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  • distributing R package with optional S4 syntax sugar

    - by mariotomo
    I've written a small package for logging, I'm distributing it through r-forge, recently I received some very interesting feedback on how to make it easier to use, but this functionality is based on stuff (setRefClass) that was added to R in 2.12. I'd like to keep distributing the package also for R-2.9, so I'm looking for a way to include or exclude the S4 syntactical sugar automatically, and include it when the library is loaded on a R = 2.12 system. one other option I see, that is to write a small S4 package that needs 2.12, imports the simpler logging package and exports the syntactically sugared interface... I don't like it too much, as I'd need to choose a different name for the S4 package.

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  • Invoicing vs Quoting or Estimating

    - by FreshCode
    If invoices can be voided, should they be used as quotations? I have an Invoices tables that is created from inventory associated with a Job or Order. I could have a Quotes table as a halfway-house between inventory and invoices, but it feels like I would have duplicate data structures and logic just to handle an "Is this a quote?" bit. From a business perspective, quotes are different from invoices: a quote is sent prior to an undertaking and an invoice is sent once it is complete and payment is due, but how to represent this in my repository and model. What is an elegant way to store and manage quotes & invoices in a database? Edit: indicated Job === Order for this particular instance.

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  • TDD - beginner problems and stumbling blocks

    - by Noufal Ibrahim
    While I've written unit tests for most of the code I've done, I only recently got my hands on a copy of TDD by example by Kent Beck. I have always regretted certain design decisions I made since they prevented the application from being 'testable'. I read through the book and while some of it looks alien, I felt that I could manage it and decided to try it out on my current project which is basically a client/server system where the two pieces communicate via. USB. One on the gadget and the other on the host. The application is in Python. I started off and very soon got entangled in a mess of rewrites and tiny tests which I later figured didn't really test anything. I threw away most of them and and now have a working application for which the tests have all coagulated into just 2. Based on my experiences, I have a few questions which I'd like to ask. I gained some information from http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1146218/new-to-tdd-are-there-sample-applications-with-tests-to-show-how-to-do-tdd but have some specific questions which I'd like answers to/discussion on. Kent Beck uses a list which he adds to and strikes out from to guide the development process. How do you make such a list? I initially had a few items like "server should start up", "server should abort if channel is not available" etc. but they got mixed and finally now, it's just something like "client should be able to connect to server" (which subsumed server startup etc.). How do you handle rewrites? I initially selected a half duplex system based on named pipes so that I could develop the application logic on my own machine and then later add the USB communication part. It them moved to become a socket based thing and then moved from using raw sockets to using the Python SocketServer module. Each time things changed, I found that I had to rewrite considerable parts of the tests which was annoying. I'd figured that the tests would be a somewhat invariable guide during my development. They just felt like more code to handle. I needed a client and a server to communicate through the channel to test either side. I could mock one of the sides to test the other but then the whole channel wouldn't be tested and I worry that I'd miss that. This detracted from the whole red/green/refactor rhythm. Is this just lack of experience or am I doing something wrong? The "Fake it till you make it" left me with a lot of messy code that I later spent a lot of time to refactor and clean up. Is this the way things work? At the end of the session, I now have my client and server running with around 3 or 4 unit tests. It took me around a week to do it. I think I could have done it in a day if I were using the unit tests after code way. I fail to see the gain. I'm looking for comments and advice from people who have implemented large non trivial projects completely (or almost completely) using this methodology. It makes sense to me to follow the way after I have something already running and want to add a new feature but doing it from scratch seems to tiresome and not worth the effort. P.S. : Please let me know if this should be community wiki and I'll mark it like that. Update 0 : All the answers were equally helpful. I picked the one I did because it resonated with my experiences the most. Update 1: Practice Practice Practice!

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  • A better UPDATE method in LINQ to SQL

    - by Refracted Paladin
    The below is a typical, for me, Update method in L2S. I am still fairly new to a lot of this(L2S & business app development) but this just FEELs wrong. Like there MUST be a smarter way of doing this. Unfortunately, I am having trouble visualizing it and am hoping someone can provide an example or point me in the right direction. To take a stab in the dark, would I have a Person Object that has all these fields as Properties? Then what, though? Is that redundant since L2S already mapped my Person Table to a Class? Is this just 'how it goes', that you eventually end up passing 30 parameters(or MORE) to an UPDATE statement at some point? For reference, this is a business app using C#, WinForms, .Net 3.5, and L2S over SQL 2005 Standard. Here is a typical Update Call for me. This is in a file(BLLConnect.cs) with other CRUD methods. Connect is the name of the DB that holds tblPerson When a user clicks save() this is what is eventually called with all of these fields having, potentially, been updated-- public static void UpdatePerson(int personID, string userID, string titleID, string firstName, string middleName, string lastName, string suffixID, string ssn, char gender, DateTime? birthDate, DateTime? deathDate, string driversLicenseNumber, string driversLicenseStateID, string primaryRaceID, string secondaryRaceID, bool hispanicOrigin, bool citizenFlag, bool veteranFlag, short ? residencyCountyID, short? responsibilityCountyID, string emailAddress, string maritalStatusID) { using (var context = ConnectDataContext.Create()) { var personToUpdate = (from person in context.tblPersons where person.PersonID == personID select person).Single(); personToUpdate.TitleID = titleID; personToUpdate.FirstName = firstName; personToUpdate.MiddleName = middleName; personToUpdate.LastName = lastName; personToUpdate.SuffixID = suffixID; personToUpdate.SSN = ssn; personToUpdate.Gender = gender; personToUpdate.BirthDate = birthDate; personToUpdate.DeathDate = deathDate; personToUpdate.DriversLicenseNumber = driversLicenseNumber; personToUpdate.DriversLicenseStateID = driversLicenseStateID; personToUpdate.PrimaryRaceID = primaryRaceID; personToUpdate.SecondaryRaceID = secondaryRaceID; personToUpdate.HispanicOriginFlag = hispanicOrigin; personToUpdate.CitizenFlag = citizenFlag; personToUpdate.VeteranFlag = veteranFlag; personToUpdate.ResidencyCountyID = residencyCountyID; personToUpdate.ResponsibilityCountyID = responsibilityCountyID; personToUpdate.EmailAddress = emailAddress; personToUpdate.MaritalStatusID = maritalStatusID; personToUpdate.UpdateUserID = userID; personToUpdate.UpdateDateTime = DateTime.Now; context.SubmitChanges(); } }

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  • Is it bad to explicitly compare against boolean constants e.g. if (b == false) in Java?

    - by polygenelubricants
    Is it bad to write: if (b == false) //... while (b != true) //... Is it always better to instead write: if (!b) //... while (!b) //... Presumably there is no difference in performance (or is there?), but how do you weigh the explicitness, the conciseness, the clarity, the readability, etc between the two? Note: the variable name b is just used as an example, ala foo and bar.

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  • How to extend this design for a generic converter in java?

    - by Jay
    Here is a small currency converter piece of code: public enum CurrencyType { DOLLAR(1), POUND(1.2), RUPEE(.25); private CurrencyType(double factor) { this.factor = factor; } private double factor; public double getFactor() { return factor; } } public class Currency { public Currency(double value, CurrencyType type) { this.value = value; this.type = type; } private CurrencyType type; private double value; public CurrencyType getCurrencyType() { return type; } public double getCurrencyValue() { return value; } public void setCurrenctyValue(double value){ this.value = value; } } public class CurrencyConversion { public static Currency convert(Currency c1, Currency c2) throws Exception { if (c1 != null && c2 != null) { c2.setCurrenctyValue(c1.getCurrencyValue() * c1.getCurrencyType().getFactor() * c2.getCurrencyType().getFactor()); return c2; } else throw new Exception(); } } I would like to improve this code to make it work for different units of conversion, for example: kgs to pounds, miles to kms, etc etc. Something that looks like this: public class ConversionManager<T extends Convertible> { public T convert(T c1, T c2) { //return null; } } Appreciate your ideas and suggestions.

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  • De-normalization for the sake of reports - Good or Bad?

    - by Travis
    What are the pros/cons of de-normalizing an enterprise application database because it will make writing reports easier? Pro - designing reports in SSRS will probably be "easier" since no joins will be necessary. Con - developing/maintaining the app to handle de-normalized data will become more difficult due to duplication of data and synchronization. Others?

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  • .Net Compact Framework Tips, Tricks, and Gotchas

    - by Mat Nadrofsky
    Hey everyone, We work extensively in the .Net Compact Framework and Windows Mobile. I've seen plenty of questions come up regarding specifics to development of ASP.Net apps or other .Net based desktop apps but nothing CF specific. Anyone else a mobile developer out there that can share some things to start doing, stop doing, and avoid doing when developing in the Compact Framework?

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  • Exposing a service to external systems - How should I design the contract?

    - by Larsi
    Hi! I know this question is been asked before here but still I'm not sure what to select. My service will be called from many 3 party system in the enterprise. I'm almost sure the information the service will collect (MyBigClassWithAllInfo) will change during the products lifetime. Is it still a good idea to expose objects? This is basically what my two alternatives: [ServiceContract] public interface ICollectStuffService { [OperationContract] SetDataResponseMsg SetData(SetDataRequestMsg dataRequestMsg); } // Alternative 1: Put all data inside a xml file [DataContract] public class SetDataRequestMsg { [DataMember] public string Body { get; set; } [DataMember] public string OtherPropertiesThatMightBeHandy { get; set; } // ?? } // Alternative 2: Expose the objects [DataContract] public class SetDataRequestMsg { [DataMember] public Header Header { get; set; } [DataMember] public MyBigClassWithAllInfo ExposedObject { get; set; } } public class SetDataResponseMsg { [DataMember] public ServiceError Error { get; set; } } The xml file would look like this: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Message>   <Header>     <InfoAboutTheSender>...</InfoAboutTheSender>   </Header>   <StuffToCollectWithAllTheInfo>   <stuff1>...</stuff1> </StuffToCollectWithAllTheInfo> </Message> Any thought on how this service should be implemented? Thanks Larsi

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  • What does a WinForm application need to be designed for usability, and be robust, clean, and profess

    - by msorens
    One of the principal problems impeding productivity in software implementation is the classic conundrum of “reinventing the wheel”. Of late I am a .NET developer and even the wonderful wizardry of .NET and Visual Studio covers only a portion of this challenging issue. Below I present my initial thoughts both on what is available and what should be available from .NET on a WinForm, focusing on good usability. That is, aspects of an application exposed to the user and making the user experience easier and/or better. (I do include a couple items not visible to the user because I feel strongly about them, such as diagnostics.) I invite you to contribute to these lists. LIST A: Components provided by .NET These are substantially complete components provided by .NET, i.e. those requiring at most trivial coding to use. “About” dialog -- add it with a couple clicks then customize. Persist settings across invocations -- .NET has the support; just use a few lines of code to glue them together. Migrate settings with a new version -- a powerful one, available with one line of code. Tooltips (and infotips) -- .NET includes just plain text tooltips; third-party libraries provide richer ones. Diagnostic support -- TraceSources, TraceListeners, and more are built-in. Internationalization -- support for tailoring your app to languages other than your own. LIST B: Components not provided by .NET These are not supplied at all by .NET or supplied only as rudimentary elements requiring substantial work to be realized. Splash screen -- a small window present during program startup with your logo, loading messages, etc. Tip of the day -- a mini-tutorial presented one bit at a time each time the user starts your app. Check for available updates -- facility to query a server to see if the user is running the latest version of your app, then provide a simple way to upgrade if a new version is found. Maximize to multiple monitors -- the canonical window allows you to maximize to a single monitor only; in my apps I allow maximizing across multiple monitors with a click. Taskbar notifier -- flash the taskbar when your backgrounded app has new info for the user. Options dialogs -- multi-page dialogs letting the user customize the app settings to his/her own preferences. Progress indicator -- for long running operations give the user feedback on how far there is left to go. Memory gauge -- an indicator (either absolute or percentage) of how much memory is used by your app. LIST C: Stylistic and/or tiny bits of functionality This list includes bits of functionality that are too tiny to merit being called a component, along with stylistic concerns (that admittedly do overlap with the Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines). Design a form for resizing -- unless you are restricting your form to be a fixed size, use anchors and docking so that it does what is reasonable when enlarged or shrunk by the user. Set tab order on a form -- repeated tab presses by the user should advance from field to field in a logical order rather than the default order in which you added fields. Adjust controls to be aware of operating modes -- When starting a background operation with, for example, a “Go” button, disable that “Go” button until the operation completes. Provide access keys for all menu items (per UXGuide). Provide shortcut keys for commonly used menu items (per UXGuide). Set up some (global or important or common) shortcut keys without associating to menu items. Allow some menu items to be invoked with or without modifier keys (shift, control, alt) where the modifier key is useful to vary the operation slightly. Hook up Escape and Enter on child forms to do what is reasonable. Decorate any library classes with documentation-comments and attributes -- this allows Visual Studio to leverage them for Intellisense and property descriptions. Spell check your code! What else would you include?

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  • Why is there so much poorly indented code out there?

    - by dsimcha
    The more I browse the code to open source projects in languages that aren't Python, the more I realize that it seems a lot of programmers don't believe in proper indentation. (I won't mention any projects specifically to avoid having anyone take this question too personally.) Usually code is indented, but in a way just different enough from the standard style that it drives me crazy, especially in old/crufty code. I've noticed that when I write in C-like languages, I tend to indent correctly as religiously as when I'm writing in Python, with the exception of debugging code that I actually want to stick out like a sore thumb. Given how easy it is with a modern IDE to fix incorrect indentation, what are some rationales for not religiously keeping indentation in sync with braces?

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  • "Special case" records for foreign key constraints

    - by keithjgrant
    Let's say I have a mysql table, called foo with a foreign key option_id constrained to the option table. When I create a foo record, the user may or may not have selected an option, and 'no option' is a viable selection. What is the best way to differentiate between 'null' (i.e. the user hasn't made a selection yet) and 'no option' (i.e. the user selected 'no option')? Right now, my plan is to insert a special record into the option table. Let's say that winds up with an id of 227 (this table already has a number of records at this point, so '1' isn't available). I have no need to access this record at a database level, and it would act as nothing more than a placeholder that the foreign key in the foo table can reference. So do I just hard-code '227' in my codebase when I'm creating 'foo' records where the user has selected 'no option'? The hard-coded id seems sloppy, and leaves room for error as the code is maintained down the road, but I'm not really sure of another approach.

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  • What lessons can you learn from software maintanence?

    - by Vasil Remeniuk
    Hello everyone, In the perfect world, all the software developers would work with the cutting edge technologies, creating systems from the scratch. In the real life, almost all of us have to maintain software from time to time (unlucky ones do it on a regular basis). Personally I first 2 years of my career was fixing bugs in the company that no longer exists (it has been taken up by Oracle). And probably the biggest lesson I've learned that time - despite of the pressure, always try to get as much information about the domain as possible (even if it's irrelevant to fixing a specific bug or adding a feature) - abstract domain knowledge doesn't lose value as fast as knowledge about trendy frameworks or methodologies. What lessons have you learned from maintenance?

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  • What are the advantages to use StringBuilder versus XmlDocument or related to create XML documetns?

    - by Rob
    This might be a bit of a code smell, but I have seen it is some production code, namely the use of StringBuilder as opposed to XmlDocument when creating XML documents. In some cases these are write once operations (e.g. create the document and save it to disk) where as others are passing the built string to an XmlDocument to preform an XslTransform to a document that is returned to the client. So obvious question: is there merit to doing things this way, is it something that should be done on a case-by-case basis, or is this the wrong way of doing things?

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  • Robust Large File Transfer with WCF

    - by Sharov
    I want to transfer big files (1GB) over unreliable transport channels. When connection is interrupted, I don't want start file transfering from the begining. I can partially store it in a temp table and store last readed position, so when connection is reestablished I can request continue uploading of file from this position. Is there any best-practice for such kind of things. I'm currently use chunking channel.

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  • Is there a .NET equivalent of WebGoat

    - by PJB
    Looking at this question the OWASP WebGoat project looks like a great way to learn about web security. Although the principles will equally to .NET applications I would prefer to use .NET based application. Does anybody know of a suitable .NET alternative?

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  • Why use hashing to create pathnames for large collections of files?

    - by Stephen
    Hi, I noticed a number of cases where an application or database stored collections of files/blobs using a has to determine the path and filename. I believe the intended outcome is a situation where the path never gets too deep, or the folders ever get too full - too many files (or folders) in a folder making for slower access. EDIT: Examples are often Digital libraries or repositories, though the simplest example I can think of (that can be installed in about 30s) is the Zotero document/citation database. Why do this? EDIT: thanks Mat for the answer - does this technique of using a hash to create a file path have a name? Is it a pattern? I'd like to read more, but have failed to find anything in the ACM Digital Library

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  • Communication between layers in an application

    - by Petar Minchev
    Hi guys! Let's assume we have the following method in the business layer. What's the best practice to tell the UI layer that something went wrong and give also the error message? Should the method return an empty String when it was OK, otherwise the error message, or should it throw another exception in the catch code wrapping the caught exception? If we choose the second variant then the UI should have another try,catch which is too much try,catch maybe. Here is a pseudocode for the first variant. public String updateSomething() { try { //Begin transaction here dataLayer.do1(); dataLayer.do2(); dataLayer.doN(); } catch(Exception exc) { //Rollback transaction code here return exc.message; } return ""; } Is this a good practice or should I throw another exception in the catch(then the method will be void)?

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  • Migrating a simple application from Application Delegate to ViewController Class

    - by eco_bach
    Hi Frst of all wanted to send out a huge thanks for the great feedback and support. I have a simple application working, right now simply loads a sequence of images and alows the user to step thru the images by clicking a button. All of my logic is in my Application Delegate class, with the image loading, initialization of UIImage Views etc happening in my applicationDidFinishLaunching method. My next step is to migrate as much as possible all of the logic from this class to a ViewController, to take advantage of the extra functionality etc in viewcontrollers. All my images and imageViews are initialized like the following in my applicationDidFinishLaunching. img = [UIImage imageWithContentsOfFile:[[NSBundle mainBundle] pathForResource:@image1.jpg" ofType:nil]]; imgView = [[UIImageView alloc] initWithImage:img]; How would I migrate this to a ViewController based application? Where would I put all of the logic currently in my applicationDidFinishLaunching method, or for loading of images, is it necessary to only load them here? Any feedback, tips, suggestions appreciated.

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  • What's the best way to unit test code that generates random output?

    - by Flynn1179
    Specifically, I've got a method picks n items from a list in such a way that a% of them meet one criterion, and b% meet a second, and so on. A simplified example would be to pick 5 items where 50% have a given property with the value 'true', and 50% 'false'; 50% of the time the method would return 2 true/3 false, and the other 50%, 3 true/2 false. Statistically speaking, this means that over 100 runs, I should get about 250 true/250 false, but because of the randomness, 240/260 is entirely possible. What's the best way to unit test this? I'm assuming that even though technically 300/200 is possible, it should probably fail the test if this happens. Is there a generally accepted tolerance for cases like this, and if so, how do you determine what that is?

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