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• My New Job

  - by Stuart Brierley

  Last year I started a new job with a logistics company in the North of England, where I was responsible for the management, design and development of IT Integration strategies, architectures and solutions using BizTalk Server 2009.  This included the design and implementation of the BizTalk Server 2009 infrastructure, the definition of development standards, mentoring a fellow developer in the ways of BizTalk and migrating a number of existing solutions from Softshare over to BizTalk 2009. Unfortunately I then realised that, following this initial set up, there didn't actually seem to be that much BizTalk work for me to get stuck into and reluctantly I have now moved on from this role to a very similar role with the country's largest office supplies company.  Based in Sheffield, we distribute office supplies on a UK wide basis and computer supplies across Europe. The situation here is slightly different than when I first joined my previous employer.  Whereas that was a green field installation with no previous BizTalk solutions in place, my new employer currently has a number of live BizTalk 2000 (!) and BizTalk 2006 solutions in place.  Unfortunately the infrastructure around these is less than ideal; with no clear distinction between development and test environments and no source control what so ever! We are currently building a proposal for a new BizTalk Server 2010 implementation, where I am hopeful of being able to implement fully independent development, test and pseudo-live environments, alongside an enterprise level live installation.  We should also be introducing Team Foundation Server to the development process, thereby giving us some much needed source control capabilities. Following this is likely to be a period of migration for the existing BizTalk Solutions, along with the onward development of new projects and initiatives - I'm hoping to be a busy man for the forseeable future :o)

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• Tidbits of goodness - Podcasts, REST, JSON

  - by jeff.x.davies

  I've been quiet for a while, busy with a variety of projects. I did want to let you all know about a couple of things going on. First, I have been participating in architectural podcasts with Bob Rhubart. If you are interested in hearing these short (about 10 minutes each) recordings where a group of us discuss enterprise architecture and its future, check out http://blogs.oracle.com/archbeat/2010/05/podcast_show_notes_evolving_en.html Next, I have been working on the public sample code for the Oracle Service Bus 11g release. I'm now expanding my samples to include SCA, BPEL and the Oracle Adapters. This is really great experience for me because I have been learning these other tools to a deeper level and this provides insight into developing better solutions. You know the old saying, "If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to appraoch every problem as if it were a nail." However, I'm not the only one working on these samples. We have alot of our best and brightest working on sample code for the 11g release. Take a look at https://soasamples.samplecode.oracle.com/ to see all of the samples for SOA Suite 11g A reader wrote to me and asked me about using OSB to return information in JSON format. I don't have a sample posted for this yet, but I am working on getting one packaged up. In the mean time I can tell you that it is dead simple to do in OSB. Use the instructions I gave in an earlier blog entry on creating REST services using OSB, specify Messaging Service as the service type that takes a Text message and returns a Text message. Then have the OSB proxy service return a JSON formatted string (by replacing the contents of the $body variable with the JSON text) and you're done! This approach allows you to use OSB services from within Javascript/AJAX seamlessly. As I get more samples posted to the OTN site, I'll let you know. I have lots of interesting stuff on the way.

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• Where should SQL/DB Queries be encapsulated in a software system?

  - by Stephen Bennet

  I frequently write small applications (either web based or otherwise) that require heavy database usage. i've attempted various ways of handling where to put the actual sql queries (sort of ad-hoc ORM systems). These include: Models that build themselves up - and only allowing SQL to be inside of a model. A sort of factory style method where the models are built by a factory class that is allowed to know about SQL. A third entity that maps models based on their fields/keys into the database and generates SQL code on the fly based on this. Is there a common knowledge of which method is best? Or another way I have missed? Clearly a lot of it will be based on the context of the system itself, which for me is usually to produce lightweight tools or utility frameworks. In experimenting, I've never found any of them that feel intuitively "right" and not clunky, but I also do not want to go for a full framework such as Django or Ruby - both because the tools I create are in a variety of languages and because they usually do not warrant that level of surrounding footprint.

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• RMS java web framework

  - by Kamil Tomšík

  We're currently reconsidering technologies and frameworks to get more agile with "simple" RMS CRUD-based projects. In short, short-living things like this Right now we have custom extension on top of SmartGWT but after some time it has proven not to be enough flexible. I also personally dislike that java-js compilation process and the whole GWT codebase. Not only its ugly designed, it also makes certain low-level js things very complicated if not completely impossible. So what I'm looking for is: closest to web as possible, like JSF or possibly Tapestry, it is very important to be able get "low" and weave framework if necessary. Happens more often than we thought. datagrid capable - Ext.js & PrimeFaces looks pretty good, Vaadin does too. db-schema generators (optional, no matter in which way) If it were only on me, I'd probably stick to Ext.js + custom rest-based java solution, possibly generated from database schema (not sure about concrete tooling yet) I only does have experience with vanilla Ext.js, vanilla GWT and JSF 2.0 / Seam, so it kinda hard for me to judge or even propose other frameworks. What would be your proposition? What are the problems you've faced, what was your solution and how hard do you think it was to deal with them in "big picture"?

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• Using XML as data storage

  - by Kian Mayne

  I was thinking about the XML format and the following quote: “XML is not a database. It was never meant to be a database. It is never going to be a database. Relational databases are proven technology with more than 20 years of implementation experience. They are solid, stable, useful products. They are not going away. XML is a very useful technology for moving data between different databases or between databases and other programs. However, it is not itself a database. Don't use it like one.“ -Effective XML: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your XML by Elliotte Rusty Harold (page 230, Part 4, Item 41, 2nd paragraph) This seems to really stress that XML should not be used for data storage and should only be used for program to program interoperability. Personally, I disagree and .NET's app.config file that's used to store a program's settings is an example of data storage in an XML file. However for databases rather than configurations etc XML should not be used. To develop my point, I will use two examples: A) Data about customers with fields that are all on one level i.e. there are a number of fields all relating to one customer with no children B) Data about configuration of an application where nested fields and properties make a lot of sense So my question is, Is this still a valid statement and is it now acceptable to store data using XML? EDIT: I've sent an email to the author of that quote to ask for his input/extra context.

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• Case Management In-Depth: Cases & Case Activities Part 1 – Activity Scope by Mark Foster

  - by JuergenKress

  In the previous blog entry we looked at stakeholders and permissions, i.e. how we control interaction with the case and its artefacts. In this entry we’ll look at case activities, specifically how we decide their scope, in the next part we’ll look at how these activities relate to the over-arching case and how we can effectively visualize the relationship between the case and its activities. Case Activities As mentioned in an earlier blog entry, case activities can be created from: BPM processes Human Tasks Custom (Java Code) It is pretty obvious that we would use custom case activities when either: we already have existing code that we would like to form part of a case we cannot provide the necessary functionality with a BPM process or simple Human Task However, how do we determine what our BPM process as a case activity contains? What level of granularity? Take the following simple BPM process Read the full article here. SOA & BPM Partner Community For regular information on Oracle SOA Suite become a member in the SOA & BPM Partner Community for registration please visit www.oracle.com/goto/emea/soa (OPN account required) If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Wiki Mix Forum Technorati Tags: ACM,BPM,Mark Foster,SOA Community,Oracle SOA,Oracle BPM,Community,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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• The road to become a programmer [closed]

  - by user68991

  I'm looking for a 'career' change, I don't actually have a career at the moment since I haven't been able to find a job since I graduated with a degree in Materials Engineering. One of my loves has always been computers and programming, though I have never studied it seriously. When I was 11 I wrote a very basic graphical 'game' using notepad and HTML, where I drew each possible position of the main character on the different 'maze' level in MSPaint, using pictures of arrows as links to a new page with the character in a new position, and various other buttons would pop up 'search box', 'press button' etc. At the time I thought this was an amazing achievement of my programming skills. I've used a little bit of FORTRAN 90 whilst I was at university, which rekindled my interest in programming. When I was a kid I mainly used C and HTML, but only very basically as my 'game' suggests. I want to learn a new programming language, I'm not entirely sure where I want to go with it, but the number one contender at the moment is android apps. I'm looking at learning Java, but I've read that it's a difficult place to begin with; so I've also looked at learning Visual Basic, which I believe is also object oriented(?) but a little easier to understand? (not that I know what an object is anyway). Any information people could give me regarding which language to learn, and if there are any good online tutorial for that language I'd really appreciate it. Some of the tutorials I've used so far are full or jargon I can't understand. Also, I'm not afraid of maths having got an engineering degree. Thanks in advance for any help/advice. James

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• .NET WPF Charting Control

  - by Randy Minder

  We're very close to wrapping up a WPF dashboarding application using SSRS (.RDLC files) and the Microsoft Report Viewer. For a number of reasons, this combination has turned out to be less than what we had hoped. One of the biggest problems is that the Microsoft Report Viewer is not a WPF control. We've had other problems as well. Our app consists of at least 5 tabs and each tab has at least 4-5 charts on it. All the charts update on their own timed schedules (like every 15-30 minutes). For the next version I'd like to explore other .NET charting tools for WPF. Performance is absolutely critical. As is resource usage. The tool must support WPF and as many chart types as possible. Can anyone recommend (or not recommend) charting tools they have experience with? We own Telerik and I've dabbled with their charting control. At the 30K foot level, it seems quite nice.

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• CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, December 21, 2010

  CodePlex Daily Summary for Tuesday, December 21, 2010Popular ReleasesSQL Monitor - tracking sql server activities: SQL Monitor 3.0 alpha 7: 1. added script save/load in user query window 2. fixed problem with connection dialog when choosing windows auth but still ask for user name 3. auto open user table when double click one table node 4. improved alert message, added log only methodOpen NFe: Open NFe 2.0 (Beta): Última versão antes da versão final a ser lançada nos próximos dias.EnhSim: EnhSim 2.2.6 ALPHA: 2.2.6 ALPHAThis release supports WoW patch 4.03a at level 85 To use this release, you must have the Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Redistributable Package installed. This can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=A7B7A05E-6DE6-4D3A-A423-37BF0912DB84 To use the GUI you must have the .NET 4.0 Framework installed. This can be downloaded from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=9cfb2d51-5ff4-4491-b0e5-b386f32c0992 - Fixing up some r...LINQ to Twitter: LINQ to Twitter Beta v2.0.18: Silverlight, OAuth, 100% Twitter API coverage, streaming, extensibility via Raw Queries, and added documentation. Bug fixes.ASP.NET MVC Project Awesome (jQuery Ajax helpers): 1.4.3: Helpers (controls) that you can use to build highly responsive and interactive Ajax-enabled Web applications. These helpers include Autocomplete, AjaxDropdown, Lookup, Confirm Dialog, Popup Form, Popup and Pager new stuff: Improvements for confirm, popup, popup form RenderView controller extension the user experience for crud in live demo has been substantially improved + added search all the features are shown in the live demoGanttPlanner: GanttPlanner V1.0: GanttPlanner V1.0 include GanttPlanner.dll and also a Demo application.N2 CMS: 2.1 release candidate 3: * Web platform installer support available N2 is a lightweight CMS framework for ASP.NET. It helps you build great web sites that anyone can update. Major Changes Support for auto-implemented properties ({get;set;}, based on contribution by And Poulsen) A bunch of bugs were fixed File manager improvements (multiple file upload, resize images to fit) New image gallery Infinite scroll paging on news Content templates First time with N2? Try the demo site Download one of the templ...TweetSharp: TweetSharp v2.0.0.0 - Preview 6: Documentation for this release may be found at http://tweetsharp.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=UserGuide&referringTitle=Documentation. Note: This code is currently preview quality. Preview 6 ChangesMaintenance release with user reported fixes Preview 5 ChangesMaintenance release with user reported fixes Preview 4 ChangesReintroduced fluent interface support via satellite assembly Added entities support, entity segmentation, and ITweetable/ITweeter interfaces for client development Numer...Team Foundation Server Administration Tool: 2.1: TFS Administration Tool 2.1, is the first version of the TFS Administration Tool which is built on top of the Team Foundation Server 2010 object model. TFS Administration Tool 2.1 can be installed on machines that are running either Team Explorer 2010, or Team Foundation Server 2010.Hacker Passwords: HackerPasswords.zip: Source code, executable and documentationSubtitleTools: SubtitleTools 1.3: - Added .srt FileAssociation & Win7 ShowRecentCategory feature. - Applied UnifiedYeKe to fix Persian search problems. - Reduced file size of Persian subtitles for uploading @OSDB.Facebook C# SDK: 4.1.0: - Lots of bug fixes - Removed Dynamic Runtime Language dependencies from non-dynamic platforms. - Samples included in release for ASP.NET, MVC, Silverlight, Windows Phone 7, WPF, WinForms, and one Visual Basic Sample - Changed internal serialization to use Json.net - BREAKING CHANGE: Canvas Session is no longer support. Use Signed Request instead. Canvas Session has been deprecated by Facebook. - BREAKING CHANGE: Some renames and changes with Authorizer, CanvasAuthorizer, and Authorization ac...NuGet (formerly NuPack): NuGet 1.0 build 11217.102: Note: this release is slightly newer than RC1, and fixes a couple issues relating to updating packages to newer versions. NuGet is a free, open source developer focused package management system for the .NET platform intent on simplifying the process of incorporating third party libraries into a .NET application during development. This release is a Visual Studio 2010 extension and contains the the Package Manager Console and the Add Package Dialog. This new build targets the newer feed (h...WCF Community Site: WCF Web APIs 10.12.17: Welcome to the second release of WCF Web APIs on codeplex Here is what is new in this release. WCF Support for jQuery - create WCF web services that are easy to consume from JavaScript clients, in particular jQuery. Better support for using JsonValue as dynamic Support for JsonValue change notification events for databinding and other purposes Support for going between JsonValue and CLR types WCF HTTP - create HTTP / REST based web services. This is a minor release which contains fixe...LiveChat Starter Kit: LCSK v1.0: This is a working version of the LCSK for Visual Studio 2010, ASP.NET MVC 3 (using Razor View Engine). this is still provider based (with 1 provider Sql) and this is still using WebService and Windows Forms operator console. The solution is cleaner, with an installer to create tables etc. You can also install it via nuget (Install-Package lcsk) Let me know your feedbackOrchard Project: Orchard 0.9: Orchard Release Notes Build: 0.9.253 Published: 12/16/2010 How to Install OrchardTo install the Orchard tech preview using Web PI, follow these instructions: http://www.orchardproject.net/docs/Installing-Orchard-Using-Web-PI.ashx Web PI will detect your hardware environment and install the application. --OR-- Alternatively, to install the release manually, download the Orchard.Web.0.9.253.zip file. The zip contents are pre-built and ready-to-run. Simply extract the contents of the Orch...DotSpatial: DotSpatial 12-15-2010: This release contains a few minor bug fixes and hopefully the GDAL libraries for the 3.5 x86 build actually built to the correct directory this time.DotNetNuke® Community Edition: 05.06.01 Beta: This is the initial Beta of DotNetNuke 5.6.1. See the DotNetNuke Roadmap a full list of changes in this release.MSBuild Extension Pack: December 2010: Release Blog Post The MSBuild Extension Pack December 2010 release provides a collection of over 380 MSBuild tasks. A high level summary of what the tasks currently cover includes the following: System Items: Active Directory, Certificates, COM+, Console, Date and Time, Drives, Environment Variables, Event Logs, Files and Folders, FTP, GAC, Network, Performance Counters, Registry, Services, Sound Code: Assemblies, AsyncExec, CAB Files, Code Signing, DynamicExecute, File Detokenisation, GU...Silverlight Contrib: Silverlight Contrib 2010.1.0: 2010.1.0 New FeaturesCompatibility Release for Silverlight 4 and Visual Studio 2010New Projectsaqq2: aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2aqq2Cameleon CMS: Caméléon, le CMS open-source le plus simple d'utilisation sur le marché.Dail Emulator: Dail Emulator is a software that emulates the server software of Aeonsofts game FlyFF. Specifically made for the now defunct version 6 of the game.Dmitry Lyalin's WP7 Sample Application: A project where im putting all my public samples in a single WP7 client test applicationElixir: DotNetNuke module test framework. Use this DLL to write concise, to-the-point tests for your modules that can target multiple DNN platforms and multiple browsers.FlightTableEditor: This edits the Flight and Healing Tables of Pokémon Fire Red and Pokémon Leaf Green.Genetico UNLaM: Algoritmo Genetico UNLaMHelpCentral HelpDesk Ticket Application: An open-ended framework and client for a helpdesk ticket application and bug tracker. Built to be as extensible and available as possible, the central system is a WCF webservice which can be accessed by any client application.Import Media for Umbraco: This package allows you to import multiple or large files that have been uploaded to the server via FTP or other means. A new media item is created in the media tree and the media is moved from the upload location to the new directory for the media item.LargeCMS full sample (How to call CryptMsg API in streaming mode): LargeCms implements SignedLargeCMS and EnvelopedLargeCMS classes, my own version of .NET SignedCms and EnvelopedCMS to work with large data. It shows a way to call CryptMsg API in streaming mode to overcome the limitations of current .NET classesLinq.Autocompiler: Adds runtime, on demand compilation of Linq queries (in Linq to SQL), which creates CompiledQuery instances and stores them in a cache. Mathetris: it's a game.MonoWiimote: Managed c# library for using Wii Remote device under Mono/Linux enviroment. It requires libcwiimote-0.4 (sudo apt-get install libcwiimote-0.4).Movie Captor: Concorrendo no Desafio .NETNSpotifyLib: A .NET library contains wrapper classes for the Spotify Metadata API. http://developer.spotify.com/en/metadata-api/overview/ This library supports searching for artists, albums and tracks by using the Spotify Metadata API. In the future I'll add support for Lookups as well.Silverhawk: It's developed in C# programming language.SimpleSpy: Detecting object handle on cursor move and get its information. Basically this is a bare bone program for detecting object handle at cursor and add your own logic to detect for further information. SunburnJitter: JitterSunburn contains helper classes and methods to use the jitter physics engine easier in your sunburn projects. Simple component based shapes will provide easy editing in editor. It's developed in C#.Sunrod: Sunrod is a .NET wrapper for the Obsidian Portal API.TouchStack - A MonoTouch ServiceStack.NET client: TouchStack makes it easier for MonoTouch developers to consume Web services created and exposed by the brilliant ServiceStack.NET webservice framework. TouchStack is written in C# and uses the MonoTouch library.VNTViewer: Viewer for notes/memos (VNT files)VpNet: Official .NET Wrapper for Virtual Paradise.xlGUI: Streamlet GUI Framework

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• Alternatives to a leveling system

  - by Bane

  I'm currently designing a rough prototype of a mecha fighting game. These are the basics I came up with: Multiplayer (matchmaking for up to 10 people, for now) Browser based (HTML5) 2D (<canvas>) Persistent (as in, players have accounts and don't have to use a new mech each time they start a match) Players earn money upon destroying another mech, which is used to buy parts (guns, armor, boosters, etc) Simplicity (both of the game itself, and of the development of said game) No "leveling" (as in, players don't get awarded with XP) The last part is bothering me. At first, I wanted to have players gain experience points (XP) when destroying other mechs, but gaining two things at once (money and XP) seemed to be in conflict with my last point, which is simplicity. If I were to have a leveling system, that would require additional development. But, the biggest problem is that I simply couldn't fit it anywhere! Adding levels would require adding meaning to these levels, and most of the things that I hoped to achieve could already be achieved with the money mechanic I introduced. So I decided to drop leveling off completely. That, in turn, removed a fairly popular and robust mean of progression in games from my game (not that I would use it well anyway). Is there another way of progression in games, aside from leveling and XP points, that wouldn't get rendered redundant by my money mechanic, would be somehow meaningful (even on a symbolic level), and wouldn't be in conflict with my last point, which is simplicity?

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• Middleware Day at UK Oracle User Group Conference 2012

  - by JuergenKress

  Registration has opened for UK Oracle User Group Conference 2012, the UK’s largest Independent Oracle Technology & E-Business Suite conference from 3rd - 5th December, 2012. The conference will attract over 1,700 attendees from the UK and internationally. Spanning three days and featuring over 250 presentations which range from end-users telling their war stories to Oracle unveiling the latest product roadmaps. We have always been trusted to provide exceptional events with innovative content and renowned speakers and our 2012 event is no exception. It is just not our words, 95% of attendees from the last years conference, highly recommend the experience to other Oracle user. You can get an overview of the conference, listen what last year's delegates thought and explore the full agenda on the conference website: www.ukoug.org/ukoug2012. Join the UK Oracle User Group for ‘Middleware Sunday’ - an event packed with technical content for WebLogic administrators taking place on 2nd December the day before the start of UKOUG Conference 2012. The day has been organised by middleware enthusiasts Simon Haslam and Jacco Landlust and is free to UKOUG 2012 delegates. The content level will be pitched intermediate to advanced. So delegates are expected to be comfortable with WebLogic and its configuration terms, such as domains and managed servers. We will also have a fun, hands-on session for which you’ll need a quick laptop to join our mega-cluster! For more information visit the UKOUG 2012 website: www.ukoug.org/2012. SOA & BPM Partner Community For regular information on Oracle SOA Suite become a member in the SOA & BPM Partner Community for registration please visit  www.oracle.com/goto/emea/soa (OPN account required) If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Mix Forum Technorati Tags: UK user group,middleware day,SOA Community,Oracle SOA,Oracle BPM,Community,OPN,Jürgen Kress

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• How do you author HDR content?

  - by Nathan Reed

  How do you make it easy for your artists to author content for an HDR renderer? What kinds of tools should you provide, and what workflows need to change, in going from LDR to HDR? Note that I'm not asking about the technical aspects of implementing an HDR renderer, but about best practices for creating materials and lighting in HDR. I've googled around a bit, but there doesn't seem to be much about this topic on the web. Can anyone point me to some good resources on this, or share their own experiences? Some specific points: Lighting - how can lighting artists pick HDR light colors? Do they have a standard LDR color picker and then a multiplier? Is the multiplier in gamma or linear space? Maybe instead of a multiplier it's a log-luminance? Or a physical brightness level, like the number of lumens? How will they know what multiplier/luminance/brightness is "correct" for a given light? Materials - how can texture artists make emissive color maps, such as neon signs, TV screens, skyboxes, etc? Can you paint one as a regular LDR (8-bit-per-channel) image and apply a multiplier (or log-luminance, etc.)? Are there cases where it's necessary to actually paint HDR images? If so, how do you go about this in Photoshop (or other software)?

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• SEO for Country & Language Specific content.

  - by kecebongsoft

  Currently I am creating a website which has a common topic for an article, but it's going to be different content for each country, and also, each of that content will be provided in several languages. And this mechanism exists in most of the parts in the website. For example, I have an article about tax. This article has to be different for each country, for example china. And tax content for china should be written in china AND english language (for non china-speaker). What is the best URL pattern to handle this? What I've been thinking is, using a sub folder (/country-code/language-code/) such as: www.example.com/cn/cn/tax www.example.com/cn/en/tax Or using top level domain such as: www.example.cn/cn/tax www.example.cn/en/tax Or subdomain such as cn.example.com/cn/tax cn.example.com/en/tax I think I will not prefer the last option since I might need to use subdomain for other purpose. Which left only subfolder and TLDN. I've read some articles saying that TLDN is good for localized content (language-specific content), but in my case, my TLDN will also has english contents (for non local speaker) which is specific only to that particular country (also the purpose of this is to let people from other country easily search it through google). What is the best pattern to pick and why?.

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• Good ruby book with exercises? [closed]

  - by watabou

  I find that I learn the best with a book that has a number of exercises at the end of each chapters. A great example of this is C++ Primer Plus by Stephen Prata or Scientific Programming with Python or the Horstmann Java books. All of those books have a number of programming exercises at the end tailored to that specific chapter. I love the styles of those book and was wondering if there is anything similar for Ruby. I've extensively searched google for this and people have been suggesting different stuff like different websites like Ruby Koans and LRTHW but honestly, I've tried those and they aren't for me. I taught myself Python with the the Hard Way book and to be honest, it's not for me. Now, forgive me if I'm blunt but does anyone have a Ruby programming BOOK (i.e. not a website), that has EXERCISES in it? I do NOT want a website, unless the book is only or is freely available online by the author, similar to the Hard Way books. I would say that I'm a intermediate level programmer with only some Ruby experience but if you know of a beginner book on Ruby, that is fine too. Thanks in advance, I would really really appreciate the help.

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• Character progression through leveling, skills or items?

  - by Anton

  I'm working on a design for an RPG game, and I'm having some doubts about the skill and level system. I'm going for a more casual, explorative gaming experience and so thought about lowering the game complexity by simplifying character progression. But I'm having trouble deciding between the following: Progression through leveling, no complex skill progression, leveling increases base stats. Progression through skills, no leveling or base stat changes, skills progress through usage. Progression through items, more focus on stat-changing items, items confer skills, no leveling. However, I'm uncertain what the effects on gameplay might be in the end. So, my question is this: What would be the effects of choosing one of the above alternatives over the others? (Particularly with regards to the style and feel of the gameplay) My take on it is that the first sacrifices more frequent rewards and customization in favor of a simpler gameplay; the second sacrifices explicit customization and player control in favor of more frequent rewards and a somewhat simpler gameplay; while the third sacrifices inventory simplicity and a player metric in favor of player control, customization and progression simplicity. Addendum: I'm not really limiting myself to the above three, they are just the ones I liked most and am primarily interested in.

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• Advices fo starting a video game design career

  - by Allen Gabriel Baker

  I'm 24 and have a passion for video games and game-design. I've decided I want to design video games as my career. I have no experience with designing video games or coding but I'm interested and willing to learn. I want a job at any level but what would I need to land a job? I have no college experience and I have no money. What is a cheap school, or do I really need to go to school for this, or can I learn on my own? Is it possible to do this with no money? I'm literally broke but I want this so bad I feel like its the only career I'll enjoy. I want to call up company's and ask them what they are looking for in someone they want to hire, is that a good idea? Also I don't know the history of video game design and I don't want to sound like a dummy when someone says something about this field or talks about a famous designer and I have no idea who they're talking about. So what is key info when it comes to this field and where should I find it? Hopefully some of you guys and girls can help me out: I know in the future I will create something everyone will enjoy and you guys will remember when you gave me advice and I will always remember you guys for helping me. I'm gifted I know I am and I want to share my gift with the rest of the world by making games that change the Industry. Help me out please.

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• 2D non-tile based map editor

  - by Jonesy

  I am currently developing a relatively simple 2D, topdown oriented adventure game for the iPhone and was wondering what would be the easiest way to create the maps for my game. I figured I would need some kind of visual editor that would give me immediate feedback and would allow me to place all objects in the world exactly where I want them. I could then load the saved representation of the world I create in the editor in my game. So, I am looking for a simple map editor that allows me to do this. All the objects in my game are simply textured rectangles build up from two triangles. All I need to be able to do is position different rectangles/objects in the map, and give them a texture. I am using texture atlases, so it would be useful to be able to assign portions of textures to the objects. I then need to be able to extract all the objects from the saved representation of my maps, together with the name/identifier of the texture(atlas) they use, and the area of the texture atlas. I have looked at some tile-based map editors like Tiled and Ogmo, but they don't seem to be able to do what I want. Any suggestions? EDIT: a more concrete example: something like the GameMaker level editor, but then with added export functionality in a handy format.

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• Dealing with selfish team member(s)

  - by thegreendroid

  My team is facing a difficult quandary, a couple of team members are essentially selfish (not to be confused with dominant!) and are cherry-picking stories/tasks that will give them the most recognition within the company (at sprint reviews etc. when all the stakeholders are present). These team members are very good at what they do and are fully aware of what they are doing. When we first started using agile about a year ago, I can say I was quite selfish too (coming from a very individual-focused past). I took ownership of certain stories and didn't involve anyone else in it, which in hindsight wasn't the right thing to do and I learnt from that experience almost immediately. We are a young team of very ambitious twenty somethings so I can understand the selfishness to some extent (after all everyone should be ambitious!). But the level to which this selfishness has reached of late has started to bother me and a few others within my team. The way I see it, agile/scrum is all about the team and not individuals. We should be looking out for each other and helping each other improve. I made this quite clear during our last retrospective, that we should be fair and give everyone a chance. I'll wait and see what comes out of it in the next few sprints. In the meantime, what are some of the troubles that you have faced with selfish members and how did you overcome them?

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• Lending Club Selects Oracle ERP Cloud Service

  - by Di Seghposs

  Another Oracle ERP Cloud Service customer turning to Oracle to help increase efficiencies and lower costs!! Lending Club, the leading platform for investing in and obtaining personal loans, has selected Oracle Fusion Financials to help improve decision-making and workflow, implement robust reporting, and take advantage of the scalability and cost savings provided by the cloud. After an extensive search, Lending Club selected Oracle due to the breadth and depth of capabilities and ongoing innovation of Oracle ERP Cloud Service. Since their online lending platform is internally developed, they chose Oracle Fusion Financials in the cloud to easily integrate with current systems, keep IT resources focused on the organization’s own platform, and reap the benefits of lowered costs in the cloud. The automation, communication and collaboration features in Oracle ERP Cloud Service will help Lending Club achieve their efficiency goals through better workflow, as well as provide greater control over financial data. Lending Club is also implementing robust analytics and reporting to improve decision-making through embedded business intelligence. “Oracle Fusion Financials is clearly the industry leader, setting an entirely new level of insight and efficiencies for Lending Club,” said Carrie Dolan, CFO, Lending Club. “We are not only incredibly impressed with the best-of-breed capabilities and business value from our adoption of Oracle Fusion Financials, but also the commitment from Oracle to its partners, customers, and the ongoing promise of innovation to come.” Resources: Oracle ERP Cloud Service Video Oracle ERP Cloud Service Executive Strategy Brief Oracle Fusion Financials Quick Tour of Oracle Fusion Financials If you haven't heard about Oracle ERP Cloud Service, check it out today!

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• Is there any reason not to go directly from client-side Javascript to a database?

  - by Chris Smith

  So, let's say I'm going to build a Stack Exchange clone and I decide to use something like CouchDB as my backend store. If I use their built-in authentication and database-level authorization, is there any reason not to allow the client-side Javascript to write directly to the publicly available CouchDB server? Since this is basically a CRUD application and the business logic consists of "Only the author can edit their post" I don't see much of a need to have a layer between the client-side stuff and the database. I would simply use validation on the CouchDB side to make sure someone isn't putting in garbage data and make sure that permissions are set properly so that users can only read their own _user data. The rendering would be done client-side by something like AngularJS. In essence you could just have a CouchDB server and a bunch of "static" pages and you're good to go. You wouldn't need any kind of server-side processing, just something that could serve up the HTML pages. Opening my database up to the world seems wrong, but in this scenario I can't think of why as long as permissions are set properly. It goes against my instinct as a web developer, but I can't think of a good reason. So, why is this a bad idea? EDIT: Looks like there is a similar discussion here: Writing Web "server less" applications EDIT: Awesome discussion so far, and I appreciate everyone's feedback! I feel like I should add a few generic assumptions instead of calling out CouchDB and AngularJS specifically. So let's assume that: The database can authenticate users directly from its hidden store All database communication would happen over SSL Data validation can (but maybe shouldn't?) be handled by the database The only authorization we care about other than admin functions is someone only being allowed to edit their own post We're perfectly fine with everyone being able to read all data (EXCEPT user records which may contain password hashes) Administrative functions would be restricted by database authorization No one can add themselves to an administrator role The database is relatively easy to scale There is little to no true business logic; this is a basic CRUD app

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• Security in a private web service

  - by Oni

  I am developing a web site and a web service for a small on-line game. Technically, I'll be using Express (node.js) and MongoDB+Redis for the databases. This the structure I came up with: One Express server that will server as the Web Service. This will connect to the databases. One Express server that will provide the web site. It will connect to the Web Service to retrieve and push the information. iOS and Android application will be able to interact with the WebService. Taking into account: It is a small game. The information transferred is not critical. There will NOT be third party applications. At least for the moment. My concern is about which level of security I should use in each of the scenarios: Security of the user playing through web browser Security of the applications and the Web Server connecting to the WS. I have take a look at the different options and: OAuth and/or Https is too much for this scenario, isn't it? Will be a good option to hash the user and password with MD5(or similar) and some salt? I would like to get some directions and investigate by my own rather than getting a response like "you should you use this node.js module..." Thanks in advance,

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• Approaches to timed puzzle elements

  - by ndg

  I'm working on a side scrolling game that has a number of timed puzzle elements. As a simple example: I have a number of moving platforms that have been setup to transition in a pattern. Ideally I'd like to ensure that as the player first approaches them, they are in an ideal state -- whereby the player can witness the full transition and more experienced players (i.e: speedrunners) can complete the puzzle immediately without having to wait for the current transition to complete. The issue here, in a nutshell, is that because these platforms begin transitioning at the start of the level, it's impossible to correctly calculate when the player is likely to stumble upon them. I've done a fair bit of Googling but haven't managed to turn up any decent resources with regards to solving a problem like this. The obvious solution is to only begin updating the objects when the player (or more likely: the camera) first encounters them. But this becomes difficult when you consider more complicated situations. It seems like potentially the easiest way of handling this is to have an invisible trigger volume that will tell any puzzle elements located inside of it that the player has 'arrived' upon first colliding with the player. But this would mean I'd have to logically group puzzle elements, which could become fairly messy in a hurry. Take, for instance, a puzzle that appears to the right of the screen. It may take the player a number of seconds to reach it. It would look strange if the elements involved were to remain stationary. But by the time the player arrives, it's likely things will be 'out of sync'. I wanted to post here in the hopes that others know of, or have implemented, a decent solution to this problem?

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• Auto Save and Auto Load Game onto the Device's Storage Concept Question

  - by David Dimalanta

  I'm trying to make a simple app that will test the save and load state. Is it a good idea to make an app that has an auto save and load game feature only every time the newbies open the first app then continues it on the other day? I tried making a sprite that is moving, starting at the center. When I close and re-open the app, the sprite goes back to the center instead of the last coordinate where the sprite land on this part (i.e. at the top). The thing I want to know how the sequence of saving and loading goes like this: I open the app The starting sprite at the center. It displays a coordinate of the sprite plus number of times does the sprite move. I exit the app that automatically saves the game without notice. Finally, when I re-opened it, it automatically loads the game retaining the number of times the sprite move, coordinates, and the sprite's area landed. These steps above are similar, but not the sprite movement test app, to the sequence of saving and loading the game's level and record in Jewel Stackers for the Android app. And, by default, if there is no SD card in any tab or phone that runs on Android, does it automatically save/load onto the internal drive or the APK file itself? Is it also useful to use auto save and auto load feature for protecting and fetching informations (i.e. fastest time, last time where the sprite is located via coordinates, etc.)?

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• Should one generally develop a client library for REST services to help prevent API breakages?

  - by BestPractices

  We have a project where UI code will be developed by the same team but in a different language (Python/Django) from the services layer (REST/Java). The code for each layer exits in different code repositories and which can follow different release cycles. I'm trying to come up with a process that will prevent/reduce breaking changes in the services layer from the perspective of the UI layer. I've thought to write integration tests at the UI layer level that we'll run whenever we build the UI or the services layer (we're using Jenkins as our CI tool to build the code which is in two Git repos) and if there are failures then something in the services layer broke and the commit is not accepted. Would it also be a good idea (is it a best practice?) to have the developer of the services layer create and maintain a client library for the REST service that exists in the UI layer that they will update whenever there is a breaking change in their Service API? Conceivably, we would then have the advantage of a statically-typed API that the UI code builds against. If the client library API changes, then the UI code won't compile (so we'll know sooner that there was a breaking change). I'd also still run the integration tests upon building the UI or services layer to further validate that the integration between UI and the service(s) still works.

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• Mark Wilcox Discusses Privileged Account Management

  - by Naresh Persaud

  96 800x600 Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:Calibri;} The new release of Oracle Identity Management 11g R2 includes the capability to manage privileged accounts. Privileged accounts, if compromised, create a risk for fraud in the enterprise and as a result controlling access to privileged accounts is critical. The Oracle Privileged Account Manager solution can be deployed stand alone or in conjunction with the Oracle Governance Suite for a comprehensive solution. As part of the comprehensive platform, Privilege Account Manager is interoperable with the Identity suite. In addition, Privileged Account Manager can re-use Oracle Identity Manager connectors for propagating changes to target systems. The two are interoperable at the data level. I caught up with Mark Wilcox, Principal Product Manager of Oracle Privileged Account Manager and discussed with him the capabilities of the offering in this podcast. Click here to listen.

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