Search Results

Search found 6592 results on 264 pages for 'deep dives book'.

Page 210/264 | < Previous Page | 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217  | Next Page >

  • SQLAuthority News – Why I am Going to Attend #SQLPASS Summit 2012 – Seattle

    - by pinaldave
    I am going to Seattle I once again attend SQLPASS this year. This will be my fourth SQLPASS. Lots of people ask me why I am going to SQLPASS every year. Well there are so many different reasons for that. I go to SQLPASS because – I love it!  Here are few of the reasons I go to SQLPASS. Meet friends whom I have never met before Meet community at large – it is fun to hang around with like minded people Meet Rick Morelan – my book co-author and friend Attend various SQL Parties – there are so many parties around – see the list below Explore various new tools from various third party vendors Meet fellow Chapter Leaders and Regional Mentors And of course attend SQL Server Learning Sessions from industry known experts. The three-day event will be marked by a lot of learning, sharing, and networking, which will help me increase both my knowledge and contacts. PASS Summit provides me a golden opportunity to build my network as well as to identify and meet potential customers or employees. If I am a consultant or vendor who is looking for better career opportunities, PASS Summit is the perfect platform to meet and show my skills to my new potential customers and employers. Further, breakfasts, lunches, and evening receptions, which are included with registration, are meant to provide more and more networking opportunities. At PASS Summit, I gain not only new ideas but also inspire myself from top professionals and experts. Learning new things about SQL Server, interacting with different kinds of professionals, and sharing issues and solutions will definitely improve my understanding and turn me into a better SQL Server professional who can leverage and optimize SQL Server to improve business. I am going – are you joining? Note: This is re-blogged with modification from my 2 years old blog posts on a similar subject. Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: About Me, Pinal Dave, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLAuthority News, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

    Read the article

  • Spotlight on RIVA: CRM integration for Oracle CRM on Demand and Microsoft Exchange

    - by Richard Lefebvre
    Introducing Riva from Omni - an Oracle ISV partner specializing in Enterprise Management and Integration Solutions Riva delivers advanced, server-side integration for Oracle CRM On Demand and Microsoft Exchange or even Novell GroupWise. Riva allows Oracle customers to go beyond the standard Outlook plug-in to deliver additional value for the end user as they interact between Outlook and CRM On Demand. Riva syncs CRM On Demand to ALL Exchange mail apps, not just Windows Outlook.  So, whether customers are using Outlook 2010, Outlook Web Access (web client), Outlook 2011 for Mac, Apple Mail, Outlook on Citrix  or a mobile device, Riva's got them covered. There are no plug-ins to be installed, configured, managed and maintained on users' desktops, laptops as Riva delivers Server-side synchronisation for CRMOD and Exchange. The automation of CRM and Outlook integration will remove the reliance upon users to synchronise between the two with Riva handling this process. Riva allows administrators to define sync policies and apply them to individuals or groups of users depending on their sync requirements. Administrators will be able to determine and manage the exposure of the most pertinent detail to be synchronised between Outlook and CRM On Demand. Custom and organic contact filtering for large deployments i.e. Based on ownership, groupings and contact frequency, filters can be applied on what contact records are shared with the users. Riva provides the capability to synchronise CRM and Outlook beyond Contacts, Calendar entries and Email. The synchronisation can be extended to cater for  opportunities, quotes and custom objects for example within the Outlook interface. Riva SmartConvert Folders can automate the creation of opportunities and associated contacts for example if they don't already exist. This can facilitate a reduction in manual detail entry through quick association whilst also benefiting user adoption. From a mobile perspective, Riva allows users to view and manage their CRM On Demand contacts, calendar, tasks, opportunities and cases from iPad, iPhone, Android and BlackBerry devices.  Again, there are no mobile apps or additional plugins to install, configure or manage. We sync CRM On Demand to Exchange.  Because the mobile device is connected to an Exchange mailbox, the information automatically syncs down to the native address book, calendar and mail apps on the smartphone or tablet. Riva Datasheet for CRM On Demand Riva Brochure – Oracle CRM On Demand  Technical Knowledgebase & Riva Trial  http://kb.omni-ts.com/47/ Comparison to Outlook Plug-ins Riva Diagram – Riva Comparison with Outlook Plug-ins Contact: Wolfgang Berger - [email protected]

    Read the article

  • PASS Summit 2011 &ndash; Part II

    - by Tara Kizer
    I arrived in Seattle last Monday afternoon to attend PASS Summit 2011.  I had really wanted to attend Gail Shaw’s (blog|twitter) and Grant Fritchey’s (blog|twitter) pre-conference seminar “All About Execution Plans” on Monday, but that would have meant flying out on Sunday which I couldn’t do.  On Tuesday, I attended Allan Hirt’s (blog|twitter) pre-conference seminar entitled “A Deep Dive into AlwaysOn: Failover Clustering and Availability Groups”.  Allan is a great speaker, and his seminar was packed with demos and information about AlwaysOn in SQL Server 2012.  Unfortunately, I have lost my notes from this seminar and the presentation materials are only available on the pre-con DVD.  Hmpf! On Wednesday, I attended Gail Shaw’s “Bad Plan! Sit!”, Andrew Kelly’s (blog|twitter) “SQL 2008 Query Statistics”, Dan Jones’ (blog|twitter) “Improving your PowerShell Productivity”, and Brent Ozar’s (blog|twitter) “BLITZ! The SQL – More One Hour SQL Server Takeovers”.  In Gail’s session, she went over how to fix bad plans and bad query patterns.  Update your stale statistics! How to fix bad plans Use local variables – optimizer can’t sniff it, so it’ll optimize for “average” value Use RECOMPILE (at the query or stored procedure level) – CPU hit OPTIMIZE FOR hint – most common value you’ll pass How to fix bad query patterns Don’t use them – ha! Catch-all queries Use dynamic SQL OPTION (RECOMPILE) Multiple execution paths Split into multiple stored procedures OPTION (RECOMPILE) Modifying parameter values Use local variables Split into outer and inner procedure OPTION (RECOMPILE) She also went into “last resort” and “very last resort” options, but those are risky unless you know what you are doing.  For the average Joe, she wouldn’t recommend these.  Examples are query hints and plan guides. While I enjoyed Andrew’s session, I didn’t take any notes as it was familiar material.  Andrew is a great speaker though, and I’d highly recommend attending his sessions in the future. Next up was Dan’s PowerShell session.  I need to look into profiles, manifests, function modules, and function import scripts more as I just didn’t quite grasp these concepts.  I am attending a PowerShell training class at the end of November, so maybe that’ll help clear it up.  I really enjoyed the Excel integration demo.  It was very cool watching PowerShell build the spreadsheet in real-time.  I must look into this more!  On a side note, I am jealous of Dan’s hair.  Fabulous hair! Brent’s session showed us how to quickly gather information about a server that you will be taking over database administration duties for.  He wrote a script to do a fast health check and then later wrapped it into a stored procedure, sp_Blitz.  I can’t wait to use this at my work even on systems where I’ve been the primary DBA for years, maybe there’s something I’ve overlooked.  We are using EPM to help standardize our environment and uncover problems, but sp_Blitz will definitely still help us out.  He even provides a cloud-based update feature, sp_BlitzUpdate, for sp_Blitz so you don’t have to constantly update it when he makes a change.  I think I’ll utilize his update code for some other challenges that we face at my work.

    Read the article

  • How to join two collections with LINQ

    - by JustinGreenwood
    Here is a simple and complete example of how to perform joins on two collections with LINQ. I wrote it for a friend to show him, in one simple file, the power of LINQ queries and anonymous objects. In the file below, there are two simple data classes defined: Person and Item. In the beginning of the main method, two collections are created. Note that the Item's OwnerId field reference the PersonId of a Person object. The effect of the LINQ query below is equivalent to a SQL statement looking like this: select Person.PersonName as OwnerName, Item.ItemName as OwnedItem from Person inner join Item on Item.OwnerId = Person.PersonId order by Item.ItemName desc; using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; namespace LinqJoinAnonymousObjects { class Program { class Person { public int PersonId { get; set; } public string PersonName { get; set; } } class Item { public string ItemName { get; set; } public int OwnerId { get; set; } } static void Main(string[] args) { // Create two collections: one of people, and another with their possessions. var people = new List<Person> { new Person { PersonId=1, PersonName="Justin" }, new Person { PersonId=2, PersonName="Arthur" }, new Person { PersonId=3, PersonName="Bob" } }; var items = new List<Item> { new Item { OwnerId=1, ItemName="Armor" }, new Item { OwnerId=1, ItemName="Book" }, new Item { OwnerId=2, ItemName="Chain Mail" }, new Item { OwnerId=2, ItemName="Excalibur" }, new Item { OwnerId=3, ItemName="Bubbles" }, new Item { OwnerId=3, ItemName="Gold" } }; // Create a new, anonymous composite result for person id=2. var compositeResult = from p in people join i in items on p.PersonId equals i.OwnerId where p.PersonId == 2 orderby i.ItemName descending select new { OwnerName = p.PersonName, OwnedItem = i.ItemName }; // The query doesn't evaluate until you iterate through the query or convert it to a list Console.WriteLine("[" + compositeResult.GetType().Name + "]"); // Convert to a list and loop through it. var compositeList = compositeResult.ToList(); Console.WriteLine("[" + compositeList.GetType().Name + "]"); foreach (var o in compositeList) { Console.WriteLine("\t[" + o.GetType().Name + "] " + o.OwnerName + " - " + o.OwnedItem); } Console.ReadKey(); } } } The output of the program is below: [WhereSelectEnumerableIterator`2] [List`1] [<>f__AnonymousType1`2] Arthur - Excalibur [<>f__AnonymousType1`2] Arthur - Chain Mail

    Read the article

  • SQL SERVER – #TechEdIn – Presenting Tomorrow on Speed Up! – Parallel Processes and Unparalleled Performance at TechEd India 2012

    - by pinaldave
    Performance tuning is always a very hot topic when it is about SQL Server. SQL Server Performance Tuning is a very challenging subject that requires expertise in Database Administration and Database Development. I always have enjoyed talking about SQL Server Performance tuning subject. However, in India, it’s actually the very first time someone is presenting on this interesting subject, so this time I had the biggest challenge to present this session. Frequently enough, we get these two kind of questions: How to turn off parallelism as it is reducing performance? How to turn on parallelism as I want more performance? The reality is that not everyone knows what exactly is needed by their system. In this session, I have attempted to answer this very question. I’ve decided to provide a balanced view but stay away from theory, which leads us to say “It depends”. The session will have a clear message about this towards its end. Deck Details Slides: 45+ Demos: 7+ Bonus Quiz: 5 Images: 10+ Session delivery time: 52 Mins + 8 Mins of Q & A I have presented this session a couple of times to my friends and so far have received good feedback. Oftentimes, when people hear that I am going to present 45 slides, they all say it is too much to cover. However, when I am done with the session the usual reaction is that I truly gave justice to those slides. Action Item Here are a few of the action items for all of those who are going to attend this session: If you want to attend the session, just come early. There’s a good chance that you may not get a seat because right before me, there is a session from SQL Guru Vinod Kumar. He performs a powerful delivery of million concepts in just a little time. Quiz. I will be asking few questions during the session as well as before the session starts. If you get the correct answer, I will give unique learning material for you. You may not want to miss this learning opportunity at any cosst. Session Details Title: Speed Up! – Parallel Processes and Unparalleled Performance (Add to Calendar) Abstract: “More CPU, More Performance” – A  very common understanding is that usage of multiple CPUs can improve the performance of the query. To get a maximum performance out of any query, one has to master various aspects of the parallel processes. In this deep-dive session, we will explore this complex subject with a very simple interactive demo. Attendees will walk away with proper understanding of CX_PACKET wait types, MAXDOP, parallelism threshold and various other concepts. Date and Time: March 23, 2012, 12:15 to 13:15 Location: Hotel Lalit Ashok - Kumara Krupa High Grounds, Bengaluru – 560001, Karnataka, India. Add to Calendar Reference: Pinal Dave (http://blog.sqlauthority.com) Filed under: PostADay, SQL, SQL Authority, SQL Interview Questions and Answers, SQL Query, SQL Server, SQL Tips and Tricks, SQLServer, T SQL, Technology

    Read the article

  • links for 2010-03-24

    - by Bob Rhubart
    @dhinchcliffe: When online communities go to work "As we see a growing set of examples of successful online communities in the enterprise space (both internally and externally), the broad outlines are emerging of what is turning into a vital new channel for innovation, business agility, customer relationships, and productive output for most organizations: Online communities as one of the most potent new ways to achieve business objectives, both in terms of cost and quality." -- Dion Hinchcliffe (tags: enterprisearchitecture entarch enterprise2.0 socialmedia) Steven Chan: WebCenter 11g (11.1.1.2) Certified with E-Business Suite Release 12 Steven Chan shares information on WebCenter 11g's (11.1.1.2) certification with Oracle E-Business Suite Release 12, along with a list of certified EBS 12 Platforms (tags: oracle otn enterprise2.0 webcenter ebs) @oraclenerd: 1Z0-052 - Exploring the Oracle Database Architecture Oracle ACE Chet "Oraclenerd" Justice shares a list of resources/documentation covering Oracle Database Architecture. (tags: oracle otn oracleace dba certification architecture) @oraclenerd: 1Z0-052 - Books "I don't believe I have ever purchased a book on or about Oracle. The documentation provided, especially for the database, is top notch. There is so much information available out there if you just know how to find it. Reading AskTom for years didn't hurt either." -- Chet "@oraclenerd" Justice. (tags: otn oracle oracleace certification dba) Lucas Jellema: Castle in the clouds – Building the Connexys SaaS application with Fusion Middleware Oracle ACE Director Lucas Jellema shares the slides from the presentation he and colleague Arne van der Ing submitted for OBUG 2010. (tags: otn oracle oracleace cloud saas obug fusionmiddleware connexys) John Burke: Why Your ERP System Isn't Ready for the Next Evolution of the Enterprise "[ERP] has to become a stealthy modern app to help you quickly adapt to business changes while managing vital information. And through modern middleware it will connect to everything. So yes ERP as we've know it is dead, but long live ERP as a connected application member of the modern enterprise." -- John Burke, Group VP, Applications Business Unit, Oracle (tags: oracle otn entarch erp) Darwin-IT: Postfix for handling mail in your integration solution "It took me some time to understand Postfix. I was quite overwhelmed by the options. And it took me some time to figure out how to configure it for this particular usecase...But as with most other things..it turns out to be simple." -- Martien van den Akker (tags: oracle linux soa postfix) TheServerSide.com: Cameron Purdy at TSSJS 2010: If Java beats C++, what's next? ''It turns out that Java performance is much better on modern architecture. That is because of multicore processors and in-lining.'' -- Cameron Purdy, as quoted in an article by Jack Vaughn (tags: oracle java otn c++)

    Read the article

  • Handling "related" work within a single agile work item

    - by Tesserex
    I'm on a project team of 4 devs, myself included. We've been having a long discussion on how to handle extra work that comes up in the course of a single work item. This extra work is usually things that are slightly related to the task, but not always necessary to accomplish the goal of the item (that may be an opinion). Examples include but are not limited to: refactoring of the code changed by the work item refactoring code neighboring the code changed by the item re-architecting the larger code area around the ticket. For example if an item has you changing a single function, you realize the entire class now could be redone to better accommodate this change. improving the UI on a form you just modified When this extra work is small we don't mind. The problem is when this extra work causes a substantial extension of the item beyond the original feature point estimation. Sometimes a 5 point item will actually take 13 points of time. In one case we had a 13 point item that in retrospect could have been 80 points or more. There are two options going around in our discussion for how to handle this. We can accept the extra work in the same work item, and write it off as a mis-estimation. Arguments for this have included: We plan for "padding" at the end of the sprint to account for this sort of thing. Always leave the code in better shape than you found it. Don't check in half-assed work. If we leave refactoring for later, it's hard to schedule and may never get done. You are in the best mental "context" to handle this work now, since you're waist deep in the code already. Better to get it out of the way now and be more efficient than to lose that context when you come back later. We draw a line for the current work item, and say that the extra work goes into a separate ticket. Arguments include: Having a separate ticket allows for a new estimation, so we aren't lying to ourselves about how many points things really are, or having to admit that all of our estimations are terrible. The sprint "padding" is meant for unexpected technical challenges that are direct barriers to completing the ticket requirements. It is not intended for side items that are just "nice-to-haves". If you want to schedule refactoring, just put it at the top of the backlog. There is no way for us to properly account for this stuff in an estimation, since it seems somewhat arbitrary when it comes up. A code reviewer might say "those UI controls (which you actually didn't modify in this work item) are a bit confusing, can you fix that too?" which is like an hour, but they might say "Well if this control now inherits from the same base class as the others, why don't you move all of this (hundreds of lines of) code into the base and rewire all this stuff, the cascading changes, etc.?" And that takes a week. It "contaminates the crime scene" by adding unrelated work into the ticket, making our original feature point estimates meaningless. In some cases, the extra work postpones a check-in, causing blocking between devs. Some of us are now saying that we should decide some cut off, like if the additional stuff is less than 2 FP, it goes in the same ticket, if it's more, make it a new ticket. Since we're only a few months into using Agile, what's the opinion of all the more seasoned Agile veterans around here on how to handle this?

    Read the article

  • Building a personal website using Silverlight.

    - by mbcrump
    I’ve always believed that as a developer you should always have a hobby project going on. I think a hobby project needs to contain at least one of following things: Something that you have never done before. Something that you are interested in. Something that you can work on in your spare time without affecting your *paying* job. I decided my hobby project would be an entire web application written in Silverlight that could be used as a self-promotion/marketing tool. This goal of the site is to provide information on the work that I’ve done to conferences, future employers and anyone else that wanted to learn more about me. Before I go any further, if you just want to check out the site then it is located at http://michaelcrump.info. So, what did I use to create it? MVVM Light – I’m a big fan of this software. The item and project templates plus code snippets make this a huge win for any SL/WPF/WP7 application. Jetpack Theme by Microsoft – I suck at designing so I used this template to help speed up this project. ComponentOne 3rd Party Controls – I have a license and really like several of their products. A User Control that Jeremy Likness created called DynamicXaml (used with his permission). I had created my own version of this a while back, but Jeremy’s implementation was simply better. Main Page – Designed to create my “brand”. This was built for a quick glimpse of who I am and what do I do.  Blog – The best marketing tool for a developer is their blog. I decided to go with an HTML page displaying my site and the user could pop into full-screen if desired. I also included my feed and Silverlight-Zone. (Another site I work on) Online – This page links to sites that I have been featured on as well as community involvement and awards. I also have a web service that I can update this information without re-compiling the Silverlight App. Projects – I’ve been wanting to use a CoverFlow for a really long time now. =) This page list several hobby projects as well as a few professional projects.  Resume Page – This page only exist because I got tired of sending companies my resume in e-mail. I can now provide a deep link to this page and the recruiter can print, search or save my resume. The PDF of my resume exist in a folder that I can easily update without recompiling the app. Contact Page – Just a contact page with a web service that sends the email. The Send button becomes disabled after a successful send. I thought of adding captcha to this page but in the end didn’t think it was worth it. Looking back at this app, I’m happy with how it turned out. I love Silverlight and I am already thinking of my next hobby project. (Thinking another Windows Phone 7 app or MVC3).  Subscribe to my feed

    Read the article

  • Will polishing my current project be a better learning experience than starting a new one?

    - by Alejandro Cámara
    I started programming many years ago. Now I'm trying to make games. I have read many recommendations to start cloning some well known games like galaga, tetris, arkanoid, etc. I have also read that I should go for the whole game (including menus, sound, score, etc.). Yesterday I finished the first complete version of my arkanoid clone. But it is far from over. I can still work on it for months (I program as a hobby in my free time) implementing a screen resolution switcher, remap of the control keys, power-ups falling from broken bricks, and a huge etc. But I do not want to be forever learning how to clone ONE game. I have the urge to get to the next clone in order to apply some design ideas I have come upon while developing this arkanoid clone (at the same time I am reading the GoF book and much source code from Ludum Dare 21 game contest). So the question is: Should I keep improving the arkanoid clone until it has all the features the original game had? or should I move to the next clone (there are almost infinite games to clone) and start mending the things I did wrong with the previous clone? This can be a very subjective question, so please restrain the answers to the most effective way to learn how to make my own games (not cloning someone ideas). Thank you! CLARIFICATION In order to clarify what I have implemented I make this list: Features implemented: Bouncing capabilities (the ball bounces on walls, on bricks, and on the bar). Sounds when bouncing on bricks and the bar, and when the player wins or loses. Basic title menu (new game and exit only). Also in-game menu and win/lose menus. Only three levels, but the map system is so easy I do not think it will teach me much (am I wrong?). Features not-implemented: Power-ups when breaking the bricks. Complex bricks (with more than one "hit point" and invincible). Better graphics (I am not really good at it). Programming polishing (use more intensively the design patterns). Here's a link to its (minimal) webpage: http://blog.acamara.es/piperine/ I kind of feel ashamed to show it, so please do not hit me too hard :-) My question was related to the not-implemented features. I wondered what was the fastest (optimal) path to learn. 1) implement the not-implemented features in this project which is getting big, or 2) make a new game which probably will teach me those lessons and new ones. ANSWER I choose @ashes999 answer because, in my case, I think I should polish more and try to "ship" the game. I think all the other answers are also important to bear in mind, so if you came here having the same question, before taking a rush decision read all the discussion. Thank you all!

    Read the article

  • 2010 is gone and Welcome 2011

    - by anirudha
    last days i spent my week @ firozabadthe town is much small and near to agraso i never forget to see the taj mahal and red fort their even it’s first chance to see them.i make a plan that i go to Agra last Saturday. firstly i go to red fort and i talking with many foreigner and they love to talking with me because their is only one man who with with them who is their GUIDE a person like a  book they never can talk with you but tell you about everything of the location because you buy them. their are many person come from various country such as German , Japan,  Russ , Italy and many other. their is no problem to talk with them perhaps they happen with talk to me. when i completely watch the Red fort at least i see a girl who are look like a foreigner. i talk themselves where they come from they tell me Francewhen i go elsewhere i thing to propose them to be  a friend of mine. i never propose any girl for friendship with me even in school and college. so i propose them to be a friend of mine.  they accept it i put the email ID in their hand whenever they gone. but i still not get their mail. 2ndly i go to Taj mahal the taj experience is not so good i spent 3 or 4 hours in rush. i found their is no security even their are many army force. they all person are too slow to work. they spent 10 minute to check  a person for security . their hands work very slow just like a low configuration computer. i talk many person their too. i talk to a person who tell themselves Jacob and they from Chicago. they speak very fast and i not know what they tell in speech. a another problem i got with some Chinese person. when i talking with them that i found they speak only Chinese language. Wish you a very very happy new year.

    Read the article

  • My program at #MIX10

    - by Laurent Bugnion
    Getting ready to fly to Vegas and MIX10 is really an exciting time! It is also a very busy time, because we are working on a few projects that will be shown on stage, I have my presentation to prepare, and of course as always the book… though these days it has been a bit on the back burner to be honest ;) I arrive in Vegas on Sunday evening around 10PM, so I won’t be able to make it to the traditional IdentityMine dinner this year. I am sure it will be fun nonetheless! My session: Understanding the MVVM pattern http://live.visitmix.com/MIX10/Sessions/EX14 My session is scheduled on the first day, which is awesome, so I am crossing my fingers and hoping that the MIX team doesn’t change it at the last minute… The session will take place on Monday, the 15th of March, 2PM, Room Lagoon F Important: remember that the USA are moving to Summer time on Sunday, so don’t forget to adjust your watches!! Ask the Experts On Monday evening, I will attend the Ask the Experts event, which is taking place between 5Pm and 6:30PM in the main meal hall. This will be a great occasion to grab a beer and talk about code. The Commons MIX has a great place called the Commons, a great location to chill between sessions, and meet tons of interesting people. I love the Commons and plan to spend a lot of time there to meet as many people as I can. Parties I was invited to a few parties, and will do my best to avoid conflicts :) I plan to be at the following events: Silverlight Mixers on Monday evening Insiders MIX party on Tuesday Silverlight partner happy hour on Tuesday too This is a lot of fun, but at the same time we all know that the best value of a conference is to meet people face to face. This is just the right occasion.  And on Thursday… On Thursday I will be attending a Silverlight event at the Luxor. It will be a very busy day, perfect way to end the conference. I fly back home on Friday morning, but due to a long stop in Washington DC (where I intend to go downtown and take pictures… except if the weather is bad, in which case I will probably go to the museum of flight), I will reach home only on Sunday. Getting hold of me The best way to reach me during MIX is to send me a message on Twitter. I will regularly tweet my location at the conference, so make sure to come and meet me. I am eager to make new friends, to talk about the fantastic jobs we did in WPF and Silverlight over the past year and hear your war stories! http://www.twitter.com/lbugnion   Laurent Bugnion (GalaSoft) Subscribe | Twitter | Facebook | Flickr | LinkedIn

    Read the article

  • Disneyland Inside Out on iPhone and Android

    - by Ryan Cain
    It's hard to believe October was the last time I was over here on my blog.  Ironically after getter the developer phone from Microsoft I have been knee deep in iPhone programming and for the past few weeks Android programming again.  This time I've spent all my non-working hours programming a fun project for my "other" website, Disneyland Inside Out.  Disneyland Inside Out, a vacation planning site for Disneyland in California, has been around in various forms since June 1996.  It has always been a place for me to explore new technologies and learn about some of the new trends on the web.  I recently migrated the site over to DotNetNuke and have been building out custom modules for DNN.  I've also been hacking things together w/ the URLRewrite module in IIS 7.5 to provide strong SEO optimized URLs.  I can't say all that has really stuck within the DNN model of doing things, but it has worked pretty well. As part of my learning process, I spent most of the Fall bringing Disneyland Inside Out to the iPhone.  I will post more details on my development experiences later.  But this project gave me a really great opportunity to get a good feel for Objective-C development.  After 3 months I actually feel somewhat competent in the language and iPhone SDK, instead of just floundering around getting things to work.  The project also gave me a chance to play with some new frameworks on the iPhone and really dig into the Facebook SDK.  I also dug into some of the Gowalla REST api's as well.  We've been live with the app in iTunes for just about 10 days now, and have been sitting in the top 200 of free travel apps for the past few days.  You can get more info and the direct iTunes download link on our site: Disneyland Inside Out for iPhone Since launching the iPhone version I have gotten back into Android development, porting the Disneyland Inside Out app over to Android.  As I said in my first review of iPhone vs. Android, coming from a managed code background, Android is much easier to get going with.  I just about 3 weeks total I will have about 85 - 90% of the functionality up and running in the Android app, that took probably 1.5 - 2x's that time for iPhone.  That isn't a totally fair comparison as I am much more comfortable w/ Xcode and Objective-C today and can get some of the basic stuff done much faster than I could in the fall.  Though I'd say some of the hardest code to debug is still the null pointer issues on objects that were dealloc'd too early in Objective-C.  This isn't too bad with the NSZoombies enabled for synchronous code, but when you have a lot of async, which my app does, it can be hairy at times to track exactly what was causing the issue.   I will post more details later, as I am trying to wrap up a beta of the Android app today.  But in the meantime, if you have an iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad head on over to the site and take a look at my app.

    Read the article

  • Method flags as arguments or as member variables?

    - by Martin
    I think the title "Method flags as arguments or as member variables?" may be suboptimal, but as I'm missing any better terminology atm., here goes: I'm currently trying to get my head around the problem of whether flags for a given class (private) method should be passed as function arguments or via member variable and/or whether there is some pattern or name that covers this aspect and/or whether this hints at some other design problems. By example (language could be C++, Java, C#, doesn't really matter IMHO): class Thingamajig { private ResultType DoInternalStuff(FlagType calcSelect) { ResultType res; for (... some loop condition ...) { ... if (calcSelect == typeA) { ... } else if (calcSelect == typeX) { ... } else if ... } ... return res; } private void InteralStuffInvoker(FlagType calcSelect) { ... DoInternalStuff(calcSelect); ... } public void DoThisStuff() { ... some code ... InternalStuffInvoker(typeA); ... some more code ... } public ResultType DoThatStuff() { ... some code ... ResultType x = DoInternalStuff(typeX); ... some more code ... further process x ... return x; } } What we see above is that the method InternalStuffInvoker takes an argument that is not used inside this function at all but is only forwarded to the other private method DoInternalStuff. (Where DoInternalStuffwill be used privately at other places in this class, e.g. in the DoThatStuff (public) method.) An alternative solution would be to add a member variable that carries this information: class Thingamajig { private ResultType DoInternalStuff() { ResultType res; for (... some loop condition ...) { ... if (m_calcSelect == typeA) { ... } ... } ... return res; } private void InteralStuffInvoker() { ... DoInternalStuff(); ... } public void DoThisStuff() { ... some code ... m_calcSelect = typeA; InternalStuffInvoker(); ... some more code ... } public ResultType DoThatStuff() { ... some code ... m_calcSelect = typeX; ResultType x = DoInternalStuff(); ... some more code ... further process x ... return x; } } Especially for deep call chains where the selector-flag for the inner method is selected outside, using a member variable can make the intermediate functions cleaner, as they don't need to carry a pass-through parameter. On the other hand, this member variable isn't really representing any object state (as it's neither set nor available outside), but is really a hidden additional argument for the "inner" private method. What are the pros and cons of each approach?

    Read the article

  • Mise à jour Partner Enablement Oracle University (novembre)

    - by swalker
    Executive overview of Oracle Fusion Applications in 1-day from your desktop Designed from the ground up using the latest technology advances and incorporating the best practices gathered from Oracle's thousands of customers, Oracle Fusion Applications are 100% open-standards-based business applications that set a new standard for the way we innovate, work, and adopt technology. Learn more about them: Oracle University has scheduled a 1–day executive overview as a Live Virtual Class on the following dates: 1 December 2 December Your OPN discount applies to the standard price shown on the website. New In Class and Online dates will be shared on education.oracle.com. Book online or contact your local Oracle University representative for scheduling requests and more information. Deux nouvelles formations intensives OPN Only Boot Camps Les formations OPN Only Boot Camps suivantes viennent d'être mises à disposition : Formation technique intensive de 3 jours Oracle Exadata 11g  : Vous prépare à devenir un Spécialiste certifié de l’implémentation Oracle Exadata 11g Actuellement prévue en Allemagne, au Royaume-Uni Possibilité d'organisation dans tous les pays Dates des classes virtuelles en direct : 15-17 fév. 2012 & 16-18 mai 2012 Formation intensive de 5 jours Oracle BI Enterprise Edition 11g Implementation Actuellement prévue en Suède Possibilité d'organisation dans tous les pays Consulter le calendrier complet des formations OPN Only Boot Camp. Nouveautés du côté des certifications : Java SE 7 Soyez parmi les premiers à obtenir la certification Java SE 7 . Les examens suivants sont depuis peu disponibles en bêta test : Code et intitulé de l'examen Filière de certification 1Z1-805 Upgrade to Java SE 7 Programmer (Bêta jusqu'au 17 déc. 2011) Professionnel certifié Oracle (Certified Professional), Programmeur Java SE 7 1Z1-803 Java SE 7 Programmer I (Bêta jusqu'au 17 déc. 2011) Associé certifié Oracle (Certified Associate), Programmeur Java SE 7 Un examen bêta vous confère deux avantages distincts : vous serez parmi les premiers à obtenir la certification, vous bénéficiez d'un tarif réduit. Les examens bêta peuvent être passés dans n'importe quel Centre de test Pearson VUE. Nouveaux cours Parmi les nouveautés d’Oracle Université de ce mois-ci, vous trouverez : Nouveaux cours - Cliquez ici pour en savoir plus. Vos partenaires souhaitent-ils obtenir le point de vue des experts de l'Oracle University ? Conseillez-leur de consulter les newsletters suivantes de l'Oracle University " href="http://education.oracle.com/pls/web_prod-plq-dad/db_pages.getpage?page_id=289&p_nl=tech" target="_blank">Newsletters Technologie Newsletters Applications Restez connecté à Oracle University : OracleMix Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

    Read the article

  • WebLogic Partner Community Newsletter May 2014

    - by JuergenKress
    Dear WebLogic Partner Community member, Registration for the Fusion Middleware Summer Camps 2014 is open – Register asap for one of our bootcamps August 4th – 8th 2014 in Lisbon. Please read details and pre-requisitions careful before you register. We expect that like in the past, the conference will be booked out soon! Thanks to you our WebLogic Specialized Partners Oracle is #1 for Worldwide Market-Share Total Software Revenue in the Application Platform Market Segment for 2013. Want to know why, get the new recipes for Oracle WebLogic 12.1.2. Looking for the right server to run WebLogic – try WebLogic on Oracle Database Appliance 2.9. Want to install WebLogic - Play around with WebLogic Maven Plug-In. Thanks for sharing all the additional WebLogic articles within the community: How to use NodeManager to control WebLogic Servers & Retrieving WebLogic Server Name and Port in ADF Application & Glassfish to WebLogic Migration & Advanced GPIO & Building Robots with Java Embedded & Quick & Dirty How-to Guide: Install GlassFish 4 on Raspberry Pi & New Release: Java Micro Edition (ME) 8. In our Development tool section Frank published Development - Performance and Tuning - Overview in the latest ADF Architecture TV channel. Many of our clients run forms applications, make sure you run it on WebLogic. Thanks for sharing all the additional development tool articles within the community: Using Oracle WebLogic 12c with NetBeans IDE & Consuming SOAP Service & Check Box Support in ADF Query & New release of the ADF EMG Audit Rules & Working with the Array Data Type in a Table & ADF client-side architecture - Select All & Book Review: NetBeans Platform for Beginners See you in Lisbon! To read the complete newsletter please visit http://tinyurl.com/WebLogicNewsMay2014 (OPN Account required) To become a member of the WebLogic Partner Community please register at http://www.oracle.com/partners/goto/wls-emea ( OPN account required). If you need support with your account please contact the Oracle Partner Business Center. Blog Twitter LinkedIn Mix Forum Wiki Technorati Tags: WebLogic Community newsletter,newsletter,WebLogic,WebLogic Community,Oracle,OPN,Jürgen Kress

    Read the article

  • Started wrong with a project. Should I start over?

    - by solidsnake
    I'm a beginner web developer (one year of experience). A couple of weeks after graduating, I got offered a job to build a web application for a company whose owner is not much of a tech guy. He recruited me to avoid theft of his idea, the high cost of development charged by a service company, and to have someone young he can trust onboard to maintain the project for the long run (I came to these conclusions by myself long after being hired). Cocky as I was back then, with a diploma in computer science, I accepted the offer thinking I can build anything. I was calling the shots. After some research I settled on PHP, and started with plain PHP, no objects, just ugly procedural code. Two months later, everything was getting messy, and it was hard to make any progress. The web application is huge. So I decided to check out an MVC framework that would make my life easier. That's where I stumbled upon the cool kid in the PHP community: Laravel. I loved it, it was easy to learn, and I started coding right away. My code looked cleaner, more organized. It looked very good. But again the web application was huge. The company was pressuring me to deliver the first version, which they wanted to deploy, obviously, and start seeking customers. Because Laravel was fun to work with, it made me remember why I chose this industry in the first place - something I forgot while stuck in the shitty education system. So I started working on small projects at night, reading about methodologies and best practice. I revisited OOP, moved on to object-oriented design and analysis, and read Uncle Bob's book Clean Code. This helped me realize that I really knew nothing. I did not know how to build software THE RIGHT WAY. But at this point it was too late, and now I'm almost done. My code is not clean at all, just spaghetti code, a real pain to fix a bug, all the logic is in the controllers, and there is little object oriented design. I'm having this persistent thought that I have to rewrite the whole project. However, I can't do it... They keep asking when is it going to be all done. I can not imagine this code deployed on a server. Plus I still know nothing about code efficiency and the web application's performance. On one hand, the company is waiting for the product and can not wait anymore. On the other hand I can't see myself going any further with the actual code. I could finish up, wrap it up and deploy, but god only knows what might happen when people start using it. What do you think I should do?

    Read the article

  • Where can I hire local programmers with very specific skillsets?

    - by Lostsoul
    I have been browsing the site and haven't found a exact fit to this question so I'll post it but if its already answered(since I'm sure its a common problem, then let me know). I have a business and want to create a totally different product in a different industry than I'm currently in, so I learned how to program and created a working prototype. I have a bit of savings and am getting some cash flow from my current business so I can go out and hire a developer(in the future hopefully it can be permenant but right now I just need a person willing to work on contract and code on weekends or their spare time and I just want to pay in cash instead of equity or future promises). At first I wasn't sure what kind of developer to hire but this question helped me understand I should target specific skills I need as opposed to general programmers. This poses a problem for me since general programmers are everywhere but if I want specific skills I'm unsure how to get them. I thought about a list of approaches but it doesn't feel complete or effective since it seems to be assuming good developers are actively looking. If it helps I want someone local(since this is my first developer hire) and looking for skills like cuda, hadoop, hbase, java and c. Any suggestions? As a FYI, I have been thinking of approaching it as: Go to meet ups for one or more skills I need. Use LinkedIn to find people with the skills I need Search for job postings that contain skills I need and then use linkedIn to reach out to that firms employees since many profiles on linkedin are not very updated or detailed but job postings generally are. Send postings to universities and maybe find a student who loves technology so much they learned these tools on their own. Post on job board. Not sure how successful it will be to post to monster. Use Craigslist, not sure if a highly skilled developer would go here for work. What am I missing? I could be wrong but it seems like good/smart/able developers aren't hunting for work non-stop(especially in this tech job market). Plus most successful people I know have work/life balance so I'm not sure if the best ones really care about code after work. Lastly, most of the skills I need aren't used in big corporations so not sure how aggressively smart developers at small shops look for work. I don’t really know any developers personally, so but should I be using the above plan or if they live balanced lives should I be looking outside of the regular resources(and instead focus on asking around my gym or my accountant or something)? Sorry, I'm making huge assumptions here, I guess because developers are a total mystery to me. I kind of wish Jane Goodall wrote a book on understanding developers social behaviour better :-p

    Read the article

  • Guiding Management to the Correct Decision

    - by Blumer
    My supervisor (also a developer) and I have a running joke about writing a book called "Managing From Beneath: Subversively Guiding Management to the Right Decision" and including a number of "techniques" we've developed for helping those who make the decisions to make the right ones. So far, we've got (cynicism warning!): BIC It! BIC stands for "Bury In Committee." When a bad idea comes up that someone wants to champion, we try to get it deferred to a committee for input. Typically it will either get killed outright (especially if other members of the committee are competing for you as a resource), or it will be hung up long enough that the proponent forgets about it. Smart, Stupid, or Expensive? When someone gets a visionary idea, offer them three ways to do it: a smart way, a stupid way, and an expensive way. The hope is that you've at least got a 2/3 shot of not having to do it the way that makes a piece of your soul die. All-Pro. It's a preemptive pro/con list in which you get into the mind of the (pr)opponent and think what would be cons against doing it your way. Twist them into pros and present them in your pro list before they have a chance to present them as cons. Dependicitis. Link pending decisions together, ideally with the proponent's pet project as the final link in the chain. Use this leverage to force action on those that have been put off. Preemptive Acceptance. Sometimes it's clear that management is going to go a particular direction regardless of advice to the contrary, and it's time to make the best of it. Take the opportunity to get something else you need, though. Approach the sponsor out of the blue and take the first step: "You know, I've been thinking about it, and while it's not the route I would advise, as long as we can get the schedule and budget for Project Awesome loosened up, I can work some magic to make your project fly." So ... what techniques have you come up with to try to head off the problem projects or make the best of what may come?

    Read the article

  • Own a KINECT for MS-XBOX before anyone does

    Following is the announced by Richik Nandi from Microsoft team. Dear Customer, We believe that our privileged customers shouldn't have to wait for good things. So, here's a special offer exclusively for you. Be one of the first in India to own and experience Kinect for XBOX 360, few days before it is even launched in stores. Introducing the new Kinect for XBOX 360®. Kinect needs no controllers. You are the controller. Kinect brings games and entertainment to life in extraordinary new ways without using a controller. The sensor recognizes your face, eyes and body movements to deliver a superb gaming experience. Easy to use and great fun, Kinect gets everyone off the couch. See a ball? Kick it. Want to join a friend in the fun? Simply jump in. Imagine controlling movies and music with the wave of a hand or the sound of your voice! Kinect is all about fun for you and your family. And the best part is Kinect works with every Xbox 360®. There are two options you can choose from: •  Kinect sensor + 4GB Xbox 360 bundle + Kinect Adventures game at Rs 22,990/-and get Dance Central game worth Rs 1999 from Redington, 20% discount voucher from Starwood on food and beverages, T-shirt from PUMA and a Kinect adventure live card absolutely free using your unique promo code : XbTXXZl2Sb •  Kinect Sensor at Rs 9,500/-and get 20% discount voucher from Starwood on food and beverages, T-shirt from PUMA and a Kinect adventure live card absolutely free using your unique promo code : lDg6o8SuYh We want you to own your Kinect before the official launch. The promotion closes by 10th November. To know more about Kinect click here. To book your Kinect PRE-ORDER now! Enter your details along with the above mentioned promo code to avail of the free gifts offer. We will have your Kinect delivered by 19th November 2010. Enjoy being the controller. Enjoy the Kinect. span.fullpost {display:none;}

    Read the article

  • PASS Summit 2013 Review

    - by Ajarn Mark Caldwell
    As a long-standing member of PASS who lives in the greater Seattle area and has attended about nine of these Summits, let me start out by saying how GREAT it was to go to Charlotte, North Carolina this year.  Many of the new folks that I met at the Summit this year, upon hearing that I was from Seattle, commented that I must have been disappointed to have to travel to the Summit this year after 5 years in a row in Seattle.  Well, nothing could be further from the truth.  I cheered loudly when I first heard that the 2013 Summit would be outside Seattle.  I have many fond memories of trips to Orlando, Florida and Grapevine, Texas for past Summits (missed out on Denver, unfortunately).  And there is a funny dynamic that takes place when the conference is local.  If you do as I have done the last several years and saved my company money by not getting a hotel, but rather just commuting from home, then both family and coworkers tend to act like you’re just on a normal schedule.  For example, I have a young family, and my wife and kids really wanted to still see me come home “after work”, but there are a whole lot of after-hours activities, social events, and great food to be enjoyed at the Summit each year.  Even more so if you really capitalize on the opportunities to meet face-to-face with people you either met at previous summits or have spoken to or heard of, from Twitter, blogs, and forums.  Then there is also the lovely commuting in Seattle traffic from neighboring cities rather than the convenience of just walking across the street from your hotel.  So I’m just saying, there are really nice aspects of having the conference 2500 miles away. Beyond that, the training was fantastic as usual.  The SQL Server community has many outstanding presenters and experts with deep knowledge of the tools who are extremely willing to share all of that with anyone who wants to listen.  The opening video with PASS President Bill Graziano in a NASCAR race turned dream sequence was very well done, and the keynotes, as usual, were great.  This year I was particularly impressed with how well attended were the Professional Development sessions.  Not too many years ago, those were very sparsely attended, but this year, the two that I attended were standing-room only, and these were not tiny rooms.  I would say this is a testament to both the maturity of the attendees realizing how important these topics are to career success, as well as to the ever-increasing skills of the presenters and the program committee for selecting speakers and topics that resonated with people.  If, as is usually the case, you were not able to get to every session that you wanted to because there were just too darn many good ones, I encourage you to get the recordings. Overall, it was a great time as these events always are.  It was wonderful to see old friends and make new ones, and the people of Charlotte did an awesome job hosting the event and letting their hospitality shine (extra kudos to SQLSentry for all they did with the shuttle, maps, and other event sponsorships).  We’re back in Seattle next year (it is a release year, after all) but I would say that with the success of this year’s event, I strongly encourage the Board and PASS HQ to firmly reestablish the location rotation schedule.  I’ll even go so far as to suggest standardizing on an alternating Seattle – Charlotte schedule, or something like that. If you missed the Summit this year, start saving now, and register early, so you can join us!

    Read the article

  • The Solution

    - by Patrick Liekhus
    So I recently attended a class about time management as well as read the book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey.  Both have been instrumental in helping me get my priorities aligned as well as keep me focused. The reason I bring this up is that it gave me a great idea for a small application with which to create a great technical stack solution that would be easy to demo and explain.  Therefore, the project from this point forward with be the Liekhus.TimeTracker application which will bring some the time management skills that I have acquired into a technical implementation.  The idea is rather simple, but leverages some of the basic principles of Covey along with some of the worksheets that I garnered from class.  The basics are as such: 1) a plan is a must have and 2) write it down!  A plan not written down is just an idea.  How many times have you had an idea that didn’t materialize?  Exactly.  Hence why I am writing it all down now! The worksheet consists of a few simple columns that I will outline below as well as some modifications that I made according to the Covey habits.  The worksheet looks like the following: Status Issue Area CQ Notes P  F  L     1234   P  F  L     1234   P  F  L     1234   P  F  L     1234   P  F  L     1234   P  F  L     1234   P  F  L     1234   P  F  L     1234   P  F  L     1234   The idea is really simple and straightforward; you write down all your tasks and keep track of them along the way.  The status stands for (P)ending, (F)inished or (L)ater.  You write a quick title for the issue and select the CQ (Covey Quadrant) with which the issue occurs.  The notes section is for things that happen while you are working through the issue.  And last, but not least, is the Area column that I added as a way to identify the Role or Area of your life that this task falls within based upon Covey’s teachings. The second part of this application is a simple phone log that allows you to track your phone conversations throughout the day.  All of this is currently done on a sheet of paper, but being involved in technology, I want it to have bells and whistles.  Therefore, this is my simple idea for a project that will allow me to test my theories about coding and implementations.  Stay tuned as the next session will be flushing out the concept and coming up with user stories to begin the SCRUM process. Thanks

    Read the article

  • Numerically stable(ish) method of getting Y-intercept of mouse position?

    - by Fraser
    I'm trying to unproject the mouse position to get the position on the X-Z plane of a ray cast from the mouse. The camera is fully controllable by the user. Right now, the algorithm I'm using is... Unproject the mouse into the camera to get the ray: Vector3 p1 = Vector3.Unproject(new Vector3(x, y, 0), 0, 0, width, height, nearPlane, farPlane, viewProj; Vector3 p2 = Vector3.Unproject(new Vector3(x, y, 1), 0, 0, width, height, nearPlane, farPlane, viewProj); Vector3 dir = p2 - p1; dir.Normalize(); Ray ray = Ray(p1, dir); Then get the Y-intercept by using algebra: float t = -ray.Position.Y / ray.Direction.Y; Vector3 p = ray.Position + t * ray.Direction; The problem is that the projected position is "jumpy". As I make small adjustments to the mouse position, the projected point moves in strange ways. For example, if I move the mouse one pixel up, it will sometimes move the projected position down, but when I move it a second pixel, the project position will jump back to the mouse's location. The projected location is always close to where it should be, but it does not smoothly follow a moving mouse. The problem intensifies as I zoom the camera out. I believe the problem is caused by numeric instability. I can make minor improvements to this by doing some computations at double precision, and possibly abusing the fact that floating point calculations are done at 80-bit precision on x86, however before I start micro-optimizing this and getting deep into how the CLR handles floating point, I was wondering if there's an algorithmic change I can do to improve this? EDIT: A little snooping around in .NET Reflector on SlimDX.dll: public static Vector3 Unproject(Vector3 vector, float x, float y, float width, float height, float minZ, float maxZ, Matrix worldViewProjection) { Vector3 coordinate = new Vector3(); Matrix result = new Matrix(); Matrix.Invert(ref worldViewProjection, out result); coordinate.X = (float) ((((vector.X - x) / ((double) width)) * 2.0) - 1.0); coordinate.Y = (float) -((((vector.Y - y) / ((double) height)) * 2.0) - 1.0); coordinate.Z = (vector.Z - minZ) / (maxZ - minZ); TransformCoordinate(ref coordinate, ref result, out coordinate); return coordinate; } // ... public static void TransformCoordinate(ref Vector3 coordinate, ref Matrix transformation, out Vector3 result) { Vector3 vector; Vector4 vector2 = new Vector4 { X = (((coordinate.Y * transformation.M21) + (coordinate.X * transformation.M11)) + (coordinate.Z * transformation.M31)) + transformation.M41, Y = (((coordinate.Y * transformation.M22) + (coordinate.X * transformation.M12)) + (coordinate.Z * transformation.M32)) + transformation.M42, Z = (((coordinate.Y * transformation.M23) + (coordinate.X * transformation.M13)) + (coordinate.Z * transformation.M33)) + transformation.M43 }; float num = (float) (1.0 / ((((transformation.M24 * coordinate.Y) + (transformation.M14 * coordinate.X)) + (coordinate.Z * transformation.M34)) + transformation.M44)); vector2.W = num; vector.X = vector2.X * num; vector.Y = vector2.Y * num; vector.Z = vector2.Z * num; result = vector; } ...which seems to be a pretty standard method of unprojecting a point from a projection matrix, however this serves to introduce another point of possible instability. Still, I'd like to stick with the SlimDX Unproject routine rather than writing my own unless it's really necessary.

    Read the article

  • Growing Talent

    The subtitle of Daniel Coyles intriguing book The Talent Code is Greatness Isnt Born. Its Grown. Heres How. The Talent Code proceeds to layout a theory of how expertise can be cultivated through specific practices that encourage the growth of myelin in the brain. Myelin is a material that is produced and wraps around heavily used circuits in the brain, making them more efficient. Coyle uses an analogy that geeks will appreciate. When a circuit in the brain is used a lot (i.e. a specific action is repeated), the myelin insulates that circuit, increasing its bandwidth from telephone over copper to high speed broadband. This leads to the funny phenomenon of effortless expertise. Although highly skilled, the best players make it look easy. Coyle provides some biological backing for the long held theory that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to achieve mastery over a given subject. 10,000 hours or 10 years, as in, Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years and others. However, it is not just that more hours equals more mastery. The other factors that Coyle identifies includes deep practice, practice which crucially involves drills that are challenging without being impossible. Another way to put it is that every day you spend doing only tasks you find monotonous and automatic, you are literally stagnating your brains development! Perhaps Coyles subtitle, needs one more phrase, Greatness Isnt Born. Its Grown. Heres How. And oh yeah, its not easy. Challenging yourself, continuing to persist in the face of repeated failures, practicing every day is not easy. As consultants, we sell our expertise, so it makes sense that we plan projects so that people can play to their strengths. At the same time, an important part of our culture is constant improvement, challenging yourself to be better. And the balancing contest ensues. I just finished working on a proof of concept (POC) we did for a project we are bidding on. Completely time boxed, so our team naturally split responsibilities amongst ourselves according to who was better at what. I must have been pretty bad at the other components, as I found myself working on the user interface, not my usual strength. The POC had a website frontend, and one thing I do know is HTML. After starting out in pure ASP.NET WebForms, I got frustrated as time was ticking, I knew what I wanted in HTML, but I couldnt coax the right output out of the ASP.NET controls. I needed two or three elements on the screen that were identical in layout, with different content. With a backup plan in  of writing the HTML into the response by hand, I decided to challenge myself a bit and see what I could do in an hour or two using the Microsoft submitted jQuery micro-templating JavaScript library. This risk paid off. I was able to quickly get the user interface up and running, responsive to the JSON data we were working with. I felt energized by the double win of getting the POC ready and learning something new. Opportunities  specifically like this POC dont come around often, but the takeaway is that while it wont be easy, there are ways to generate your own opportunities to grow towards greatness.Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

    Read the article

  • Managing Social Relationships for the Enterprise – Part 2

    - by Michael Snow
    12.00 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:115%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-fareast-font-family:Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";} Reggie Bradford, Senior Vice President, Oracle  On September 13, 2012, I sat down with Altimeter Analyst Jeremiah Owyang to talk about how enterprise businesses are approaching the management of both their social media strategies and internal structures. There’s no longer any question as to whether companies are adopting social full throttle. That’s exactly the way it should be, because it’s a top online behavior across all age groups. For your consumers, it’s an ingrained, normal form of communication. And beyond connecting with friends, social users are reaching out for information and service from brands. Jeremiah tells us 29% of Twitter followers follow a brand and 58% of Facebook users have “Liked” a brand. Even on the B2B side, people act on reviews and recommendations. Just as in the early 90’s we saw companies move from static to dynamic web sites, businesses of all sizes are moving from just establishing a social presence to determining effective and efficient ways to use it. I like to say we’re in the 2nd or 3rd inning of a 9-inning game. Corporate social started out as a Facebook page, it’s multiple channels servicing customers wherever they are. Social is also moving from merely moderating to analyzing so that the signal can be separated from the noise, so that impactful influencers can be separated from other users. Organizationally, social started with the marketers. Now we’re getting into social selling, commerce, service, HR, recruiting, and collaboration. That’s Oracle’s concept of enterprise social relationship management, a framework to extend social across the entire organization real-time in as holistic a way as possible. Social requires more corporate coordination than ever before. One of my favorite statistics is that the average corporation at enterprise has 178 social accounts, according to Altimeter. Not all of them active, not all of them necessary, but 178 of them. That kind of fragmentation creates risk, so the smarter companies will look for solutions (as opposed to tools) that can organize, scale and defragment, as well as quickly integrate other networks and technologies that will come along. Our conversation goes deep into the various corporate social structures we’re seeing, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each. There are also a couple of great examples of how known brands used an integrated, holistic approach to achieve stated social goals. What’s especially exciting to me is the Oracle SRM framework for the enterprise provides companywide integration into one seamless system. This is not a dream. This is going to have substantial business impact in the next several years.

    Read the article

  • BizTalk: Instance Subscription: Details

    - by Leonid Ganeline
    It has interesting behavior and it is not always what we are waiting for. An orchestration can be enlisted with many subscriptions. In other word it can have several Receive shapes. Usually the first Receive uses the Activation subscription but other Receives create the Instance subscriptions. [See “Publish and Subscribe Architecture” in MSDN] Here is a sample process. This orchestration has two receives. It is a typical Sequential Convoy. [See "BizTalk Server 2004 Convoy Deep Dive" in MSDN by Stephen W. Thomas]. Let's experiment started.   There are three typical scenarios. First scenario: everything is OK Activation subscription for the Sample message is created when the orchestration the SampleProcess is enlisted. The Instance subscription is created only when the SampleProcess orchestration instance is started and it is removed when the orchestration instance is ended. So far so good, the Message_2 was delivered exactly in this time interval and was consumed. Second scenario: no consumers Three Sample_2 messages were delivered. One was delivered before the SampleProcess was started and before the instance subscription was created. Second message was delivered in the correct time interval. The third one was delivered after the SampleProcess orchestration was ended and the instance subscription was removed. Note: ·         It was not the first Sample_2 was consumed. It was first in the queue but in was not waiting, it was suspended when it was delivered to the Message Box and didn’t have any subscribers at this moment. The first and the last Sample_2 messages were Suspended (Nonresumable) in the Message Box. For each of this message we have got two (!) service instances associated with this suspended message. One service instance has the ServiceClass of Messaging, and we can see its Error Description:   The second service instance has the ServiceClass of RoutingFailureReport, and we can see its Error Description:   Third scenario: something goes wrong Two Sample_2 messages were delivered. Both were delivered in the same interval when the SampleProcess orchestration was working and the instance subscription was created and was working too. First Sample_2 was consumed. The second Sample_2 has the subscription but the subscriber, the SampleProcess orchestration, will not consume it. After the SampleProcess orchestration is ended (And only after! I will discuss this in the next article.), it is suspended (Nonresumable). In this time only one service instance associated with this kind of scenario is suspended. This service instance has the ServiceClass of Orchestration, and we can see its Error Description: In the Message tab we will see the Sample_2 message in the Suspended (Resumable) status. Note: ·         This behavior looks ambiguous. We see here the orchestration consumes the extra message(s) and gets suspended together with those extra messages. These messages are not consumed in term of “processed by orchestration”. But they are consumed in term of the “delivered to the subscriber”. The receive shape in the orchestration is not received these extra messages. But these messages are routed to the orchestration.     Unified Sequential convoy  Now one more scenario. It is the unified sequential convoy. That means the activation subscription is for the same message type as it for the instance subscription. The Sample_2 message is now the Sample message. For simplicity the SampleProcess orchestration consumes only two Sample messages. Usually the orchestration consumes a lot of messages inside loop, but now it is only two of them. First message starts the orchestration, the second message goes inside this orchestration. Then the next pair of messages follows, and so on. But if the input messages follow in shorter intervals we have got the problem. We lost messages in unpredictable manner. Note: ·         Maybe the better behavior would be if the orchestration removes the instance subscription after the message is consumed, not in the end on the orchestration. Right now it is a “feature” of the BizTalk subscription mechanism.

    Read the article

< Previous Page | 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217  | Next Page >