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• Would you recommend Head First Programming for someone new?

  - by Sergio

  My brother is just starting out college. He's studying the same thing I am here in Bolivia; Systems Engineer which is the equivalent of what a CS degree is in the US. Being his big brother and a programmer myself I really want to guide him and give him the right material to learn and become good at programming. My motives are selfish I admit, I want him to become really good so he can teach me things in the future. :) After poking around the web, I found Head First Programming. This book seems to teach the fundamentals of programming, using Python as the language. Would you recommend this book as his first book ever? Would learning Python as his first language stunt him somehow? What are your thoughts and suggestions? Thanks!

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• Why is design by contract considered an alternative to the pseudo programming process?

  - by zoopp

  Right now I'm reading Code Complete by Steve McConnell and in chapter 9 he talks about the Pseudo Programming Process (PPP). From what I've understood, the PPP is a way of programming in which the programmer first writes the pseudo code for the routine he's working on, then refines it up to the point where pretty much each pseudo code line can be implemented in 1-3 lines of code, then writes the code in the designated programming language and finally the pseudo code is saved as comments for the purpose of documenting the routine. In chapter 9.4 the author mentions alternatives to the PPP, one of which is 'design by contract'. In design by contract you basically assert preconditions and postconditions of each routine. Now why would that be considered an alternative? To me it seems obvious that I should use both techniques at the same time and not chose one over the other.

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• Why is C++ predominant in programming contests and competitions?

  - by daniels

  I understand that C++ is a very fast language, but ain't C just as fast, or faster in some cases? Then you might say that C++ has OOP, but the amount of OOP you need for most programming puzzles is not that big, and in my opinion C would be able handle that. Here's why I am asking this: I am very interested in programming contests and competitions, and I am used to coding in C on those. However, I noticed that the vast majority of people use C++ (e.g., 17 out of 25 finalists on Google Code Jam 2011 used it, while no one used C), so I am wondering if I am at a disadvantage going with C. Apart from the Object Orientation, what makes C++ a more suitable language for programming competitions? What are the features of the language I should learn and use to perform better on the competitions? For background, I consider myself pretty proficient in C, but I am just starting to learn C++.

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• Have you ever used a non mainstream language in a project? Why?

  - by EpsilonVector

  I was thinking about my academic experience with Smalltalk (well, Squeak) a while ago and whether I would like to use it for something, and it got me thinking: sure, it's as good and capable as any popular language, and it has some nice ideas, but there are certain languages that are already well entrenched in certain niches of programming (C is for systems programming, Java is for portability, and so on...), and Smalltalk and co. don't seem to have any obvious differentiating features to make them the right choice under certain circumstances, or at least not as far as I can tell, and when you add to it the fact that it's harder to find programmers who know it it adds all sorts of other problems for the organization itself. So if you ever worked on a project where a non-mainstream language (like Smalltalk) was used over a more mainstream one, what was the reason for it? To clarify: I'd like to focus this on imperative languages, since other paradigms like functional and logic programming language, while not necessarily mainstream, can still be good choices for certain projects for obvious reasons.

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• How important is using the same language for client and server?

  - by Makita

  I have been evaluating architecture solutions for a mobile project that will have a web-service/app in addition to native apps and have been looking at various libraries, frameworks, and stacks like Meteor, this being a sort of "open stack package framework", is tightly bound with Node.js. There is a lot of talk about the benefits of using the same language both client and server side, and I'm not getting it. I could understand if you want to mirror the entire state of a web application on both client and server but struggling to find other wins... Workflow efficiency? I'm trying to understand why client/server language parity is considered to be a holy grail. Why does client/server language parity matter in software development?

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• Is it a good idea to simplify an character -driven game engine to the point it's unnecessary to learn scripting/programming ?

  - by jokoon

  I remember, and I still think, that one cannot even make a prototyped 3D game to test just simple behaviors without using gigantic tools like unity or knowing extensive C++ programming, design pattern, a decent or basic 3D engine, etc. Now I'm wondering, since I know programming, that I'm still more lucky that the ones who need to learn programming prior to know how to make something: even scripted engines such as unity are not for kids, and to my sense they tend to dictate their ways of doing things, which is not the case with engine like ogre or irrlicht. I remember toying a little with the blender game engine, it was possible to link states or something I don't remember very well. Now I'm thinking that character driven games occupies a big part of the game market. Do you think it is a good idea to make a character-controlled oriented game engine which allows only to build AI instead of anything else ?

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• How do I pick up a new language quickly, given I know several others?

  - by Mark Trapp

  One type of question that keeps coming up on Programmers.SE is how to learn a specific language, given you know several others (usually through a lot of experience or education). In some cases, however, one might need to get up to speed quickly for a job, or for personal development, or even to check out a hot new platform. In your experience, what general strategies have you used to pick up a new language quickly? Are there specific aspects of a language you try to focus on when starting cold? What types of resources do you find helpful in this process?

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• Will learning programming be as fundamental as learning reading/writing to the kids of the future?

  - by pythagras

  It seems I encounter more and more economists, scientists, and miscellaneous other professionals that have jobs that involve programming on some level. More and more, the jobs that my peers have in many many technical professions involve at least some simple scripting if not something more involved. It seems it used to be that "software engineer" was a distinct profession, now its becoming just another skill like writing -- something that any serious technical professional should be able to use for their job. I see a future where programming is essential to getting any kind of technical/mathematical job. Extrapolating on my anecdotal view of my colleagues... Will the kids of the future become literate in programming in the same way they become readers/writers? Will it become so fundamental to our economy and society that it will be taught at an early age? Will interacting with computers be as important as interacting with other people?

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• When should I decide what language and platforms I will use for a project?

  - by Mikalichov

  During your development process, when is the recommended phase to decide what platform to aim for, and what language to use? I figured that it would be better to choose at the beginning what would be your target platform, as it would affect your design decisions, and limit the language you are supposed to use. However, I have heard several stories of people developing their game with whatever language they were the most confident with, and then porting it to the various platforms. So, what is the best moment to choose? Before, during, after? If there is not one best choice, what factors should affect the decision?

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• Is there anything in .NET that allows me to define a grammar and generate a programming language?

  - by user1525474

  I have a course in which the proffesor has asked us to create a DSL for a our final project. He presented us in the first courses xText with Eclipse. This being a new course, I am still a bit fuzzy on what Domain Specific Languages means. This is my current understanding: a domain specific language is a language that is created for specific problems in software development. Examples of DSL's are PHP, SQL, JavaScript and on the opposite are languages like Java , C# , C++ , Ruby etc. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. What I would like to know: is there is any tool for .NET/Visual Studio that is similar to Xtext, that allows me to define a grammar and be allowed to generate a programming language based on that with an activity diagram?

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• How can I explain object-oriented programming to someone who's only coded in Fortran 77? [closed]

  - by Zonedabone

  Possible Duplicate: How can I explain object-oriented programming to someone who’s only coded in Fortran 77? My mother did her college thesis in Fortran, and now (over a decade later) needs to learn c++ for fluids simulations. She is able to understand all of the procedural programming, but no matter how hard I try to explain objects to her, it doesn't stick. (I do a lot of work with Java, so I know how objects work) I think I might be explaining it in too high-level ways, so it isn't really making sense to someone who's never worked with them at all and grew up in the age of purely functional programming. Is there any simple way I can explain them to her that will help her understand? Thanks for the help in advance.

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• How to get some experience in a new programming language? [closed]

  - by BeCool

  I have commercial experience in one programming language but I want to make a switch to another programming language (C#/.NET). I am in full-time employment so whenever I get free time I read relevant books or use online resources available. My questions are - How do I develop experience in the new language of interest (without leaving current job)? The best way I find to learn is to develop a project - How do you / Where can you find new test projects which you can refer to in the interview (these don't have to be real projects but perhaps I can take the code with me in a usb stick as proof). Do you have any tips/advice for me regarding best way to switch career? My lanugauge of choice is C# - so c# related answers will be appreciated.

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• How can I improve these online java programming puzzles I wrote for my (middle/high school) students?

  - by Arcymag

  I'm teaching some middle and high school students programming right now, and I found that some of them really liked online programming puzzles. So I created http://www.kapparate.com/coder/ , and right now there's 4 categories of puzzles. All the puzzles are set up right now so that variables are pre-initialized, and the user plugs in some code in the middle. For example, the problem might say these are pre-initialized: int x = ????; int y = ????; int z; and then the program might ask the student to write the final line of code: z = x + y;. Now I know I could go a long way in improving the usability of this site (like having an area that lists the pre-defined variables), but I was wondering if this concept seems sound. I know some sites have kids fill in functions, but not all of my students know what functions are yet, and I'm trying to introduce online programming puzzles before that.

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• Are there some types of software that cannot be developed by all major programming languages?

  - by mbillard

  I'd like to know if some of the major programming languages can absolutely not be used to create some very specific types of software. By major programming language I mean the likes of C++, C#, Java, Ruby, Python. By "cannot be developed" I mean cannot be developed or it is unrealistic to do it due to performance, difficulty of implementation, etc. I've always thought that any programming language could be used to solve any problem but lately I've been thinking that some languages are unsuitable for some projects. If you can provide examples of such applications, it would be appreciated. Thanks.

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• As a minor, how can I make programming profitable? [closed]

  - by lesderid

  Possible Duplicate: Can I be “too young” to get a programming job? I’m 15 and I want to Freelance I've always loved programming. I started when I was about 8 with making some silly WinForms applications in VB.Net that basically did nothing. Now, I'm 15 and I would say I'm quite good C# and I'm reading through Jon Skeet's C# In Depth. I also have some experience with VB, C++ and Assembler (mostly reverse engineering). I really love coding, which got me wondering about college, what I can study to get into the software business. However, I would like to earn some money now, so I can spend it on better hardware, on development tools or on other hobbies. This is hard because I don't have any work experience nor have I done any programming-related studies. It's also not legal for me to do any freelancing jobs as I'm under the age of 18. How can I use my current experience at my age to earn some money?

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• How to learn programming from very basic level to advanced level? [closed]

  - by user1022209

  I know many programming languages ,skills and concepts in very basic, such as PHP, Java, Object-oriented technology. Using PHP, I can build a simple website with CRUD, login function. Using Java, I can make an basic swing csv/plain text editor in which user can switch between 2 different views. In term of object-oriented Technology, I clearly understand what encapsulation, inheritance and Polymorphism are I want to know more about programming. Sometimes I "google" some of the topics I am interested at , the more I see on the internet, the more I feel I am a small potato in the world ( indeed I am ). The codings/concepts are difficult to understand. I lacks confidence right now so I am asking this question :( What is the best way to learn programming to advanced level? Just buy a book and read it page to page? Thanks for any helps

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• What are the Open Source alternatives to WPF/XAML?

  - by Evan Plaice

  If we've learned anything from HTML/CSS it's that, declarative languages (like XML) work best to describe User Interfaces because: It's easy to build code preprocessors that can template the code effectively. The code is in a well defined well structured (ideally) format so it's easy to parse. The technology to effectively parse or crawl an XML based source file already exists. The UIs scripted code becomes much simpler and easier to understand. It simple enough that designers are able to design the interface themselves. Programmers suck at creating UIs so it should be made easy enough for designers. I recently took a look at the meat of a WPF application (ie. the XAML) and it looks surprisingly familiar to the declarative language style used in HTML. It's apparent to me that the current state of desktop UI development is largely fractionalized, otherwise there wouldn't be so much duplicated effort in the domain of graphical user interface design (IE. GTK, XUL, Qt, Winforms, WPF, etc). There are 45 GUI platforms for Python alone It's seems reasonable to me that there should be a general purpose, open source, standardized, platform independent, markup language for designing desktop GUIs. Much like what the W3C made HTML/CSS into. WPF, or more specifically XAML seems like a pretty likely step in the right direction. Now that the 'browser wars' are over should we look forward to a future of 'desktop gui wars?' Note: This topic is relatively subjective in the attempt to be 'future-thinking.' I think that desktop GUI development in its current state sucks ((really)hard) and, even though WPF is still in it's infancy, it presents a likely solution to the problem. Update: Thanks a lot for the info, keep it comin'. Here's are the options I've gathered from the comments and answers. GladeXML Editor: Glade Interface Designer OS Platforms: All GUI Platform: GTK+ Languages: C (libglade), C++, C# (Glade#), Python, Ada, Pike, Perl, PHP, Eiffel, Ruby XRC (XML Resource) Editors: wxGlade, XRCed, wxDesigner, DialogBlocks (non-free) OS Platforms: All GUI Platform: wxWidgets Languages: C++, Python (wxPython), Perl (wxPerl), .NET (wx.NET) XML based formats that are either not free, not cross-platform, or language specific XUL Editor: Any basic text editor OS Platforms: Any OS running a browser that supports XUL GUI Platform: Gecko Engine? Languages: C++, Python, Ruby as plugin languages not base languages Note: I'm not sure if XUL deserves mentioning in this list because it's less of a desktop GUI language and more of a make-webapps-run-on-the-desktop language. Plus, it requires a browser to run. IE, it's 'DHTML for the desktop.' CookSwing Editor: Eclipse via WindowBuilder, NetBeans 5.0 (non-free) via Swing GUI Builder aka Matisse OS Platforms: All GUI Platform: Java Languages: Java only XAML (Moonlight) Editor: MonoDevelop OS Platforms: Linux and other Unix/X11 based OSes only GUI Platforms: GTK+ Languages: .NET Note: XAML is not a pure Open Source format because Microsoft controls its terms of use including the right to change the terms at any time. Moonlight can not legally be made to run on Windows or Mac. In addition, the only platform that is exempt from legal action is Novell. See this for a full description of what I mean.

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• Textmate quick one

  - by Pickledegg

  I know its not strictly programming related, but the textmate mailing list is too 1990 for me to use properly. I won't make a habit of this: Anyone seen this popup before, it happens everytime I boot my mac. If so how do I kill it? Thanks.

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• How do I install a language pack in Windows 7 Home Premium?

  - by ekaj

  Specifically, I want Korean (link), but I hope this helps other people in general. According to this page, it is only possible for Ultimate and Enterprise. Specifically, I'd like to enable my keyboard to type in Korean, and I specified Korean as the input language (Start - type "Input Languages", only result). Under the General tab, I selected Add, and specified Korean.. but it doesn't work, because the language pack isn't installed I presume. Would anyone know how to add different language input / packs to Windows 7 Home Premium? Also, I tried following this tutorial on adding a language pack to HP, but the .cab keeps disappearing so it will not work. Note: Unlike the link in the tutorial as well, I do not have an option to change the display language of Windows, only the option to change input methods.

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• Does anyone have database, programming language/framework suggestions for a GUI point of sale system

  - by Jason Down

  Our company has a point of sale system with many extras, such as ordering and receiving functionality, sales and order history etc. Our main issue is that the system was not designed properly from the ground up, so it takes too long to make fixes and handle requests from our customers. Also, the current technology we are using (Progress database, Progress 4GL for the language) incurs quite a bit of licensing expenses on our customers due to mutli-user license fees for database connections etc. After a lot of discussion it is looking like we will probably start over from scratch (while maintaining the current product at least for the time being). We are looking for a couple of things: Create the system with a nice GUI front end (it is currently CHUI and the application was not built in a way that allows us to redesign the front end... no layering or separation of business logic and gui...shudder). Create the system with the ability to modularize different functionality so the product doesn't have to include all features. This would keep the cost down for our current customers that want basic functionality and a lower price tag. The bells and whistles would be available for those that would want them. Use proper design patterns to make the product easy to add or change any part at any time (i.e. change the database or change the front end without needing to rewrite the application or most of it). This is a problem today because the Progress 4GL code is directly compiled against the database. Small changes in the database requires lots of code recompiling. Our new system will be Linux based, with a possibility of a client application providing functionality from one or more windows boxes. So what I'm looking for is any suggestions on which database and/or framework or programming language(s) someone might recommend for this sort of product. Anyone that has experience in this field might be able to point us in the right direction or even have some ideas of what to avoid. We have considered .NET and SQL Express (we don't need an enterprise level DB), but that would limit us to windows (as far as I know anyway). I have heard of Mono for writing .NET code in a Linux environment, but I don't know much about it yet. We've also considered a Java and MySql based implementation. To summarize we are looking to do the following: Keep licensing costs down on the technology we will use to develop the product (Oracle, yikes! MySQL, nice.) Deliver a solution that is easily maintainable and supportable. A solution that has a component capable of running on "old" hardware through a CHUI front end. (some of our customers have 40+ terminals which would be a ton of cash in order to convert over to a PC). Suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks [UPDATE] I should note that we are currently performing a total cost analysis. This question is intended to give us a couple of "educated" options to look into to include in or analysis. Anyone who could share experiences/suggestions about client/server setups would be appreciated (not just those who have experience with point of sale systems... that would just be a bonus).

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• Keyboard for programming

  - by exhuma

  This may seem a bit a tangential topic. It's not directly related to actual code, but is important for our line of work nevertheless. Over the years, I've switched keyboards a few times. All of them had slightly different key layouts. And I'm not talking about the language/locale layout, but the physical layout! Why not the locale layout? Well, quite frankly, that's easy to change via software. I personally have a German keyboard but have it set to the UK layout. Why? It's quite hard to find different layouts in the shops where I live. Even ordering is not always easy in the shops. So that leaves me with Internet shops. But I prefer to "test" my keyboards before buying. The most notable changes are: Mangled "Home Key Block" I've seen this first on a Logitech keyboard, but it may have originated elsewhere. Shape of the "Enter" key I've seen three different cases so far: Two lines high, wider at the top Two lines high, wider at the bottom One line high Shape of the Backspace button I've seen two types so far: One "character" wide Two "characters" wide OS Keys For Macs, you have the Option and Command buttons, for Windows you have the Windows and Context Menu buttons. Cherry even produced a Linux keyboard once (unfortunately I cannot find many details except news results). I assume a dedicated Linux keyboard would sport a Compose key and had the SysRq always labelled as well (note that some standard layouts do this already). Obviously... .. all these differences entail that some keys have to be moved around the board a lot. Which means, if you are used to one and have to work on another one, you happen to hit the wrong keys quite often. As it happens, this is much more annoying for programmers as it is for people who write texts. Mainly because the keys which are moved around are special character keys, often used in programming. Often these hardware layouts depend also indirectly on where you buy the keyboards. Honestly, I haven't seen a keyboard with a one-line "Enter" key in Germany, nor Luxembourg. I may just have missed it but that's how it looks to me at least. A survey I've seen some attempts at surveys in the style "which keyboard is best for programming". But they all - in my opinion - are not using comparable sets. So I was wondering if it was possible to concoct a survey taking the above criteria into account. But ignoring key dimensions that one would be a bit overkill I guess ;) From what I can see there are the following types of physical layout: Backspace: 2-characters wide Enter: 2-Lines, wider top Backspace: 2-characters wide Enter: 1-Line Backspace: 1-character wide Enter: 2-Lines, wider bottom Then there are the other possible permutations (home-key block, os-keys), which in total makes for quite a large list of categories. Now, I wonder... Would anyone be interested in such a survey? I personally would. Because I am looking for the perfect fit for me. If yes, then I could really use the help of anyone here to propose some models to include in the survey. Once I have some models for each category (I'd say at least 3 per category) I could go ahead and write up a survey, put it on-line and let the it collect data for a while. What do you think?

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• What is the worst programming language you ever worked with? [closed]

  - by Ludwig Weinzierl

  If you have an interesting story to share, please post an answer, but do not abuse this question for bashing a language. We are programmers, and our primary tool is the programming language we use. While there is a lot of discussion about the best one, I'd like to hear your stories about the worst programming languages you ever worked with and I'd like to know exactly what annoyed you. I'd like to collect this stories partly to avoid common pitfalls while designing a language (especially a DSL) and partly to avoid quirky languages in the future in general. This question is not subjective. If a language supports only single character identifiers (see my own answer) this is bad in a non-debatable way. EDIT Some people have raised concerns that this question attracts trolls. Wading through all your answers made one thing clear. The large majority of answers is appropriate, useful and well written. UPDATE 2009-07-01 19:15 GMT The language overview is now complete, covering 103 different languages from 102 answers. I decided to be lax about what counts as a programming language and included anything reasonable. Thank you David for your comments on this. Here are all programming languages covered so far (alphabetical order, linked with answer, new entries in bold): ABAP, all 20th century languages, all drag and drop languages, all proprietary languages, APF, APL (1), AS400, Authorware, Autohotkey, BancaStar, BASIC, Bourne Shell, Brainfuck, C++, Centura Team Developer, Cobol (1), Cold Fusion, Coldfusion, CRM114, Crystal Syntax, CSS, Dataflex 2.3, DB/c DX, dbase II, DCL, Delphi IDE, Doors DXL, DOS batch (1), Excel Macro language, FileMaker, FOCUS, Forth, FORTRAN, FORTRAN 77, HTML, Illustra web blade, Informix 4th Generation Language, Informix Universal Server web blade, INTERCAL, Java, JavaScript (1), JCL (1), karol, LabTalk, Labview, Lingo, LISP, Logo, LOLCODE, LotusScript, m4, Magic II, Makefiles, MapBasic, MaxScript, Meditech Magic, MEL, mIRC Script, MS Access, MUMPS, Oberon, object extensions to C, Objective-C, OPS5, Oz, Perl (1), PHP, PL/SQL, PowerDynamo, PROGRESS 4GL, prova, PS-FOCUS, Python, Regular Expressions, RPG, RPG II, Scheme, ScriptMaker, sendmail.conf, Smalltalk, Smalltalk , SNOBOL, SpeedScript, Sybase PowerBuilder, Symbian C++, System RPL, TCL, TECO, The Visual Software Environment, Tiny praat, TransCAD, troff, uBasic, VB6 (1), VBScript (1), VDF4, Vimscript, Visual Basic (1), Visual C++, Visual Foxpro, VSE, Webspeed, XSLT The answers covering 80386 assembler, VB6 and VBScript have been removed.

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• File Fix-it codegolf (GCJ 2010 1B-A)

  - by KirarinSnow

  Last year (2009), the Google Code Jam featured an interesting problem as the first problem in Round 1B: Decision Tree As the problem seemed tailored for Lisp-like languages, we spontaneously had an exciting codegolf here on SO, in which a few languages managed to solve the problem in fewer characters than any Lisp variety, using quite a number of different techniques. This year's Round 1B Problem A (File Fix-it) also seems tailored for a particular family of languages, Unix shell scripts. So continuing the "1B-A tradition" would be appropriate. :p But which language will end up with the shortest code? Let us codegolf and see! Problem description (adapted from official page): You are given T test cases. Each test case contains N lines that list the full path of all directories currently existing on your computer. For example: /home/awesome /home/awesome/wheeeeeee /home/awesome/wheeeeeee/codegolfrocks /home/thecakeisalie Next, you are given M lines that list the full path of directories you would like to create. They are in the same format as the previous examples. You can create a directory using the mkdir command, but you can only do so if the parent directory already exists. For example, to create the directories /pyonpyon/fumufumu/yeahyeah and /pyonpyon/fumufumu/yeahyeahyeah, you would need to use mkdir four times: mkdir /pyonpyon mkdir /pyonpyon/fumufumu mkdir /pyonpyon/fumufumu/yeahyeah mkdir /pyonpyon/fumufumu/yeahyeahyeah For each test case, return the number of times you have to call mkdir to create all the directories you would like to create. Input Input consists of a text file whose first line contains the integer T, the number of test cases. The rest of the file contains the test cases. Each test case begins with a line containing the integers N and M, separated by a space. The next N lines contain the path of each directory currently existing on your computer (not including the root directory /). This is a concatenation of one or more non-empty lowercase alphanumeric strings, each preceded by a single /. The following M lines contain the path of each directory you would like to create. Output For each case, print one line containing Case #X: Y, where X is the case number and Y is the solution. Limits 1 = T = 100. 0 = N = 100. 1 = M = 100. Each path contains at most 100 characters. Every path appears only once in the list of directories already on your computer, or in the list of desired directories. However, a path may appear on both lists, as in example case #3 below. If a directory is in the list of directories already on your computer, its parent directory will also be listed, with the exception of the root directory /. The input file is at most 100,000 bytes long. Example Larger sample test cases may be downloaded here. Input: 3 0 2 /home/sparkle/pyon /home/sparkle/cakes 1 3 /z /z/y /z/x /y/y 2 1 /moo /moo/wheeeee /moo Output: Case #1: 4 Case #2: 4 Case #3: 0 Code Golf Please post your shortest code in any language that solves this problem. Input and output may be handled via stdin and stdout or by other files of your choice. Please include a disclaimer if your code has the potential to modify or delete existing files when executed. Winner will be the shortest solution (by byte count) in a language with an implementation existing prior to the start of Round 1B 2010.

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• What is "elegant" code?

  - by Breton

  I see a lot of lip service and talk about the most "elegant" way to do this or that. I think if you spend enough time programming you begin to obtain a sort of intuitive feel for what it is we call "elegance". But I'm curious. Even if we can look at a bit of code, and say instinctively "That's elegant", or "That's messy", I wonder if any of us really understands what that means. Is there a precise definition for this "elegance" we keep referring to? If there is, what is it? Now, what I mean by a precise definition, is a series of statements which can be used to derive questions about a peice of code, or a program as a whole, and determine objectively, or as objectively as possible, whether that code is "elegant" or not. May I assert, that perhaps no such definition exists, and it's all just personal preference. In this case, I ask you a slightly different question: Is there a better word for "elegance", or a better set of attributes to use for judging code quality that is perhaps more objective than merely appealing to individual intuition and taste? Perhaps code quality is a matter of taste, and the answer to both of my questions is "no". But I can't help but feel that we could be doing better than just expressing wishy washy feelings about our code quality. For example, user interface design is something that to a broad range of people looks for all the world like a field of study that oughtta be 100% subjective matter of taste. But this is shockingly and brutally not the case, and there are in fact many objective measures that can be applied to a user interface to determine its quality. A series of tests could be written to give a definitive and repeatable score to user interface quality. (See GOMS, for instance). Now, okay. is Elegance simply "code quality" or is it something more? Is it something that can be measured? Or is it a matter of taste? Does our profession have room for taste? Maybe I'm asking the wrong questions altogether. Help me out here. Bonus Round If there is such a thing as elegance in code, and that concept is useful, do you think that justifies classifying the field of programming as an "Art" capital A, or merely a "craft". Or is it just an engineering field populated by a bunch of wishful thinking humans? Consider this question in the light of your thoughts about the elegance question. Please note that there is a distinction between code which is considered "art" in itself, and code that was written merely in the service of creating an artful program. When I ask this question, I ask if the code itself justifies calling programming an art. Bounty Note I liked the answers to this question so much, I think I'd like to make a photographic essay book from it. Released as a free PDF, and published on some kind of on demand printing service of course, such as "zazz" or "tiggle" or "printley" or something . I'd like some more answers, please!

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• Code golf: Word frequency chart

  - by ChristopheD

  The challenge: Build an ASCII chart of the most commonly used words in a given text. The rules: Only accept a-z and A-Z (alphabetic characters) as part of a word. Ignore casing (She == she for our purpose). Ignore the following words (quite arbitary, I know): the, and, of, to, a, i, it, in, or, is Clarification: considering don't: this would be taken as 2 different 'words' in the ranges a-z and A-Z: (don and t). Optionally (it's too late to be formally changing the specifications now) you may choose to drop all single-letter 'words' (this could potentially make for a shortening of the ignore list too). Parse a given text (read a file specified via command line arguments or piped in; presume us-ascii) and build us a word frequency chart with the following characteristics: Display the chart (also see the example below) for the 22 most common words (ordered by descending frequency). The bar width represents the number of occurences (frequency) of the word (proportionally). Append one space and print the word. Make sure these bars (plus space-word-space) always fit: bar + [space] + word + [space] should be always <= 80 characters (make sure you account for possible differing bar and word lenghts: e.g.: the second most common word could be a lot longer then the first while not differing so much in frequency). Maximize bar width within these constraints and scale the bars appropriately (according to the frequencies they represent). An example: The text for the example can be found here (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll). This specific text would yield the following chart: _________________________________________________________________________ |_________________________________________________________________________| she |_______________________________________________________________| you |____________________________________________________________| said |____________________________________________________| alice |______________________________________________| was |__________________________________________| that |___________________________________| as |_______________________________| her |____________________________| with |____________________________| at |___________________________| s |___________________________| t |_________________________| on |_________________________| all |______________________| this |______________________| for |______________________| had |_____________________| but |____________________| be |____________________| not |___________________| they |__________________| so For your information: these are the frequencies the above chart is built upon: [('she', 553), ('you', 481), ('said', 462), ('alice', 403), ('was', 358), ('that ', 330), ('as', 274), ('her', 248), ('with', 227), ('at', 227), ('s', 219), ('t' , 218), ('on', 204), ('all', 200), ('this', 181), ('for', 179), ('had', 178), (' but', 175), ('be', 167), ('not', 166), ('they', 155), ('so', 152)] A second example (to check if you implemented the complete spec): Replace every occurence of you in the linked Alice in Wonderland file with superlongstringstring: ________________________________________________________________ |________________________________________________________________| she |_______________________________________________________| superlongstringstring |_____________________________________________________| said |______________________________________________| alice |________________________________________| was |_____________________________________| that |______________________________| as |___________________________| her |_________________________| with |_________________________| at |________________________| s |________________________| t |______________________| on |_____________________| all |___________________| this |___________________| for |___________________| had |__________________| but |_________________| be |_________________| not |________________| they |________________| so The winner: Shortest solution (by character count, per language). Have fun! Edit: Table summarizing the results so far (2012-02-15) (originally added by user Nas Banov): Language Relaxed Strict ========= ======= ====== GolfScript 130 143 Perl 185 Windows PowerShell 148 199 Mathematica 199 Ruby 185 205 Unix Toolchain 194 228 Python 183 243 Clojure 282 Scala 311 Haskell 333 Awk 336 R 298 Javascript 304 354 Groovy 321 Matlab 404 C# 422 Smalltalk 386 PHP 450 F# 452 TSQL 483 507 The numbers represent the length of the shortest solution in a specific language. "Strict" refers to a solution that implements the spec completely (draws |____| bars, closes the first bar on top with a ____ line, accounts for the possibility of long words with high frequency etc). "Relaxed" means some liberties were taken to shorten to solution. Only solutions shorter then 500 characters are included. The list of languages is sorted by the length of the 'strict' solution. 'Unix Toolchain' is used to signify various solutions that use traditional *nix shell plus a mix of tools (like grep, tr, sort, uniq, head, perl, awk).

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