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  • ArchBeat Link-o-Rama for 2012-04-04

    - by Bob Rhubart
    Is This How the Execs React to Your Recommendations? blogs.oracle.com "Well then, do your homework next time!" advises Rick Ramsey, and offers a list of Oracle Solaris 11 resources that just might make your next encounter a little less humiliating. WebLogic Server Performance and Tuning: Part I - Tuning JVM | Gokhan Gungor blogs.oracle.com A detailed how-to post from Gokhan Gungor. How to deal with transport level security policy with OSB | Jian Liang blogs.oracle.com Jian Liang shares "a use case for Oracle Service Bus (OSB) 11gPS4 to consume a Web Service which is secured by HTTP transport level security policy." Thought for the Day "Simple things should be simple and complex things should be possible." — Alan Kay

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  • CSS just for most basic HTML

    - by Gerenuk
    I've read that my note system Wikidpad, which exports to very simple HTML, can use CSS (http://wikidpad.sourceforge.net/help/HtmlCss.html) The elements in the output are not more than basic headings, bullet points and tables. I'd like to try some kind of improved style, but I as I have no knowledge about CSS, so the best I can do is to save some Myfile.css to a directory :) However if I google "CSS template" I get all sorts of complicating results that I cannot make sense of :( Am I using wrong terminology? Can you suggest what I should search for or maybe you even know a ressource where a get a simple CSS file with some decent standard HTML elements. I do not wish to make custom adjustments.

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  • Solid principles vs YAGNI

    - by KeesDijk
    When do the SOLID principles become YAGNI. As programmers we make trade-off's all the time, between complexity, maintainabillity, time to build and so forth.Amongst others. two of the smartest guidelines for making choices are in my mind the SOLID principles and YAGNI. If you don't need it, dont build it and keep it clean. Now for example when i watch the dimecast series on SOLID I see it start out as a fairly simple programm and ending up prettty complex (end yes complexity is also in the eye of the beholder) but it still makes me wonder, when do SOLID principles turn into something you don't need. All solid principles are ways of working that enable use te make changes at a later stage. But what if the problem to solve is a pretty simple one and it's a through away application, than what ? Or are the SOLID principles something that apply always ?

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  • Nokia présente son smartphone sous MeeGo, le N9 sera commercialisé dans le courant de l'année

    Nokia présente son smartphone sous MeeGo Le N9 sera commercialisé dans le courant de l'année Pour une bonne surprise, c'est une bonne surprise. Même si le bruit courrait depuis quelques jours. Nokia vient d'annoncer son premier (et certainement unique) smartphone sous MeeGo : le N9. [IMG]http://ftp-developpez.com/gordon-fowler/N9/N93.png[/IMG] La présentation a eu lieu lors du Nokia Connections, le salon de l'entreprise qui se tient actuellement à Singapour. Le N9 se veut « beau et simple » avec des « possibilités infinies ». Simple, il l'est puisque la navigation se fait ex...

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  • Accenture Foundation Platform for Oracle

    - by Michelle Kimihira
    Accenture Foundation Platform for Oracle (AFPO) helps clients accelerate deployments on Oracle Fusion Middleware. Version 5 is the latest version and added exciting new capabilities including: integration with Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) Mobile and Oracle WebCenter. For more information, visit Accenture's Website. Additional Information Product Information on Oracle.com: Oracle Fusion Middleware Follow us on Twitter and Facebook Subscribe to our regular Fusion Middleware Newsletter

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  • MOSS 2007 &ndash; WCM Blank WebPart Page Zone ID&rsquo;s

    - by Jeff Julian
    Here is the list of Zone ID’s for the Blank WebPart Page (BlankWebPartPage.aspx") that is part of the Publishing Portal with MOSS 2007: TitleBar Header TopLeftRow TopRightRow CenterLeftColumn CenterColumn CenterRightColumn Footer RightColumn I was in need of these and wasn’t able to find them with a simple search on Google so I wanted to share them with you. To get a list of WebPartZone objects for a page that a webpart lives on can be done with the following code:  foreach (WebPartZone zone in this.WebPartManager.Zones) {          this.Controls.Add(new LiteralControl(zone.ID + "<br />")); } Use this code in a webpart that inherits from Microsoft.SharePoint.WebPartPages.WebPart. This is a simple way to do the equivalent of a Response.Write while having the output in the webpart zone your part resides in.  It also saves you from attaching to the process and debugging with the watch or quick watch. Technorati Tags: MOSS,WebParts,BlankWebPartPage.aspx,Zones

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  • Comparing Checksums

    - by Sean Feldman
    This is something trivial, yet got me to think for a little. I had two checksums, one received from a client invoking a service, another one calculated once data sent into service is received. Checksums are plain arrays of bytes. I wanted to have comparison to be expressed as simple as possible. Quick google search brought me to a post that dealt with the same issue. But linq expression was too chatty and I think the solution was a bit muddy. So I looked a bit more into linq options presented in the post, and this is what ended up using: var matching = original_checksum.SequenceEqual(new_checksum); Sometimes things are so simple, we tend to overcomplicate them.

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  • Answers to Your Common Oracle Database Lifecycle Management Questions

    - by Scott McNeil
    We recently ran a live webcast on Strategies for Managing Oracle Database's Lifecycle. There were tons of questions from our audience that we simply could not get to during the hour long presentation. Below are some of those questions along with their answers. Enjoy! Question: In the webcast the presenter talked about “gold” configuration standards, for those who want to use this technique, could you recommend a best practice to consider or follow? How do I get started? Answer:Gold configuration standardization is a quick and easy way to improve availability through consistency. Start by choosing a reference database and saving the configuration to the Oracle Enterprise Manager repository using the Save Configuration feature. Next create a comparison template using the Oracle provided template as a starting point and modify the ignored properties to eliminate expected differences in your environment. Finally create a comparison specification using the comparison template you created plus your saved gold configuration and schedule it to run on a regular basis. Don’t forget to fill in the email addresses of those you want to notify upon drift detection. Watch the database configuration management demo to learn more. Question: Can Oracle Lifecycle Management Pack for Database help with patching an Oracle Real Application Cluster (RAC) environment? Answer: Yes, Oracle Enterprise Manager supports both parallel and rolling patch application of Oracle Real Application Clusters. The use of rolling patching is recommended as there is no downtime involved. For more details watch this demo. Question: What are some of the things administrators can do to control configuration drift? Why is it important? Answer:Configuration drift is one of the main causes of instability and downtime of applications. Oracle Enterprise Manager makes it easy to manage and control drift using scheduled configuration comparisons combined with comparison templates. Question: Does Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Release 2 offer an incremental update feature for "gold" images? For instance, if the source binary has a higher PSU level, what is the best approach to update the existing "gold" image in the software library? Do you have to create a new image or can you just update the original one? Answer:Provisioning Profiles (Gold images) can contain the installation files and database configuration templates. Although it is possible to make some changes to the profile after creation (mainly to configuration), it is normally recommended to simply create a new profile after applying a patch to your reference database. Question: The webcast talked about enforcing in-house standards, does Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c offer verification of your databases and systems to those standards? For example, the initial "gold" image has been massively deployed over time, and there may be some changes to it. How can you do regular checks from Enterprise Manager to ensure the in-house standards are being enforced? Answer:There are really two methods to validate conformity to standards. The first method is to use gold standards which you compare other databases to report unwanted differences. This method uses a new comparison template technology which allows users to ignore known differences (i.e. SID, Start time, etc) which results in a report only showing important or non-conformant differences. This method is quick to setup and configure and recommended for those who want to get started validating compliance quickly. The second method leverages the new compliance framework which allows the creation of specific and robust validations. These compliance rules are grouped into standards which can be assigned to databases quickly and easily. Compliance rules allow for targeted and more sophisticated validation beyond the basic equals operation available in the comparison method. The compliance framework can be used to implement just about any internal or industry standard. The compliance results will track current and historic compliance scores at the overall and individual database targets. When the issue is resolved, the score is automatically affected. Compliance framework is the recommended long term solution for validating compliance using Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c. Check out this demo on database compliance to learn more. Question: If you are using the integration between Oracle Enterprise Manager and My Oracle Support in an "offline" mode, how do you know if you have the latest My Oracle Support metadata? Answer:In Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Release 2, you now only need to download one zip file containing all of the metadata xmls files. There is no indication that the metadata has changed but you could run a checksum on the file and compare it to the previously downloaded version to see if it has changed. Question: What happens if a patch fails while administrators are applying it to a database or system? Answer:A large portion of Oracle Enterprise Manager's patch automation is the pre-requisite checks that happen to ensure the highest level of confidence the patch will successfully apply. It is recommended you test the patch in a non-production environment and save the patch plan as a template once successful so you can create new plans using the saved template. If you are using the recommended ‘out of place’ patching methodology, there is no urgency because the database is still running as the cloned Oracle home is being patched. Users can address the issue and restart the patch procedure at the point it left off. If you are using 'in place' method, you can address the issue and continue where the procedure left off. Question: Can Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c R2 compare configurations between more than one target at the same time? Answer:Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c can compare any number of target configurations at one time. This is the basis of many important use cases including Configuration Drift Management. These comparisons can also be scheduled on a regular basis and emails notification sent should any differences appear. To learn more about configuration search and compare watch this demo. Question: How is data comparison done since changes are taking place in a live production system? Answer:There are many things to keep in mind when using the data comparison feature (as part of the Change Management ability to compare table data). It was primarily intended to be used for maintaining consistency of important but relatively static data. For example, application seed data and application setup configuration. This data does not change often but is critical when testing an application to ensure results are consistent with production. It is not recommended to use data comparison on highly dynamic data like transactional tables or very large tables. Question: Which versions of Oracle Database can be monitored through Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c? Answer:Oracle Database versions: 9.2.0.8, 10.1.0.5, 10.2.0.4, 10.2.0.5, 11.1.0.7, 11.2.0.1, 11.2.0.2, 11.2.0.3. Watch the On-Demand Webcast Stay Connected: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Linkedin | NewsletterDownload the Oracle Enterprise Manager Cloud Control12c Mobile app

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  • Executing server validators first before OnClientClick Javascript confirm/alert

    - by kaushalparik27
    I got to answer a simple question over community forums. Consider this: Suppose you are developing a webpage with few input controls and a submit button. You have placed some server validator controls like RequiredFieldValidator to validate the inputs entered by the user. Once user fill-in all the details and try to submit the page via button click you want to alert/confirm the submission like "Are you sure to modify above details?". You will consider to use javascript on click of the button.Everything seems simple and you are almost done. BUT, when you run the page; you will see that Javascript alert/confirm box is executing first before server validators try to validate the input controls! Well, this is expected behaviour. BUT, this is not you want. Then? The simple answer is: Call Page_ClientValidate() in javascript where you are alerting the submission. Below is the javascript example:    <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">        function ValidateAllValidationGroups() {            if (Page_ClientValidate()) {                return confirm("Are you sure to modify above details?");            }        }    </script>Page_ClientValidate() function tests for all server validators and return bool value depends on whether the page meets defined validation criteria or not. In above example, confirm alert will only popup up if Page_ClientValidate() returns true (if all validations satisfy). You can also specify ValidationGroup inside this function as Page_ClientValidate('ValidationGroup1') to only validate a specific group of validation in your page.        function ValidateSpecificValidationGroup() {            if (Page_ClientValidate('ValidationGroup1')) {                return confirm("Are you sure to modify above details?");            }        }I have attached a sample example with this post here demonstrating both above cases. Hope it helps./.

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  • Good and easy way to share files on local machine

    - by jb
    I would like to have a directory that has following properties: Many users can copy files into it These files can be deleted/changed by these users (user A can delete/modify file that was copied into this directory) it cant be done using normal file permissions (because permissions are retained on copy). Here is what I found on the net: brainstorm idea blueprint Some use cases: Sharing music on local machine Simple git repository sharing (just make a bare repository writeable to many people) --- i know that there are solutions like gitosis Allow many developers to modify test instance of php app without giving them root (i guess they would copy files) --- I'm leading a team of nonprofit junior developers and I need to keep that one simple! EDIT AFAIK setting SGID bit is not enugh, it only affects newly created files --- and basic workflow for these use cases ivnolves copying and other operations (which cleave file's gid unchanged)

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  • Google I/O 2012 - Managing Google Compute Engine Virtual Machines Through Google App Engine

    Google I/O 2012 - Managing Google Compute Engine Virtual Machines Through Google App Engine Alon Levi, Adam Eijdenberg Google Compute Engine provides highly efficient and scalable virtual machines for large scale data processing operations. Integration with Google App Engine provides an orchestration framework to manage large virtual machine clusters used for data processing. This session will talk demonstrate integration and discuss future use cases of the two technologies. For all I/O 2012 sessions, go to developers.google.com From: GoogleDevelopers Views: 0 0 ratings Time: 51:06 More in Science & Technology

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  • Justification for learning/implementing newer Microsoft technologies

    - by Darren
    I work at a large healthcare organization as a mid-level software developer. I have over 10 years experience in the IT industry using Microsoft technologies (ASP.NET & SQL Server). When I go to conferences, code camps, .net user group meetings, I hear of all kinds of new tools and technologies: MVC, LINQ, Entity Framework, WCF Web Services, etc. I guess you could say I'm in my comfort zone using the same old stuff from asp.net 2.0. I use typed datasets for my data access layer. I use web forms and feature rich server controls with master pages. I know how to use plain old SQL and create queries in my typed datasets to get at data my applications need. Throughout my career, I'm always sensitive to not become obsolete with my skill set. What I currently use works fine and my development time is fast. But I'm concerned that if I were to be laid off, I would be asked in interviews how many MVC apps I've written. Or how I am with LINQ or WCF web services. I know that it doesn't matter how many conferences, books, or videos I watch on some new technology...I have to implement/use it or it simply won't sink in. Also, managers who interview don't care how much someone reads up on something, only real use and experience with a technology. I have a new project to write. I've gone to my manager and have asked for additional time for the project for learning/implementing technology I may not be familiar with. Our organization encourages its employees to "learn and grow" and to continue are education. But I always get resistance when I ask for more time to ramp up on something new to implement. My manager is asking for concrete business reasons for implementing these new technologies. I don't have business reasons. My reasons are because I don't want to become obsolete. I could say it would make the project more maintainable in the future by other developers since at some point people could stop using these older technologies, but that' about all I can think of. Does Linq/Entity Framework/MCV apps perform better? So much so that the customers (users in departments I'm creating this app for) need? I doubt it. I'm interested in you guy's thoughts on this. Do many of you have similar plights with trying to use newer upcoming technologies? I doubt I'm on the bleeding edge of technology, either. Are there "business reasons" that you would bring to light for using these technologies? Thanks in advance! Sorry for the long wall of text.

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  • Introduction à l'Unreal Development Kit avec Visual Studio, un article par Aymeric SUTEAU

    Bonjour à toutes et à tous, Via ce post, je vous annonce la mise en ligne d'un premier tutoriel concernant l'UDK ou Unreal Development Kit. L'objectif de ce tutoriel est de prendre en main l'UDK sous environnement Visual Studio, afin de créer, configurer et exécuter un projet basé sur le framework Unreal Engine 3. Voici le lien vers l'article en question : Introduction à UDK avec Visual Studio N'hésitez pas à faire vos retours concernant l'article sur cette discussion. Bonne lecture ...

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  • APress Deal of the Day 27/Jul/2013 - Pro Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio 2012

    - by TATWORTH
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/TATWORTH/archive/2013/07/27/apress-deal-of-the-day-27jul2013---pro-application-lifecycle.aspxToday's $10 Deal of the Day from APress at http://www.apress.com/9781430243441 is Pro Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio 2012"Pro Application Lifecycle Management with Visual Studio 2012 focuses on the most powerful application lifecycle management tool available for the Microsoft .NET Framework: Visual Studio Team Foundation Server."

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  • SQL Developer Data Modeler v3.3 Early Adopter: Link Model Objects Across Designs

    - by thatjeffsmith
    The third post in our “What’s New in SQL Developer Data Modeler v3.3” series, SQL Developer Data Modeler now allows you to link objects across models. If you need to catch up on the earlier posts, here are the first two: New and Improved Search Collaborative Design via Excel Today’s post is a very simple and straightforward discussion on how to share objects across models and designs. In previous releases you could easily copy and paste objects between models and designs. Simply select your object, right-click and select ‘Copy’ Once copied, paste it into your other designs and then make changes as required. Once you paste the object, it is no longer associated with the source it was copied from. You are free to make any changes you want in the new location without affecting the source material. And it works the other way as well – make any changes to the source material and the new object is also unaffected. However. What if you want to LINK a model object instead of COPYING it? In version 3.3, you can now do this. Simply drag and drop the object instead of copy and pasting it. Select the object, in this case a relational model table, and drag it to your other model. It’s as simple as it sounds, here’s a little animated GIF to show you what I’m talking about. Drag and drop between models/designs to LINK an object Notes The ‘linked’ object cannot be modified from the destination space Updating the source object will propagate the changes forward to wherever it’s been linked You can drag a linked object to another design, so dragging from A - B and then from B - C will work Linked objects are annotated in the model with a ‘Chain’ bitmap, see below This object has been linked from another design/model and cannot be modified. A very simple feature, but I like the flexibility here. Copy and paste = new independent object. Drag and drop = linked object.

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  • SB Timmy

    - by csharp-source.net
    SB Timmy is IMAP mail client for WAP/WML devices. It's written in C#/ASP.NET (works both with MS .NET Framework and Mono). Timmy handles all types of MIME (base64, quoted-printable encoded; multipart messages). It can send mail through SMTP. It's possible to download message attachments to your mobile device (like JPEG photos). Timmy is multi-language (currently english and lithuanian translations).

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  • Web 2.0 Solutions with Oracle WebCenter 11g &ndash; Book Review

    - by juan.ruiz
    Recently I obtained a copy of the book Web 2.0 Solutions with Oracle Web Center 11g from Packt Publishing, right away I noticed that one of the authors of this book is a good and long time colleague of  mine Plinio Arbizu, whom I have joined for different developer events in Latin America in the past. In this entry you will find my review of the book. Chapter 1: What's Oracle WebCenter? Provides you with basic knowledge to understand the pieces of WebCenter and the role that these pieces play in the overall Oracle Fusion Middleware strategy. Chapter 2 and 3: Will guide you through installation process and set up instructions, required to start developing Web2.0 applications. The screenshots are very helpful. Chapter 4: The chapter will guide you through a series of steps for creating a basic HelloWorld application that uses ADF/Webservices/WebCenter framework to understand the relevant pieces that are part of the architecture in large Web2.0 solutions for WebCenter. One caveat on this chapter is that the use HTML in combination with ADF Faces is not a recommended practice, because in some cases (not in this one) HTML code generated by the components can conflict with existent HTML code place on the same page... so be careful. Chapter 5: Describes the basics to understand the usage of ADF Faces Rich Client Components, with templates and ADF Business components. Chapter 6: This chapter explains how to encapsulate, deploy and consume ADF UIs as JSR 168 portlets in a declarative way Chapter 7: Explains some of the WebCenter services and the different ways that these services can be integrated within WebCenter applications. Chapter 8: Goes over how to include a series of  WebCenter services provided out-of-the-box within applications. This chapter presents a simple and clear way of how to include RSS feeds, search capabilities, tagging and discussions using practical samples that are easy to follow. Chapter 9: Presents an important component of Oracle WebCenter - the composer. Through the composer and Oracle Metadata Services the composer adds all the functionality to perform end-user personalizations, which is a very common user case when working with portals. The concept is self-explanatory when running over the practice developed in this chapter. Chapter 10: Provides an introduction to WebCenter spaces, explaining common concepts about installation, administration (role creation, group creation, etc) and through a sample, the readers can put everything in practice on their own environments. Summary: This book would provide the reader with a fast start to work with Oracle WebCenter 11g  and its different components. In my opinion the book targets the developer audience, rather than the Portal type of audience, or content generator. For the readers of this book I recommend that to better understand the concepts discussed, first you need to understand the basics on Oracle Application Development Framework. Believe me you can thank me later!

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  • SharePointBeginners: A new group for a global noob community

    - by PeterBrunone
    Recently, a discussion broke out (go figure) on a SharePoint list that I frequent.  It had grown in size to the point where the more advanced members were sometimes turned off by the volume of questions that appeared TOO simple.  This happens all the time, as something becomes larger and specialization is necessary.Anyhoo, my response was to create the SharePoint Beginners group.  Come out and join us at http://groups.google.com/group/sharepointbeginners , where no question is too simple; all we ask is to show us that you tried to find the answer.

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  • Managing Project and Portfolio Risk in the Energy Industry with Oracle's Primavera Solutions

    The current economic situation is causing energy companies to take a closer look at how they manage project and portfolio risk. Join Guy Barlow, industry strategist for the oil and gas and utility industries at Oracle, and learn how Oracle's Primavera project and portfolio risk management solutions can help executives and project team members successfully manage their CapEx and maintenance projects within a risk adjusted framework to complete projects on time and within budget.

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  • Networking Guidelines

    - by ACShorten
    One of the things I have noticed in my years in IT is the changes in networking. In the past networking was pretty simple with the host name and name resolution (via DNS) being pretty simple. Some sites still use this simple networking setup. These days, more complex name resolution, proxies, firewalls, demarcation nd virtualization, can make networking more complex. This can cause issues when installing products with in built networking that can frustrate even seasoned veterans. I have put together a few basic guidelines to hopefully help along with product installation and getting a product to operate in a somewhat complex network setup. All the components of the product (including the infrastructure) need to communicate via a network (even it is within a local machine/host). Ensure any host names referred to within configuration files are accessible via your networking setup. This may mean defining the hosts to the machines, to the DNS for name resolution and even your firewall to allow machines to communicate within your network. Make sure the ports used for any of the infrastructure are accessible (even through your firewall) and are unique within the host. Host duplication can cause the product to fail on startup as the port is already in use. If there are still issues, consider using localhost as your host name. I have used this in so many situations that I tend to use it now as a default anytime I install anything myself. Most Oracle products suggest to use localhost when using dynamic host or dynamic IP addresses and this is no different for the Oracle Utilities Application Framework. If you do use localhost then installing a Loopback Adapter for the operating system is recommended to force networking to a minimum. Usually localhost resolves to 127.0.0.1. When using multiple network connections, especially in a virtualized environment, ensure the host and ports used are relevent for the network cards you have setup. One of the common issues is finding the product is using a vierualized network card only to find that it is not setup for correct networking. If you are using the batch component, do not forget to ensure that the multicast protocol is enabled on your host and that the multicast address and port number specified are valid and accessible from all machines in the batch cluster (if clustering used). The same advice applies if you are using unicast where each host/port combination should be accessible. Hopefully these basic networking recommendations will help minimize any networking issues you might encounter.

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  • Improve Your Google Search Skills [Infographic]

    - by Jason Fitzpatrick
    Don’t limit yourself to just plugging in simple search terms to Google; check out this infographic and learn a search string search or two. You don’t need to limit yourself to searching just for simple strings; Google supports all manner of handy search tricks. If you want to search just HowToGeek.com’s archive of XBMC articles, for example, you can plug in site:howtogeek.com XBMC to search our site. Get More Out of Google [HackCollege via Mashable] How to See What Web Sites Your Computer is Secretly Connecting To HTG Explains: When Do You Need to Update Your Drivers? How to Make the Kindle Fire Silk Browser *Actually* Fast!

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  • Informed TDD &ndash; Kata &ldquo;To Roman Numerals&rdquo;

    - by Ralf Westphal
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/theArchitectsNapkin/archive/2014/05/28/informed-tdd-ndash-kata-ldquoto-roman-numeralsrdquo.aspxIn a comment on my article on what I call Informed TDD (ITDD) reader gustav asked how this approach would apply to the kata “To Roman Numerals”. And whether ITDD wasn´t a violation of TDD´s principle of leaving out “advanced topics like mocks”. I like to respond with this article to his questions. There´s more to say than fits into a commentary. Mocks and TDD I don´t see in how far TDD is avoiding or opposed to mocks. TDD and mocks are orthogonal. TDD is about pocess, mocks are about structure and costs. Maybe by moving forward in tiny red+green+refactor steps less need arises for mocks. But then… if the functionality you need to implement requires “expensive” resource access you can´t avoid using mocks. Because you don´t want to constantly run all your tests against the real resource. True, in ITDD mocks seem to be in almost inflationary use. That´s not what you usually see in TDD demonstrations. However, there´s a reason for that as I tried to explain. I don´t use mocks as proxies for “expensive” resource. Rather they are stand-ins for functionality not yet implemented. They allow me to get a test green on a high level of abstraction. That way I can move forward in a top-down fashion. But if you think of mocks as “advanced” or if you don´t want to use a tool like JustMock, then you don´t need to use mocks. You just need to stand the sight of red tests for a little longer ;-) Let me show you what I mean by that by doing a kata. ITDD for “To Roman Numerals” gustav asked for the kata “To Roman Numerals”. I won´t explain the requirements again. You can find descriptions and TDD demonstrations all over the internet, like this one from Corey Haines. Now here is, how I would do this kata differently. 1. Analyse A demonstration of TDD should never skip the analysis phase. It should be made explicit. The requirements should be formalized and acceptance test cases should be compiled. “Formalization” in this case to me means describing the API of the required functionality. “[D]esign a program to work with Roman numerals” like written in this “requirement document” is not enough to start software development. Coding should only begin, if the interface between the “system under development” and its context is clear. If this interface is not readily recognizable from the requirements, it has to be developed first. Exploration of interface alternatives might be in order. It might be necessary to show several interface mock-ups to the customer – even if that´s you fellow developer. Designing the interface is a task of it´s own. It should not be mixed with implementing the required functionality behind the interface. Unfortunately, though, this happens quite often in TDD demonstrations. TDD is used to explore the API and implement it at the same time. To me that´s a violation of the Single Responsibility Principle (SRP) which not only should hold for software functional units but also for tasks or activities. In the case of this kata the API fortunately is obvious. Just one function is needed: string ToRoman(int arabic). And it lives in a class ArabicRomanConversions. Now what about acceptance test cases? There are hardly any stated in the kata descriptions. Roman numerals are explained, but no specific test cases from the point of view of a customer. So I just “invent” some acceptance test cases by picking roman numerals from a wikipedia article. They are supposed to be just “typical examples” without special meaning. Given the acceptance test cases I then try to develop an understanding of the problem domain. I´ll spare you that. The domain is trivial and is explain in almost all kata descriptions. How roman numerals are built is not difficult to understand. What´s more difficult, though, might be to find an efficient solution to convert into them automatically. 2. Solve The usual TDD demonstration skips a solution finding phase. Like the interface exploration it´s mixed in with the implementation. But I don´t think this is how it should be done. I even think this is not how it really works for the people demonstrating TDD. They´re simplifying their true software development process because they want to show a streamlined TDD process. I doubt this is helping anybody. Before you code you better have a plan what to code. This does not mean you have to do “Big Design Up-Front”. It just means: Have a clear picture of the logical solution in your head before you start to build a physical solution (code). Evidently such a solution can only be as good as your understanding of the problem. If that´s limited your solution will be limited, too. Fortunately, in the case of this kata your understanding does not need to be limited. Thus the logical solution does not need to be limited or preliminary or tentative. That does not mean you need to know every line of code in advance. It just means you know the rough structure of your implementation beforehand. Because it should mirror the process described by the logical or conceptual solution. Here´s my solution approach: The arabic “encoding” of numbers represents them as an ordered set of powers of 10. Each digit is a factor to multiply a power of ten with. The “encoding” 123 is the short form for a set like this: {1*10^2, 2*10^1, 3*10^0}. And the number is the sum of the set members. The roman “encoding” is different. There is no base (like 10 for arabic numbers), there are just digits of different value, and they have to be written in descending order. The “encoding” XVI is short for [10, 5, 1]. And the number is still the sum of the members of this list. The roman “encoding” thus is simpler than the arabic. Each “digit” can be taken at face value. No multiplication with a base required. But what about IV which looks like a contradiction to the above rule? It is not – if you accept roman “digits” not to be limited to be single characters only. Usually I, V, X, L, C, D, M are viewed as “digits”, and IV, IX etc. are viewed as nuisances preventing a simple solution. All looks different, though, once IV, IX etc. are taken as “digits”. Then MCMLIV is just a sum: M+CM+L+IV which is 1000+900+50+4. Whereas before it would have been understood as M-C+M+L-I+V – which is more difficult because here some “digits” get subtracted. Here´s the list of roman “digits” with their values: {1, I}, {4, IV}, {5, V}, {9, IX}, {10, X}, {40, XL}, {50, L}, {90, XC}, {100, C}, {400, CD}, {500, D}, {900, CM}, {1000, M} Since I take IV, IX etc. as “digits” translating an arabic number becomes trivial. I just need to find the values of the roman “digits” making up the number, e.g. 1954 is made up of 1000, 900, 50, and 4. I call those “digits” factors. If I move from the highest factor (M=1000) to the lowest (I=1) then translation is a two phase process: Find all the factors Translate the factors found Compile the roman representation Translation is just a look-up. Finding, though, needs some calculation: Find the highest remaining factor fitting in the value Remember and subtract it from the value Repeat with remaining value and remaining factors Please note: This is just an algorithm. It´s not code, even though it might be close. Being so close to code in my solution approach is due to the triviality of the problem. In more realistic examples the conceptual solution would be on a higher level of abstraction. With this solution in hand I finally can do what TDD advocates: find and prioritize test cases. As I can see from the small process description above, there are two aspects to test: Test the translation Test the compilation Test finding the factors Testing the translation primarily means to check if the map of factors and digits is comprehensive. That´s simple, even though it might be tedious. Testing the compilation is trivial. Testing factor finding, though, is a tad more complicated. I can think of several steps: First check, if an arabic number equal to a factor is processed correctly (e.g. 1000=M). Then check if an arabic number consisting of two consecutive factors (e.g. 1900=[M,CM]) is processed correctly. Then check, if a number consisting of the same factor twice is processed correctly (e.g. 2000=[M,M]). Finally check, if an arabic number consisting of non-consecutive factors (e.g. 1400=[M,CD]) is processed correctly. I feel I can start an implementation now. If something becomes more complicated than expected I can slow down and repeat this process. 3. Implement First I write a test for the acceptance test cases. It´s red because there´s no implementation even of the API. That´s in conformance with “TDD lore”, I´d say: Next I implement the API: The acceptance test now is formally correct, but still red of course. This will not change even now that I zoom in. Because my goal is not to most quickly satisfy these tests, but to implement my solution in a stepwise manner. That I do by “faking” it: I just “assume” three functions to represent the transformation process of my solution: My hypothesis is that those three functions in conjunction produce correct results on the API-level. I just have to implement them correctly. That´s what I´m trying now – one by one. I start with a simple “detail function”: Translate(). And I start with all the test cases in the obvious equivalence partition: As you can see I dare to test a private method. Yes. That´s a white box test. But as you´ll see it won´t make my tests brittle. It serves a purpose right here and now: it lets me focus on getting one aspect of my solution right. Here´s the implementation to satisfy the test: It´s as simple as possible. Right how TDD wants me to do it: KISS. Now for the second equivalence partition: translating multiple factors. (It´a pattern: if you need to do something repeatedly separate the tests for doing it once and doing it multiple times.) In this partition I just need a single test case, I guess. Stepping up from a single translation to multiple translations is no rocket science: Usually I would have implemented the final code right away. Splitting it in two steps is just for “educational purposes” here. How small your implementation steps are is a matter of your programming competency. Some “see” the final code right away before their mental eye – others need to work their way towards it. Having two tests I find more important. Now for the next low hanging fruit: compilation. It´s even simpler than translation. A single test is enough, I guess. And normally I would not even have bothered to write that one, because the implementation is so simple. I don´t need to test .NET framework functionality. But again: if it serves the educational purpose… Finally the most complicated part of the solution: finding the factors. There are several equivalence partitions. But still I decide to write just a single test, since the structure of the test data is the same for all partitions: Again, I´m faking the implementation first: I focus on just the first test case. No looping yet. Faking lets me stay on a high level of abstraction. I can write down the implementation of the solution without bothering myself with details of how to actually accomplish the feat. That´s left for a drill down with a test of the fake function: There are two main equivalence partitions, I guess: either the first factor is appropriate or some next. The implementation seems easy. Both test cases are green. (Of course this only works on the premise that there´s always a matching factor. Which is the case since the smallest factor is 1.) And the first of the equivalence partitions on the higher level also is satisfied: Great, I can move on. Now for more than a single factor: Interestingly not just one test becomes green now, but all of them. Great! You might say, then I must have done not the simplest thing possible. And I would reply: I don´t care. I did the most obvious thing. But I also find this loop very simple. Even simpler than a recursion of which I had thought briefly during the problem solving phase. And by the way: Also the acceptance tests went green: Mission accomplished. At least functionality wise. Now I´ve to tidy up things a bit. TDD calls for refactoring. Not uch refactoring is needed, because I wrote the code in top-down fashion. I faked it until I made it. I endured red tests on higher levels while lower levels weren´t perfected yet. But this way I saved myself from refactoring tediousness. At the end, though, some refactoring is required. But maybe in a different way than you would expect. That´s why I rather call it “cleanup”. First I remove duplication. There are two places where factors are defined: in Translate() and in Find_factors(). So I factor the map out into a class constant. Which leads to a small conversion in Find_factors(): And now for the big cleanup: I remove all tests of private methods. They are scaffolding tests to me. They only have temporary value. They are brittle. Only acceptance tests need to remain. However, I carry over the single “digit” tests from Translate() to the acceptance test. I find them valuable to keep, since the other acceptance tests only exercise a subset of all roman “digits”. This then is my final test class: And this is the final production code: Test coverage as reported by NCrunch is 100%: Reflexion Is this the smallest possible code base for this kata? Sure not. You´ll find more concise solutions on the internet. But LOC are of relatively little concern – as long as I can understand the code quickly. So called “elegant” code, however, often is not easy to understand. The same goes for KISS code – especially if left unrefactored, as it is often the case. That´s why I progressed from requirements to final code the way I did. I first understood and solved the problem on a conceptual level. Then I implemented it top down according to my design. I also could have implemented it bottom-up, since I knew some bottom of the solution. That´s the leaves of the functional decomposition tree. Where things became fuzzy, since the design did not cover any more details as with Find_factors(), I repeated the process in the small, so to speak: fake some top level, endure red high level tests, while first solving a simpler problem. Using scaffolding tests (to be thrown away at the end) brought two advantages: Encapsulation of the implementation details was not compromised. Naturally private methods could stay private. I did not need to make them internal or public just to be able to test them. I was able to write focused tests for small aspects of the solution. No need to test everything through the solution root, the API. The bottom line thus for me is: Informed TDD produces cleaner code in a systematic way. It conforms to core principles of programming: Single Responsibility Principle and/or Separation of Concerns. Distinct roles in development – being a researcher, being an engineer, being a craftsman – are represented as different phases. First find what, what there is. Then devise a solution. Then code the solution, manifest the solution in code. Writing tests first is a good practice. But it should not be taken dogmatic. And above all it should not be overloaded with purposes. And finally: moving from top to bottom through a design produces refactored code right away. Clean code thus almost is inevitable – and not left to a refactoring step at the end which is skipped often for different reasons.   PS: Yes, I have done this kata several times. But that has only an impact on the time needed for phases 1 and 2. I won´t skip them because of that. And there are no shortcuts during implementation because of that.

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