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• How can I have my Windows keymap on Mac?

  - by Sebastian Hoitz

  On Mac, to get a "{" for example, you have to press OPTION key plus 8 to get a curly brace. But on Windows it is ALT-GR plus 7. Another example: On Windows I can press CTRL and Backspace to remove one whole word. On Mac it is OPTION + Backspace. Is there a way I can remap these Mac-driven behavior to be more Windows-like? Because this is, as a very long Windows user, a big burden on me to have such a different keyboard layout. Edit: I'm using a german keyboard layout.

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• Email attachments sent to a group don't show up for some

  - by blsub6

  My boss sent out an email from my Exchange 2010 org and attached a PDF and a Word doc to it. He came back the next day and told me that some of the 8 or 10 people that received this email could open up the attachments no problem. The other 2 or 3 people, could not. One of these people who could not open the attachment, went so far as to call Comcast (his email service provider) and ask them where his attachments went. Comcast told this person that when they received the email, the attachment was 0 bytes in size. This may sound like more of a rant than a question but I'm genuinely concerned. Is there any possible way that something could have gone wrong on my end that sent out the email to some with the attachment and to some without?

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• utf8 problem with Perl and XML::Parser

  - by René Nyffenegger

  I encountered a problem dealing with utf8, XML and Perl. The following is the smallest piece of code and data in order to reproduce the problem. Here's an XML file that needs to be parsed: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <test> <words>???????????? ??????? ????????? ???? ???????????? ??????</words> <words>???????????? ??????? ????????? ???? ???????????? ??????</words> <words>???????????? ??????? ????????? ???? ???????????? ??????</words> [<words> .... </words> 148 times repeated] <words>???????????? ??????? ????????? ???? ???????????? ??????</words> <words>???????????? ??????? ????????? ???? ???????????? ??????</words> </test> The parsing is done with this perl script: use warnings; use strict; use XML::Parser; use Data::Dump; my $in_words = 0; my $xml_parser=new XML::Parser(Style=>'Stream'); $xml_parser->setHandlers ( Start => \&start_element, End => \&end_element, Char => \&character_data, Default => \&default); open OUT, '>out.txt'; binmode (OUT, ":utf8"); open XML, 'xml_test.xml' or die; $xml_parser->parse(*XML); close XML; close OUT; sub start_element { my($parseinst, $element, %attributes) = @_; if ($element eq 'words') { $in_words = 1; } else { $in_words = 0; } } sub end_element { my($parseinst, $element, %attributes) = @_; if ($element eq 'words') { $in_words = 0; } } sub default { # nothing to see here; } sub character_data { my($parseinst, $data) = @_; if ($in_words) { if ($in_words) { print OUT "$data\n"; } } } When the script is run, it produces the out.txt file. The problem is in this file on line 147. The 22th character (which in utf-8 consists of \xd6 \xb8) is split between the d6 and b8 with a new line. This should not happen. Now, I am interested if someone else has this problem or can reproduce it. And why I am getting this problem. I am running this script on Windows: C:\temp>perl -v This is perl, v5.10.0 built for MSWin32-x86-multi-thread (with 5 registered patches, see perl -V for more detail) Copyright 1987-2007, Larry Wall Binary build 1003 [285500] provided by ActiveState http://www.ActiveState.com Built May 13 2008 16:52:49

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• Connecting WCF from Webpart

  - by Bhaskar

  I am consuming a WCF Service from a webpart in Sharepoint 2007. But its giving me the following error: There was no endpoint listening at http://locathost:2929/BusinessObjectService that could accept the message. This is often caused by an incorrect address or SOAP action. See InnerException, if present, for more details. --- System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (404) Not Found. My Binding Details in the WCF web.config is: <system.serviceModel> <diagnostics performanceCounters="All"> <messageLogging logEntireMessage="true" logMessagesAtServiceLevel="false" maxMessagesToLog="4000" /> </diagnostics> <services> <service behaviorConfiguration="MyService.IBusinessObjectServiceContractBehavior" name="MyService.BusinessObjectService"> <endpoint address="http://localhost:2929/BusinessObjectService.svc" binding="wsHttpBinding" contract="MyService.IBusinessObjectServiceContract"> <identity> <dns value="localhost" /> </identity> </endpoint> <endpoint address="mex" binding="mexHttpBinding" contract="IMetadataExchange" /> </service> </services> <behaviors> <serviceBehaviors> <behavior name="MyService.IBusinessObjectServiceContractBehavior"> <serviceMetadata httpGetEnabled="true" /> <serviceDebug includeExceptionDetailInFaults="false" /> </behavior> </serviceBehaviors> </behaviors> </system.serviceModel> My binding details in the Sharepoint site web.config is: <system.serviceModel> <bindings> <wsHttpBinding> <binding name="WSHttpBinding_IBusinessObjectServiceContract" closeTimeout="00:01:00" openTimeout="00:01:00" receiveTimeout="00:10:00" sendTimeout="00:01:00" bypassProxyOnLocal="false" transactionFlow="false" hostNameComparisonMode="StrongWildcard" maxBufferPoolSize="524288" maxReceivedMessageSize="65536" messageEncoding="Mtom" textEncoding="utf-8" useDefaultWebProxy="true" allowCookies="false"> <readerQuotas maxDepth="32" maxStringContentLength="8192" maxArrayLength="16384" maxBytesPerRead="4096" maxNameTableCharCount="16384" /> <reliableSession ordered="true" inactivityTimeout="00:10:00" enabled="false" /> <security mode="Message"> <transport clientCredentialType="Windows" proxyCredentialType="None" realm="" /> <message clientCredentialType="Windows" negotiateServiceCredential="true" algorithmSuite="Default" /> </security> </binding> </wsHttpBinding> </bindings> <client> <endpoint address="http://localhost:2929/BusinessObjectService.svc" binding="wsHttpBinding" bindingConfiguration="WSHttpBinding_IBusinessObjectServiceContract" contract="BusinessObjectService.IBusinessObjectServiceContract" name="WSHttpBinding_IBusinessObjectServiceContract"> <identity> <dns value="localhost" /> </identity> </endpoint> </client> </system.serviceModel> I am able to view the WCF (and its wsdl) in browser, using the URL given in the end point. So, I guess the URL is definately correct. Please help !!!

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• Blank white desktop icons on new Windows 7 install

  - by SiegeX

  I just did a fresh install of Windows 7 professional on my father's Toshiba Satellite laptop and everything went smoothly except for the fact that certain desktop shortcuts appear as a blank white page. I've tried: going in and changing the icon to many different things reloading the icon cache by deleting the IconCache.db file uninstalling his Free AVG as he heard the virus scanner might be preventing it (it wasn't and he put it back.) The one thing these icons have in common is that they are shortcuts to some very old DOS executables. One of them is Word Star 2000 to give you an idea. Does anybody have any other suggestions besides what we've tried?

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• Get Asynchronous HttpResponse through Silverlight (F#)

  - by jack2010

  I am a newbie with F# and SL and playing with getting asynchronous HttpResponse through Silverlight. The following is the F# code pieces, which is tested on VS2010 and Window7 and works well, but the improvement is necessary. Any advices and discussion, especially the callback part, are welcome and great thanks. module JSONExample open System open System.IO open System.Net open System.Text open System.Web open System.Security.Authentication open System.Runtime.Serialization [<DataContract>] type Result<'TResult> = { [<field: DataMember(Name="code") >] Code:string [<field: DataMember(Name="result") >] Result:'TResult array [<field: DataMember(Name="message") >] Message:string } // The elements in the list [<DataContract>] type ChemicalElement = { [<field: DataMember(Name="name") >] Name:string [<field: DataMember(Name="boiling_point") >] BoilingPoint:string [<field: DataMember(Name="atomic_mass") >] AtomicMass:string } //http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dsyme/archive/2007/10/11/introducing-f-asynchronous-workflows.aspx //http://lorgonblog.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!701679AD17B6D310!194.entry type System.Net.HttpWebRequest with member x.GetResponseAsync() = Async.FromBeginEnd(x.BeginGetResponse, x.EndGetResponse) type RequestState () = let mutable request : WebRequest = null let mutable response : WebResponse = null let mutable responseStream : Stream = null member this.Request with get() = request and set v = request <- v member this.Response with get() = response and set v = response <- v member this.ResponseStream with get() = responseStream and set v = responseStream <- v let allDone = new System.Threading.ManualResetEvent(false) let getHttpWebRequest (query:string) = let query = query.Replace("'","\"") let queryUrl = sprintf "http://api.freebase.com/api/service/mqlread?query=%s" "{\"query\":"+query+"}" let request : HttpWebRequest = downcast WebRequest.Create(queryUrl) request.Method <- "GET" request.ContentType <- "application/x-www-form-urlencoded" request let GetAsynResp (request : HttpWebRequest) (callback: AsyncCallback) = let myRequestState = new RequestState() myRequestState.Request <- request let asyncResult = request.BeginGetResponse(callback, myRequestState) () // easy way to get it to run syncrnously w/ the asynch methods let GetSynResp (request : HttpWebRequest) : HttpWebResponse = let response = request.GetResponseAsync() |> Async.RunSynchronously downcast response let RespCallback (finish: Stream -> _) (asynchronousResult : IAsyncResult) = try let myRequestState : RequestState = downcast asynchronousResult.AsyncState let myWebRequest1 : WebRequest = myRequestState.Request myRequestState.Response <- myWebRequest1.EndGetResponse(asynchronousResult) let responseStream = myRequestState.Response.GetResponseStream() myRequestState.ResponseStream <- responseStream finish responseStream myRequestState.Response.Close() () with | :? WebException as e -> printfn "WebException raised!" printfn "\n%s" e.Message printfn "\n%s" (e.Status.ToString()) () | _ as e -> printfn "Exception raised!" printfn "Source : %s" e.Source printfn "Message : %s" e.Message () let printResults (stream: Stream)= let result = try use reader = new StreamReader(stream) reader.ReadToEnd(); finally () let data = Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(result); let stream = new MemoryStream() stream.Write(data, 0, data.Length); stream.Position <- 0L let JsonSerializer = Json.DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof<Result<ChemicalElement>>) let result = JsonSerializer.ReadObject(stream) :?> Result<ChemicalElement> if result.Code<>"/api/status/ok" then raise (InvalidOperationException(result.Message)) else result.Result |> Array.iter(fun element->printfn "%A" element) let test = // Call Query (w/ generics telling it you wand an array of ChemicalElement back, the query string is wackyJSON too –I didn’t build it don’t ask me! let request = getHttpWebRequest "[{'type':'/chemistry/chemical_element','name':null,'boiling_point':null,'atomic_mass':null}]" //let response = GetSynResp request let response = GetAsynResp request (AsyncCallback (RespCallback printResults)) () ignore(test) System.Console.ReadLine() |> ignore

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• Replicate / SYNC / Copy thousands of files

  - by rihatum

  Windows 32BIT Box (Server OS) 4GB RAM a 800GB LUN Mapped to the above box as a local drive Around 700GB of text files (Yes text files and a few thousand word documents) nested in thousands of directories. I need to move this to a new storage and map another server to it. What would be the best way to go about it ? What I did was mapped the existing LUN to our new box and mapped a LUN from the New storage to the new box too, and tried copying (windows copy) but that wasn't good / fast enough considering the downtime. I am now looking for either a script which will do this or a utility (prefer opensource / free) to move this size of data at a good speed. 2 x 1GB Nics teamed ether channel 2GBPs Any suggestions or pointers would be off great help Thanks !

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• Windows 7: app crashing/hanging on "save as" dialog

  - by Fuxi

  now this is really annoying - I'm having a global problem in Windows 7: when using the system's "save as"-file dialog, the main app will just hang. the mouse-cursor is showing progress, the whole app is hanging and I need to terminate it manually. it's happening with every app! (notepad, word, graphics app). I'm assuming it's something with the system enumerating the harddisk-drivenames or something. any idea how to fix this? by the way - when viewing the problem details - it's telling the module - it's msonsext.dll, looks like some office thing to me.

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• Computer hobby and more?

  - by John

  I have been a fulltime student recently working on graduate work to complete a graduate degree. While continuing my studies I have maintained my computer hobby. However, recently my computer hobby has been threatening to turn into a full-fledged side business. Because I am starting to have people come to me for computer help who I have never met before (who generally heard word-of-mouth from other people whose computers I looked at) I am seriously considering putting my conditions for working on a computer into writing (for potential damage control and perhaps liability reasons). Are there any standards for this that I should reference? Should responsibility be waived for times when the computer is left in my care or any time I look at a machine? Any advice you can provide here would be appreciated. What other lessons have you learned that I should be aware of in relation to helping people while continuing my studies as a hobby? Thank you in advance.

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• Wireless networking on Gnome on Ubuntu 9 / 10

  - by WaveyDavey

  So here's my problem: I have some netbooks (ASUS eee, and ACER Aspire Ones) that I've been tasked to set up as kiosk machines, locked up tight for normal users. I am a command-line, server man, so this gnome malarkey is all a bit new to me. I found a lovely 9.04 kiosk livecd that installs and runs exactly as I want it to, but I can't get the wireless working. So I dropped on a full 10.4 distro, and wireless works straight out of the box (so hardware is good) - all I needed to do was right-click on the network connection icon, enter my SSID and password (WPA/WPA2) and away it went, perfect. Further investigation on 10.4 distro shows that /etc/networking/interfaces is virtually empty (just auto lo iface lo inet loopback in it), even after I have set up the wireless thru the gnome taskbar applet (is that the right word?). So where does gnome / ubuntu store the network settings to bring the blasted wireless connection up, and what do I need to do on the kiosk version to get wireless running?

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• Can't download updates for reinstalled Office 2000 on WinXP OS "expected version not found" error message

  - by mpmadigan

  I replaced HD and reinstalled WinXP Pro and successfully downloaded all of the service packs and security updates. I've reinstalled my licensed version of Office 2000 (upgrade version from Office 97). The software installs and is functional; but when trying to install updates SR-1 or SR-1a or any individual security update I get error message "expected version of product not found". Microsoft no longer provides support for this legacy version of office. I can't find any support documents in Microsoft's database that addresses this issue. This is my sister's computer and I've already come out-of-pocket $100 for hardware (not counting the $$hours of labor). She only uses MS Word for minimal correspondence. No desire to spend $100+ for new version of Office. I would greatly appreciate any suggested fixes for this problem.

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• Brother Printer not picking up A5 size paper

  - by Mirage

  I have Brother HL 5040D printer . I want to print some stuff on A5 size. I have done setting on MS word. There is small tray in Brother Printer manin tray where i can put any samll paper and then move the clamps so that it fits the paper. But when i give print command the printer tries to pick up paper but is unable to do so. Then it gave paper light means it can't load the paper. What should i do

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• Computer hobby and repairs

  - by John

  I have been a fulltime student recently working on graduate work to complete a graduate degree. While continuing my studies I have maintained my computer hobby. However, recently my computer hobby has been threatening to turn into a full-fledged side business. Because I am starting to have people come to me for computer help who I have never met before (who generally heard word-of-mouth from other people whose computers I looked at) I am seriously considering putting my conditions for working on a computer into writing (for potential damage control and perhaps liability reasons). Are there any standards for this that I should reference? Should responsibility be waived for times when the computer is left in my care or any time I look at a machine? Any advice you can provide here would be appreciated. What other lessons have you learned that I should be aware of in relation to helping people while continuing my studies as a hobby? Thank you in advance.

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• sendmail rules for filtering spam

  - by user71061

  Hi! Can anyone help me with constructing sendmail rules for limiting spam? Assuming that name of my domain is my.domain.com, I want to use following rules: If BOTH sender and recipient address is from my.domain.com, message should be rejected (sendmail server only relays messages between my internal exchange server and outside word, so sending messages between users from my.domain.com always occour on exchange server and never on sendmail server) If recipient list contains AT LAST ONE invalid address, whole message should be rejected (even for valid recipients addresses) If sending server uses HELO message with bogus domain name (other than domain of this server), message should be rejected Any server attempting to send mail to dedicated address (f.e. [email protected]), should be automatically blacklisted Any other suggested rules ...

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• Is there a way to allow continuous scrolling in Adobe Reader?

  - by RLH

  I am having to read through a MASSIVE (1000+ page) PDF specification in Adobe Reader X (version 10). It has always bugged me that if you scroll to the edge of a page, the Reader automatically jumps to the top of the next page. Is there away to cut this off so that when I reach the bottom of one page, the edge of the page meets the top of the next page and I can see a half-page of both the last and next page? I know that MS Word can and does behave this way. Can I change a setting to scroll the document in this manner in Adobe Reader?

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• Belkin Flip KVM keyboard skip problems

  - by Craig

  I have just bought a Belkin Flip 2 port KVM. Functionally it is almost there except I have a keyboard sticking problem. So if I type the word 'Hello' it will often (about 25% of the time) output 'Hellooooooooooooooooooooo'. If I plug the keyboard directly into the USB on the computer I don't have this problem, only when plugged into the KVM. I feel like it is a USB speed problem. Followup It appears I have the same problem with the mouse, it will jump from one side of the screen to the other as I move it. The mouse is annoying but half as much as the keyboard.

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• HP DL160 vs DL360 for virtualization

  - by Chris

  Hi, We're planning to consolidate our infrastructure (a dozen servers). We'll buy two or three identical new servers who will be setup as a XenServer pool. Load balancing and HA tools will monitor the pool and vMotion VMs in case of failure/overload. I know that the DL100 series of HP servers is cheaper than the DL300 serie (in every sense of the word). As we don't need local storage (we have a SAN) and can live with a temporary down server (provided that Xen Server HA tools work as advertized), what are the downsides going with the DL100 serie ? Thanks, Chris

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• How to brute force keepass with certain letters and characters

  - by bobbyq

  I forgot my password to keepass but I know pretty much what letters and the order they go in, but I'm not sure if I put anything before or after my "main" password or capitalized anything. I tried every combo I could think of but I still can't get in (invalid/wrong key error). I also enabled use master password and key file(on my flash drive). My question is is there a way to brute force keepass with only certain letters and characters in order? An example of the password would be userab12c3d45 sometimes with quotes or underscores at the beginning and end. Or Is there a word list generator that will do this?

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• Folder Permissions Apache

  - by user1671777

  I have a site that will need to store file uploads by the user once logged in. Currently I have a folder with permissions opened up, (777), because that was the only way I could get mkdir() to work. When the user uploads a file, the application creates several directories based on the user, in this directory then eventually stores the file. Couple of questions: How do I setup the permissions on each of these folders and sub folders so that only logged in users to my site have access to them? Is this even possible? Is there a more secure way of storing .pdf, word docs, and text files?

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• Nano suddenly putting in weird characters when I type

  - by Cocorico

  I am using a shell and editing a file in nano (similar to pico). A short while ago, it started doing this thing where if I type: $query = "select" * from topics where id='' "; and then I hit Backspace and try to stick the letter 'a' into the id='' part, it changes it to: $query = "select * from koala_topics where id='a='' "; and the cursor jumps around to a few spaces before. Also if I type print At the start of a new line, and then I think "Oh I should have added a tab" and I go back and try to add a tab, it adds a tab AND 2 spaces, and if I put the cursor through the word print, it turns into printnt. Some other weird things have happened too. I uninstalled nano using yum (which is how I installed it), and then re-installed it, thinking that would get me clean preferences (in case that was the problem) but it doesn't fix it.

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• Good software to take a blog and format it for printing

  - by vaccano

  I have much of my family's doings on a Blogspot blog. I would like to print this out in a nice book. The actual printing I plan to just send to CostCo as Photo Prints. But I need some kind of software to reformat the posts into printable paper size sheets. I would like it if I could retain my blog's background and let me adjust how the pictures fit on the screen. Now I could do all of this with MS Publisher or Word. But I am curious if there is any other software out there that does this nice and easy. Anyone know of some cool software that will do this for me? Free is nice, but I am not above paying a modest fee for cool software. I would prefer to avoid another website that will charge for the printing as well as the converting.

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• UEC - Can the Cluster Controller and Storage Controller be seperate systems?

  - by Jeremy Hajek

  My department is implementing an Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud. I have done the testing and am quite comfortable with the 4 pieces, CC/SC, CLC, WS, NC. Looking at various documents below it appears the the Storage Controller and Cluster Controller (eucalyptus-sc and eucalyptus-cc) are always installed on the same system. My question is this: can I install the storage controller and the cluster controller on separate systems? http://open.eucalyptus.com/wiki/EucalyptusAdvanced_v2.0 the picture indicates that cc and sc are two different machines http://www.canonical.com/sites/default/files/active/Whitepaper-UbuntuEnterpriseCloudArchitecture-v1.pdf P.10 1st paragraph uses the word "machine(s)" http://software.intel.com/file/31966 P. 8 indicates the same separate architecture BUT... https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEC/PackageInstallSeparate indicates below that the SC and CC are to be on the same system.

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• Strategy and AI for the game 'Proximity'

  - by smci

  'Proximity' is a strategy game of territorial domination similar to Othello, Go and Risk. Two players, uses a 10x12 hex grid. Game invented by Brian Cable in 2007. Seems to be a worthy game for discussing a) optimal strategy then b) how to build an AI Strategies are going to be probabilistic or heuristic-based, due to the randomness factor, and the high branching factor (starts out at 120). So it will be kind of hard to compare objectively. A compute time limit of 5s per turn seems reasonable. Game: Flash version here and many copies elsewhere on the web Rules: here Object: to have control of the most armies after all tiles have been placed. Each turn you received a randomly numbered tile (value between 1 and 20 armies) to place on any vacant board space. If this tile is adjacent to any ally tiles, it will strengthen each tile's defenses +1 (up to a max value of 20). If it is adjacent to any enemy tiles, it will take control over them if its number is higher than the number on the enemy tile. Thoughts on strategy: Here are some initial thoughts; setting the computer AI to Expert will probably teach a lot: minimizing your perimeter seems to be a good strategy, to prevent flips and minimize worst-case damage like in Go, leaving holes inside your formation is lethal, only more so with the hex grid because you can lose armies on up to 6 squares in one move low-numbered tiles are a liability, so place them away from your main territory, near the board edges and scattered. You can also use low-numbered tiles to plug holes in your formation, or make small gains along the perimeter which the opponent will not tend to bother attacking. a triangle formation of three pieces is strong since they mutually reinforce, and also reduce the perimeter Each tile can be flipped at most 6 times, i.e. when its neighbor tiles are occupied. Control of a formation can flow back and forth. Sometimes you lose part of a formation and plug any holes to render that part of the board 'dead' and lock in your territory/ prevent further losses. Low-numbered tiles are obvious-but-low-valued liabilities, but high-numbered tiles can be bigger liabilities if they get flipped (which is harder). One lucky play with a 20-army tile can cause a swing of 200 (from +100 to -100 armies). So tile placement will have both offensive and defensive considerations. Comment 1,2,4 seem to resemble a minimax strategy where we minimize the maximum expected possible loss (modified by some probabilistic consideration of the value ß the opponent can get from 1..20 i.e. a structure which can only be flipped by a ß=20 tile is 'nearly impregnable'.) I'm not clear what the implications of comments 3,5,6 are for optimal strategy. Interested in comments from Go, Chess or Othello players. (The sequel ProximityHD for XBox Live, allows 4-player -cooperative or -competitive local multiplayer increases the branching factor since you now have 5 tiles in your hand at any given time, of which you can only play one. Reinforcement of ally tiles is increased to +2 per ally.)

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• Fn + Right Arrow on MacBook Pro does not work as END Key for SuperUser web site

  - by George2

  Hello everyone, I am using a MacBook Pro running Mac OS X 10.5. I am new to this development environment, and previously worked on Windows. I have tried that Fn + Right arrow on Mac works as "END" key on Windows -- which makes cursor move to the end of line, for most application like Word for Mac -- I have tried it works. But I tried Fn + Right Arrow does not work for current question input box of SuperUser. I am wondering how to solve this issue and why? Does anyone have the same issue for me? thanks in advance, George

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• Interactive Data Language, IDL: Does anybody care?

  - by Alex

  Anyone use a language called Interactive Data Language, IDL? It is popular with scientists. I think it is a poor language because it is proprietary (every terminal running it has to have an expensive license purchased) and it has minimal support (try searching for IDL, the language, right now on stack) . I am trying to convince my colleagues to stop using it and learn C/C++/Python/Fortran/Java/Ruby. Does anybody know about or even care about IDL enough to have opinions on it? What do you think of it? Should I tell my colleagues to stop wasting their time on it now? How can I convince them? Edit: People are getting the impression that I don't know or use IDL. Also, I said IDL has minimal support which is true in one sense, so I must clarify that the scientific libraries are indeed large. I use IDL all the time, but this is exactly the problem: I am only using IDL because colleagues use it. There is a file format IDL uses, the .sav, which can only be opened in IDL. So I must use IDL to work with this data and transfer the data back to colleagues, but I know I would be more efficient in another language. This is like someone sending you a microsoft word file in an email attachment and if you don't understand how wrong that is then you probably write too many words not enough code and you bought microsoft word. Edit: As an alternative to IDL Python is popular. Here is a list of The Pros of IDL (and the cons) from AstroBetter: Pros of IDL Mature many numerical and astronomical libraries available Wide astronomical user base Numerical aspect well integrated with language itself Many local users with deep experience Faster for small arrays Easier installation Good, unified documentation Standard GUI run/debug tool (IDLDE) Single widget system (no angst about which to choose or learn) SAVE/RESTORE capability Use of keyword arguments as flags more convenient Cons of IDL Narrow applicability, not well suited to general programming Slower for large arrays Array functionality less powerful Table support poor Limited ability to extend using C or Fortran, such extensions hard to distribute and support Expensive, sometimes problem collaborating with others that don’t have or can’t afford licenses. Closed source (only RSI can fix bugs) Very awkward to integrate with IRAF tasks Memory management more awkward Single widget system (useless if working within another framework) Plotting: Awkward support for symbols and math text Many font systems, portability issues (v5.1 alleviates somewhat) not as flexible or as extensible plot windows not intrinsically interactive (e.g., pan & zoom) Pros of Python Very general and powerful programming language, yet easy to learn. Strong, but optional, Object Oriented programming support Very large user and developer community, very extensive and broad library base Very extensible with C, C++, or Fortran, portable distribution mechanisms available Free; non-restrictive license; Open Source Becoming the standard scripting language for astronomy Easy to use with IRAF tasks Basis of STScI application efforts More general array capabilities Faster for large arrays, better support for memory mapping Many books and on-line documentation resources available (for the language and its libraries) Better support for table structures Plotting framework (matplotlib) more extensible and general Better font support and portability (only one way to do it too) Usable within many windowing frameworks (GTK, Tk, WX, Qt…) Standard plotting functionality independent of framework used plots are embeddable within other GUIs more powerful image handling (multiple simultaneous LUTS, optional resampling/rescaling, alpha blending, etc) Support for many widget systems Strong local influence over capabilities being developed for Python Cons of Python More items to install separately Not as well accepted in astronomical community (but support clearly growing) Scientific libraries not as mature: Documentation not as complete, not as unified Not as deep in astronomical libraries and utilities Not all IDL numerical library functions have corresponding functionality in Python Some numeric constructs not quite as consistent with language (or slightly less convenient than IDL) Array indexing convention “backwards” Small array performance slower No standard GUI run/debug tool Support for many widget systems (angst regarding which to choose) Current lack of function equivalent to SAVE/RESTORE in IDL matplotlib does not yet have equivalents for all IDL 2-D plotting capability (e.g., surface plots) Use of keyword arguments used as flags less convenient Plotting: comparatively immature, still much development going on missing some plot type (e.g., surface) 3-d capability requires VTK (though matplotlib has some basic 3-d capability)

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