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  • Why do business analysts and project managers get higher salaries than programmers?

    - by jpartogi
    We have to admit that programming is much more difficult than creating documentation or even creating Gantt chart and asking progress to programmers. So for us that are naives, knowing that programming are generally more difficult, why does business analysts and project managers gets higher salary than programmers? What is it that makes their job a high paying job when even at most time programmers are the ones that goes home late?

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  • Oracle Linux Training Across Five Continents

    - by Antoinette O'Sullivan
    The Oracle Linux System Administration course, a top selling course, provides you with a broad selection of key competencies you need to be a great Linux system administrator. And you can now take this course from your desk or in classrooms across all five contents. You can take this 5-day instructor-led course through the follow delivery methods: Training-on-Demand: Start training within 24 hours of registering. You following lecture material at your own pace via streaming video and book time on a lab environment to suit your schedule. Live-Virtual Event: Follow a live event from your own desk, no travel required. You can choose from a selection of events on the schedule to suit a different time zones. In-Class Event: Travel to an education center to take this course. Below is a selection of the in-class events already on the schedule. AFRICA  Location  Date  Delivery Language  Nairobi, Kenya  13 October 2014  English  Johannesburg, South Africa  24 November 2014  English AMERICA  Location  Date  Delivery Language  Mississauga, Canada  27 October 2014  English  Chicago, IL, United States  13 October 2014  English  Roseville, MN, United States  13 October 2014  English ASIA  Location  Date  Delivery  Jakarta, Indonesia  20 October 2014  English  Petaling Jaya, Malaysia  25 August 2014  English  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  8 December 2014  English  Istanbul, Turkey  10 November 2014  Turkish   Dubai, United Arab Emirates  4 January 2015  English AUSTRALIA  Location  Date  Delivery Language  Canberra, Australia  20 October 2014  English  Melbourne, Australia  20 October 2014  English EUROPE  Location  Date  Delivery Language  Paris, France  6 October 2014  French  Milan, Italy  20 October 2014  Italian  Rome, Italy  8 September 2014  Italian  Bucharest, Romania  27 October 2014  Romanian  Madrid, Spain  1 September 2014  Spanish The Oracle Linux System Administration course is the recommended training course to prepare for you for the Oracle Linux 5 & 6 System Administrator OCA certification exam. Those who have acquired the skills provided in the Oracle Linux System Administration course, can advance their learning by taking the Oracle Linux Advanced Administration course. You can take this 5-day instructor led course as a live-virtual event or an in-class event. Below is a selection of the in-class events on the schedule:  Location  Date  Delivery Language  Jakarta, Indonesia  27 October 2014  English  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia  6 October 2014  English  Bangkok, Thailand  20 October 2014  English  Belmont, CA, United States  15 September 2014  English For information on the Oracle Linux curriculum, go to http://oracle.com/education/linux.

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  • ArchBeat Link-o-Rama Top 10 for November 1, 2012

    - by Bob Rhubart
    Hurricane Sandy Edition Power outages in the Cleveland area made it impossible to publish posts on Tuesday and Wednesday. In my neighborhood most are still without power. The sound of howling winds that dominated on Monday and Tuesday has been replaced by the sound of of portable generators. My internet connection was restored only after AT&T U-Verse crewmen hooked up a portable generator to power the relay station up the street. Bear in mind that Cleveland is 500 miles from the Atlantic coast. Mobile Development Platform Strategy Chart: ADF Mobile, WebCenter Sites, Portal, Content and Social "Unlike desktop web focused efforts, the world of mobile has undergone change at a feverish pace," says social enterprise expert John Brunswick. His extensive post charts various resources that will help you keep up. ADF Essentials - The Bare Necessities | Floyd Teter The experiment is over... And now Oracle ACE Director Floyd Teter shares his impressions after spending some time with Oracle ADF Essentials, the free version of Oracle ADF. Expanding the Oracle Enterprise Repository with functional documentation Capgemini middleware specialist Marc Kuijpers shares information on how Oracle Enterprise Repository can be configured "to contain functional assets, i.e. functional designs, use cases and a logical data model" to aid in SOA governance efforts. A review of Oracle SOA Suite 11g Administrator’s Handbook | RedStack "More so than any other single piece of content that I have seen on the topic, it provides the information that a SOA administrator needs to know in order to successfully configure, manage, monitor, troubleshoot and backup an Oracle SOA environment." So says Oracle Fusion Middleware A-Team solution architect Mark Nelson of Oracle SOA Suite 11g Administrator’s Handbook, by Ahmed Aboulnaga and Arun Pareek. Eating our own dog food – Oracle’s internal deployment of Oracle IDM Oracle Fusion Middleware A-Team member Brian Eidelman recommends the recent podcast on Oracle’s internal deployment of Oracle OAM and OID. "This was a big project that involved migrating a bunch of critical, high volume applications to leverage OAM and OID," says Eidelman. "So I suggest you tune in to see and hear more about how we deploy our own software." Thought for the Day "Anyone who says they're not afraid at the time of a hurricane is either a fool or a liar, or a little bit of both." — Anderson Cooper Source: BrainyQuote

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  • List columns where collation doesn't match database collation

    - by TiborKaraszi
    Below script lists all database/table/column where the column collation doesn't match the database collation. I just wrote it for a migration project and thought I'd share it. I'm sure lots of tings can be improved, but below worked just fine for me for a one-time execution on a number of servers. IF OBJECT_ID ( 'tempdb..#res' ) IS NOT NULL DROP TABLE #res GO DECLARE @db sysname , @sql nvarchar ( 2000 ) CREATE TABLE #res ( server_name sysname , db_name sysname , db_collation sysname , table_name...(read more)

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  • Tips on ensuring Model Quality

    - by [email protected]
    Given enough data that represents well the domain and models that reflect exactly the decision being optimized, models usually provide good predictions that ensure lift. Nevertheless, sometimes the modeling situation is less than ideal. In this blog entry we explore the problems found in a few such situations and how to avoid them.1 - The Model does not reflect the problem you are trying to solveFor example, you may be trying to solve the problem: "What product should I recommend to this customer" but your model learns on the problem: "Given that a customer has acquired our products, what is the likelihood for each product". In this case the model you built may be too far of a proxy for the problem you are really trying to solve. What you could do in this case is try to build a model based on the result from recommendations of products to customers. If there is not enough data from actual recommendations, you could use a hybrid approach in which you would use the [bad] proxy model until the recommendation model converges.2 - Data is not predictive enoughIf the inputs are not correlated with the output then the models may be unable to provide good predictions. For example, if the input is the phase of the moon and the weather and the output is what car did the customer buy, there may be no correlations found. In this case you should see a low quality model.The solution in this case is to include more relevant inputs.3 - Not enough cases seenIf the data learned does not include enough cases, at least 200 positive examples for each output, then the quality of recommendations may be low. The obvious solution is to include more data records. If this is not possible, then it may be possible to build a model based on the characteristics of the output choices rather than the choices themselves. For example, instead of using products as output, use the product category, price and brand name, and then combine these models.4 - Output leaking into input giving the false impression of good quality modelsIf the input data in the training includes values that have changed or are available only because the output happened, then you will find some strong correlations between the input and the output, but these strong correlations do not reflect the data that you will have available at decision (prediction) time. For example, if you are building a model to predict whether a web site visitor will succeed in registering, and the input includes the variable DaysSinceRegistration, and you learn when this variable has already been set, you will probably see a big correlation between having a Zero (or one) in this variable and the fact that registration was successful.The solution is to remove these variables from the input or make sure they reflect the value as of the time of decision and not after the result is known. 

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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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  • R2 download site is looking good

    - by DavidWimbush
    The MSDN downloads for R2 appeared as promised yesterday. Congratulations to everyone on the SQL team. I must have got one of the first downloads of the Developer Edition and it was nice and fast. I've just downloaded Standard Edition and it's still nearly as fast. Nice. I'm guessing they aren't using GUIDs for the clustered indexes this time! ;)

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  • Absolute statements in IT that are wrong

    - by Dan McGrath
    I was recently in a discussion about the absolute statement "It costs more in programming time to optimise software than it costs to throw hardware at a problem". The general thought (of which I agree with) is that as an absolute statement this is wrong. There are too many variables to ever generalise in such a way. What other statements do you hear about software/programming that simply do not work as an absolute and why?

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  • Taking 10 minutes to boot up!

    - by oshirowanen
    Just added 2 pci-e to ide cards in my computer so I can use 2 old ide hard drives. Everything works fine, except the OS booting time has gone from about 10 seconds to about 10 minutes... I'f I remove both cards, it takes about 10 seconds to boot up, if I add either 1 of the cards back in, it still takes 10 seconds to boot up, but as soon as I have both cards in, it takes about 10 minutes. Why would this be happening?

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  • SSIS and StreamInsight Working Together.

    I have been thinking a lot recently about what it would be like to have StreamInsight and SSIS working together.  Well the CAT team have produced a paper on some of our options here. Here are some of my thoughts. There is of course a slight mismatch in their types of usage.  StreamInsight is an Event Stream processing engine capable of operating on new data in the sub second timeframe.  The engine allows you to do real time analytics and take decisions on events that have potentially only just happened.  SSIS on the other hand is a batch processing engine.  In general I do not like having to invoke the same package more than once every 90 seconds or so as it can start to get expensive.  Usually when doing batch processing we have an hour or longer of grace before we have to move data from A –> B. StreamInsight operates on streams of data.  Before anyone mentions it yes I know StreamInsight is equally adept at using the IEnumerable interface, but I would argue live streaming and real-time analytics is a primary goal of the product.  SSIS does not have an “Always On” button I do not like the idea of embedding StreamInsight inside SSIS using a transform particularly.  It means StreamInsight becomes a batch processing engine because it can only operate when the SSIS package is running and SSIS is in charge of when that happens. If I am to have StreamInsight within SSIS then I prefer to have StreamInsight on the adapters.  This way you can force the adapters to stay open and introduce events into your Pipeline.   SSIS has a much richer set of transforms out of the box than StreamInsight.  Although “Always On” was not a design goal of SSIS I have used it like this and it works just fine. SSIS being called from within StreamInsight, now that excites me.  see below   For a while now I have been thinking what it would be like to decouple the Data Flow task from the SSIS package and expose it as something with which you can interact.  Anything can instantiate this version of a DFT as it would expose one or more  input interfaces and one or more output interfaces.  I can imagine that this would be a big hit when moving to “The Cloud” as well.  I could see the Data Flow task maybe being hosted in Azure Appfabric or some such layer. StreamInsight would be able to take advantage of this as well.   I am interested to see where this goes and will be pressing for more meat around the subject when I visit Redmond soon.

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  • Google Python Class Day 1 Part 1

    Google Python Class Day 1 Part 1 Google Python Class Day 1 Part 1: Introduction and Strings. By Nick Parlante. Support materials and exercises: code.google.com From: GoogleDevelopers Views: 137 1 ratings Time: 51:37 More in Science & Technology

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  • Beware of const members

    - by nmarun
    I happened to learn a new thing about const today and how one needs to be careful with its usage. Let’s say I have a third-party assembly ‘ConstVsReadonlyLib’ with a class named ConstSideEffect.cs: 1: public class ConstSideEffect 2: { 3: public static readonly int StartValue = 10; 4: public const int EndValue = 20; 5: } In my project, I reference the above assembly as follows: 1: static void Main(string[] args) 2: { 3: for (int i = ConstSideEffect.StartValue; i < ConstSideEffect.EndValue; i++) 4: { 5: Console.WriteLine(i); 6: } 7: Console.ReadLine(); 8: } You’ll see values 10 through 19 as expected. Now, let’s say I receive a new version of the ConstVsReadonlyLib. 1: public class ConstSideEffect 2: { 3: public static readonly int StartValue = 5; 4: public const int EndValue = 30; 5: } If I just drop this new assembly in the bin folder and run the application, without rebuilding my console application, my thinking was that the output would be from 5 to 29. Of course I was wrong… if not you’d not be reading this blog. The actual output is from 5 through 19. The reason is due to the behavior of const and readonly members. To begin with, const is the compile-time constant and readonly is a runtime constant. Next, when you compile the code, a compile-time constant member is replaced with the value of the constant in the code. But, the IL generated when you reference a read-only constant, references the readonly variable, not its value. So, the IL version of the Main method, after compilation actually looks something like: 1: static void Main(string[] args) 2: { 3: for (int i = ConstSideEffect.StartValue; i < 20; i++) 4: { 5: Console.WriteLine(i); 6: } 7: Console.ReadLine(); 8: } I’m no expert with this IL thingi, but when I look at the disassembled code of the exe file (using IL Disassembler), I see the following: I see our readonly member still being referenced by the variable name (ConstVsReadonlyLib.ConstSideEffect::StartValue) in line 0001. Then there’s the Console.WriteLine in line 000b and finally, see the value of 20 in line 0017. This, I’m pretty sure is our const member being replaced by its value which marks the upper bound of the ‘for’ loop. Now you know why the output was from 5 through 19. This definitely is a side-effect of having const members and one needs to be aware of it. While we’re here, I’d like to add a few other points about const and readonly members: const is slightly faster, but is less flexible readonly cannot be declared within a method scope const can be used only on primitive types (numbers and strings) Just wanted to share this before going to bed!

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  • Developing Mobile Applications: Web, Native, or Hybrid?

    - by Michelle Kimihira
    Authors: Joe Huang, Senior Principal Product Manager, Oracle Mobile Application Development Framework  and Carlos Chang, Senior Principal Product Director The proliferation of mobile devices and platforms represents a game-changing technology shift on a number of levels. Companies must decide not only the best strategic use of mobile platforms, but also how to most efficiently implement them. Inevitably, this conversation devolves to the developers, who face the task of developing and supporting mobile applications—not a simple task in light of the number of devices and platforms. Essentially, developers can choose from the following three different application approaches, each with its own set of pros and cons. Native Applications: This refers to apps built for and installed on a specific platform, such as iOS or Android, using a platform-specific software development kit (SDK).  For example, apps for Apple’s iPhone and iPad are designed to run specifically on iOS and are written in Xcode/Objective-C. Android has its own variation of Java, Windows uses C#, and so on.  Native apps written for one platform cannot be deployed on another. Native apps offer fast performance and access to native-device services but require additional resources to develop and maintain each platform, which can be expensive and time consuming. Mobile Web Applications: Unlike native apps, mobile web apps are not installed on the device; rather, they are accessed via a Web browser.  These are server-side applications that render HTML, typically adjusting the design depending on the type of device making the request.  There are no program coding constraints for writing server-side apps—they can be written in Java, C, PHP, etc., it doesn’t matter.  Instead, the server detects what type of mobile browser is pinging the server and adjusts accordingly. For example, it can deliver fully JavaScript and CSS-enabled content to smartphone browsers, while downgrading gracefully to basic HTML for feature phone browsers. Mobile apps work across platforms, but are limited to what you can do through a browser and require Internet connectivity. For certain types of applications, these constraints may not be an issue. Oracle supports mobile web applications via ADF Faces (for tablets) and ADF Mobile browser (Trinidad) for smartphone and feature phones. Hybrid Applications: As the name implies, hybrid apps combine technologies from native and mobile Web apps to gain the benefits each. For example, these apps are installed on a device, like their pure native app counterparts, while the user interface (UI) is based on HTML5.  This UI runs locally within the native container, which usually leverages the device’s browser engine.  The advantage of using HTML5 is a consistent, cross-platform UI that works well on most devices.  Combining this with the native container, which is installed on-device, provides mobile users with access to local device services, such as camera, GPS, and local device storage.  Native apps may offer greater flexibility in integrating with device native services.  However, since hybrid applications already provide device integrations that typical enterprise applications need, this is typically less of an issue.  The new Oracle ADF Mobile release is an HTML5 and Java hybrid framework that targets mobile app development to iOS and Android from one code base. So, Which is the Best Approach? The short answer is – the best choice depends on the type of application you are developing.  For instance, animation-intensive apps such as games would favor native apps, while hybrid applications may be better suited for enterprise mobile apps because they provide multi-platform support. Just for starters, the following issues must be considered when choosing a development path. Application Complexity: How complex is the application? A quick app that accesses a database or Web service for some data to display?  You can keep it simple, and a mobile Web app may suffice. However, for a mobile/field worker type of applications that supports mission critical functionality, hybrid or native applications are typically needed. Richness of User Interactivity: What type of user experience is required for the application?  Mobile browser-based app that’s optimized for mobile UI may suffice for quick lookup or productivity type of applications.  However, hybrid/native application would typically be required to deliver highly interactive user experiences needed for field-worker type of applications.  For example, interactive BI charts/graphs, maps, voice/email integration, etc.  In the most extreme case like gaming applications, native applications may be necessary to deliver the highly animated and graphically intensive user experience. Performance: What type of performance is required by the application functionality?  For instance, for real-time look up of data over the network, mobile app performance depends on network latency and server infrastructure capabilities.  If consistent performance is required, data would typically need to be cached, which is supported on hybrid or native applications only. Connectivity and Availability: What sort of connectivity will your application require? Does the app require Web access all the time in order to always retrieve the latest data from the server? Or do the requirements dictate offline support? While native and hybrid apps can be built to operate offline, Web mobile apps require Web connectivity. Multi-platform Requirements: The terms “consumerization of IT” and BYOD (bring your own device) effectively mean that the line between the consumer and the enterprise devices have become blurred. Employees are bringing their personal mobile devices to work and are often expecting that they work in the corporate network and access back-office applications.  Even if companies restrict access to the big dogs: (iPad, iPhone, Android phones and tablets, possibly Windows Phone and tablets), trying to support each platform natively will require increasing resources and domain expertise with each new language/platform. And let’s not forget the maintenance costs, involved in upgrading new versions of each platform.   Where multi-platform support is needed, Web mobile or hybrid apps probably have the advantage. Going native, and trying to support multiple operating systems may be cost prohibitive with existing resources and developer skills. Device-Services Access:  If your app needs to access local device services, such as the camera, contacts app, accelerometer, etc., then your choices are limited to native or hybrid applications.   Fragmentation: Apple controls Apple iOS and the only concern is what version iOS is running on any given device.   Not so Android, which is open source. There are many, many versions and variants of Android running on different devices, which can be a nightmare for app developers trying to support different devices running different flavors of Android.  (Is it an Amazon Kindle Fire? a Samsung Galaxy?  A Barnes & Noble Nook?) This is a nightmare scenario for native apps—on the other hand, a mobile Web or hybrid app, when properly designed, can shield you from these complexities because they are based on common frameworks.  Resources: How many developers can you dedicate to building and supporting mobile application development?  What are their existing skills sets?  If you’re considering native application development due to the complexity of the application under development, factor the costs of becoming proficient on a each platform’s OS and programming language. Add another platform, and that’s another language, another SDK. On the other side of the equation, Web mobile or hybrid applications are simpler to make, and readily support more platforms, but there may be performance trade-offs. Conclusion This only scratches the surface. However, I hope to have suggested some food for thought in choosing your mobile development strategy.  Do your due diligence, search the Web, read up on mobile, talk to peers, attend events. The development team at Oracle is working hard on mobile technologies to help customers extend enterprise applications to mobile faster and effectively.  To learn more on what Oracle has to offer, check out the Oracle ADF Mobile (hybrid) and ADF Faces/ADF Mobile browser (Web Mobile) solutions from Oracle.   Additional Information Blog: ADF Blog Product Information on OTN: ADF Mobile 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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  • Action delegate in C#

    - by Jalpesh P. Vadgama
    In last few posts about I have written lots of things about delegates and this post is also part of that series. In this post we are going to learn about Action delegates in C#.  Following is a list of post related to delegates. Delegates in C#. Multicast Delegates in C#. Func Delegates in C#. Action Delegates in c#: As per MSDN action delegates used to pass a method as parameter without explicitly declaring custom delegates. Action Delegates are used to encapsulate method that does not have return value. C# 4.0 Action delegates have following different variants like following. It can take up to 16 parameters. Action – It will be no parameter and does not return any value. Action(T) Action(T1,T2) Action(T1,T2,T3) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5,T6) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7,T8) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7,T8,T9) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7,T8,T9,T10) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7,T8,T9,T10,T11) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7,T8,T9,T10,T11,T12) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7,T8,T9,T10,T11,T12,T13) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7,T8,T9,T10,T11,T12,T13,T14) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7,T8,T9,T10,T11,T12,T13,T14,T15) Action(T1,T2,T3,T4,T5,T6,T7,T8,T9,T10,T11,T12,T13,T14,T15,T16) So for this Action delegate you can have up to 16 parameters for Action.  Sound interesting!!… Enough theory now. It’s time to implement real code. Following is a code for that. using System; using System.Collections.Generic; namespace DelegateExample { class Program { static void Main(string[] args) { Action<String> Print = p => Console.WriteLine(p); Action<String,String> PrintAnother = (p1,p2)=> Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0} {1}",p1,p2)); Print("Hello"); PrintAnother("Hello","World"); } } } In the above code you can see that I have created two Action delegate Print and PrintAnother. Print have one string parameter and its printing that. While PrintAnother have two string parameter and printing both the strings via Console.Writeline. Now it’s time to run example and following is the output as expected. That’s it. Hope you liked it. Stay tuned for more updates!!

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  • Java DB talks at JavaOne 2012

    - by kah
    It's soon time for JavaOne again in San Francisco, and Java DB is represented this year too. Dag Wanvik will give an introductory talk on Java DB on Tuesday, October 2 at 10:00: CON5141 - Java DB in JDK 7: A Free, Feature-Rich, Embeddable SQL Database Rick Hillegas and Noel Poore will discuss how to use Java DB on embedded devices in their talk on Thursday, October 4 at 14:00: CON6684 - Data Storage for Embedded Middleware Mark your calendars! :)

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  • April 2010 Chicago Architects Group Meeting

    - by Tim Murphy
    The Chicago Architects Group will be holding its next meeting on April 20th.  Please come and join us and get involved in our architect community. Register Presenter: Matt Hidinger Topic: Onion Architecture      Location: Illinois Technology Association 200 S. Wacker Dr., Suite 1500 Room A/B Chicago, IL 60606 Time: 5:30 - Doors open at 5:00 del.icio.us Tags: Chicago Architects Group,Data Integration Architecture,Mike Vogt

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  • What is the technical reason that so many social media sites don't allow you to edit your text?

    - by Edward Tanguay
    A common complaint I hear about Facebook, Twitter, Ning and other social sites is that once a comment or post is made, it can't be edited. I think this goes against one of the key goals of user experience: giving the user agency, or the ability to control what he does in the software. Even on Stackexchange sites, you can only edit the comments for a certain amount of time. Is the inability for so many web apps to not allow users to edit their writing a technical shortcoming or a "feature by design"?

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  • Precompiling LINQ Queries

    Did you know that by precompiling LINQ queries you might actually be degrading your app’s performance if you’re not careful? Julie Lerman explains how to ensure you’re not re-precompiling queries each time and losing the expected performance benefits across post-backs, short-lived service operations and other code where critical instances are going out of scope.

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  • Expectations + Rewards = Innovation

    - by D'Arcy Lussier
    “Innovation” is a heavy word. We regard those that embrace it as “Innovators”. We describe organizations as being “Innovative”. We hold those associated with the word in high regard, even though its dictionary definition is very simple: Introducing something new. What our culture has done is wrapped Innovation in white robes and a gold crown. Innovation is rarely just introducing something new. Innovations and innovators are typically associated with other terms: groundbreaking, genius, industry-changing, creative, leading. Being a true innovator and creating innovations are a big deal, and something companies try to strive for…or at least say they strive for. There’s huge value in being recognized as an innovator in an industry, since the idea is that innovation equates to increased profitability. IBM ran an ad a few years back that showed what their view of innovation is: “The point of innovation is to make actual money.” If the money aspect makes you feel uneasy, consider it another way: the point of innovation is to <insert payoff here>. Companies that innovate will be more successful. Non-profits that innovate can better serve their target clients. Governments that innovate can better provide services to their citizens. True innovation is not easy to come by though. As with anything in business, how well an organization will innovate is reliant on the employees it retains, the expectations placed on those employees, and the rewards available to them. In a previous blog post I talked about one formula: Right Employees + Happy Employees = Productive Employees I want to introduce a new one, that builds upon the previous one: Expectations + Rewards = Innovation  The level of innovation your organization will realize is directly associated with the expectations you place on your staff and the rewards you make available to them. Expectations We may feel uncomfortable with the idea of placing expectations on our staff, mainly because expectation has somewhat of a negative or cold connotation to it: “I expect you to act this way or else!” The problem is in the or-else part…we focus on the negative aspects of failing to meet expectations instead of looking at the positive side. “I expect you to act this way because it will produce <insert benefit here>”. Expectations should not be set to punish but instead be set to ensure quality. At a recent conference I spoke with some Microsoft employees who told me that you have five years from starting with the company to reach a “Senior” level. If you don’t, then you’re let go. The expectation Microsoft placed on their staff is that they should be working towards improving themselves, taking more responsibility, and thus ensure that there is a constant level of quality in the workforce. Rewards Let me be clear: a paycheck is not a reward. A paycheck is simply the employer’s responsibility in the employee/employer relationship. A paycheck will never be the key motivator to drive innovation. Offering employees something over and above their required compensation can spur them to greater performance and achievement. Working in the food service industry, this tactic was used again and again: whoever has the highest sales over lunch will receive a free lunch/gift certificate/entry into a draw/etc. There was something to strive for, to try beyond the baseline of what our serving jobs were. It was through this that innovative sales techniques would be tried and honed, with key servers being top sellers time and time again. At a code camp I spoke at, I was amazed to see that all the employees from one company receive $100 Visa gift cards as a thank you for taking time to speak. Again, offering something over and above that can give that extra push for employees. Rewards work. But what about the fairness angle? In the restaurant example I gave, there were servers that would never win the competition. They just weren’t good enough at selling and never seemed to get better. So should those that did work at performing better and produce more sales for the restaurant not get rewarded because those who weren’t working at performing better might get upset? Of course not! Organizations succeed because of their top performers and those that strive to join their ranks. The Expectation/Reward Graph While the Expectations + Rewards = Innovation formula may seem like a simple mathematics formula, there’s much more going under the hood. In fact there are three different outcomes that could occur based on what you put in as values for Expectations and Rewards. Consider the graph below and the descriptions that follow: Disgruntled – High Expectation, Low Reward I worked at a company where the mantra was “Company First, Because We Pay You”. Even today I still hear stories of how this sentiment continues to be perpetuated: They provide you a paycheck and a means to live, therefore you should always put them as your top priority. Of course, this is a huge imbalance in the expectation/reward equation. Why would anyone willingly meet high expectations of availability, workload, deadlines, etc. when there is no reward other than a paycheck to show for it? Remember: paychecks are not rewards! Instead, you see employees be disgruntled which not only affects the level of production but also the level of quality within an organization. It also means that you see higher turnover. Complacent – Low Expectation, Low Reward Complacency is a systemic problem that typically exists throughout all levels of an organization. With no real expectations or rewards, nobody needs to excel. In fact, those that do try to innovate, improve, or introduce new things into the organization might be shunned or pushed out by the rest of the staff who are just doing things the same way they’ve always done it. The bigger issue for the organization with low/low values is that at best they’ll never grow beyond their current size (and may shrink actually), and at worst will cease to exist. Entitled – Low Expectation, High Reward It’s one thing to say you have the best people and reward them as such, but its another thing to actually have the best people and reward them as such. Organizations with Entitled employees are the former: their organization provides them with all types of comforts, benefits, and perks. But there’s no requirement before the rewards are dolled out, and there’s no short-list of who receives the rewards. Everyone in the company is treated the same and is given equal share of the spoils. Entitlement is actually almost identical with Complacency with one notable difference: just try to introduce higher expectations into an entitled organization! Entitled employees have been spoiled for so long that they can’t fathom having rewards taken from them, or having to achieve specific levels of performance before attaining them. Those running the organization also buy in to the Entitled sentiment, feeling that they must persist the same level of comforts to appease their staff…even though the quality of the employee pool may be suspect. Innovative – High Expectation, High Reward Finally we have the Innovative organization which places high expectations but also provides high rewards. This organization gets it: if you truly want the best employees you need to apply equal doses of pressure and praise. Realize that I’m not suggesting crazy overtime or un-realistic working conditions. I do not agree with the “Glengary-Glenross” method of encouragement. But as anyone who follows sports can tell you, the teams that win are the ones where the coaches push their players to be their best; to achieve new levels of performance that they didn’t know they could receive. And the result for the players is more money, fame, and opportunity. It’s in this environment that organizations can focus on innovation – true innovation that builds the business and allows everyone involved to truly benefit. In Closing Organizations love to use the word “Innovation” and its derivatives, but very few actually do innovate. For many, the term has just become another marketing buzzword to lump in with all the other business terms that get overused. But for those organizations that truly get the value of innovation, they will be the ones surging forward while other companies simply fade into the background. And they will be the organizations that expect more from their employees, and give them their just rewards.

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  • Crash Report in Ubuntu... hardware problem?

    - by Andrew
    Got this on my machine. I was just browsing the web on Chrome and my computer froze. I recently just built this machine. I have a feeling it is a hardware problem... Possibly one of my parts arrived broken in some way.... Starting anac(h)ronistic cron Stopping anac(h)ronistic cron Stopping cold plug devices Stopping log initial device creation Starting enable remaining boot-time encrypted block devices Starting configure network device security Starting configure virtual network devices Starting save udev log and update rules Stopping configure virtual network devices Stopping save udev log and update rules Checking battery state... Stopping System V runlevel compatibility Stopping enable remaining boot-time encrypted block devices Stopping Mount filesystems on boot 91.573384] BUG: unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at (null) 91.573437] IP: [<ffffffff81313514>] strcmp+0x14/0x30 91.573470] PGD 1f7822067 PUD 1ed7a6067 PMD 0 91.573498] Oops: 0000 [#1] SMP 91.573519] CPU 3 91.573531] Modules linked in: dm_crypt bnep snd_hda_codec_realtek rfcomm bluetooth parport_pc ppdev arc4 fglrx(P) rt2800usb rt2800lib crc_ccitt rt2x00usb rt2x00lib mac0021 cfg80211 psmouse snd_hda_intel snd_hda_codec snd_hwdep snd_pcm snd_seq_midi snd_rawmidi snd_seq_midi_event snd_seq snd_timer send_seq_device snd joydev mac_hid mei(C) soundcore serio_raw snd_page_alloc lp parport ses enclosure usbhid hid i915 drm_kms_helper drm i2c_algo_bit mxm_umi tg_video wmi usb_storage 91.573826] 91.573837] Pid: 2297, comm: update-notifier Tainted: P C O 3.2.0-29-generic #46-Ubuntu To Be Filled By O.E.M. To Be Filled By O.E.M./Z77 Extreme4 91.573912] RIP: 0010:[<ffffffff81313514>] [<ffffffff81313514>] strcmp+0x14/0x30 91.573954] RSP: 0018:ffff8801f83f5bb8 EFLAGS: 00010246 91.573982] RAX: 0000000000000000 RBX: 0000000000000000 RCX: 0000000000000000 91.574019] RDX: 0000000000000069 RSI: 0000000000000000 RDI: ffff88021adb26f8 91.574056] RBP: ffff8801f83f5bb8 R08: ffff88022f2d6e80 R09: 0000000000000000 91.574093] R10: ffff88021e7dbf00 R11: 0000000000000003 R12: ffff88021c10eb40 91.574130] R13: 0000000000000000 R14: ffff88021adb26f8 R15: ffff8801f83f5d40 91.574168] FS: 00007f958cf53940(0000) GS:ffff88022f2c0000(0000) kn1GS:0000000000000000 91.574210] CS: 0010 DS: 0000 ES: 0000 CR0: 0000000080050033 91.574240] CR2: 0000000000000000 CR3: 000000021f6d7000 CR4: 00000000000406e0 91.574277] DR0: 0000000000000000 DR1: 0000000000000000 DR2: 0000000000000000 91.574314] DR3: 0000000000000000 DR6: 00000000ffff0ff0 DR7: 0000000000000000 91.574351] Process update-notifier (pid: 2297, threadinfo ffff801f83f4000, task ffff880208fe2e00) 91.574397] Stack: 91.574409] ffff8801f83f5be8 ffffffff811ed509 ffff88021adb26c0 ffff88021b8b7020 91.574453] ffff88021b461c60 fffffffffffffffe ffff8801f83f5c18 ffffffff811ed61f 91.574496] ffff88021adb26c0 ffff88021b8b7020 ffff8801f83f5dc8 0000000000000001 91.574539] Call Trace: 91.574558] [<ffffffff811ed509] sysfs_find_dirent+0x59/0x110 91.574591] [<ffffffff811ed61f] sysfs_lookup+0x5f/0x110 91.574621] [<ffffffff81182745] d_alloc_and_lookup+0x45/0x90 91.574654] [<ffffffff8118fe65] ? d_lookup+0x35/0x60 91.574683] [<ffffffff811848d2] do_lookup+0x202/0x310 91.574712] [<ffffffff8118660c] path_lookupat+0x11c/0x750 91.574744] [<ffffffff81318db7] ? __strncpy_from_user+0x27/0x60 91.574778] [<ffffffff81186c71] do_path_lookup+0x31/0xc0 91.574809] [<ffffffff81187779] user_path_at_empty+0x59/0xa0 91.574842] [<ffffffff81187822] ? do_filp_open+0x42/0xa0 91.574872] [<ffffffff811877d1] user_path_at+0x11/0x20 91.574902] [<ffffffff8117c80a] vfs_fstatat+0x3a/0x70 91.574933] [<ffffffff81161cff] ? kmem_cache_free+0x2f/0x110 91.574965] [<ffffffff8117c85e] vfs_lstat+-x31/0x70 91.574993] [<ffffffff8117c9fa] sys_newlstat+0x1a/0x40 91.575022] [<ffffffff81176ee1] ? do_sys_open+0x171/0x220 91.575053] [<ffffffff8117cb1a] ? sys_readlinkat+0x7a/0xb0 91.575086] [<ffffffff81661ec2] system_call_fastpath+0x16/0x1b 91.575118] Code: 83 c1 01 40 84 ff 75 ef 5d c3 66 66 66 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 00 55 31 c0 48 89 e5 66 2e 0f 1f 84 00 00 00 00 00 0f b6 14 07 <3a> 14 06 75 0f 48 83 c0 01 84 d2 75 ef 31 c0 5d c3 0f 1f 00 19 91.577243] RIP [<ffffffff81313514>] strcmp+0x14/0x30 91.579314] RSP <ffff8801f83f5bb8> 91.581385] CR2: 0000000000000000

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  • Camera not staying behind model while moving in circle

    - by ChocoMan
    I have a camera behind a model (3rd Person) and I'm having problems KEEPING it behind the model. When I first start my game, you see the back of the model. If the model moves forward, backward or strafe left or right, the camera moves along accordingly. When the model rotates (stationary), the camera rotates accordingly with the model still pointing at the model's back. So far, so good. The problem comes when the player is BOTH moving and rotating at the same time. Take for example a model moving in a circular pattern like running around a track. As the model moves in this motion, the model rotates slightly more with each complete rotation. Eventually, instead of looking at the model's back, eventually you will see the model in a profile view and before you know it, the model's front is facing the camera. And when you stop moving the model, the model stays in that position. So, as long as my model is stationary and rotating in one place, the camera rotates correctly. But as soon as there is any sort movement while rotating, the model is offset by a mysterious increasing amount. How can I keep the camera maintaining the same view no matter how I move AND rotate at the same time? // Rotates model and pitches camera on its own axis public void modelRotMovement(GamePadState pController) { /* For rotating the model left or right. * Camera maintains distance from model * throughout rotation and if model moves * to a new position. */ Yaw = pController.ThumbSticks.Right.X * MathHelper.ToRadians(speedAngleMAX); AddRotation = Quaternion.CreateFromAxisAngle(Vector3.Up, yaw); //AddRotation = Quaternion.CreateFromYawPitchRoll(Yaw, 0, 0); ModelLoad.MRotation *= AddRotation; MOrientation = Matrix.CreateFromQuaternion(ModelLoad.MRotation); Pitch = pController.ThumbSticks.Right.Y * MathHelper.ToRadians(speedAngleMAX); AddPitch = Quaternion.CreateFromAxisAngle(Vector3.Up, pitch); ModelLoad.CRotation *= AddPitch; COrientation = Matrix.CreateFromQuaternion(ModelLoad.CRotation); } // Orbit (yaw) Camera around model public void cameraYaw(float yaw) { Vector3 yawAngle = ModelLoad.CameraPos - ModelLoad.camTarget; Vector3 axisYaw = Vector3.Up; ModelLoad.CameraPos = Vector3.Transform(yawAngle, Matrix.CreateFromAxisAngle(axisYaw, yaw)) + ModelLoad.camTarget; }

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  • Eclipse: always keep files updated

    - by AK01
    I keep lots of files/editors open in Eclipse. I also love using git stash and other git commands that essentially change the contents of my open files. Is there an Eclipse feature or plugin that will always keep the contents of my open files up to date and live? Currently if I put focus in an out of sync editor, I get an awkwardly worded dialog that I have to parse carefully every time. I wish it would just keep me synced like Textmate does.

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  • Why learn Flash Builder 4 (Flex) when I can just use Flash Professional?

    - by Jason McKenna
    I want to learn Flash Builder 4 (Flex) because I see sooo many jobs requesting experience with it. i also just like knowing stuff. I am also very interested in focusing on RIA development now. BUT... can anyone tell me CLEARLY why the heck I would ever use FLEX over Flash Pro?? it is a time investment, so is it worth it? All I read are misguided posts about how Flash Pro is for games and banner ads, and Flex is for programmers and RIAs blah blah... this simply isn't so from my 9 years of contracting experience. I'm 99.9% certain that I can build anything a flex developer can build, but using Flash Pro. I can build powerful AS3-driven apps for the desktop, mobile device, or browser, and I can link to databases with XML and I can import text files and communicate with ColdFusion and everything. The advantage with Flash Pro is that I can also easily and clearly animate transitions and build custom elements that look the way I want/need them to look for my specific client. Why would I want to use a bunch of pre-built components that drive my file sizes to the moon?? Who is happy with a drag-n-drop button?? Is Flex just a thing made for programmer people with no artistic inclination? What is the advantage of using it?? It takes me back to Visual Basic class. Seems like a pain to have to use multiple tools to import crap from Flash Pro into Flex and yada yada... why when I can do it all nicely in Flash Pro to begin with. Am I clueless, or missing some major piece of the puzzle? Thanks for any clarity. PS, I couldn't care less about the code editors. It aint that bad people. They make it out like the thing doesn't even respond to keyboard input or something. Does everthing I need it do anyways. Please help out here. If I just dont need to learn it, I dont want to waste the time. Jase

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