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• Do you know your ADF "grace period?"

  - by Chris Muir

  What does the term "support" mean to you in context of vendors such as Oracle giving your organization support with our products? Over the last few weeks I'm taken a straw poll to discuss this very question with customers, and I've received a wide array of answers much to my surprise (which I've paraphrased): "Support means my staff can access dedicated resources to assist them solve problems" "Support means I can call Oracle at anytime to request assistance" "Support means we can expect fixes and patches to bugs in Oracle software" The last expectation is the one I'd like to focus on in this post, keep it in mind while reading this blog. From Oracle's perspective as we're in the business of support, we in fact offer numerous services which are captured on the table in the following page. As the text under the table indicates, you should consult the relevant Oracle Lifetime Support brochures to understand the length of time Oracle will support Oracle products. As I'm a product manager for ADF that sits under the FMW tree of Oracle products, let's consider ADF in particular. The FMW brochure is found here. On page 8 and 9 you'll see the current "Application Development Framework 11gR1 (11.1.1.x)" and "Application Development Framework 11gR2 (11.1.2)" releases are supported out to 2017 for Extended Support. This timeframe is pretty standard for Oracle's current released products, though as new releases roll in we should see those dates extended. On page 8 of the PDF note the comment at the end of this page that refers to the Oracle Support document 209768.1: For more-detailed information on bug fix and patch release policies, please refer to the “Error Correction Support Policy” on MyOracle Support. This policy document is important as it introduces Oracle's Error Correction Support Policy which addresses "patches and fixes". You can find it attached the previous Oracle Support document 209768.1. Broadly speaking while Oracle does provide "generalized support" up to 2017 for ADF, the Error Correction Support Policy dictates when Oracle will provide "patches and fixes" for Oracle software, and this is where the concept of the "grace period" comes in. As Oracle releases different versions of Oracle software, say 11.1.1.4.0, you are fully supported for patches and fixes for that specific version. However when we release the next version, say 11.1.1.5.0, Oracle provides at minimum of 3 months to a maximum of 1 year "grace period" where we'll continue to provide patches and fixes for the previous version. This gives you time to move from 11.1.1.4.0 to 11.1.1.5.0 without being unsupported for patches and fixes. The last paragraph does generalize as I've attempted to highlight the concept of the grace period rather than the specific dates for any version. For specific ADF and FMW versions and their respective grace periods and when they terminated you must visit Oracle Support Note 1290894.1. I'd like to include a screenshot here of the relevant table from that Oracle Support Note but as it is will be frequently updated it's better I force you to visit that note. Be careful to heed the comment in the note: According to policy, the Grace Period has passed because a newer Patch Set has been released for more than a year. Its important to note that the Lifetime Support Policy and Error Correction Support Policy documents are the single source of truth, subject to change, and will provide exceptions when required. This My Oracle Support document is providing a summary of the Grace Period dates and time lines for planning purposes. So remember to return to the policy document for all definitions, note 1290894.1 is a summary only and not guaranteed to be up to date or correct. A last point from Oracle's perspective. Why doesn't Oracle provide patches and fixes for all releases as long as they're supported? Amongst other reasons, it's a matter of practicality. Consider JDeveloper 10.1.3 released in 2005. JDeveloper 10.1.3 is still currently supported to 2017, but since that version was released there has been just under 20 newer releases of JDeveloper. Now multiply that across all Oracle's products and imagine the number of releases Oracle would have to provide fixes and patches for, and maintain environments to test them, build them, staff to write them and more, it's simple beyond the capabilities of even a large software vendor like Oracle. So the "grace period" restricts that patches and fixes window to something manageable. In conclusion does the concept of the "grace period" matter to you? If you define support as "getting assistance from Oracle" then maybe not. But if patches and fixes are important to you, then you need to understand the "grace period" and operate within the bounds of Oracle's Error Correction Support Policy. Disclaimer: this blog post was written July 2012. Oracle Support policies do change from time to time so the emphasis is on you to double check the facts presented in this blog.

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• Computing a normal matrix in conjunction with gluLookAt

  - by Chris Smith

  I have a hand-rolled camera class that converts yaw, pitch, and roll angles into a forward, side, and up vector suitable for calling gluLookAt. Using this camera class I can modify the model-view matrix to move about the 3D world just fine. However, I am having trouble when using this camera class (and associated model-view matrix) when trying to perform directional lighting in my vertex shader. The problem is that the light direction, (0, 1, 0) for example, is relative to where the 'camera is looking' and not the actual world coordinates. (Or is this eye coordinates vs. model coordinates?) I would like the light direction to be unaffected by the camera's viewing direction. For example, when the camera is looking down the Z axis the ground is lit correctly. However, if I point the camera straight at the ground, then it goes dark. This is (I think) because the light direction is parallel with the camera's 'up' vector which is perpendicular with the ground's normal vector. I tried computing the normal matrix without taking the camera's model view into account, but then none of my objects were rotated correctly. Sorry if this sounds vague. I suspect there is a straight forward answer, but I'm not 100% clear on how the normal matrix should be used for transforming vertex normals in my vertex shader. For reference, here is pseudo code for my rendering loop: pMatrix = new Matrix(); pMatrix = makePerspective(...) mvMatrix = new Matrix() camera.apply(mvMatrix); // Calls gluLookAt // Move the object into position. mvMatrix.translatev(position); mvMatrix.rotatef(rotation.x, 1, 0, 0); mvMatrix.rotatef(rotation.y, 0, 1, 0); mvMatrix.rotatef(rotation.z, 0, 0, 1); var nMatrix = new Matrix(); nMatrix.set(mvMatrix.get().getInverse().getTranspose()); // Set vertex shader uniforms. gl.uniformMatrix4fv(shaderProgram.pMatrixUniform, false, new Float32Array(pMatrix.getFlattened())); gl.uniformMatrix4fv(shaderProgram.mvMatrixUniform, false, new Float32Array(mvMatrix.getFlattened())); gl.uniformMatrix4fv(shaderProgram.nMatrixUniform, false, new Float32Array(nMatrix.getFlattened())); // ... gl.drawElements(gl.TRIANGLES, this.vertexIndexBuffer.numItems, gl.UNSIGNED_SHORT, 0); And the corresponding vertex shader: // Attributes attribute vec3 aVertexPosition; attribute vec4 aVertexColor; attribute vec3 aVertexNormal; // Uniforms uniform mat4 uMVMatrix; uniform mat4 uNMatrix; uniform mat4 uPMatrix; // Varyings varying vec4 vColor; // Constants const vec3 LIGHT_DIRECTION = vec3(0, 1, 0); // Opposite direction of photons. const vec4 AMBIENT_COLOR = vec4 (0.2, 0.2, 0.2, 1.0); float ComputeLighting() { vec4 transformedNormal = vec4(aVertexNormal.xyz, 1.0); transformedNormal = uNMatrix * transformedNormal; float base = dot(normalize(transformedNormal.xyz), normalize(LIGHT_DIRECTION)); return max(base, 0.0); } void main(void) { gl_Position = uPMatrix * uMVMatrix * vec4(aVertexPosition, 1.0); float lightWeight = ComputeLighting(); vColor = vec4(aVertexColor.xyz * lightWeight, 1.0) + AMBIENT_COLOR; } Note that I am using WebGL, so if the anser is use glFixThisProblem(...) any pointers on how to re-implement that on WebGL if missing would be appreciated.

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• OpenGL ES Basic Fragment Shader help with transparency

  - by Chris

  I have just spent my first half hour playing with the shader language. I have modified the basic program I have which renders the texture, to allow me to colour the texture. varying vec2 texCoord; uniform sampler2D texSampler; /* Given the texture coordinates, our pixel shader grabs the corresponding * color from the texture. */ void main() { //gl_FragColor = texture2D(texSampler, texCoord); gl_FragColor = vec4(0,1,0,1)*vec4(texture2D(texSampler,texCoord).xyz,1); } I have noticed how this affects my transparent textures, and I believe I am loosing the alpha channel which would explain why previously transparent area's appear totally black. If I use the following line instead, I am shown the transparent area's gl_FragColor = vec4(0,1,0,1)*vec4(texture2D(texSampler,texCoord).aaa,1); How can I retain the transparency after this modification to the colour? I have seen various things about a .w property, and also luminous, but my tweaks with those and the .aaa property are not working XD

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• How should I take being told that I was wrong?

  - by Chris

  On a fairly important project with short timelines I decided to use SubSonic for straight forward data access. I wired up a handful of forms, created matching database tables and POCO's for each and used SubSonic's simple repository mode for the data access. Everything worked well and I was able to bang these forms out pretty quickly and I moved on to other things. Since that time I have heard that using SubSonic was a 'cowboy move' and that it was implemented 'incorrectly' and that 'the person who used it, didn't even know how to use SubSonic'. What I would like to know is, how should I take this? There were and still are no standards for data access at this company, so there is no violation of a standard. The forms worked exactly as requested and saved the data to the database correctly. And with only spending a few days on the forms instead of weeks, saved a lot of time which was used for other functionality in the project. So in light of all of this, I am confused as to what was 'incorrect'. Am I missing something here? Thanks for your answers.

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• How do I ban a wifi network in Network Manager?

  - by Chris Conway

  My wifi connection drops sometimes and, for some reason, Network Manager attempts to connect to my neighbor's network, which requires a password that I don't know. The network in question is not listed in the "Edit Connections..." dialog and I can find no reference to it in any configuration file, but still the password dialog pops up every time my main connection drops. Is there a way to blacklist a wireless network so that the Network Manager will never attempt to connect to it? Or, equivalently, how can I remove the configuration data that causes the Network Manager to attempt to connect to this particular network?

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• How To Easily Back Up Your Gmail and Perform Scheduled Backups With GMVault

  - by Chris Hoffman

  We all know backups are important, but we rarely think about backing up our email. GMVault can automatically back up your Gmail to your computer and even restore the emails to another Gmail account – convenient when switching Gmail addresses. We’ve also covered using Thunderbird to back up your web-based email account, but GMVault has a few advantages, including its integrated restore function and easy integration with the Windows Task Scheduler. 8 Deadly Commands You Should Never Run on Linux 14 Special Google Searches That Show Instant Answers How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates

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• How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Windows won’t allow you to modify files that open programs have locked. if you try to delete a file and see a message that it’s open in a program, you’ll have to unlock the file (or close the program). In some cases, it may not be clear which program has locked a file – or a background process may have locked a file and not terminated correctly. You must unlock the stubborn file or folder to modify it. Note: Unlocking certain files and deleting them may cause problems with open programs. Don’t unlock and delete files that should remain locked, including Windows system files. How To Delete, Move, or Rename Locked Files in Windows HTG Explains: Why Screen Savers Are No Longer Necessary 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7

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• Solution for installing the ADF 11.1.1.6.0 Runtimes onto a standalone WLS 10.3.6

  - by Chris Muir

  A few customers are hitting the following problem with regards to JDeveloper 11.1.1.6.0 so it's worth documenting a solution. As noted in my previous post the ADF Runtimes for JDeveloper 11.1.1.6.0 will work against a 10.3.5 and 10.3.6 WLS server.  In terms of the JDeveloper 11.1.1.6.0 download Oracle has coupled the 10.3.5 server with that release, not a 10.3.6 server. This has caught some customers out as they are attempting to use the JDeveloper installer to load the 11.1.1.6.0 ADF Runtimes into the middleware home of a standalone 10.3.6 WLS server.  When doing so the installer complains as follows: "The product maintenance level of the current server (WebLogic Server: 10.3.5.0) is not compatible with the maintenance level of the product installed on your system (WebLogic Server: 10.3.6.0).  Please obtain a compatible installer or perform maintenance or your current system to achieve the desired level." The solution is to install the runtimes using the standalone 11.1.1.6.0 ADF Runtime Libraries installer available from OTN (see the options under "Application Development Runtime").

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• Use Classic Shell to Get a Classic Start Menu & Explorer Toolbar in Windows 8

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Classic Shell is an open-source utility that brings classic Windows features to newer versions of Windows. It offers the most classic Start menu for Windows 8 yet, and it lets you avoid the ribbon with a Windows Explorer toolbar. We’ve also written about getting a Windows 7-style Start button with ViStart and a Metro-style Start menu with Start 8. Or, if you’re brave, dive into the deep end and try living without the Start button for a while. How to Stress Test the Hard Drives in Your PC or Server How To Customize Your Android Lock Screen with WidgetLocker The Best Free Portable Apps for Your Flash Drive Toolkit

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• Most efficient arc for developing cross-browser support?

  - by Chris Hasbrouck

  I'm curious to hear what approach people take to planning for cross-browser support when developing a website. There are generally two approaches I've seen developers take in their workflow: -optimize for webkit then apply hacks for IE7-9, or -optimize for IE7-8 then apply newer features for IE9/webkit Basically starting at the front of technology and working toward the back, or starting at the back of technology and working toward the front. How do you do things? What advantages or disadvantage do you perceive in the different way of doing things wrt to developing cross-browser support?

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• How to Install Incompatible Android Apps from Google Play

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Some Android apps on Google Play claim to be incompatible with various devices. There’s a good chance that these apps will run fine on many of these devices – you can bypass this check with root access. Some apps won’t actually work after you install them, but many will. This also solves problems with games that will install but refuse to play – for example, Gameloft games with the “this device is incompatible” message. Hack Your Kindle for Easy Font Customization HTG Explains: What Is RSS and How Can I Benefit From Using It? HTG Explains: Why You Only Have to Wipe a Disk Once to Erase It

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• How can I unit test a class which requires a web service call?

  - by Chris Cooper

  I'm trying to test a class which calls some Hadoop web services. The code is pretty much of the form: method() { ...use Jersey client to create WebResource... ...make request... ...do something with response... } e.g. there is a create directory method, a create folder method etc. Given that the code is dealing with an external web service that I don't have control over, how can I unit test this? I could try and mock the web service client/responses but that breaks the guideline I've seen a lot recently: "Don't mock objects you don't own". I could set up a dummy web service implementation - would that still constitute a "unit test" or would it then be an integration test? Is it just not possible to unit test at this low a level - how would a TDD practitioner go about this?

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• Immutable Method in Java

  - by Chris Okyen

  In Java, there is the final keyword in lieu of the const keyword in C and C++. In the latter languages there are mutable and immutable methods such as stated in the answer by Johannes Schaub - litb to the question How many and which are the uses of “const” in C++? Use const to tell others methods won't change the logical state of this object. struct SmartPtr { int getCopies() const { return mCopiesMade; } }ptr1; ... int var = ptr.getCopies(); // returns mCopiesMade and is specified that to not modify objects state. How is this performed in Java?

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• How to stop fan running always on Asus P8P76LE motherboard with ATI Radeon HD6900

  - by Chris Good

  I'm using Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. I'm not sure if it is the CPU (i7) fan or the video card fan. I've tried using lm-sensors & fancontrol sudo sensors-detect Now follows a summary of the probes I have just done. Just press ENTER to continue: Driver `w83627ehf': * ISA bus, address 0x290 Chip `Nuvoton NCT6776F Super IO Sensors' (confidence: 9) Driver `coretemp': * Chip `Intel digital thermal sensor' (confidence: 9) To load everything that is needed, add this to /etc/modules: # Chip drivers coretemp w83627ehf Like many people, I'm also getting error: /usr/sbin/pwmconfig: There are no pwm-capable sensor modules installed Here is the output of sensors: # sensors radeon-pci-0100 Adapter: PCI adapter temp1: +71.0°C coretemp-isa-0000 Adapter: ISA adapter Physical id 0: +44.0°C (high = +80.0°C, crit = +98.0°C) Core 0: +44.0°C (high = +80.0°C, crit = +98.0°C) Core 1: +40.0°C (high = +80.0°C, crit = +98.0°C) Core 2: +43.0°C (high = +80.0°C, crit = +98.0°C) Core 3: +42.0°C (high = +80.0°C, crit = +98.0°C) I'm hoping some-one has already solved this for my configuration because this seems to be a problem for many people and there are many different suggestions.

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• Recommendations for adjustable sit-stand workstations?

  - by Chris Phillips

  Recently, I've been feeling the discomfort of sitting at my desk all day long. I'm fairly active, stretch, and take regular breaks, but some days it's still pretty uncomfortable to sit all day long, whether in a nice chair or on an exercise ball. I would really like able to stand at my computer for part of the day. My current setup is a large desk with two 26" lcds and a 17" laptop. I don't mind if the laptop isn't adjustable, as I don't use it as regularly as the monitors. I would like to be able to fairly easily switch from a sitting position to a standing position and back again as necessary. I've been looking into adjustable height desks and stands and found that they tend to be either really expensive, or don't quite meet my needs. (For example, the Ergotron WorkFit-S Dual LCD workstation looks like the ideal feature set at a reasonable price, but won't fit with my monitors.) Any suggestions or thoughts? Update: fixed a typo. Thanks @RDL!

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• HTG Explains: What Are the Sys Rq, Scroll Lock, and Pause/Break Keys on My Keyboard?

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Glance at your keyboard and chances are you’ll see a few keys you never use near the top-right corner – Sys Rq, Scroll Lock, and Pause / Break. Have you ever wondered what those keys are for? While these keys have been removed from some computer keyboards today, they’re still a common sight — even on new keyboards. Image Credit: ajmexico on Flickr 8 Deadly Commands You Should Never Run on Linux 14 Special Google Searches That Show Instant Answers How To Create a Customized Windows 7 Installation Disc With Integrated Updates

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• How To Enable Aero Glass-Style Transparency in Windows 8

  - by Chris Hoffman

  Aero Glass is gone in Windows 8. If you really miss Aero Glass, there’s a trick you can use to re-enable the transparent window title bars and borders – although Microsoft doesn’t want us to. Microsoft has removed a lot of the code that makes Aero Glass, once an important Windows feature, possible. This trick doesn’t work perfectly – the blur effect has been removed by Microsoft and graphical corruption can occur in some situations. 6 Ways Windows 8 Is More Secure Than Windows 7 HTG Explains: Why It’s Good That Your Computer’s RAM Is Full 10 Awesome Improvements For Desktop Users in Windows 8

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• Effective way to check if an Entity/Player enters a region/trigger

  - by Chris

  I was wondering how multiplayer games detect if you enter a special region. Let's assume there is a huge map that is so big that simply checking it would become a huge performance issue. I've seen bukkit (a modding API for Minecraft servers) firing an Event on every single move. I don't think that larger games do the same because even if you have only a few coordinates you are interested in, you have to loop through a few trigger zone to see if the player is inside your region - for every player. This seems like an extremely CPU-intense operation to me even though I've never developed something like that. Is there a special algorithm that is used by larger games to accomplish this? The only thing I could imagine is to split up the world into multiple parts and to register the event not on the movement itself but on all the parts that are covered by your area and only check for areas that are registered in the current part. And another thing I would like to know: How could you detect when someone must have entered a trigger but you never saw him directly in it since his client only sent you an move packet shortly before entering and after leaving the trigger area. Drawing a line and calculate all colliding parts seems rather CPU intensive if you have to perform it every time.

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• ASP.NET MVC WebService - Security for Industrial Android Clients

  - by Chris Nevill

  I'm trying to design a system that will allow a bunch of Android devices to securely log into an ASP.NET MVC REST Web service. At present neither side are implemented. However there is an ASP.NET MVC website which the web service will site along side. This is currently using forms authentication. The idea will be that the Android devices will download data from the web service and then be able to work offline storing data in their own local databases, where users will be able to make updates to that data, and then syncing updates back to the main server where possible. The web service will be using HTTPS to prevent calls being intercepted and reduce the risk of calls being intercepted. The system is an industrial system and will not be in used by the general Android population. Instead only authorized Android devices will be authorized by the Web Service to make calls. As such I was thinking of using the Android devices serial number as a username and then a generated long password which the device will be able to pick up - once the device has been authorized server side. The device will also have user logins - but these will not be to log into the web service - just the device itself - since the device and user must be able to work offline. So usernames and passwords will be downloaded and stored on the devices themselves. My question is... what form of security is best setup on the web service? Should it use forms Authentication? Should the username and password just be passed in with each GET/POST call or should it start a session as I have with the website? The Android side causes more confusion. There seems to be a number of options here Spring-Android, Volley, Retrofit, LoopJ, Robo Spice which seems to use the aforementioned Spring, Retrofit or Google HttpClient. I'm struggling to find a simple example which authenticates with a forms based authentication system. Is this because I'm going about this wrong? Is there another option that would better suite this?

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• I have neither grub.conf nur menu.lst

  - by chris

  Hi, I just compiled my own kernel for the first time. At it is written in a tutorial I now want to check whether the kernel got written into the grub.conf file. Well, I did not find a grub.conf file. So I googled. Answer: Ubuntu does not have grub.conf, but rather has a menu.lst (also stored in /boot/grub). So I looked for that file. But I don't have that one either. So now the question: Where is my GRUB data stored? Im using Ubuntu 10.10 with Kernel 2.6.35-27

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• How to Use Windows 8's Storage Spaces to Mirror & Combine Drives

  - by Chris Hoffman

  “Storage Spaces” is a new feature in Windows 8 that can combine multiple hard drives into a single virtual drive. It can mirror data across multiple drives for redundancy or combine multiple physical drives into a single pool of storage. You can even create pools of storage larger than the amount of physical storage space you have available. When the physical storage fills up, you can plug in another drive and take advantage of it with no additional configuration required. Storage Spaces is similar to RAID or LVM on Linux. The HTG Guide to Hiding Your Data in a TrueCrypt Hidden Volume Make Your Own Windows 8 Start Button with Zero Memory Usage Reader Request: How To Repair Blurry Photos

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• libgdx intersection problem between rectangle and circle

  - by Chris

  My collision detection in libgdx is somehow buggy. player.png is 20*80px and ball.png 25*25px. Code: @Override public void create() { // ... batch = new SpriteBatch(); playerTex = new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("data/player.png")); ballTex = new Texture(Gdx.files.internal("data/ball.png")); player = new Rectangle(); player.width = 20; player.height = 80; player.x = Gdx.graphics.getWidth() - player.width - 10; player.y = 300; ball = new Circle(); ball.x = Gdx.graphics.getWidth() / 2; ball.y = Gdx.graphics.getHeight() / 2; ball.radius = ballTex.getWidth() / 2; } @Override public void render() { Gdx.gl.glClearColor(1, 1, 1, 1); Gdx.gl.glClear(GL10.GL_COLOR_BUFFER_BIT); camera.update(); // draw player, ball batch.setProjectionMatrix(camera.combined); batch.begin(); batch.draw(ballTex, ball.x, ball.y); batch.draw(playerTex, player.x, player.y); batch.end(); // update player position if(Gdx.input.isKeyPressed(Keys.DOWN)) player.y -= 250 * Gdx.graphics.getDeltaTime(); if(Gdx.input.isKeyPressed(Keys.UP)) player.y += 250 * Gdx.graphics.getDeltaTime(); if(Gdx.input.isKeyPressed(Keys.LEFT)) player.x -= 250 * Gdx.graphics.getDeltaTime(); if(Gdx.input.isKeyPressed(Keys.RIGHT)) player.x += 250 * Gdx.graphics.getDeltaTime(); // don't let the player leave the field if(player.y < 0) player.y = 0; if(player.y > 600 - 80) player.y = 600 - 80; // check collision if (Intersector.overlaps(ball, player)) Gdx.app.log("overlaps", "yes"); }

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• Is there a better term than "smoothness" or "granularity" to describe this language feature?

  - by Chris

  One of the best things about programming is the abundance of different languages. There are general purpose languages like C++ and Java, as well as little languages like XSLT and AWK. When comparing languages, people often use things like speed, power, expressiveness, and portability as the important distinguishing features. There is one characteristic of languages I consider to be important that, so far, I haven't heard [or been able to come up with] a good term for: how well a language scales from writing tiny programs to writing huge programs. Some languages make it easy and painless to write programs that only require a few lines of code, e.g. task automation. But those languages often don't have enough power to solve large problems, e.g. GUI programming. Conversely, languages that are powerful enough for big problems often require far too much overhead for small problems. This characteristic is important because problems that look small at first frequently grow in scope in unexpected ways. If a programmer chooses a language appropriate only for small tasks, scope changes can require rewriting code from scratch in a new language. And if the programmer chooses a language with lots of overhead and friction to solve a problem that stays small, it will be harder for other people to use and understand than necessary. Rewriting code that works fine is the single most wasteful thing a programmer can do with their time, but using a bazooka to kill a mosquito instead of a flyswatter isn't good either. Here are some of the ways this characteristic presents itself. Can be used interactively - there is some environment where programmers can enter commands one by one Requires no more than one file - neither project files nor makefiles are required for running in batch mode Can easily split code across multiple files - files can refeence each other, or there is some support for modules Has good support for data structures - supports structures like arrays, lists, and especially classes Supports a wide variety of features - features like networking, serialization, XML, and database connectivity are supported by standard libraries Here's my take on how C#, Python, and shell scripting measure up. Python scores highest. Feature C# Python shell scripting --------------- --------- --------- --------------- Interactive poor strong strong One file poor strong strong Multiple files strong strong moderate Data structures strong strong poor Features strong strong strong Is there a term that captures this idea? If not, what term should I use? Here are some candidates. Scalability - already used to decribe language performance, so it's not a good idea to overload it in the context of language syntax Granularity - expresses the idea of being good just for big tasks versus being good for big and small tasks, but doesn't express anything about data structures Smoothness - expresses the idea of low friction, but doesn't express anything about strength of data structures or features Note: Some of these properties are more correctly described as belonging to a compiler or IDE than the language itself. Please consider these tools collectively as the language environment. My question is about how easy or difficult languages are to use, which depends on the environment as well as the language.

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• Embracing Community

  - by Chris Williams

  I just put the finishing touches on another article for my Code Magazine column: Embracing Community. You won't see this one until around July, but it focuses on a subject near and dear to my heart: Code Camps! At the end of the article, I mention that I'm interested in hearing some of your war stories about community and what you do to be a part of it. I'll be talking to people at Tech Ed 2010 and Codestock, but I would also like to hear from some of you that read this blog. If you have an interesting story to share, drop me a line (via this blog) and tell me about it. You never know, it just might end up in my column.

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• How to Build Services from Legacy Applications

  - by Chris Falter

  The SOA consultants invaded the executive suite at your company or agency, preached the true religion, and converted the unbelievers. Now by divine imperative you must convert your legacy applications into a suite of reusable services.  But as usual, you lack the time and resources that you need in order to develop the services properly.  So you googled or bing’ed, found this blog post, and began crying in gratitude.  Yes, as the title implies, I am going to reveal my easy, 3-step, works-every-time process for converting silos of legacy applications into the inventory of services your CIO has been dreaming about.  So just close your eyes and count to 3 … now open them … and here it is…. Not. While wishful thinking is too often the coin of the IT realm, even the most naive practitioner knows that converting legacy applications into reusable services requires more than a magic wand.  The reason is simple: if your starting point is your legacy applications, then you will simply be bolting a web service technology layer on top of your legacy API.  And that legacy API is built in the image of the silo applications.  Enter the wide gate of the legacy API, follow the broad path of generating service interfaces from existing code, and you will arrive at the siloed enterprise destruction that you thought you were escaping. The Straight and Narrow Path This past week I had the opportunity to learn how the FBI Criminal Justice Information Systems department has been transitioning from silo applications to a service inventory.  Lafe Hutcheson, IT Specialist in the architecture group and fellow attendee at an SOA Architect Certification Workshop, was my guide.  Lafe has survived the chaos of an SOA initiative, so it is not surprising that he was able to return from a US Army deployment to Kabul, Afghanistan with nary a scratch.  According to Lafe, building their service inventory is a three-phase process: Model a business process.  This requires intense collaboration between the IT and business wings of the organization, of course.  The FBI uses IBM Websphere tools to model the process with BPMN. Identify candidate services to facilitate the business process. Convert the BPMN to an executable BPEL orchestration, model and develop the services, and use a BPEL engine to run the process.  The FBI uses ActiveVOS for orchestration services. The 12 Step Program to End Your Legacy API Addiction Thomas Erl has documented a process for building a web service inventory that is quite similar to the FBI process. Erl’s process adds a technology architecture definition phase, which allows for the technology environment to influence the inventory blueprint.  For example, if you are using an enterprise service bus, you will probably not need to build your own utility services for logging or intermediate routing.  Erl also lists a service-oriented analysis phase that highlights the 12-step process of applying the principles of service orientation to modeling your services.  Erl depicts the modeling of a service inventory as an iterative process: model a business process, define the relevant technology architecture, define the service inventory blueprint, analyze the services, then model another business process, rinse and repeat.  (Astute readers will note that Erl’s diagram, restricted to analysis and modeling process, does not include the implementation phase that concludes the FBI service development methodology.) The service-oriented analysis phase is where you find the 12 steps that will free you from your legacy API addiction. In a nutshell, you identify the steps in the process that need services; identify the different types of services (agnostic entity services, service compositions, and utility services) that are required; apply service-orientation principles; and normalize the inventory into cohesive service models. Rather than discuss each of the 12 steps individually, I will close by simply referring my readers to Erl’s explanation.

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