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  • Is -1 a magic number? An anti-pattern? A code smell? Quotes and guidelines from authorities

    - by polygenelubricants
    I've seen -1 used in various APIs, most commonly when searching into a "collection" with zero-based indices, usually to indicate the "not found" index. This "works" because -1 is never a legal index to begin with. It seems that any negative number should work, but I think -1 is almost always used, as some sort of (unwritten?) convention. I would like to limit the scope to Java at least for now. My questions are: What are the official words from Sun regarding using -1 as a "special" return value like this? What quotes are there regarding this issue, from e.g. James Gosling, Josh Bloch, or even other authoritative figures outside of Java? What were some of the notable discussions regarding this issue in the past?

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  • How sophisticated should be DAL?

    - by Andrew Florko
    Basically, DAL (Data Access Layer) should provide simple CRUD (Create/Read/Update/Delete) methods but I always have a temptation to create more sophisticated methods in order to minimize database access roundtrips from Business Logic Layer. What do you think about following extensions to CRUD (most of them are OK I suppose): Read: GetById, GetByName, GetPaged, GetByFilter... e.t.c. methods Create: GetOrCreate methods (model entity is returned from DB or created if not found and returned), Create(lots-of-relations) instead of Create and multiple AssignTo methods calls Update: Merge methods (entities list are updated, created and deleted in one call) Delete: Delete(bool children) - optional children delete, Cleanup methods Where do you usually implement Entity Cache capabilities? DAL or BLL? (My choice is BLL, but I have seen DAL implementations also) Where is the boundary when you decide: this operation is too specific so I should implement it in Business Logic Layer as DAL multiple calls? I often found insufficient BLL operations that were implemented in dozen database roundtrips because developer was afraid to create a bit more sophisticated DAL. Thank you in advance!

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  • Should I define a single "DataContext" and pass references to it around or define muliple "DataConte

    - by Nate Bross
    I have a Silverlight application that consists of a MainWindow and several classes which update and draw images on the MainWindow. I'm now expanding this to keep track of everything in a database. Without going into specifics, lets say I have a structure like this: MainWindow Drawing-Surface Class1 -- Supports Drawing DataContext + DataServiceCollection<T> w/events Class2 -- Manages "transactions" (add/delete objects from drawing) Class3 Each "Class" is passed a reference to the Drawing Surface so they can interact with it independently. I'm starting to use WCF Data Services in Class1 and its working well; however, the other classes are also going to need access to the WCF Data Services. (Should I define my "DataContext" in MainWindow and pass a reference to each child class?) Class1 will need READ access to the "transactions" data, and Class2 will need READ access to some of the drawing data. So my question is, where does it make the most sense to define my DataContext? Does it make sense to: Define a "global" WCF Data Service "Context" object and pass references to that in all of my subsequent classes? Define an instance of the "Context" for each Class1, Class2, etc Have each method that requires access to data define its own instance of the "Context" and use closures handle the async load/complete events? Would a structure like this make more sense? Is there any danger in keeping an active "DataContext" open for an extended period of time? Typical usecase of this application could range from 1 minute to 40+ minutes. MainWindow Drawing-Surface DataContext Class1 -- Supports Drawing DataServiceCollection<DrawingType> w/events Class2 -- Manages "transactions" (add/delete objects from drawing) DataServiceCollection<TransactionType> w/events Class3 DataServiceCollection<T> w/events

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  • Use of infix operator hack in production code (Python)

    - by Casebash
    What is your opinion of using the infix operator hack in production code? Issues: The effect this will have on speed. The potential for a clashes with an object with these operators already defined. This seems particularly dangerous with generic code that is intended to handle objects of any type. It is a shame that this isn't built in - it really does improve readability

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  • Using table-of-contents in code?

    - by AareP
    Do you use table-of-contents for listing all the functions (and maybe variables) of a class in the beginning of big source code file? I know that alternative to that kind of listing would be to split up big files into smaller classes/files, so that their class declaration would be self-explanatory enough.. but some complex tasks require a lot of code. I'm not sure is it really worth it spending your time subdividing implementation into multiple of files? Or is it ok to create an index-listing additionally to the class/interface declaration?

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  • Can this PHP version of SPICE be improved?

    - by Noctis Skytower
    I do not know much about PHP's standard library of functions and was wondering if the following code can be improved in any way. The implementation should yield the same results, the API should remain as it is, but ways to make is more PHP-ish would be greatly appreciated. This is a custom encryption library. Code <?php /*************************************** Create random major and minor SPICE key. ***************************************/ function crypt_major() { $all = range("\x00", "\xFF"); shuffle($all); $major_key = implode("", $all); return $major_key; } function crypt_minor() { $sample = array(); do { array_push($sample, 0, 1, 2, 3); } while (count($sample) != 256); shuffle($sample); $list = array(); for ($index = 0; $index < 64; $index++) { $b12 = $sample[$index * 4] << 6; $b34 = $sample[$index * 4 + 1] << 4; $b56 = $sample[$index * 4 + 2] << 2; $b78 = $sample[$index * 4 + 3]; array_push($list, $b12 + $b34 + $b56 + $b78); } $minor_key = implode("", array_map("chr", $list)); return $minor_key; } /*************************************** Create the SPICE key via the given name. ***************************************/ function named_major($name) { srand(crc32($name)); return crypt_major(); } function named_minor($name) { srand(crc32($name)); return crypt_minor(); } /*************************************** Check validity for major and minor keys. ***************************************/ function _check_major($key) { if (is_string($key) && strlen($key) == 256) { foreach (range("\x00", "\xFF") as $char) { if (substr_count($key, $char) == 0) { return FALSE; } } return TRUE; } return FALSE; } function _check_minor($key) { if (is_string($key) && strlen($key) == 64) { $indexs = array(); foreach (array_map("ord", str_split($key)) as $byte) { foreach (range(6, 0, 2) as $shift) { array_push($indexs, ($byte >> $shift) & 3); } } $dict = array_count_values($indexs); foreach (range(0, 3) as $index) { if ($dict[$index] != 64) { return FALSE; } } return TRUE; } return FALSE; } /*************************************** Create encode maps for encode functions. ***************************************/ function _encode_map_1($major) { return array_map("ord", str_split($major)); } function _encode_map_2($minor) { $map_2 = array(array(), array(), array(), array()); $list = array(); foreach (array_map("ord", str_split($minor)) as $byte) { foreach (range(6, 0, 2) as $shift) { array_push($list, ($byte >> $shift) & 3); } } for ($byte = 0; $byte < 256; $byte++) { array_push($map_2[$list[$byte]], chr($byte)); } return $map_2; } /*************************************** Create decode maps for decode functions. ***************************************/ function _decode_map_1($minor) { $map_1 = array(); foreach (array_map("ord", str_split($minor)) as $byte) { foreach (range(6, 0, 2) as $shift) { array_push($map_1, ($byte >> $shift) & 3); } } return $map_1; }function _decode_map_2($major) { $map_2 = array(); $temp = array_map("ord", str_split($major)); for ($byte = 0; $byte < 256; $byte++) { $map_2[$temp[$byte]] = chr($byte); } return $map_2; } /*************************************** Encrypt or decrypt the string with maps. ***************************************/ function _encode($string, $map_1, $map_2) { $cache = ""; foreach (str_split($string) as $char) { $byte = $map_1[ord($char)]; foreach (range(6, 0, 2) as $shift) { $cache .= $map_2[($byte >> $shift) & 3][mt_rand(0, 63)]; } } return $cache; } function _decode($string, $map_1, $map_2) { $cache = ""; $temp = str_split($string); for ($iter = 0; $iter < strlen($string) / 4; $iter++) { $b12 = $map_1[ord($temp[$iter * 4])] << 6; $b34 = $map_1[ord($temp[$iter * 4 + 1])] << 4; $b56 = $map_1[ord($temp[$iter * 4 + 2])] << 2; $b78 = $map_1[ord($temp[$iter * 4 + 3])]; $cache .= $map_2[$b12 + $b34 + $b56 + $b78]; } return $cache; } /*************************************** This is the public interface for coding. ***************************************/ function encode_string($string, $major, $minor) { if (is_string($string)) { if (_check_major($major) && _check_minor($minor)) { $map_1 = _encode_map_1($major); $map_2 = _encode_map_2($minor); return _encode($string, $map_1, $map_2); } } return FALSE; } function decode_string($string, $major, $minor) { if (is_string($string) && strlen($string) % 4 == 0) { if (_check_major($major) && _check_minor($minor)) { $map_1 = _decode_map_1($minor); $map_2 = _decode_map_2($major); return _decode($string, $map_1, $map_2); } } return FALSE; } ?> This is a sample showing how the code is being used. Hex editors may be of help with the input / output. Example <?php # get and process all of the form data @ $input = htmlspecialchars($_POST["input"]); @ $majorname = htmlspecialchars($_POST["majorname"]); @ $minorname = htmlspecialchars($_POST["minorname"]); @ $majorkey = htmlspecialchars($_POST["majorkey"]); @ $minorkey = htmlspecialchars($_POST["minorkey"]); @ $output = htmlspecialchars($_POST["output"]); # process the submissions by operation # CREATE @ $operation = $_POST["operation"]; if ($operation == "Create") { if (strlen($_POST["majorname"]) == 0) { $majorkey = bin2hex(crypt_major()); } if (strlen($_POST["minorname"]) == 0) { $minorkey = bin2hex(crypt_minor()); } if (strlen($_POST["majorname"]) != 0) { $majorkey = bin2hex(named_major($_POST["majorname"])); } if (strlen($_POST["minorname"]) != 0) { $minorkey = bin2hex(named_minor($_POST["minorname"])); } } # ENCRYPT or DECRYPT function is_hex($char) { if ($char == "0"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "1"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "2"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "3"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "4"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "5"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "6"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "7"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "8"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "9"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "a"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "b"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "c"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "d"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "e"): return TRUE; elseif ($char == "f"): return TRUE; else: return FALSE; endif; } function hex2bin($str) { if (strlen($str) % 2 == 0): $string = strtolower($str); else: $string = strtolower("0" . $str); endif; $cache = ""; $temp = str_split($str); for ($index = 0; $index < count($temp) / 2; $index++) { $h1 = $temp[$index * 2]; if (is_hex($h1)) { $h2 = $temp[$index * 2 + 1]; if (is_hex($h2)) { $cache .= chr(hexdec($h1 . $h2)); } else { return FALSE; } } else { return FALSE; } } return $cache; } if ($operation == "Encrypt" || $operation == "Decrypt") { # CHECK FOR ANY ERROR $errors = array(); if (strlen($_POST["input"]) == 0) { $output = ""; } $binmajor = hex2bin($_POST["majorkey"]); if (strlen($_POST["majorkey"]) == 0) { array_push($errors, "There must be a major key."); } elseif ($binmajor == FALSE) { array_push($errors, "The major key must be in hex."); } elseif (_check_major($binmajor) == FALSE) { array_push($errors, "The major key is corrupt."); } $binminor = hex2bin($_POST["minorkey"]); if (strlen($_POST["minorkey"]) == 0) { array_push($errors, "There must be a minor key."); } elseif ($binminor == FALSE) { array_push($errors, "The minor key must be in hex."); } elseif (_check_minor($binminor) == FALSE) { array_push($errors, "The minor key is corrupt."); } if ($_POST["operation"] == "Decrypt") { $bininput = hex2bin(str_replace("\r", "", str_replace("\n", "", $_POST["input"]))); if ($bininput == FALSE) { if (strlen($_POST["input"]) != 0) { array_push($errors, "The input data must be in hex."); } } elseif (strlen($bininput) % 4 != 0) { array_push($errors, "The input data is corrupt."); } } if (count($errors) != 0) { # ERRORS ARE FOUND $output = "ERROR:"; foreach ($errors as $error) { $output .= "\n" . $error; } } elseif (strlen($_POST["input"]) != 0) { # CONTINUE WORKING if ($_POST["operation"] == "Encrypt") { # ENCRYPT $output = substr(chunk_split(bin2hex(encode_string($_POST["input"], $binmajor, $binminor)), 58), 0, -2); } else { # DECRYPT $output = htmlspecialchars(decode_string($bininput, $binmajor, $binminor)); } } } # echo the form with the values filled echo "<P><TEXTAREA class=maintextarea name=input rows=25 cols=25>" . $input . "</TEXTAREA></P>\n"; echo "<P>Major Name:</P>\n"; echo "<P><INPUT id=textbox1 name=majorname value=\"" . $majorname . "\"></P>\n"; echo "<P>Minor Name:</P>\n"; echo "<P><INPUT id=textbox1 name=minorname value=\"" . $minorname . "\"></P>\n"; echo "<DIV style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><INPUT class=submit type=submit value=Create name=operation>\n"; echo "</DIV>\n"; echo "<P>Major Key:</P>\n"; echo "<P><INPUT id=textbox1 name=majorkey value=\"" . $majorkey . "\"></P>\n"; echo "<P>Minor Key:</P>\n"; echo "<P><INPUT id=textbox1 name=minorkey value=\"" . $minorkey . "\"></P>\n"; echo "<DIV style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><INPUT class=submit type=submit value=Encrypt name=operation> \n"; echo "<INPUT class=submit type=submit value=Decrypt name=operation> </DIV>\n"; echo "<P>Result:</P>\n"; echo "<P><TEXTAREA class=maintextarea name=output rows=25 readOnly cols=25>" . $output . "</TEXTAREA></P></DIV></FORM>\n"; ?>

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  • Practical rules for premature optimization

    - by DougW
    It seems that the phrase "Premature Optimization" is the buzz-word of the day. For some reason, iphone programmers in particular seem to think of avoiding premature optimization as a pro-active goal, rather than the natural result of simply avoiding distraction. The problem is, the term is beginning to be applied more and more to cases that are completely inappropriate. For example, I've seen a growing number of people say not to worry about the complexity of an algorithm, because that's premature optimization (eg http://stackoverflow.com/questions/2190275/help-sorting-an-nsarray-across-two-properties-with-nssortdescriptor/2191720#2191720). Frankly, I think this is just laziness, and appalling to disciplined computer science. But it has occurred to me that maybe considering the complexity and performance of algorithms is going the way of assembly loop unrolling, and other optimization techniques that are now considered unnecessary. What do you think? Are we at the point now where deciding between an O(n^n) and O(n!) complexity algorithm is irrelevant? What about O(n) vs O(n*n)? What do you consider "premature optimization"? What practical rules do you use to consciously or unconsciously avoid it? This is a bit vague, but I'm curious to hear other peoples' opinions on the topic.

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  • Should a Unit-test replicate functionality or Test output?

    - by Daniel Beardsley
    I've run into this dilemma several times. Should my unit-tests duplicate the functionality of the method they are testing to verify it's integrity? OR Should unit tests strive to test the method with numerous manually created instances of inputs and expected outputs? I'm mainly asking the question for situations where the method you are testing is reasonably simple and it's proper operation can be verified by glancing at the code for a minute. Simplified example (in ruby): def concat_strings(str1, str2) return str1 + " AND " + str2 end Simplified functionality-replicating test for the above method: def test_concat_strings 10.times do str1 = random_string_generator str2 = random_string_generator assert_equal (str1 + " AND " + str2), concat_strings(str1, str2) end end I understand that most times the method you are testing won't be simple enough to justify doing it this way. But my question remains; is this a valid methodology in some circumstances (why or why not)?

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  • Another answer to the CAPTCHA problem?

    - by Xeoncross
    Most sites at least employ server access log checking and banning along with some kind of bot prevention measure like a CAPTCHA (those messed-up text images). The problem with CAPTCHAs is that they poss a threat to the user experience. Luckily they now come with user friendly features like refresh and audio versions. Anyway, like linux vs windows, it isn't worth the time of a spammer to customize and/or build a script to handle a custom CAPTCHA example that only pertains to one site. Therefore, I was wondering if there might be better ways to handle the whole CAPTCHA thing. In A Better CAPTCHA Peter Bromberg mentions that one way would be to convert the image to HTML and display it embedded in the page. On http://shiflett.org/ Chris simply asks users to type his name into an input. Examples like this are ways to simplifying the CAPTCHA experience while decreasing the value for spammers. Does anyone know of more good examples I could use or see any problem with the embedded image idea?

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  • Generic data input form in asp.net mvc application

    - by Diego
    Hello, I have an application that have EF 16 classes that share this information: They all are classes only with a key field and a description. I think it should be a waste if I make a controller with just 1 method just to present a form to fill these classes info, then I was thinking in to make a generic form(with key, description) and dynamically fill the right class through a sort of selection the selected info in any way, any good suggestion or pattern to do that? Where the generic methods should be located.

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  • Password reset by email without a database table

    - by jpatokal
    The normal flow for resetting a user's password by mail is this: Generate a random string and store it in a database table Email string to user User clicks on link containing string String is validated against database; if it matches, user's pw is reset However, maintaining a table and expiring old strings etc seems like a bit of an unnecessary hassle. Are there any obvious flaws in this alternative approach? Generate a MD5 hash of the user's existing password Email hash string to user User clicks on link containing string String is validated by hashing existing pw again; if it matches, user's pw is reset Note that the user's password is already stored in a hashed and salted form, and I'm just hashing it once more to get a unique but repeatable string. And yes, there is one obvious "flaw": the reset link thus generated will not expire until the user changes their password (clicks the link). I don't really see why this would be a problem though -- if the mailbox is compromised, the user is screwed anyway.

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  • Best practices or tools for installing a SQL Server database

    - by Maestro1024
    Best practices or tools for installing a SQL Server database I have a SQL Server database designed with the SQL Server GUI database editor/Visual Studio. What is the best way to "install" that database on other systems. Said another way how should I ship this thing? I know I can save the scripts and set the primary/foreign keys with T-SQL but I suspect their is something better. I guess you could have people restore from backup but that does not seem very professional. What other choices are there and what are the pluses and minuses?

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  • Design patterns to avoid

    - by Brian Rasmussen
    A lot of people seem to agree, that the Singleton pattern has a number of drawbacks and some even suggest to avoid the pattern all together. There's an excellent discussion here. Please direct any comments about the Singleton pattern to that question. Are there other design patterns, that should be avoided or used with great care?

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  • Is there a language that encourages good coding practices?

    - by Darrell Brogdon
    While I love PHP I find its biggest weakness is that it allows and even almost encourages programmers to write bad code. Is there a language that encourages good programming practices? Or, more specifically, a web-related language that encourages good practices. I'm interested in languages who have either a stated goal of encouraging good programming or are designed in such a way as to encourage good programming.

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  • How to document object-oriented MATLAB code?

    - by jjkparker
    I'm writing a sizable application using object-oriented MATLAB, and this has gotten me thinking about how to document the code. If this was C, I would use Doxygen. For Java, I'd use JavaDoc. Both have mostly agreed-upon standards for how class and method documentation should look and what it should contain. But what about MATLAB code? The most I've seen in TMW's own classes is a short sentence or two at the top of the class, and I can't find any topics devoted to documenting sizable MATLAB applications. So how do you document your MATLAB classes? Any particular style issues or additional tools?

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  • Asp.Net MVC best way to update cached table

    - by Eddy Mishiyev
    There are certain tables that get called often but updated rarely. One of these tables is Departments. So to save DB trips, I think it is ok to cache this table taking into consideration that the table has very small size. However, once you cached it an issue of keeping the table data fresh occurs. So what is the best way to determine that the table is dirty and therefore requires a reload and how that code should be invoked. I look for solution that will be scalable. So updating the cache right after inserting will not work. So if one machine inserted the record all other on network should get notified to reload the cache. I was thinking for calling corresponding web service from T-SQL but don't really like the idea of consuming recourses on sql server. So what are the best practices to resolve this type of problems. Thanks in advance Eddy

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  • Returning true or error message in Ruby

    - by seaneshbaugh
    I'm wondering if writing functions like this is considered good or bad form. def test(x) if x == 1 return true else return "Error: x is not equal to one." end end And then to use it we do something like this: result = test(1) if result != true puts result end result = test(2) if result != true puts result end Which just displays the error message for the second call to test. I'm considering doing this because in a rails project I'm working on inside my controller code I make calls to a model's instance methods and if something goes wrong I want the model to return the error message to the controller and the controller takes that error message and puts it in the flash and redirects. Kinda like this def create @item = Item.new(params[:item]) if [email protected]? result = @item.save_image(params[:attachment][:file]) if result != true flash[:notice] = result redirect_to(new_item_url) and return end #and so on... That way I'm not constructing the error messages in the controller, merely passing them along, because I really don't want the controller to be concerned with what the save_image method itself does just whether or not it worked. It makes sense to me, but I'm curious as to whether or not this is considered a good or bad way of writing methods. Keep in mind I'm asking this in the most general sense pertaining mostly to ruby, it just happens that I'm doing this in a rails project, the actual logic of the controller really isn't my concern.

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  • Avoid writing SQL queries altogether in SSIS

    - by Jonn
    Working on a Data Warehouse project, the guy that gave us the tutorial advised that we stick to using SQL queries over defining a lot of data flow transformations, citing points like it'll consume a lot of memory on the ETL box so we'd rather leave the processing to the DB box. Is this really advisable? Where's the balance between relying on GUI tools over executing a bunch of SQL scripts on your Integration package? And honestly, I'd like to avoid writing SQL queries as much as I can.

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  • Repository vs Data Access

    - by vdh_ant
    Hi guys In the context of the n-tier application, is there a difference between what you would consider your data access classes to be and your repositories? I tend to think yes but I just wanted to see what other thought. My thinking is that the job of the repository is just to contain and execute the raw query itself, where as the data access class would create the context, execute the repository (passing in the context), handle mapping the data model to the domain model and return the result back up... What do you guys think? Also do you see any of this changing in a Linq to XML scenario (assuming that you change the context for the relevant XDocument)? Cheers Anthony

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  • Using a "vo" for joined data?

    - by keithjgrant
    I'm building a small financial system. Because of double-entry accounting, transactions always come in batches of two or more, so I've got a batch table and a transaction table. (The transaction table has batch_id, account_id, and amount fields, and shared data like date and description are relegated to the batch table). I've been using basic vo-type models for each table so far. Because of this table structure structure, though, transactions will almost always be selected with a join on the batch table. So should I take the selected records and splice them into two separate vo objects, or should I create a "shared" vo that contains both batch and transaction data? There are a few cases in which batch records and/or transaction records. Are there possible pitfalls down the road if I have "overlapping" vo classes?

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