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  • XMLPad – a new tool in my developer utility belt

    - by jamiet
    Yesterday I was on the lookout for a free tool that would help me write XPath statements. I put a shout out on Twitter and Johan Barnard replied saying : Give XMLPad a try http://www.wmhelp.com/xmlpad3.htm I’m sure there are legions of developers out there that know all about XMLPad but I had never heard about it so I suspect some of you reading haven’t either. Today I downloaded it to give it a run out and I gotta say – I love it. I only used it to do one thing –constructing an XPath expression to point to a particular Configuration definition in a .dtsx file- and it allowed me to do that with consummate ease. The feature I particularly loved was that, similar to Google Suggest, it showed me results from my expression as I typed. Here is a screenshot of my XPath expression to find (and just try saying this in a hurry) the value of a property whose DTS:Name attribute equals ‘ConfigurationString’ of a Configuration definition where the value of that Configuration definition’s property whose DTS:Name attribute equals ‘ObjectName’, equals ‘BIConfig My XPath expression: /DTS:Executable/DTS:Configuration[DTS:Property[@DTS:Name=’ObjectName’]=’BIConfig’]/DTS:Property[@DTS:Name=’ConfigurationString’] and believe me, there was no way I would have been able to come up with that without a tool to help me! So, an easy tip for you – if you need to write XPath expression download XMLPad for free from http://www.wmhelp.com/xmlpad3.htm and see what it can do for you. That’s all. Its now Friday evening and I’m shutting down and relaxing before heading to the big game at Twickenham tomorrow (yes, I have a ticket ). Have a good one! @Jamiet

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  • Design review for application facing memory issues

    - by Mr Moose
    I apologise in advance for the length of this post, but I want to paint an accurate picture of the problems my app is facing and then pose some questions below; I am trying to address some self inflicted design pain that is now leading to my application crashing due to out of memory errors. An abridged description of the problem domain is as follows; The application takes in a “dataset” that consists of numerous text files containing related data An individual text file within the dataset usually contains approx 20 “headers” that contain metadata about the data it contains. It also contains a large tab delimited section containing data that is related to data in one of the other text files contained within the dataset. The number of columns per file is very variable from 2 to 256+ columns. The original application was written to allow users to load a dataset, map certain columns of each of the files which basically indicating key information on the files to show how they are related as well as identify a few expected column names. Once this is done, a validation process takes place to enforce various rules and ensure that all the relationships between the files are valid. Once that is done, the data is imported into a SQL Server database. The database design is an EAV (Entity-Attribute-Value) model used to cater for the variable columns per file. I know EAV has its detractors, but in this case, I feel it was a reasonable choice given the disparate data and variable number of columns submitted in each dataset. The memory problem Given the fact the combined size of all text files was at most about 5 megs, and in an effort to reduce the database transaction time, it was decided to read ALL the data from files into memory and then perform the following; perform all the validation whilst the data was in memory relate it using an object model Start DB transaction and write the key columns row by row, noting the Id of the written row (all tables in the database utilise identity columns), then the Id of the newly written row is applied to all related data Once all related data had been updated with the key information to which it relates, these records are written using SqlBulkCopy. Due to our EAV model, we essentially have; x columns by y rows to write, where x can by 256+ and rows are often into the tens of thousands. Once all the data is written without error (can take several minutes for large datasets), Commit the transaction. The problem now comes from the fact we are now receiving individual files containing over 30 megs of data. In a dataset, we can receive any number of files. We’ve started seen datasets of around 100 megs coming in and I expect it is only going to get bigger from here on in. With files of this size, data can’t even be read into memory without the app falling over, let alone be validated and imported. I anticipate having to modify large chunks of the code to allow validation to occur by parsing files line by line and am not exactly decided on how to handle the import and transactions. Potential improvements I’ve wondered about using GUIDs to relate the data rather than relying on identity fields. This would allow data to be related prior to writing to the database. This would certainly increase the storage required though. Especially in an EAV design. Would you think this is a reasonable thing to try, or do I simply persist with identity fields (natural keys can’t be trusted to be unique across all submitters). Use of staging tables to get data into the database and only performing the transaction to copy data from staging area to actual destination tables. Questions For systems like this that import large quantities of data, how to you go about keeping transactions small. I’ve kept them as small as possible in the current design, but they are still active for several minutes and write hundreds of thousands of records in one transaction. Is there a better solution? The tab delimited data section is read into a DataTable to be viewed in a grid. I don’t need the full functionality of a DataTable, so I suspect it is overkill. Is there anyway to turn off various features of DataTables to make them more lightweight? Are there any other obvious things you would do in this situation to minimise the memory footprint of the application described above? Thanks for your kind attention.

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  • A good tool for browser automation/client-side Web scripting

    - by hardmath
    I'm interested in adopting a tool/scripting language to automate some daily tasks connected with fighting forum spammers. A brief overview of these tasks: analyze new registrations and posts on a phpBB forum, and delete or deactivate spammers using a website/community that collects such spam reports. Typically such automation is integrated into the phpBB installation itself, which certainly has its advantages. My approach has the advantage of independent operation, etc. One way to think about this is in terms of browser automation. I've used iOpus iMacros for Firefox (the free version) in the past to respond to individual spammers, but current attacks are highly distributed. My "logic" for pigeonholing spammers vs. nonspammers seems beyond the easy reach of the free version of iMacros. From a more technical perspective one can think about dispensing with the browser altogether and programming GET/POST requests directed to my forum and other Web-based resources. I'm familiar with some scripting languages like Ruby and Lua, but I could be persuaded that a compiled application is better suited for these tasks. However in my experience the dynamic flexibility of interpreted environments is very useful in prototyping and debugging the application logic. So I'm leaning in the direction of scripting languages. Among browsers I favor Firefox and Chrome. I use both Windows and Linux platforms, and if the tool can adapt to an Android platform, it would make a neat demonstration of skills, yes? Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

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  • What is the best approach for inline code comments?

    - by d1egoaz
    We are doing some refactoring to a 20 years old legacy codebase, and I'm having a discussion with my colleague about the comments format in the code (plsql, java). There is no a default format for comments, but in most cases people do something like this in the comment: // date (year, year-month, yyyy-mm-dd, dd/mm/yyyy), (author id, author name, author nickname) and comment the proposed format for future and past comments that I want is: // {yyyy-mm-dd}, unique_author_company_id, comment My colleague says that we only need the comment, and must reformat all past and future comments to this format: // comment My arguments: I say for maintenance reasons, it's important to know when and who did a change (even this information is in the SCM). The code is living, and for that reason has a history. Because without the change dates it's impossible to know when a change was introduced without open the SCM tool and search in the long object history. because the author is very important, a change of authors is more credible than a change of authory Agility reasons, no need to open and navigate through the SCM tool people would be more afraid to change something that someone did 15 years ago, than something that was recently created or changed. etc. My colleague's arguments: The history is in the SCM Developers must not be aware of the history of the code directly in the code Packages gets 15k lines long and unstructured comments make these packages harder to understand What do you think is the best approach? Or do you have a better approach to solve this problem?

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  • Red Samurai Performance Audit Tool – OOW 2013 release (v 1.1)

    - by JuergenKress
    We are running our Red Samurai Performance Audit tool and monitoring ADF performance in various projects already for about one year and the half. It helps us a lot to understand ADF performance bottlenecks and tune slow ADF BC View Objects or optimise large ADF BC fetches from DB. There is special update implemented for OOW'13 - advanced ADF BC statistics are collected directly from your application ADF BC runtime and later displayed as graphical information in the dashboard. I will be attending OOW'13 in San Francisco, feel free to stop me and ask about this tool - I will be happy to give it away and explain how to use it in your project. Original audit screen with ADF BC performance issues, this is part of our Audit console application: Audit console v1.1 is improved with one more tab - Statistics. This tab displays all SQL Selects statements produced by ADF BC over time, logged users, AM access load distribution and number of AM activations along with user sessions. Available graphs: Daily Queries  - total number of SQL selects per day Hourly Queries - Last 48 Hours Logged Users - total number of user sessions per day SQL Selects per Application Module - workload per Application Module Number of Activations and User sessions - last 48 hours - displays stress load Read the complete article here. WebLogic Partner Community For regular information become a member in the WebLogic Partner Community please visit: http://www.oracle.com/partners/goto/wls-emea ( OPN account required). If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Mix Forum Wiki Technorati Tags: Red Samurai,ADF performance,WebLogic,WebLogic Community,Oracle,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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  • How should I describe the process of learning someone else's code? (In an invoicing situation.)

    - by MattyG
    I have a contract to upgrade some in-house software for a large company. The company has requested multiple feature additions and a few bug fixes. This is my first freelance style job. First, I needed to become familiar with how the application worked - I learnt it as if I was a user. Next, I had to learn how the software worked. I started with broad concepts, and then narrowed down into necessary detail before working on each bug fix and feature. At least at the start of the project, it took me a lot longer to learn the existing code than it did to write the additional features. How can I describe the process of learning the existing code on the invoice? (This part of the company usually does things in-house, so doesn't have much experience dealing with software contractors like me, and I fear they may not understand the overhead of learning someone else's code). I don't want to just tack the learning time onto the actual feature upgrade, because in some cases this would make a 'simple task' look like it took me way too long. I want break the invoice into relevant steps, and communicate that I'm charging for the large overhead of learning someone else's code before being able to add my own to it. Is there a standard way of describing this sort of activity when billing for a job?

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  • NetBeans Java code formatter: logical operators on new line

    - by mizipzor
    My code looks like this: if (firstCondition() && secondCondition()) { // ... code } The default settings for the code formatter in NetBeans wants to put the && on a new line, like this: if (firstCondition() && secondCondition()) { // ... code } The formatter works well so I would just like to find the setting so it doesnt change the code to the latter. Whats the setting called?

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  • Unit Testing - not testable code converted to testable code

    - by imak
    I have read so many places is that if your code is not test-able that mean code is not well written. So that makes me start writing a code that is test-able and to start using some unit testing framework. With this though I start looking for some example with piece of code that is not testable and gradually converted to a testable code. I find tons of examples on unit testing but if someone can provide an example like above it probably can jump start things for me. TIA

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  • How to train yourself to avoid writing “clever” code?

    - by Dan Abramov
    Do you know that feeling when you just need to show off that new trick with Expressions or generalize three different procedures? This does not have to be on Architecture Astronaut scale and in fact may be helpful but I can't help but notice someone else would implement the same class or package in a more clear, straightforward (and sometimes boring) manner. I noticed I often design programs by oversolving the problem, sometimes deliberately and sometimes out of boredom. In either case, I usually honestly believe my solution is crystal clear and elegant, until I see evidence to the contrary but it's usually too late. There is also a part of me that prefers undocumented assumptions to code duplication, and cleverness to simplicity. What can I do to resist the urge to write “cleverish” code and when should the bell ring that I am Doing It Wrong? The problem is getting even more pushing as I'm now working with a team of experienced developers, and sometimes my attempts at writing smart code seem foolish even to myself after time dispels the illusion of elegance.

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  • Are there code reviews in opensource projects? If so, what tools are used to do this?

    - by monksy
    I know there is a big push for code reviews in commercial development. However, are code reviews used in open source software or is based on trust? If so, then how are they performed? [Is it a delayed commit, "a pre commit environment", is there a tool that allows for the patch to be sent to another dev]? Are there any projects that use code reviews? From my understanding the linux kernel is mostly based around trust of the commitor. MySQL was based on the main author's approval and the performance impact.

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  • Should companies require developers to credit code they didn't write?

    - by sunpech
    In academia, it's considered cheating if a student copies code/work from someone/somewhere else without giving credit, and tries to pass it off as his/her own. Should companies make it a requirement for developers to properly credit all non-trivial code and work that they did not produce themselves? Is it useful to do so, or is it simply overkill? I understand there are various free licenses out there, but if I find stuff I like and actually use, I really feel compelled to give credit via comment in code even if it's not required by the license (or lack thereof one).

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  • New code base, what experiences/recommendations do you have?

    - by hlovdal
    I will later this year start on a project (embedded hardware, C, small company) where I believe that most (if not all) code will be new. So what experiences do you have to share as advice to starting a new code base? What have you been missing in projects that you have been working on? What has worked really well? What has not worked? Let's limit this question to be about things that relate directly to the code (e.g "banning the use of gets()": in scope, version control: border line, build system: out of scope).

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  • Good sites for sharing code snippets & pastes that you can share links to?

    - by acidzombie24
    I know there are site tools to check if your webpage is alive, has compression, etc but lets not get into that. What are useful sites to paste code in and to share links to it? The three i know are http://codepad.org/ shows source and runs code online http://www.pastie.org/ share source with syntax highlighting http://jsfiddle.net/ great for JS help or for the occasional test. What else do you know of? One answer per question. I'll let lints and validators slide since you do paste code into them. Mention a weakness if you do know one so others wont be surprised or disappointed.

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  • How do you cope with ugly code that you wrote?

    - by Ralph
    So your client asks you to write some code, so you do. He then changes the specs on you, as expected, and you diligently implement his new features like a good little lad. Except... the new features kind of conflict with the old features, so now your code is a mess. You really want to go back and fix it, but he keeps requesting new things and every time you finish cleaning something, it winds up a mess again. What do you do? Stop being an OCD maniac and just accept that your code is going to wind up a mess no matter what you do, and just keep tacking on features to this monstrosity? Save the cleaning for version 2?

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  • How to examine the speed of your code results?

    - by Goma
    Hi. Whatever was your choice PHP, ASP.NET, Ruby On Rails or even JSP. You know that you can develop a website to give a specific result or to do some tasks in many ways. I mean you can change your code to make it shorter (or for any other reason) but to give the same result. In this case how do you test which code was faster to excute so you choose it to make your website faster? I mean do you have any tools or ideas in how to test the time of execution for your code and compare it with time of execution after you do some edit?

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  • Programming *into* a language vs. writing C code in Ruby

    - by bastibe
    Code Complete states that you should aways code into a language as opposed to code in it. By that, they mean Don't limit your programming thinking only to the concepts that are supported automatically by your language. The best programmers think of what they want to do, and then they assess how to accomplish their objectives with the programming tools at their disposal. (chapter 34.4) Doesn't this lead to using one style of programming in every language out there, regardless of the particular strengths and weaknesses of the language at hand? Or, to put the question in a more answerable format: Would you propose that one should try to encode one's problem as neatly as possible with the particulars of one's language, or should you rather search the most elegant solution overall, even if that means that you need to implement possibly awkward constructs that do not exist natively in one's language?

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  • Code Golf: Shortest Turing-complete interpreter.

    - by ilya n.
    I've just tried to create the smallest possible language interpreter. Would you like to join and try? Rules of the game: You should specify a programming language you're interpreting. If it's a language you invented, it should come with a list of commands in the comments. Your code should start with example program and data assigned to your code and data variables. Your code should end with output of your result. It's preferable that there are debug statements at every intermediate step. Your code should be runnable as written. You can assume that data are 0 and 1s (int, string or boolean, your choice) and output is a single bit. The language should be Turing-complete in the sense that for any algorithm written on a standard model, such as Turing machine, Markov chains, or similar of your choice, it's reasonably obvious (or explained) how to write a program that after being executred by your interpreter performs the algorithm. The length of the code is defined as the length of the code after removal of input part, output part, debug statements and non-necessary whitespaces. Please add the resulting code and its length to the post. You can't use functions that make compiler execute code for you, such as eval(), exec() or similar. This is a Community Wiki, meaning neither the question nor answers get the reputation points from votes. But vote anyway!

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  • Screenscraping and reverse engineering health based web tool

    - by ArbInv
    Hi There is a publicly available free tool which has been built to help people understand the impact of various risk factors on their health / life expectancy. I am interested in understanding the data that sits behind the tool. To get this out it would require putting in a range of different socio-demographic factors and analyzing the resulting outputs. This would need to be done across many thousand different individual profiles. The tool was probably built on some standard BI platorm. I have no interest in how the tool was built but do want to get to the data within it. The site has a Terms of Use Agreement which includes: Not copying, distribute, adapt, create derivative works of, translate, or otherwise modify the said tool Not decompile, disassemble, reverse assemble, or otherwise reverse engineer the tool. The said institution retains all rights, title and interest in and to the Tool, and any and all modifications thereof, including all copyright, copyright registrations, trade secrets, trademarks, goodwill and confidential and proprietary information related thereto. Would i be in effect breaking the law if i were to point a screen scraping tool which downloaded the data that sits behind the tool in question?? Any advice welcomed? THANKS

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  • Ubuntu 14.04, only wallpaper and a mouse cursor is showing

    - by Abhishek Verma
    I upgraded to Ubuntu 14.04 weeks ago, that was a fresh install. And as usual installed, Unity tweak tool, some themes, Chrome, eclipse etc. Today, while playing with Unity tweak tool, I mistakenly switched Window spread to off, and bang, no problem yet. After realizing what I did I switched it to on again and then, the title bar of all windows, the status bar (guessing it's called that), and the launcher disappeared. Now I was left with a mouse cursor and the Unity tweak tool window, without the title bar. I thought a restart is needed, but sadly no shutdown option to click on, moreover, the keyboard didn't worked, neither the hardware shutdown button. So, I pressed the reset button. After a mundane restart, I was welcomed by the wallpaper and the mouse cursor, moving, that's it. Searched everywhere for a working solution, found some solutions in AskUbuntu itself, but they where all old and required terminal to be used, but since my keyboard isn't working, no access to the terminal. So, ofcource the question isn't a dublicate, at least, IMHO. Also, I was working on an Android project and have got no backups, so I won't be going for a clean install, or else I will start crying watching my weeks of work being deleted, any solutions, please.

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  • Tulsa SharePoint Interest Group – SharePoint 2010 Mini-Launch Event - Review

    - by dmccollough
    The Tulsa SharePoint Interest Group set a record for attendance last night at our SharePoint 2010 Mini-Launch Event. Approximately 40+ people showed up to listen to SharePoint MVP Eric Shupps, The SharePoint Cowboy to discuss all of the new features for both administrators and developers. All of the Tulsa SharePoint Interest Group Officers worked very hard to ensure that this event happened. We hosted our event at our local Dave & Busters and it was a great location with good food and great service. All of the officers of the Tulsa SharePoint Interest Group would like to extend a big Thank You to all of our sponsor that helped us in making our SharePoint 2010 Mini-Launch Event a reality.

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  • SQLAuthority News – Author Visit Review – TechMela Nepal – March 29-30, 2010

    - by pinaldave
    I was very fortunate to attend TechMela at Kathmandu, Nepal on 29th and 30th of March 2010. I would like to thank Allen Bailochan Tuladhar from Microsoft MDP Nepal for inviting me. Allen is a person with seemingly infinite energy and unlimited passion for Microsoft Technology. If you get an opportunity to spend just one hour with him, you will surely be more enthusiastic with regards to Microsoft Technology. And, I was lucky enough that I was able to spend about a total of 9 days with him in Kathmandu, working along with him in the Tech Community. TechMela Nepal Pinal at TechMela, Nepal TechMela is considered as one of the biggest events in Nepal, having been organized by Microsoft MDP Nepal. This event was attended by around 500 students and hundreds of Tech professionals. The event was handled very professionally and at very large scale. Every minor detail was properly planned and obviously thought out well. There were around 50+ volunteers from MS MDP who were monitoring this event systematically to make sure the event would run as smooth as planned. Attendees in Geek T-Shirts During this event, I was delighted to meet David Lim of Microsoft Singapore. He is very passionate in working for Microsoft Technology, as well as building deep relations with the Community. I was fortunate to spend my entire afternoon with him during the sight-seeing trip. We discussed various MS technologies and their community’s adoption as well as the way how each of us can be a part of the community activity. He also delivered excellent keynotes at the event. I must say that this is one of the most enjoyable keynotes I have ever attended. It was interesting and interactive, and I must say that I had the 70s feelings with all the fonts and graphics. I still remember him saying, “Yeah, I was a student and I know you.” Allen Tuladhar, David Lim, Pinal Dave and Guests After the keynote, everybody cheered when Allen came on stage to talk about the event and to introduce the agenda for the next two days. I must say that Allen is one of the most well-known people in Nepal. I was impressed with his popularity, and to prove this, when he got on the stage he had to wait for a long full minute before he was able to greet “Welcome” while the attendees were clapping and cheering. Technology Panelist at Techmela Kathmandu, Nepal This event was blessed with the top-of-the-top officials of various IT industries, Nepal ministries and the US Embassy. All the prominent personalities were present for panel discussion on the stage. The talk was done on various subjects. Also, the energy level which was set by Allen really echoed in the audience as they asked certain questions on different global as well local IT-related questions. The panel discussion really was discussion instead of usual monologue of one person. Pinal Dave presenting at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal This was a two-day event and my session was on either of the day. I had a great participation from the audience on both days. The place where the event was organized had a capacity of around 500+ audience. Both of my sessions were heavily attended and volunteers did a fabulous job helping the attendees find empty seats or arrange some additional seats. I was overwhelmed with the interaction I have received in the large hall. Attendees were not so shy to express their thoughts, so both the sessions were followed up by top notch one-on-one conversations for a couple of hours. Pinal Dave presenting at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Pinal Dave presenting at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal There are many questions that I have received during the event, and many of them can be interesting for all of us here so I will write detailed blog posts on these subjects. I also tried to participate in the gaming activities held at the event, but I felt I was kind of lost even if I was only playing for the very first minutes. This made me realize that I am really getting old for video games. Allen presenting at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Allen’s session on Digital Photography was very impressive as he demonstrated so many features of the Windows Live Product that at one point I felt he is MVP for Windows Live. In fact, he demonstrated how all the Microsoft products work together to give users an excellent desktop experience; no wonder he is an MVP for Windows Desktop Experience. Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Any event has two common dilemmas – food and logistics. However, this event had excellent food and state-of-the-art organization. I was very glad that this two-day event turned out to be one of the most successful events in Nepal. I also noticed that almost all attendees rate their experience as beyond expectation and truly exceptional. Pinal Dave and Allen Bailochan Tuladhar If you ever get invited by Allen in any of his event, I strongly suggest that you drop all your plans and scheduled stuff, and accept his invitation. For sure, the event will be a very memorable one and would be your once-in-a-lifetime experience. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQLAuthority News – Author Visit Review – TechMela Nepal – March 29-30, 2010

    - by pinaldave
    I was very fortunate to attend TechMela at Kathmandu, Nepal on 29th and 30th of March 2010. I would like to thank Allen Bailochan Tuladhar from Microsoft MDP Nepal for inviting me. Allen is a person with seemingly infinite energy and unlimited passion for Microsoft Technology. If you get an opportunity to spend just one hour with him, you will surely be more enthusiastic with regards to Microsoft Technology. And, I was lucky enough that I was able to spend about a total of 9 days with him in Kathmandu, working along with him in the Tech Community. TechMela Nepal Pinal at TechMela, Nepal TechMela is considered as one of the biggest events in Nepal, having been organized by Microsoft MDP Nepal. This event was attended by around 500 students and hundreds of Tech professionals. The event was handled very professionally and at very large scale. Every minor detail was properly planned and obviously thought out well. There were around 50+ volunteers from MS MDP who were monitoring this event systematically to make sure the event would run as smooth as planned. Attendees in Geek T-Shirts During this event, I was delighted to meet David Lim of Microsoft Singapore. He is very passionate in working for Microsoft Technology, as well as building deep relations with the Community. I was fortunate to spend my entire afternoon with him during the sight-seeing trip. We discussed various MS technologies and their community’s adoption as well as the way how each of us can be a part of the community activity. He also delivered excellent keynotes at the event. I must say that this is one of the most enjoyable keynotes I have ever attended. It was interesting and interactive, and I must say that I had the 70s feelings with all the fonts and graphics. I still remember him saying, “Yeah, I was a student and I know you.” Allen Tuladhar, David Lim, Pinal Dave and Guests After the keynote, everybody cheered when Allen came on stage to talk about the event and to introduce the agenda for the next two days. I must say that Allen is one of the most well-known people in Nepal. I was impressed with his popularity, and to prove this, when he got on the stage he had to wait for a long full minute before he was able to greet “Welcome” while the attendees were clapping and cheering. Technology Panelist at Techmela Kathmandu, Nepal This event was blessed with the top-of-the-top officials of various IT industries, Nepal ministries and the US Embassy. All the prominent personalities were present for panel discussion on the stage. The talk was done on various subjects. Also, the energy level which was set by Allen really echoed in the audience as they asked certain questions on different global as well local IT-related questions. The panel discussion really was discussion instead of usual monologue of one person. Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal This was a two-day event and my session was on either of the day. I had a great participation from the audience on both days. The place where the event was organized had a capacity of around 500+ audience. Both of my sessions were heavily attended and volunteers did a fabulous job helping the attendees find empty seats or arrange some additional seats. I was overwhelmed with the interaction I have received in the large hall. Attendees were not so shy to express their thoughts, so both the sessions were followed up by top notch one-on-one conversations for a couple of hours. Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal There are many questions that I have received during the event, and many of them can be interesting for all of us here so I will write detailed blog posts on these subjects. I also tried to participate in the gaming activities held at the event, but I felt I was kind of lost even if I was only playing for the very first minutes. This made me realize that I am really getting old for video games. Allen presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Allen’s session on Digital Photography was very impressive as he demonstrated so many features of the Windows Live Product that at one point I felt he is MVP for Windows Live. In fact, he demonstrated how all the Microsoft products work together to give users an excellent desktop experience; no wonder he is an MVP for Windows Desktop Experience. Pinal Dave presending at TechMela Kathmandu, Nepal Any event has two common dilemmas – food and logistics. However, this event had excellent food and state-of-the-art organization. I was very glad that this two-day event turned out to be one of the most successful events in Nepal. I also noticed that almost all attendees rate their experience as beyond expectation and truly exceptional. Pinal Dave and Allen Bailochan Tuladhar If you ever get invited by Allen in any of his event, I strongly suggest that you drop all your plans and scheduled stuff, and accept his invitation. For sure, the event will be a very memorable one and would be your once-in-a-lifetime experience. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.SQLAuthority.com) Filed under: MVP, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority Author Visit, SQLAuthority News, T SQL, Technology

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  • SQLAuthority News – Pluralsight Course Review – Practices for Software Startups – Part 1 of 2

    - by pinaldave
    This is first part of the two part series of Practices for Software Startup Pluralsight Course. The course is written by Stephen Forte (Blog | Twitter). Stephen Forte is the Chief Strategy Officer of the venture backed company, Telerik, a leading vendor of developer and team productivity tools. Stephen is also a Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Professional, PMP, and also speaks regularly at industry conferences around the world. He has written several books on application and database development.  Stephen is also a board member of the Scrum Alliance. Startups – Everybodies Dream Start-up companies are an important topic right now – everyone wants to start their own business.  It is also important to remember that all companies were a start up at one point – from your corner store to the giants like Microsoft and Apple.  Research proves that not every start-up succeeds, in fact, most will fail before their first year.  There are many reasons for this, and this could be due to the fact that there are many stages to a start-up company, and stumbling at any of these stages can lead to failure.  It is important to understand what makes a start-up company succeed at all its hurdles to become successful.  It is even important to define success.  For most start-ups this would mean becoming their own independently functioning company or to be bought out for a hefty profit by a larger company.  The idea of making a hefty profit by living your dream is extremely important, and you can even think of start-ups as the new craze.  That’s why studying them is so important – they are very popular, but things have changed a lot since their inception. Starting the Startups Beginning a start-up company used to be difficult, but now facilities and information is widely available, and it is much easier.  But that means it is much easier to fail, also.  Previously to start your own company, everything was planned and organized, resources were ensured and backed up before beginning; even the idea of starting your own business was a big thing.  Now anybody can do it, and the steps are simple and outlines everywhere – you can get online software and easily outsource , cloud source, or crowdsource a lot of your material.  But without the type of planning previously required, things can often go badly. New Products – New Ideas – New World There are so many fantastic new products, but they don’t reach success all the time.  I find start-up companies very interesting, and whenever I meet someone who is interested in the subject or already starting their own company, I always ask what they are doing, their plans, goals, market, etc.  I am sorry to say that in most cases, they cannot answer my questions.  It is true that many fantastic ideas fail because of bad decisions.  These bad decisions were not made intentionally, but people were simply unaware of what they should be doing.  This will always lead to failure.  But I am happy to say that all these issues can be gone because Pluralsight is now offering a course all about start-ups by Stephen Forte.  Stephen is a start up leader.  He has successfully started many companies and most are still going strong, or have gone on to even bigger and better things. Beginning Course on Startup I have always thought start-ups are a fascinating subject, and decided to take his course, but it is three hours long.  This would be hard to fit into my busy work day all at once, so I decided to do half of his course before my daughter wakes up, and the other half after she goes to sleep.  The course is divided into six modules, so this would be easy to do.  I began the first chapter early in the morning, at 5 am.  Stephen jumped right into the middle of the subject in the very first module – designing your business plan.  The first question you will have to answer to yourself, to others, and to investors is: What is your product and when will we be able to see it?  So a very important concept is a “minimal viable product.”  This means setting goals for yourself and your product.  We all have large dreams, but your minimal viable product doesn’t have to be your final vision at the very first.  For example: Apple is a giant company, but it is still evolving.  Steve Jobs didn’t envision the iPhone 6 at the very beginning.  He had to start at the first iPhone and do his market research, and the idea evolved into the technology you see now.  So for yourself, you should decide a beginning and stop point.  Do your market research.  Determine who you want to reach, what audience you want for your product.  You can have a great idea that simply will not work in the market, do need, bottlenecks, lack of resources, or competition.  There is a lot of research that needs to be done before you even write a business plan, and Stephen covers it in the very first chapter. The Team – Unique Key to Success After jumping right into the subject in the very first module, I wondered what Stephen could have in store for me for the rest of the course.  Chapter number two is building a team.  Having a team is important regardless of what your startup is.  You can be a true visionary with endless ideas and energy, but one person can still not do everything.  It is important to decide from the very beginning if you will have cofounders, team leaders, and how many employees you’ll need.  Even more important, you’ll need to decide what kind of team you want – what personalities, skills, and type of energy you want each of your employees to bring.  Do you want to have an A+ team with a B- idea, or do you have a B- idea that needs an A+ team to sell it?  Stephen asks all the hard questions!  I was especially impressed by his insight on developing.  You have to decide if you need developers, how many, and what their skills should be. I found this insight extremely useful for everyday usage, not just for start-up companies.  I would apply this kind of information in management at any position.  An amazing team will build an amazing product – and that doesn’t matter if you’re a start-up company or a small team working for a much larger business. Customer Development – The Ultimate Obective Chapter three was about customer development. According to Stephen, there are four different steps to develop a customer base.  The first question to ask yourself is if you are envisioning a large customer base buying a few products each, or a small, dedicated base that buys a lot of your product – quantity vs. Quality.  He also discusses how to earn, retain, and get more customers.  He also says that each customer should be placed in a different role – some will be like investors, who regularly spend with you and invest their money in your business.  It is then your job to take that investment and turn it into a better product in the future.  You need to deal with their money properly – think of it is as theirs as investors, not yours as profit.  At the end of this module I felt that only Stephen could provide this kind of insight, and then he listed all the resources he took his information from.  I have never seen a group of people so passionate about their customers. It was indeed a long day for me. In tomorrow’s part 2 we will discuss rest of the three module and also will see a quick video of the Practices for Software Startup Pluralsight Course. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: Best Practices, PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, T SQL, Technology

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  • Surface Review from Canadian Guy Who Didn&rsquo;t Go To Build

    - by D'Arcy Lussier
    I didn’t go to Build last week, opted to stay home and go trick-or-treating with my daughters instead. I had many friends that did go however, and I was able to catch up with James Chambers last night to hear about the conference and play with his Surface RT and Nokia 920 WP8 devices. I’ve been using Windows 8 for a while now, so I’m not going to comment on OS features – lots of posts out there on that already. Let me instead comment on the hardware itself. Size and Weight The size of the tablet was awesome. The Windows 8 tablet I’m using to reference this against is the one from Build 2011 (Samsung model) we received as well as my iPad. The Surface RT was taller and slightly heavier than the iPad, but smaller and lighter than the Samsung Win 8 tablet. I still don’t prefer the default wide-screen format, but the Surface RT is much more usable even when holding it by the long edge than the Samsung. Build Quality No issues with the build quality, it seemed very solid. But…y’know, people have been going on about how the Surface RT materials are so much better than the plastic feeling models Samsung and others put out. I didn’t really notice *that* much difference in that regard with the Surface RT. Interesting feature I didn’t expect – the Windows button on the device is touch-sensitive, not a mechanical one. I didn’t try video or anything, so I can’t comment on the media experience. The kickstand is a great feature, and the way the Surface RT connects to the combo case/keyboard touchcover is very slick while being incredibly simple. What About That Touch Cover Keyboard? So first, kudos to Microsoft on the touch cover! This thing was insanely responsive (including the trackpad) and really delivered on the thinness I was expecting. With that said, and remember this is with very limited use, I would probably go with the Type Cover instead of the Touch Cover. The difference is buttons. The Touch Cover doesn’t actually have “buttons” on the keyboard – hence why its a “touch” cover. You tap on a key to type it. James tells me after a while you get used to it and you can type very fast. For me, I just prefer the tactile feeling of a button being pressed/depressed. But still – typing on the touch case worked very well. Would I Buy One? So after playing with it, did I cry out in envy and rage that I wasn’t able to get one of these machines? Did I curse my decision to collect Halloween candy with my kids instead of being at Build getting hardware? Well – no. Even with the keyboard, the Surface RT is not a business laptop replacement device. While Office does come included, you can’t install any other applications outside of Windows Store Apps. This might be limiting depending on what other applications you need to have available on your computer. Surface RT is a great personal computing device, as long as you’re not already invested in a competing ecosystem. I’ve heard people make statements that they’re going to replace all the iPads in their homes with Surface tablets. In my home, that’s not feasible – my wife and daughters have amassed quite a collection of games via iTunes. We also buy all our music via iTunes as well, so even with the XBox streaming music service now available we’re still tied quite tightly to iTunes. So who is the Surface RT for? In my mind, if you’re looking for a solid, compact device that provides basic business functionality (read: email) or if you have someone that needs a very simple to use computer for email, web browsing, etc., then Surface RT is a great option. For me, I’m waiting on the Samsung Ativ Smart PC Pro and am curious to see what changes the Surface Pro will come with.

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  • Windows Phone 7 review

    - by Jeff
    I finally got around to composing some thoughts on what I think about Windows Phone 7, and I posted those impressions on my personal blog. I'll save a few bytes and not repost it here.It should be obvious that my general impression is overwhelmingly positive. What I don't go into very deeply is how much I enjoy developing stuff for it. Baby Stopwatch was not even remotely hard to build, because it wasn't complex, but also because the platform itself is so easy to deal with. I've been messing around and building something a little more involved, and it too has been fun to work with. Sure, you have the quirks of Silverlight to work out, and then the phone-specific quirks after that, but it really is a lot of fun. If you haven't come up with a science project for the phone, I would encourage you to do so.Now if only I could find a gig here at Microsoft where people just build phone apps all day! (But not games... I know we already do that quite a bit.)

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