemind, I had problems like this: Actor : Finance Manager Can Add a Financial Plan into the system because well thats the point of it? What Business Value reason do I add for things like this? Example : A user needs to be able to add a blog article (in the blogger app) because..?? Its the point of a blogger app, it centers around that feature? How do I go into the finer details and system definitions: Actor: Finance Manager Action: Adds a finance plan. This adding is a complicated process with lots of steps. What User Story will describe what a finance plan in the system is ?? I can add it into the functional spec under definitions explaining what a finance plan is and how one needs to add it into the system, but how do I get to the backlog planning from there? Example: A Blog Article is mostly a textual document that can be written in rich text in the system. To add a blog article one must...... But how do you create backlog list/features out of this? Where are the user stories for what a blog article is and how one adds/removes it? Finally, I'm a little confused about the relations between functional specs and user stories. Will my spec contain user stories in them with UI mockups? Now will these user stories then branch out tasks which will make up something like a technical specification? Example : EditorUser Can add a blog article. Use XML to store blog article. Add a form to add blog. Add Windows Live Writer Support. That would be agile tasks but would that also be part of/or form the technical specs? Some concrete examples/answers of my questions would be nice!!

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• Overload Avoidance

  - by mikef

  A little under a year ago, Matt Simmons wrote a rather reflective article about his terrifying brush with stress-induced ill health. SysAdmins and DBAs have always been prime victims of work-related stress, but I wonder if that predilection is perhaps getting worse, despite the best efforts of Matt and his trusty side-kick, HR. The constant pressure from share-holders and CFOs to 'streamline' the workforce is partially to blame, but the more recent culprit is technology itself. I can't deny that the rise of technologies like virtualization, PowerCLI, PowerShell, and a host of others has been a tremendous boon. As a result, individual IT professionals are now able to handle more and more tasks and manage increasingly large and complex environments. But, without a doubt, this is a two-edged sword; The reward for competence is invariably more work. Unfortunately, SysAdmins play such a pivotal role in modern business that it's easy to see how they can very quickly become swamped in conflicting demands coming from different directions. However, that doesn't justify the ridiculous hours many are asked (or volunteer) to devote to their work. Admirably though their commitment is, it isn't healthy for them, it sets a dangerous expectation, and eventually something will snap. There are times when everyone needs to step up to the plate outside of 'normal' work hours, but that time isn't all the time. Naturally, with all that lovely technology, you can automate more and more of those tricky tasks to keep on top of the workload, but you are still only human. Clever though you may be, there is a very real limit to how far technology can take you. I'm not suggesting that you avoid these technologies, or deliberately aim for mediocrity; I'm just saying that you need to be more than just technically skilled (and Wesley Nonapeptide riffs on and around this topic in his excellent 'Telepathic Robot Drones' blog post). You need to be able to manage expectations, not just Exchange. Specifically, that means your own expectations of what you are capable of, because those come before everyone else's. After all, how can you keep your work-life balance under control, if you're the one setting the bar way too high? Talking to your manager, or discussing issues with your users, is only going to be productive if you have some facts to work with. "Know Thyself" is the first law of managing work overload, and this is obviously a skill which people develop over time; the fact that veteran Sysadmins exist at all is testament to this. I'd just love to know how you get to that point. Personally, I'm using RescueTime to keep myself honest, but I'm open to recommendations for better methods. Do you track your own time, do you have an intuitive sense of what is possible, or do you just rely on someone else to handle that all for you? Cheers, Michael

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• New Wine in New Bottles

  - by Tony Davis

  How many people, when their car shows signs of wear and tear, would consider upgrading the engine and keeping the shell? Even if you're cash-strapped, you'll soon work out the subtlety of the economics, the cost of sudden breakdowns, the precious time lost coping with the hassle, and the low 'book value'. You'll generally buy a new car. The same philosophy should apply to database systems. Mainstream support for SQL Server 2005 ends on April 12; many DBAS, if they haven't done so already, will be considering the migration to SQL Server 2008 R2. Hopefully, that upgrade plan will include a fresh install of the operating system on brand new hardware. SQL Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 R2 are designed to work together. The improved architecture, processing power, and hyper-threading capabilities of modern processors will dramatically improve the performance of many SQL Server workloads, and allow consolidation opportunities. Of course, there will be many DBAs smiling ruefully at the suggestion of such indulgence. This is nothing like the real world, this halcyon place where hardware and software budgets are limitless, development and testing resources are plentiful, and third party vendors immediately certify their applications for the latest-and-greatest platform! As with cars, or any other technology, the justification for a complete upgrade is complex. With Servers, the extra cost at time of upgrade will generally pay you back in terms of the increased performance of your business applications, reduced maintenance costs, training costs and downtime. Also, if you plan and design carefully, it's possible to offset hardware costs with reduced SQL Server licence costs. In his forthcoming SQL Server Hardware book, Glenn Berry describes a recent case where he was able to replace 4 single-socket database servers with one two-socket server, saving about $90K in hardware costs and $350K in SQL Server license costs. Of course, there are exceptions. If you do have a stable, reliable, secure SQL Server 6.5 system that still admirably meets the needs of a specific business requirement, and has no security vulnerabilities, then by all means leave it alone. Why upgrade just for the sake of it? However, as soon as a system shows sign of being unfit for purpose, or is moving out of mainstream support, the ruthless DBA will make the strongest possible case for a belts-and-braces upgrade. We'd love to hear what you think. What does your typical upgrade path look like? What are the major obstacles? Cheers, Tony.

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• Brightness Crash and Fan issues in 12.04.1

  - by S.A. McIntosh

  I would just like to state beforehand that I am a total novice in using Ubuntu when it comes to the more complex issues. So I thought it would be best to finally come here and ask for help before being re-directed or closed out for a solution. I have already looked high and low on this board for one but nothing came up for my particular case, so I might as well take a shot asking for the first time here. This is what I have at the moment: -Dell Insprion 1764 w/ 64-bit Intel i5 Core -Dual Boot: Windows 7/Ubuntu 12.04.1 32-bit (from 12.04 install) -Unity shell -Linux kernel: 3.2.0-32 generic-pae ...and this is my fglrxinfo: OpenGL vendor string: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. OpenGL renderer string: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5000 Series OpenGL version string: 4.2.11627 Compatibility Profile Context The one issue I have with using Ubuntu is brightness. With the driver in every time I use the slider in the brightness and lock settings or use the keyboard function, it freezes, goes black and comes up with a scrambled colors page like this in the video. So I have looked all over this board and the web for answers looking for a solution that might have an answer. This is what I have done so far to fix this: -First Solution: Looking around, I found this small fix using terminal: sudo gedit /etc/rc.local followed by adding this into "rc.local" echo # > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness This works rarely with the graphics driver still in and I often get lucky say during restart but reboot would only snap back the brightness at max. -Second Solution Simply remove the graphics driver while leaving the solution of first behind. This solves the issue but results in having the monitor flicker and flash at startup which in itself is not a problem to me but maybe not so good for monitor health. Also it causes the fan to speed up throughout the session and render any program that needs the driver useless. -Third Solution This is the most obvious. Just simply use the brightness on AMD Catalyst Control Center software that came with the driver, and I can say that it's form of brightness is HORRIBLE compared to the actual settings. Which leads up to where I am now, back to the driver to stop the fan speed-up and seems that the only solution to the brightness crash is to use the keyboard-controlled brightness at the login screen NOT the desktop if I want the issued effect but will just snap at max bright again if I restart. Fan speed problem is dealt with but now run the risk of crashing my computer if I so much touch the brightness settings. Speaking of which I found this on launchpad and it seems that the issue has been going far since June of 2012. Any help, redirect link or reference would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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• SSAS Tabular Workshop online and other upcoming dates (and updates!) #ssas #tabular

  - by Marco Russo (SQLBI)

  After many conferences and travels, this summer I had some time to write and prepare new sessions for the next wave of conferences. In reality I am just doing that, even if I already restarted traveling for consulting and training. So expect new content about DAX and Tabular coming in the next months! Starting to see real customer adopting Tabular is showing many new challenges and there is still a lot to learn and to create. If you still didn’t started working on Tabular, well, you should. As I always say, as a BI developer you should be able to choose between Tabular and Multidimensional, and in order to do that you should know both of them! One thing that I don’t like very much about marketing is that “Tabular is simpler”, because it’s often translated in “Tabular is for simple projects” when this last statement is not true. Actually, I see a lot of good reasons to adopt Tabular in complex data models, especially in non-traditional scenarios. I know, this is because I love to understand what are the actual limits of a technology, and I’m learning that there is simple a lot of space of improvement also for Tabular. It’s already fast, but it could be faster! How can you start? Well, first of all, by reading our book. Then, by attending to our SSAS Tabular workshop. There is an online edition of the workshop on September 3-4, 2012 (hurry up if you want to register), and there are already several dates planned for the next months (and others will be added soon!). And, of course, by installing SQL Server 2012 and trying to create models over your databases. If you are too lazy, just start with PowerPivot. As soon as you start working with Tabular or PowerPivot, you will see that there is one important skill you need: learning DAX. In the next few days I should publish an article that I’m finishing these days about best practices using SUMMARIZE and ADDCOLUMNS. If only someone published this article one year ago, I would have saved many hours of my life. But, you know, flight manuals are written in blood… and someone has to write! Stay tuned.

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• Configurable Objects - Introduction

  - by Anthony Shorten

  One of the interesting facilities in the framework is Configurable Object functionality (it is also known as Task Optimization and also known as Cool Tools). The idea is that any implementation can create their own views of the base product objects and services and implement functionality against those new views. For example, in Oracle Utilities Customer Care and Billing, there is a Person object. That object is used to store and manage information about individuals as well as companies. In the base product you would use the Person Maintenance screen and fill in some of the screen when you wanted to register or maintain and individual as well and fill out other parts of the screen when you wanted to register or maintain a company. This can be somewhat confusing to some customers. Using Configurable Objects this can be simplified. A business object can be created that is a view of the any object. For example, you could create a Human business object which would cover the aspects of the Person object pertaining to an individual and a Company business object to cover the aspects unique to a company. Even the tag names (i.e. Field Names) in the object can be changed to be more what the implementation is familiar with. The object can also restructure the object. For example, a common identifier for an individual in the USA is the Social Security number, this value is a Person Identifier (as this varies in each country). In the new Human object you can remap the Person Identifier as a Social Security number. To define a Business Object you use a schema editor built into the browser user interface and use a mapping language to setup the business objects. An example of the language is shown below in an extract of the schema for the Human business object. As you can see there are mapping as well as formatting and other tags. This information can be built manually or using a wizard which generates the base structure for you to alter. This is all stored as meta data when saved. Once a Business object is built it can be used as basis for code, other business objects (we support inheritance), called by a screen (called a UI Map) or even as a Web Service. This is just a start with Configurable Objects as you can also create views of base services called Business Services, Service Scripts used for non-object or complex object processing (as well as other things), UI Maps used for screens and Data Areas to reuse definitions across multiple objects. Configurable Objects are powerful and I only really touched on them here. Over the next few months I hope to add lots more entries about them.

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• Designing Mobile SMS text advertising system

  - by Ramraj Edagutti

  Currently, I am working on a product where we have an SMS text advertising system, and using this, we setup advertising campaigns for clients, and later these campaigns are sent to the end users. This is very similar to Google Adwords, but targeted to Mobile users via SMS. Just to give an overview of the system Each Campaign is mapped to an advertiser Campaign has start date and end date Campaign has a filter condition(s) or query to select the target user base from our database (to whom we send Campaigns) Target user base can be fixed, for e.g send campaign to 10000 users Target user base can also be dynamic based on query condition, for e.g send campaign to users who are active and from a particular state, district, town etc. (this way user base will be keep changing on daily basis) Campaign can have multiple campaign messages Each campaign message has start date and end date Each campaign message can have multiple message texts for different locales, for e.g English,Hindi,Telugu etc After creating an advertisement campaign, we run daily night job to provision the target user base for that a particular campaign in a separate table, and another daily job runs on morning times and checks provisioned table for campaigns and targeted users and sends the campaign to users via SMS. Problem is, current UI for creating advertising campaigns is designed in a very technical manner, I mean, normal user or business owner or clients can not use the UI to create a campaign. Below are reasons why the UI is very technical in nature Filter condition(s) or query input filed, takes user ids or mobile numbers or SQL queries. Most of times or almost every time, we use big SQL queries So we end up storing SQL queries in a database for a campaign, later we use this SQL query to fetch targeted user base. For scheduling these campaigns, we have input filed on UI which takes quartz cron expression(s) ( for e.g. send campaign on "0 0 9 1-10 MAR 2012" ), again very technical in nature Normal user or business owner, can not use the UI for creating campaigns for reasons mentioned above, Currently, we ourself (developers) helping clients to setup/create campaigns. we are trying to re-design the UI to make it more user friendly so that any user can go to UI and create an advertisement campaign by himself. I am thinking of re-designing the current UI similar to Google Adwords interface, especially for selecting target users based on user geography like country, state, city etc. I also need to select users based user subscription(s), which might make system even more complex. And also, for campaign scheduling, I am thinking of using weekdays with hours. For example, I will shows Monday to Sunday on UI, and user can select the from hours, to hours etc. Any better ideas or suggestion on how to design UI in very user friendly manner and what design should be followed on server side code (we write backend code on java/jpa/spring/quartz)? And I am looking for ideas or design patterns on how to build SQL queries (using JPA/Hinernate) programmatically on server side, based on varies conditions like based on country, state, town, village, and user subscriptions.

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• Leveraging Social Networks for Retail

  - by David Dorf

  For retailers, social media is all about B2C2C. That is, Business to Consumer to Consumer, or more specifically, retailer to influencer to consumer. Traditional marketing targeted mass media, trying to expose the message to as many people as possible. While effective, this approach has never been very efficient, with high costs for relatively low penetration. Then it was thought that marketers should focus their efforts on a relative few super-influencers that would then sway the masses. History shows a few successes with this approach but lacked any consistency or predictability. After all, if super-influencers were easy to find, most campaigns would easily go viral. Alas, research shows that most wide-spread trends were the result of several fortunate events, including some luck. So do people exert influence over each other when it comes to purchase decisions? Of course they do, all the time. But that influence is usually limited to a small set of friends and specific specialization. For instance, although I have 165 friends on Facebook, I am only able to influence my close friends and family on PC purchases, and I have no sway at all for fashion purchases. People trust my knowledge on technology, but nobody asks my advice on shoes. How then should retailers leverage social networks in order to reinforce brand image and push promotions? Two obvious ways are Like and Share. Online advertisements or wall-postings receive more clicks when the viewer sees that friends have "liked" the posting. That's our modern-day version of word-of-mouth advertising. Statistics show that endorsements from friends make it more likely a person will engage. If my friends and I liked it, then I might also "share" (or "retweet" in the case of Twitter) it with other friends. In that case the retailer has paid for X showings of the advertisement, but sharing has pushed it to an additional Y people at no cost. And further, the implicit endorsement by the sharer makes it more likely the recipient will engage. So a good first step is to find people active in social networks that will Like and Share in order to exert influence. Its still tough to go viral, but doubling engagement is still a big step in the right direction. More complex social graph analysis would be a second step, but I'll leave that topic for another day. If you're interested in the academic side of social dynamics, I suggest reading Duncan Watts' work.

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• Is throwing an error in unpredictable subclass-specific circumstances a violation of LSP?

  - by Motti Strom

  Say, I wanted to create a Java List<String> (see spec) implementation that uses a complex subsystem, such as a database or file system, for its store so that it becomes a simple persistent collection rather than an basic in-memory one. (We're limiting it specifically to a List of Strings for the purposes of discussion, but it could extended to automatically de-/serialise any object, with some help. We can also provide persistent Sets, Maps and so on in this way too.) So here's a skeleton implementation: class DbBackedList implements List<String> { private DbBackedList() {} /** Returns a list, possibly non-empty */ public static getList() { return new DbBackedList(); } public String get(int index) { return Db.getTable().getRow(i).asString(); // may throw DbExceptions! } // add(String), add(int, String), etc. ... } My problem lies with the fact that the underlying DB API may encounter connection errors that are not specified in the List interface that it should throw. My problem is whether this violates Liskov's Substitution Principle (LSP). Bob Martin actually gives an example of a PersistentSet in his paper on LSP that violates LSP. The difference is that his newly-specified Exception there is determined by the inserted value and so is strengthening the precondition. In my case the connection/read error is unpredictable and due to external factors and so is not technically a new precondition, merely an error of circumstance, perhaps like OutOfMemoryError which can occur even when unspecified. In normal circumstances, the new Error/Exception might never be thrown. (The caller could catch if it is aware of the possibility, just as a memory-restricted Java program might specifically catch OOME.) Is this therefore a valid argument for throwing an extra error and can I still claim to be a valid java.util.List (or pick your SDK/language/collection in general) and not in violation of LSP? If this does indeed violate LSP and thus not practically usable, I have provided two less-palatable alternative solutions as answers that you can comment on, see below. Footnote: Use Cases In the simplest case, the goal is to provide a familiar interface for cases when (say) a database is just being used as a persistent list, and allow regular List operations such as search, subList and iteration. Another, more adventurous, use-case is as a slot-in replacement for libraries that work with basic Lists, e.g if we have a third-party task queue that usually works with a plain List: new TaskWorkQueue(new ArrayList<String>()).start() which is susceptible to losing all it's queue in event of a crash, if we just replace this with: new TaskWorkQueue(new DbBackedList()).start() we get a instant persistence and the ability to share the tasks amongst more than one machine. In either case, we could either handle connection/read exceptions that are thrown, perhaps retrying the connection/read first, or allow them to throw and crash the program (e.g. if we can't change the TaskWorkQueue code).

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• What are the tradeoffs for using 'partial view models'?

  - by Kenny Evitt

  I've become aware of an itch due to some non-DRY code pertaining to view model classes in an (ASP.NET) MVC web application and I'm thinking of scratching my itch by organizing code in various 'partial view model' classes. By partial-view-model, I'm referring to a class like a view model class in an analogous way to how partial views are like views, i.e. a way to encapsulate common info and behavior. To strengthen the 'analogy', and to aid in visually organizing the code in my IDE, I was thinking of naming the partial-view-model classes with a _ prefix, e.g. _ParentItemViewModel. As a slightly more concrete example of why I'm thinking along these lines, imagine that I have a domain-model-entity class ParentItem and the user-friendly descriptive text that identifies these items to users is complex enough that I'd like to encapsulate that code in a method in a _ParentItemViewModel class, for which I can then include an object or a collection of objects of that class in all the view model classes for all the views that need to include a reference to a parent item, e.g. ChildItemViewModel can have a ParentItem property of the _ParentItemViewModel class type, so that in my ChildItemView view, I can use @Model.ParentItem.UserFriendlyDescription as desired, like breadcrumbs, links, etc. Edited 2014-02-06 09:56 -05 As a second example, imagine that I have entity classes SomeKindOfBatch, SomeKindOfBatchDetail, and SomeKindOfBatchDetailEvent, and a view model class and at least one view for each of those entities. Also, the example application covers a lot more than just some-kind-of-batches, so that it wouldn't really be useful or sensible to include info about a specific some-kind-of-batch in all of the project view model classes. But, like the above example, I have some code, say for generating a string for identifying a some-kind-of-batch in a user-friendly way, and I'd like to be able to use that in several views, say as breadcrumb text or text for a link. As a third example, I'll describe another pattern I'm currently using. I have a Contact entity class, but it's a fat class, with dozens of properties, and at least a dozen references to other fat classes. However, a lot of view model classes need properties for referencing a specific contact and most of those need other properties for collections of contacts, e.g. possible contacts to be referenced for some kind of relationship. Most of these view model classes only need a small fraction of all of the available contact info, basically just an ID and some kind of user-friendly description (i.e. a friendly name). It seems to be pretty useful to have a 'partial view model' class for contacts that all of these other view model classes can use. Maybe I'm just misunderstanding 'view model class' – I understand a view model class as always corresponding to a view. But maybe I'm assuming too much.

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• Looking for tips on managing complexity with SCM repositories

  - by Philip Regan

  I am a solo developer in my department and I have a lot of individual projects, all created and managed by me. I started using SVN at ProjectLocker via Versions on the Mac a couple years ago when the variety of projects started getting unwieldy. Scenario 1: Now I have a process that is of reasonable complexity it can be broken up into multiple smaller applications and they all share files. In one phase, there is a single shared file—a constants file—that is shared between a Cocoa app and an iPhone app framework. In the second phase, the iPhone app framework will be used to create individual apps of the same ilk—controller classes and what not will all be the same—but with different content in each. The problem that I am running across is that the file in the first phase is in one repository with the application that started it, and the app framework is in a second, separate repository. Scenario 2: I have another application framework that partially relies on code from an open source project. This is all internal, non-commerical work, but again, the application framework is going to be used to create a variety of unique products and processes. So, now I have an internally managed repository and an externally managed one out of my control. I make little changes to the open source code to meet the needs of my framework when there is an update I download, but I never commit back into the external repository (though, now that I think about it, I don't think I'm committing it to mine either. Oops). The Problem I have all of this set up on my production Mac quite nicely, but duplicating and subsequently maintaining that environment on my laptop has been challenging. For Scenario 1, I've thought of merging these two projects together into the same repository because they are, for all intents and purposes inextricably linked. But, Scenario 2, I think I'm stuck just managing files as best I can. The Question I'm wondering if anyone has any tips on how to manage either of these situations, as well as other complex SCM scenarios when it comes to linking various files from various repositories together. My familiarity with SVN only comes from my work with Versions. It's been great, but I'm a little out of my depth here.

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• Basic web architecture : Perl -> PHP

  - by Sunny Jim

  This is an architecture question. If there is a better forum, please redirect me. Apologies in advance. Essentially every website is built around a relational database, right? When a user uploads form data, that data is stored in a table. The problem is that the table structure(s) need to be modified whenever the website form is modified. Although I understand that modern web frameworks work around this problem by automatically building forms based on the table structure. For the last 20 years, I have been building websites using Perl. When I first encountered this problem, the easiest solution was to save serialized Perl objects as data BLOBS. After XML's introduction, this solution worked even better because XML is so effective for representing arbitrary data. This approach is consistent with the original Perl principles of Hubris, Laziness, and Impatience and I'm pretty committed to it. Obviously, the biggest drawback is that this solution locks me into the Perl interpreter. So instead, I've just completed a prototype of a universal RDB table. The prototype is written in Perl but porting it to PHP will be a good chance to develop those skills. The principal is based on the XML::Dumper module, which converts arbitrary Perl data structures into uniform XML. With my approach, each XML node is stored as a table record. I underestimated this undertaking and rolled something up myself. But the effort allows me to discuss the basic design instead of implementation details. As mentioned, I'm pretty committed to this approach of using flexible data structures. It's been successfully deployed on many websites, large, and complex. But are there any drawbacks I've overlooked? I rolled my own. Are other people taking a similar approach to their data? What kinds of solutions are available? I have not abandoned my dream of eventually contributing something useful to the worldwide community. In order to proceed, the next step would be peer review. How does one pursue that effort? Thanks! -Jim

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• Stagnating in programming

  - by Coder

  Time after time this question came up in my mind, but up until today I wasn't thinking about it much. I have been programming for maybe around 8 years now, and for the last two years it seems I'm not as keen to pick up new technologies anymore. Maybe that's a burnout or something, but I'd say it's experience and what I like, that's stopping me from running after the latest and greatest. I'm C++ developer, by this I mean, I love close to metal programming. I have no problems tracing problems through assembly, using tools like WinDbg or HexView. When I use constructs, I think about how they are realized underneath, how the bits are set and unset under the hood. I love battling with complex threading problems and doing everything hardcore way, even by hand if the regular solutions seem half baked. But I also love the C++0x stuff, and use it a lot. And all C++ code as long as it's not cumbersome compared to C counterparts, sometimes I also fall back to sort of "Super C" if the C++ way is ugly. And then there are all other developers who seem to be way more forward looking, .Net 4.0 MVC, WPF, all those Microsoft X#s, LINQ languages, XML and XSLT, mobile devices and so on. I have done a considerable amount of .NET, SQL, ASPX programming, but the further I go, the less I want to try those technologies. Is that bad? Almost every day I hear people saying that managed code is the only way forward, WPF is the way to go. I hear that C++ is godawful, and you can't code anything in it that's somewhat stable. But I don't buy it. With the experience I have, and the knowledge of how native code is compiled and executes, I can say I find it extremely rare that C++ code is unstable, or leaks, or causes crashes that takes more than 30 seconds to identify and fix. And to tell the truth, I've seen enough problems with other "cool" languages that I'd say C++ is even more stable and production proof than the safe languages, at least for me. The only thing that scares me in C++ is new frameworks, I don't trust them, and I use them extra sparingly. STL - yes, ATL - very sparingly, everything else... Well, not very keen on it. Most huge problems I've ran into, all were related to frameworks, not the language itself. Some overrided operator here, bad hierarchy there, poor class design here, mystical castings there. Other than that, C/C++ (yes, I use them together) still seems a very controlled and stable way to develop applications. Am I stagnating? Should I switch a profession, or force myself in all that marketing hype? Are there more developers who feel the same way?

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