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• The MsC gray zone: How to deal with the "too unexperienced on engineering/too under-qualified for research" situation?

  - by Hunter2

  Last year I've got a MsC degree on CS. On the beginning of the MsC course, I was keen on moving on with research and go for a PhD. However, as the months passed, I started to feel the urge to write software that people would, well, actually use. The programming bug had bitten me, again. So, I decided that before deciding on getting a PhD degree, I would spend some time on the "real world", working as a software developer. Sadly, most companies here in Brazil are "services" companies that seem to be stuck on the 80s when it comes to software development. I have to fend off pushy managers, less-than-competent coworkers and outrageous software requirements (why does everyone seem to need a 50k Oracle license and a behemoth Websphere AS for their CRUD applications?) on a daily basis, and even though I still love software development, the situation is starting to touch a nerve. And, mind you, I'm already lucky for getting a job at a place that isn't a plain software sweatshop. Sure, there are better places around here or I could always try my luck abroad, but then I hit the proverbial brick wall: Sorry, you're too unexperienced as a developer and too under-qualified as a researcher I've already heard this, and variations of that, multiple times. Research position recruiters look for die-hard, publication-ridden, rockstar PhDs, while development position recruiters look for die-hard, experience-ridden, rockstar programmers. To most, my MsC degree seems like a minor bump on my CV (and an outright waste of time for some). Applying for abroad positions is even harder, since the employer would have to deal of the hassle of a VISA process, which I understand that, sometimes, is too much. Now I'm feeling I've reached a dead-end. I'm certain that development (and not research) is my thing, so should I just dismiss my MsC (or play it as a "trump card") and play the "big fish on a small pond" role while I gather some experience and contribute on some open-source projects as a plus? Is there a better way to handle this?

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• For those of you who are senior developers what do you look for in a new company and development team?

  - by Amy P

  As I move forward in my career new jobs become more difficult to choose between. When I was starting out and for the first 8 years of my career I took the jobs that I could get that would keep me programming on the general technological path that I was on. I am a job hopper, I only stay with a company for between 2 - 3 years. I think that I do this because after 2 years I get bored and unless there are new projects to keep my busy I no longer find work interesting. Now that I am becoming more experienced it is more important for me to only apply for jobs that are interesting and will move my career and my skill set forward. My problem now is that I keep finding jobs where the projects appear to be interesting during the interview but once I get in the company I find the development environment is sub-par and the development team is disjointed. I feel like I am asking the wrong questions during the interview process and don't know what to look for to make sure that the environment I will be working in will be a good one. Now my question: For those of you who are senior developers what do you look for in a new company and development team? I am looking for the key qualities in a company and development team that you look for when interviewing with a company. These qualities are the ones that would give you hints that the company will be a good one to work for.

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• Assuming "clean code/architecture" is there a difference in "effort" between PHP or Java/J2EE web application development?

  - by PhD

  A client asked us to estimate effort when selecting PHP as the implementation language for his next web-based application. We spent about a week exploring PHP, prototyping, testing etc., We are quite new to this language - may have hacked around it in the past but, let's go with PHP-noobs but application development experts (for the lack of a better, less flattering word :) It seems, that if we write, clean maintainable code, follow separation of concerns, enterprise architecture patters (DAOs etc.) the 'effort' in creating an object-oriented PHP based web-application seems to be the same for a Java based one. Here's our equation for estimating the effort (development/delivery time): ConstructionEffort = f(analysis, design, coding, testing, review, deployment) We were specifically comparing effort estimates in creating an enterprise application with the following: PHP + CakePHP/CodeIgniter (should we have considered others?) Java + Spring + Restlet It's an end-to-end application: Client: Javascript/jQuery + HTML/CSS Middle tier/Business Logic - (Still evaluating PHP/Java) Database: MySQL The effort estimates of the 1st and 3rd tier are constant and relatively independent of the middle tier's technology. At a high level with an initial breakdown into user stories of the requested features as well as a high-level SWAG on the sheer number of classes/SLOC that would be required for PHP doesn't seem to differ by much from what is required of the same in Java. Is this correct? We are basing our initial estimates on the initial prototyping/coding we've done with PHP - we are currently disregarding fluency with the language as a factor, since that'll be an initial hurdle and not a long term impediment IMHO (we also have sufficient time to become quite fluent with PHP). I'm interested in knowing the programmers' perspective with respect to effort when creating similar applications with either of the languages to justify choosing one over the other. Are we missing something here? It seems we are going against popular belief of PHP being quicker to market (or we being very fluent with Java have our vision clouded). It doesn't seem to have any coding/programming effort saving from what we/ve played around with.

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• Should I use a config file or database for storing business rules?

  - by foiseworth

  I have recently been reading The Pragmatic Programmer which states that: Details mess up our pristine code—especially if they change frequently. Every time we have to go in and change the code to accommodate some change in business logic, or in the law, or in management's personal tastes of the day, we run the risk of breaking the system—of introducing a new bug. Hunt, Andrew; Thomas, David (1999-10-20). The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master (Kindle Locations 2651-2653). Pearson Education (USA). Kindle Edition. I am currently programming a web app that has some models that have properties that can only be from a set of values, e.g. (not actual example as the web app data confidential): light-type = sphere / cube / cylinder The light type can only be the above three values but according to TPP I should always code as if they could change and place their values in a config file. As there are several incidents of this throughout the app, my question is: Should I store possibly values like these in: a config file: 'light-types' = array(sphere, cube, cylinder), 'other-type' = value, 'etc = etc-value a single table in a database with one line for each config item a database with a table for each config item (e.g. table: light_types; columns: id, name) some other way? Many thanks for any assistance / expertise offered.

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• How to shift a vector based on the rotation of another vector?

  - by bpierre

  I’m learning 2D programming, so excuse my approximations, and please, don’t hesitate to correct me. I am just trying to fire a bullet from a player. I’m using HTML canvas (top left origin). Here is a representation of my problem: The black vector represent the position of the player (the grey square). The green vector represent its direction. The red disc represents the target. The red vector represents the direction of a bullet, which will move in the direction of the target (red and dotted line). The blue cross represents the point from where I really want to fire the bullet (and the blue and dotted line represents its movement). This is how I draw the player (this is the player object. Position, direction and dimensions are 2D vectors): ctx.save(); ctx.translate(this.position.x, this.position.y); ctx.rotate(this.direction.getAngle()); ctx.drawImage(this.image, Math.round(-this.dimensions.x/2), Math.round(-this.dimensions.y/2), this.dimensions.x, this.dimensions.y); ctx.restore(); This is how I instanciate a new bullet: var bulletPosition = playerPosition.clone(); // Copy of the player position var bulletDirection = Vector2D.substract(targetPosition, playerPosition).normalize(); // Difference between the player and the target, normalized new Bullet(bulletPosition, bulletDirection); This is how I move the bullet (this is the bullet object): var speed = 5; this.position.add(Vector2D.multiply(this.direction, speed)); And this is how I draw the bullet (this is the bullet object): ctx.save(); ctx.translate(this.position.x, this.position.y); ctx.rotate(this.direction.getAngle()); ctx.fillRect(0, 0, 3, 3); ctx.restore(); How can I change the direction and position vectors of the bullet to ensure it is on the blue dotted line? I think I should represent the shift with a vector, but I can’t see how to use it.

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• How to convince a client to switch to a framework *now*; also examples of great, large-scale php applications.

  - by cbrandolino

  Hi everybody. I'm about to start working on a very ambitious project that, in my opinion, has some great potential for what concerns the basic concept and the implementation ideas (implementation as in how this ideas will be implemented, not as in programming). The state of the code right now is unluckily subpar. It's vanilla php, no framework, no separation between application and visualization logic. It's been done mostly by amateur students (I know great amateur/student programmers, don't get me wrong: this was not the case though). The clients are really great, and they know the system won't scale and needs a redesign. The problem is, they would like to launch a beta ASAP and then think of rebuilding. Since just the basic functionalities are present now, I suggested it would be a great idea if we (we're a three-people shop, all very proficient) ported that code to some framework (we like CodeIgniter) before launching. We would reasonably be able to do that in < 10 days. Problem is, they don't think php would be a valid long-term solution anyway, so they would prefer to just let it be and fix the bugs for now (there's quite a bit) and then directly switch to some ruby/python based system. Porting to CI now will make future improvements incredibly easier, the current code more secure, changing the style - still being discussed with the designers - a breeze (reminder: there are database calls in template files right now); the biggest obstacle is the lack of trust in php as a valid, scalable technology. So well, I need some examples of great php applications (apart from facebook) and some suggestions on how to try to convince them to port soon. Again, they're great people - it's not like they would like ruby cause it's so hot right now; they just don't trust php since us cool programmers like bashing it, I suppose, but I'm sure going on like this for even one more day would be a mistake. Also, we have some weight in the decision process.

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• Understanding Application binary interface (ABI)

  - by Tim

  I am trying to understand the concept of Application binary interface (ABI). From The Linux Kernel Primer: An ABI is a set of conventions that allows a linker to combine separately compiled modules into one unit without recompilation, such as calling conventions, machine interface, and operating-system interface. Among other things, an ABI defines the binary interface between these units. ... The benefits of conforming to an ABI are that it allows linking object files compiled by different compilers. From Wikipedia: an application binary interface (ABI) describes the low-level interface between an application (or any type of) program and the operating system or another application. ABIs cover details such as data type, size, and alignment; the calling convention, which controls how functions' arguments are passed and return values retrieved; the system call numbers and how an application should make system calls to the operating system; and in the case of a complete operating system ABI, the binary format of object files, program libraries and so on. I was wondering whether ABI depends on both the instruction set and the OS. Are the two all that ABI depends on? What kinds of role does ABI play in different stages of compilation: preprocessing, conversion of code from C to Assembly, conversion of code from Assembly to Machine code, and linking? From the first quote above, it seems to me that ABI is needed for only linking stage, not the other stages. Is it correct? When is ABI needed to be considered? Is ABI needed to be considered during programming in C, Assembly or other languages? If yes, how are ABI and API different? Or is it only for linker or compiler? Is ABI specified for/in machine code, Assembly language, and/or of C?

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• Which architecture should I choose for this project?

  - by Jichao

  I have a project. The server which based on a phone PCI-board is responsible for received phone calls from the customer and then redirect the phone calls to the operators. I have decided to code the server using c++ programming language and qt framework because the PCI-board SDK's interface is c/c++ originated and for the sake of portability. The server need to send the information of the the customer to the operator while ringing the operator and the ui interface of the operator client should be browser-based. Now the key problem is how could the server notify the operator that there is a phone call for he/she. One architecture I have considered is like this, The operator browser client use ajax pooling the web server to check whether there is call to the client; the web server pooling the database server to check whether there is call; the desktop server(c++) wait for the phone calls and set the information in the database. The other operations such as hang up the phone call from the client, retransfer the phone call to the other operator also use this architecture. Then, is there any way other than pooling the server(js code setInterval('getDail', 1000)) to decide whether there is a call to the operator? Is this architecture feasible or should I use some terrific techniques that I do know such as web services,xml-rpc, soap???

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• The 2012 JAX Innovation Awards

  - by Janice J. Heiss

  A new article, now up on otn/java, titled “The 2012 JAX Innovation Awards” reports on  important Java developments celebrated by the Awards, which were announced in July of 2012. The Awards, given by S&S Media Group, aim to, "Reward those technologies, companies, organizations and individuals that make outstanding contributions to Java." The Awards fall into three categories: Most Innovative Java Technology, Most Innovative Java Company, and Top Java Ambassador. In addition, a finalist who did not win an award receives a Special Jury prize, "in acknowledgement of their unique contribution and positive impact on the Java ecosystem."The winners were: JetBrains for Most Innovative Java Company; Adam Bien as Top Java Ambassador; Restructure 101, created by Headway Software, as Most Innovative Technology; and Charles Nutter, Special Jury award. Each winner received a $2,500 prize. The five finalists in each category were invited to attend the JAX Conference in San Francisco, California. This year's winners each received a $2,500 prize. JetBrains Fellow, Ann Oreshnikova, listed her favorite JetBrains innovations: * Nullability annotations and nullability checker* CamelCase navigation and completion* Continuous Integration in grid (on multiple agents), in TeamCity* IntelliJ Platform and its language support framework* MPS language workbench* Kotlin programming languageWhen asked what currently excites him about Java, Adam Bien, winner of the Java Ambassador Award, expressed enthusiasm over the increasing interest of smaller companies and startups for Java EE. “This is a very good sign,” he said. “Only a few years ago J2EE was mostly used by larger companies -- now it becomes interesting even for one-person shows. Enterprise Java events are also extremely popular. On the Java SE side, I'm really excited about Project Nashorn.”Special Jury Prize Winner, Charles Nutter of Red Hat, remarked that, “JRuby seems to have hit a tipping point this past year, moving from ‘just another Ruby implementation’ to ‘the best Ruby implementation for X,’ where X may be performance, scaling, big data, stability, reliability, security, and a number of other features important for today's applications. Check out the complete article here.

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• How should I create a mutable, varied jtree with arbitrary/generic category nodes?

  - by Pureferret

  Please note: I don't want coding help here, I'm on Programmers for a reason. I want to improve my program planning/writing skills not (just) my understanding of Java. I'm trying to figure out how to make a tree which has an arbitrary category system, based on the skills listed for this LARP game here. My previous attempt had a bool for whether a skill was also a category. Trying to code around that was messy. Drawing out my tree I noticed that only my 'leaves' were skills and I'd labeled the others as categories. Explanation of tree: The Tree is 'born' with a set of hard coded highest level categories (Weapons, Physical and Mental, Medical etc.). Fro mthis the user needs to be able to add a skill. Ultimately they want to add 'One-handed Sword Specialisation' for instance. To do so you'd ideally click 'add' with Weapons selected and then select One-handed from a combobox, then click add again and enter a name in a text field. Then click add again to add a 'level' or 'tier' first proficiency, then specialisation. Of course if you want to buy a different skill it's completely different, which is what I'm having trouble getting my head around let alone programming in. What is a good system for describing this sort of tree in code? All the other JTree examples I've seen have some predictable pattern, and I don't want to have to code this all in 'literals'. Should I be using abstract classes? Interfaces? How can I make this sort of cluster of objects extensible when I add in other skills not listed above that behave differently? If there is not a good system to use, if there a good process for working out how to do this sort of thing?

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• How do I get others to see past my prior inexperience?

  - by Kevin

  My core question is how do I proceed from the following predicament. I will be honest with you, I wasted my College Experience. I slacked off and didn't take any of my comp sci classes that seriously, somehow i still got out with a 3.25 GPA. But truth be told I learned nothing. I befriended most of my professors who went pretty lenient on me in terms of grading. However, I basically came out of College knowing how to program a simple calculator in VB.Net. I was (to my great surprise) hired by a very large respected company in Denver as a Junior developer. Well the long and the short of it is that I knew so little about programming that I quickly became the office pariah and was almost fired due to my incompetence. It has been 8 months now and I feel I have learned some basic things and I am not as picked on as I used to be by the other developers. However, everyone hates me and the first few months have given the other developers a horrible perception of me. I am no longer afraid of code or learning, but I have put my self in the precarious position of being the scapegoat of our department. I hate going to work every day because no one there is my friend and pretty much everyone is hostile to me. What should I do? Any advice?

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• If your algorithm is correct, does it matter how long it took you to write it?

  - by John Isaacks

  I recently found out that Facebook had a programming challenge that if completed correctly you automatically get a phone interview. There is a sample challenge that asks you to write an algorithm that can solve a Tower of Hanoi type problem. Given a number of pegs and discs, an initial and final configuration; Your algorithm must determine the fewest steps possible to get to the final configuration and output the steps. This sample challenge gives you a 45 minute time limit but allows you to still test your code to see if it passes once your time limit expires. I did not know of any cute math solution that could solve it, and I didn't want to look for one since I think that would be cheating. So I tried to solve the challenge the best I could on my own. I was able to make an algorithm that worked and passed. However, it took me over 4 hours to make, much longer than the 45 minute requirement. Since it took me so much longer than the allotted time, I have not attempted the actual challenge. This got me wondering though, in reality does it really matter that it took me that long? I mean is this a sign that I will not be able to get a job at a place like this (not just Facebook, but Google, Fog Creek, etc.) and need to lower my aspirations, or does the fact that I actually passed on my first attempt even though it took too long be taken as good?

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• Why can't non-admin users install software?

  - by fiftyeight

  This is probably something I don't understand since I am used to Windows and am only starting out with Ubuntu. I know that software in linux comes in packages what I don't understand is why can't non-admin users install software. I mean, every application is run by a specific user, and that user will only be able to run that applciation with his privilages, so if he has no admin privileges, the application also won't be able to access unauthorized directories etc. I want most of the time to work on my PC with a non-admin user since it seems more safe to me, most of the time I have no need for admin privileges. and even though I know viruses in linux are uncommon I still think the best practice is to work on the computer in a state that you yourself can't make any changes to important files, that way viruses also can't harm any important files, but I need to install software for programming and web-design etc. and first of all I don't want to switch users all the time. But also it sounds safer to me that everything being done on the PC will be done through the non-admin user. I'll be glad to know what misunderstanding I have here, cause something here doesn't sound right.

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• How to Set Up a Hadoop Cluster Using Oracle Solaris (Hands-On Lab)

  - by Orgad Kimchi

  Oracle Technology Network (OTN) published the "How to Set Up a Hadoop Cluster Using Oracle Solaris" OOW 2013 Hands-On Lab. This hands-on lab presents exercises that demonstrate how to set up an Apache Hadoop cluster using Oracle Solaris 11 technologies such as Oracle Solaris Zones, ZFS, and network virtualization. Key topics include the Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS) and the Hadoop MapReduce programming model. We will also cover the Hadoop installation process and the cluster building blocks: NameNode, a secondary NameNode, and DataNodes. In addition, you will see how you can combine the Oracle Solaris 11 technologies for better scalability and data security, and you will learn how to load data into the Hadoop cluster and run a MapReduce job. Summary of Lab Exercises This hands-on lab consists of 13 exercises covering various Oracle Solaris and Apache Hadoop technologies:     Install Hadoop.     Edit the Hadoop configuration files.     Configure the Network Time Protocol.     Create the virtual network interfaces (VNICs).     Create the NameNode and the secondary NameNode zones.     Set up the DataNode zones.     Configure the NameNode.     Set up SSH.     Format HDFS from the NameNode.     Start the Hadoop cluster.     Run a MapReduce job.     Secure data at rest using ZFS encryption.     Use Oracle Solaris DTrace for performance monitoring.  Read it now

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• Self-imposed lockout from program

  - by Alex

  I'm plagued with a lack of willpower. I recently started looking for solutions, and came across a program for macs called SelfControl which completely blocks one's access to a given set of websites for a given period of time (you can delete the program/restart your computer/do almost anything and it will still block those sites for the specified time period, and doesn't require a password to do it.) Unfortunately, there are no windows analogues. The one that comes the closest is Cold Turkey. It has the functionality whereby you set a time in the future, specify a list of websites (or programs - eg explorer, firefox, chrome) and you are blocked from accessing them for the whole duration. No password can undo it, no system reboot, etc. The problem is that the program is a buggy piece of garbage, and in order to ensure that you're not locked out from websites forever, you have to run an uninstaller which is just an exe file accessible at any time which completely defeats the purpose of a self-imposed program lockout. I want to make a better version of that program, or find a simple way to prevent access to a given set of programs over a given period of time with no way around it. I've only taken a few introductory courses in java (math major), but the internet is really having a negative effect on my studies, and the only way I can do work is to eliminate all distractions. What do I need to learn in order to make a program with the following properties: Given a set of .exe files, and a time in the future , this program will prevent access to the given .exe files until current time = given time restarting the computer doesn't interfere with the program, one can't uninstall the program until current time = given time, one can't create another instance of the program to block itself I don't care how much programming knowledge i need to acquire in order to make this program, so please give me a specific list of things that I need to study in order to make this happen, or if something like this exists, then please let me know.

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• Hello PCI Council, are you listening?

  - by David Dorf

  Mention "PCI" to any retailer and you'll instantly see them take a deep breath and start looking for the nearest exit.  Nobody wants to be insecure, but few actually believe that PCI does anything more than focus blame directly on retailers.  I applaud PCI for making retailers more aware of the importance of security, but did you have to make them PAINFULLY aware?  POS vendors aren't immune to this pain either as we have to undergo lengthy third-party audits in addition to the internal secure programming programs.  There's got to be a better way. There's a timely article over at StorefrontBacktalk that discusses the inequity of PCI's rules, and also mentions that the PCI Council is accepting comments until April 15th. As a vendor, my biggest issue with PCI is that they require vendors to disclose the details of any breaches, in effect "ratting out" customers.  I don't think its a vendor's place to do this.  I'd rather have the trust of my customers so we can jointly solve the problem. Mary Ann Davidson, Oracle's Chief Security Officer, has an interesting blog posting on this very topic.  Its a bit of a long read, but I found it very entertaining and thought-provoking.  Here's an excerpt: ...heading up the list of “you must be joking” regulations are recent disturbing developments in the Payment Card Industry (PCI) world. I’d like to give [the] PCI kahunas the benefit of the doubt about their intentions, except that efforts by Oracle among others to make them aware of “unfortunate side effects of your requirements” – which is as tactful I can be for reasons that I believe will become obvious below - have gone, to-date, unanswered and more importantly, unchanged. I encourage you to read the entire posting, Pain Comes Instantly, and then provide feedback to the PCI Council.

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• How to get Visual Studio 2010 Express Edition on Windows 7

  - by thanigai

  Visual studio 2010 is an amzing release from Microsoft. I have tried the beta 1,2 of Visual Studio 2010 and finally the full version is released. I am also interested in the latest edition of Windows which nothing but our Windows 7. Next to Vista I like this version very much. Out of curiosity I have installed the prebuild version of Windows 7. I tried installing the express edition here and it failed making me disappointed. I tried two or three times and finally I decided to download the trial version of Windows 7. After that I can install the Visual Studio 2010 express edition easily. I have given the link below from where I have downloaded the file. http://www.microsoft.com/express/downloads/ Here the link give is through Web PI Installer. Other option is you can download the ISO image file and burn them to a disc or use a virtual disc This Visual Web developer will provide the Sql Server engine alone. To get a Sql Server Management Studio get from the following link http://www.microsoft.com/express/Database/InstallOptions.aspx That's it all the things necessary for the web application programming is ready. Ah I forget to tell about the Silverlight. Please find the Silverlight 4 latest tools from the below link (WCF RIA services is the main update) http://www.silverlight.net/getstarted/ Silverlight 4 Tools(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=eff8a0da-0a4d-48e8-8366-6ddf2ecad801&displaylang=en) Expression Blend 4 trial(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=88484825-1b3c-4e8c-8b14-b05d025e1541&displaylang=en) I think the reader would have enjoyed on how to get these things. Please let me know if you are not clear with any of these things.  Thanks, Thani

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• Weird behavior when using pointers [migrated]

  - by Kinan Al Sarmini

  When I run this code on MS VS C++ 2010: #include <iostream> int main() { const int a = 10; const int *b = &a; int *c = (int *)b; *c = 10000; std::cout << c << " " << &a << std::endl; std::cout << *c << " " << a << " " << *(&a) << std::endl; return 0; } The output is: 0037F784 0037F784 10000 10 10 The motivation for writing that code was this sentence from "The C++ Programming Language" by Stroustrup: "It is possible to explicitly remove the restrictions on a pointer to const by explicit type conversion". I know that trying to modify a constant is conceptually wrong, but I find this result quite weird. Can anyone explain the reason behind it?

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• What's wrong with circular references?

  - by dash-tom-bang

  I was involved in a programming discussion today where I made some statements that basically assumed axiomatically that circular references (between modules, classes, whatever) are generally bad. Once I got through with my pitch, my coworker asked, "what's wrong with circular references?" I've got strong feelings on this, but it's hard for me to verbalize concisely and concretely. Any explanation that I may come up with tends to rely on other items that I too consider axioms ("can't use in isolation, so can't test", "unknown/undefined behavior as state mutates in the participating objects", etc.), but I'd love to hear a concise reason for why circular references are bad that don't take the kinds of leaps of faith that my own brain does, having spent many hours over the years untangling them to understand, fix, and extend various bits of code. Edit: I am not asking about homogenous circular references, like those in a doubly-linked list or pointer-to-parent. This question is really asking about "larger scope" circular references, like libA calling libB which calls back to libA. Substitute 'module' for 'lib' if you like. Thanks for all of the answers so far!

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• Question regarding Readability vs Processing Time

  - by Jordy

  I am creating a flowchart for a program with multiple sequential steps. Every step should be performed if the previous step is succesful. I use a c-based programming language so the lay-out would be something like this: METHOD 1: if(step_one_succeeded()) { if(step_two_succeeded()) { if(step_three_succeeded()) { //etc. etc. } } } If my program would have 15+ steps, the resulting code would be terribly unfriendly to read. So I changed my design and implemented a global errorcode that I keep passing by reference, make everything more readable. The resulting code would be something like this: METHOD 2: int _no_error = 0; step_one(_no_error); if(_no_error == 0) step_two(_no_error); if(_no_error == 0) step_three(_no_error); if(_no_error == 0) step_two(_no_error); The cyclomatic complexibility stays the same. Now let's say there are N number of steps. And let's assume that checking a condition is 1 clock long and performing a step doesn't take up time. The processing speed of Method1 can be anywhere between 1 and N. The processing speed of Method2 however is always equal to N-1. So Method1 will be faster most of the time. Which brings me to my question, is it bad practice to sacrifice time in order to make the code more readable? And why (not)?

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• What is a "Technical Programmer"? [closed]

  - by Mike E

  I've noticed in job posting boards a few postings, all from European companies in the games industry, for a "Technical Programmer". The job description in both was similar, having to do with tools development, 3d graphics programming, etc. It seems to be somewhere between a Technical Artist who's more technical than artist or who can code, and a Technical Director but perhaps without the seniority/experience. Information elsewhere on the position is sparse. The title seems redundant and I haven't seen any American companies post jobs by that name exactly. One example is this job posting on gamedev.net which isn't exactly thorough. In case the link dies: Subject: Technical Programmer Frictional Games, the creators of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and the Penumbra series, are looking for a talented programmer to join the company! You will be working for a small team with a big focus on finding new and innovating solutions. We want you who are not afraid to explore uncharted territory and constantly learn new things. Self-discipline and independence are also important traits as all work will be done from home. Some the things you will work with include: 3D math, rendering, shaders and everything else related. Console development (most likely Xbox 360). Hardware implementations (support for motion controls, etc). All coding is in C++, so great skills in that is imperative. As I mentioned, the job title has appeared from European companies so maybe it goes by another title in America. What other titles might this specialization of programmer go by?

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• implementing dynamic query handler on historical data

  - by user2390183

  EDIT : Refined question to focus on the core issue Context: I have historical data about property (house) sales collected from various sources in a centralized/cloud data source (assume info collection is handled by a third party) Planning to develop an application to query and retrieve data from this centralized data source Example Queries: Simple : for given XYZ post code, what is average house price for 3 bed room house? Complex: What is estimated price for an house at "DD,Some Street,XYZ Post Code" (worked out from average values of historic data filtered by various characteristics of the house: house post code, no of bed rooms, total area, and other deeper insights like house building type, year of built, features)? In addition to average price, the application should support other property info ** maximum, or minimum price..etc and trend (graph) on a selected property attribute over a period of time**. Hence, the queries should not enforce the search based on a primary key or few fixed fields In other words, queries can be What is the change in 3 Bed Room house price (irrespective of location) over last 30 days? What kind of properties we can get for X price (irrespective of location or house type) The challenge I have is identifying the domain (BI/ Data Analytical or DB Design or DB Query Interface or DW related or something else) this problem (dynamic query on historic data) belong to, so that I can do further exploration My findings so far I could be wrong on the following, so please correct me if you think so I briefly read about BI/Data Analytics - I think it is heavy weight solution for my problem and has scalability issues. DB Design - As I understand RDBMS works well if you know Data model at design time. I am expecting attributes about property or other entity (user) that am going to bring in, would evolve quickly. hence maintenance would be an issue. As I am going to have multiple users executing query at same time, performance would be a bottleneck Other options like Graph DB (http://www.tinkerpop.com/) seems to be bit complex (they are good. but using those tools meant for generic purpose, make me think like assembly programming to solve my problem ) BigData related solution are to analyse data from multiple unrelated domains So, Any suggestion on the space this problem fit in ? (Especially if you have design/implementation experience of back-end for property listing or similar portals)

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• Valid reason for employer to breach freelance contract

  - by Costas

  Please don't close this as offtopic. According to the FAQ I can post programming related questions. I was working on a project and when it was half way completed (1 weeks work), the employer backs out and refuses to pay me. Shortly before this he was being very rude. He was having problems configuring the server and he told me it was my fault and that I had to fix it. After I spent several hours trying to figure out the problem, it turned out to be his fault. After this when I put the code on the server. He found 1 bug that I had missed. He freaked out, accused me of being a bad programmer and told me that the code was shit and that he couldn't use it. He said that if there is a bug in the code, that means the code is bad and he can't use it. He would have to throw the code away and hire someone else. His kept reiterating his argument: "why should I pay for code that I can't use". And I kept telling him the code was fine and urged him to have another programmer give him a second opinion. But he would have none of that. He said he would compensate me for my troubles by paying me 250$. Then he changes his mind and lowers that to 200$. Then a third time he changes his mind and says he doesn't want to compensate me at all. I'm left frustrated because besides being rude, he did not at any time tell me he was unhappy with the work that I was doing. So my question is; Is the above a valid reason to back out of a verbal contract in your opinion?

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• Android - big game universe

  - by user1641923

  I am new to an Android development, though I have much experience with Java, C++, PHP programming and a bit experience with vector graphics too (basic 3d Studio Max, Flash, etc). I am starting to work on an Android game. It is going to be a 2D space shooter/RPG, and I am not going to use any game engines and any 3D party libs. I really want to create a very large game universe, or even pseudo-infinite (without visible borders, as if it were a 2D projection of a sphere). It should include 10-12 clusters of 7-8 planets/other space objects and random amount of single asteroids/comets, which player can interact with and also not interactive background. I am looking for a least complicated aproach to create such a universe. My current ideas are: Simply create bitmaps with space scenery background so that they can be tiled seamlessly repeated and construct my 2D universe of this tiles, then place interactive objects (planets, other spaceships) on it. Using vector graphics. I would have a solid color background, some random background objects and gradients here and there. My problems here: Lack of knowledge of how well vector graphics is integrated in Android. Performance? Memory usage? Does Android manage big bitmaps well? Do all of the bitmaps have to be in memory during all game process? I am interested in technical details regarding each of the ideas and a suggestion, which I should go with.

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• Engine for 2D Top-Down Physics-Based Skeletal Animation

  - by RylandAlmanza

  I just watched at the Sui Generis video, and was completely amazed. Specifically, the part where the big troll thing is beating up the player with his flail. This got me really excited, and I would like to try implementing something like this in a 2D Top-Down format. Something like this. That atloria example seems simple enough, but it's not exactly what I'm looking to make. I think atloria is using predefined animations, where as I would like to make something more physics-based like the Sui Generis engine does. So, I'm wondering what physics engines might work for something like this, and if I'd need to implement my own skeletal system, or if I could just use "joints" and such from the engine. The only experience I have in terms of physics engines is Box2D, which I've heard shouldn't be used for top-down settings, and I can think of a few reasons it wouldn't work out well. One of those reasons being gravity. In box 2D, gravity pulls towards a side of the screen (usually the bottom.) I wouldn't want my player's forearms constantly being pulled to one side. :) Also should mention that the programming language doesn't matter all that much to me. I'm currently playing with HTML5 stuff, though. :) Thanks in advance!

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