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• Windows Azure SDK 1.3 addresses early adopter feedback

  - by Eric Nelson

  At the end of November 2010 we released a new version of the Windows Azure SDK which contains many new features driven by the great feedback of early adopters plus a shiny new portal. New Portal implemented in Silverlight: The new portal is implemented using Silverlight and replaces the (IMHO rather clunky) original HTML + JavaScript portal. It is 100% better although does still have a few bugs. Enjoy! P.S. You can if you wish still use the old portal:   New runtime functionality: The following functionality is now generally available through the Windows Azure SDK and Windows Azure Tools for Visual Studio and the new Windows Azure Management Portal: Elevated Privileges and Full IIS. You can now run a portion or all of your code in Web and Worker roles with elevated administrator privileges. The Web role now provides Full IIS functionality, which enables multiple IIS sites per Web role and the ability to install IIS modules. Remote Desktop functionality enables you to connect to a running instance of your application or service in order to monitor activity and troubleshoot common problems. Windows Server 2008 R2 Roles: Windows Azure now supports Windows Server 2008 R2 in its Web, worker and VM roles. This new support enables you to take advantage of the full range of Windows Server 2008 R2 features such as IIS 7.5, AppLocker, and enhanced command-line and automated management using PowerShell Version 2.0. New runtime functionality – in beta: Windows Azure Virtual Machine Role: Support for more types of new and existing Windows applications will soon be available with the introduction of the Virtual Machine (VM) role. You can move more existing applications to Windows Azure, reducing the need to make costly code or deployment changes. Extra Small Windows Azure Instance, which is priced at $0.05 per compute hour, provides developers with a cost-effective training and development environment. Developers can also use the Extra Small instance to prototype cloud solutions at a lower cost. Windows Azure Connect: (formerly Project Sydney), which enables a simple and easy-to-manage mechanism to set up IP-based network connectivity between on-premises and Windows Azure resources, is the first Windows Azure Virtual Network feature that we’re making available as a CTP. You can sign up for any of the betas via the Windows Azure Management Portal. Improved processes and simplified operations New portal! (see above) Access to new diagnostic information including the ability to click on a role to see role type, deployment time and last reboot time A new sign-up process that dramatically reduces the number of steps needed to sign up for Windows Azure. New scenario based Windows Azure Platform forums to help answer questions and share knowledge more efficiently. Multiple Service Administrators: Windows Azure now supports multiple Windows Live IDs to have administrator privileges on the same Windows Azure account. The objective is to make it easy for a team to work on the same Windows Azure account while using their individual Windows Live IDs.   Related Links Please also let us know through Microsoft Platform Ready if and when you intend to build an application using the Windows Azure Platform. Or indeed if you already have (Well done). You will get access to some great benefits if you do (more on that in a future post). It also really helps us better understand the demand out there which directly impacts how we will plan the next six months of activities around the Windows Azure Platform. Visit Microsoft Platform Ready to tell us about your plans for your applications UK based? Interested in the Windows Azure Platform? Join http://ukazure.ning.com Get started with the Windows Azure Platform http://bit.ly/startazure

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• Parallel MSBuild FTW - Build faster in parallel

  - by deadlydog

  Hey everyone, I just discovered this great post yesterday that shows how to have msbuild build projects in parallel Basically all you need to do is pass the switches “/m:[NumOfCPUsToUse] /p:BuildInParallel=true” into MSBuild. Example to use 4 cores/processes (If you just pass in “/m” it will use all CPU cores): MSBuild /m:4 /p:BuildInParallel=true "C:\dev\Client.sln" Obviously this trick will only be useful on PCs with multi-core CPUs (which we should all have by now) and solutions with multiple projects; So there’s no point using it for solutions that only contain one project.  Also, testing shows that using multiple processes does not speed up Team Foundation Database deployments either in case you’re curious Also, I found that if I didn’t explicitly use “/p:BuildInParallel=true” I would get many build errors (even though the MSDN documentation says that it is true by default). The poster boasts compile time improvements up to 59%, but the performance boost you see will vary depending on the solution and its project dependencies.  I tested with building a solution at my office, and here are my results (runs are in seconds): # of Processes 1st Run 2nd Run 3rd Run Avg Performance 1 192 195 200 195.67 100% 2 155 156 156 155.67 79.56% 4 146 149 146 147.00 75.13% 8 136 136 138 136.67 69.85%   So I updated all of our build scripts to build using 2 cores (~20% speed boost), since that gives us the biggest bang for our buck on our solution without bogging down a machine, and developers may sometimes compile more than 1 solution at a time.  I’ve put the any-PC-safe batch script code at the bottom of this post. The poster also has a follow-up post showing how to add a button and keyboard shortcut to the Visual Studio IDE to have VS build in parallel as well (so you don’t have to use a build script); if you do this make sure you use the .Net 4.0 MSBuild, not the 3.5 one that he shows in the screenshot.  While this did work for me, I found it left an MSBuild.exe process always hanging around afterwards for some reason, so watch out (batch file doesn’t have this problem though).  Also, you do get build output, but it may not be the same that you’re used to, and it doesn’t say “Build succeeded” in the status bar when completed, so I chose to not make this my default Visual Studio build option, but you may still want to. Happy building! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- :: Calculate how many Processes to use to do the build. SET NumberOfProcessesToUseForBuild=1  SET BuildInParallel=false if %NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS% GTR 2 (                 SET NumberOfProcessesToUseForBuild=2                 SET BuildInParallel=true ) MSBuild /maxcpucount:%NumberOfProcessesToUseForBuild% /p:BuildInParallel=%BuildInParallel% "C:\dev\Client.sln"

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• Purple Cows, Copernicus, and Shampoo – Lessons in Customer Experience

  - by Christina McKeon

  What makes a great customer experience? And, why should you or your organization care? These are the questions that set the stage for the Oracle Customer Experience Summit, which kicked off yesterday in San Francisco. Day 1: The first day was filled with demos and insights from customer experience experts and Oracle customers sharing what it takes to deliver great customer experiences. Author Seth Godin delivered an entertaining presentation that included an in-depth exploration of the always-connected, always-sharing experience revolution that we are witnessing and yes, talked about the purple cow. It turns out that customer experience is your way to be the purple cow. Before everyone headed out to see Pearl Jam and Kings of Leon at the Oracle customer appreciation event, the day wrapped up with a discussion around building a customer-centric culture. Where do you start? Whom does it involve? What are some pitfalls to avoid? Day 2: The second day addressed the details behind all the questions brought up at the end of Day 1. Before you start on a customer experience initiative, Paul Hagen noted that you must understand you will forge a path similar to Copernicus. You will be proposing ideas and approaches that challenge current thinking in your organization. Just as Copernicus' heliocentric theory started a scientific revolution, your customer-centric efforts will start an experience revolution. If you think customer experience is like a traditional marketing approach, think again. It’s not about controlling your customers and leading them where you want them to go. It might sound like heresy to some, but your customers are already in control, whether or not your company realizes and acknowledges it. And, to survive and thrive, you'll have to focus on customers by thinking outside-in and working towards a brand that is better and more authentic. We learned how Vail Resorts takes this customer-centric approach. Employees must experience the mountain themselves and understand the experience from the guest’s standpoint. This has created a culture where employees do things for guests that are not expected. We also learned a valuable lesson in designing and innovating customer-centered experiences from Kerry Bodine. First you make the thing, and then you make the thing right. In this case, the thing is customer experience. Getting customer experience right means iterative prototyping and testing of your ideas. This is where shampoo comes in—think lather, rinse, repeat. Be prepared to keep repeating until the customer experience is right. Many of these sessions will be posted to YouTube in the coming weeks so be sure to subscribe to our CX channel.

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• How to completely remove a package that didn't install properly?

  - by chtfn

  I recently installed a package from a ppa on Ubuntu 12.04 beta, but apparently it didn't work out, and now it is giving me errors at every update or install I make, even after deactivating the ppa from my sources. This is what I get when I try uninstalling from USC: installArchives() failed: (Reading database ... (Reading database ... 5% (Reading database ... 10% (Reading database ... 15% (Reading database ... 20% (Reading database ... 25% (Reading database ... 30% (Reading database ... 35% (Reading database ... 40% (Reading database ... 45% (Reading database ... 50% (Reading database ... 55% (Reading database ... 60% (Reading database ... 65% (Reading database ... 70% (Reading database ... 75% (Reading database ... 80% (Reading database ... 85% (Reading database ... 90% (Reading database ... 95% (Reading database ... 100% (Reading database ... 295120 files and directories currently installed.) Removing oracle-java7-installer ... update-alternatives: error: unknown argument `cdrom' dpkg: error processing oracle-java7-installer (--remove): subprocess installed pre-removal script returned error exit status 2 No apport report written because MaxReports is reached already Downloading... --2012-04-12 13:13:21-- http://download.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/7u3-b04/jdk-7u3-linux-i586.tar.gz Rsolution de download.oracle.com (download.oracle.com)... 203.13.161.233, 203.13.161.234 Connexion vers download.oracle.com (download.oracle.com)|203.13.161.233|:80... connect. requte HTTP transmise, en attente de la rponse... 302 Moved Temporarily Emplacement: https://edelivery.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/7u3-b04/jdk-7u3-linux-i586.tar.gz [suivant] --2012-04-12 13:13:21-- https://edelivery.oracle.com/otn-pub/java/jdk/7u3-b04/jdk-7u3-linux-i586.tar.gz Rsolution de edelivery.oracle.com (edelivery.oracle.com)... 173.223.150.174 Connexion vers edelivery.oracle.com (edelivery.oracle.com)|173.223.150.174|:443... connect. requte HTTP transmise, en attente de la rponse... 302 Moved Temporarily Emplacement: http://download.oracle.com/errors/download-fail-1505220.html [suivant] --2012-04-12 13:13:22-- http://download.oracle.com/errors/download-fail-1505220.html Connexion vers download.oracle.com (download.oracle.com)|203.13.161.233|:80... connect. requte HTTP transmise, en attente de la rponse... 200 OK Longueur: 5307 (5,2K) [text/html] Sauvegarde en : ./jdk-7u3-linux-i586.tar.gz 0K ..... 100% 4,94M=0,001s 2012-04-12 13:13:22 (4,94 MB/s) - ./jdk-7u3-linux-i586.tar.gz sauvegard [5307/5307] Download done. sha256sum mismatch jdk-7u3-linux-i586.tar.gz Oracle JDK 7 is NOT installed. dpkg: error while cleaning up: subprocess installed post-installation script returned error exit status 1 Errors were encountered while processing: oracle-java7-installer Error in function: I also tried "remove completely" from synaptic but it doesn't work either. Thank you for your help in advance!

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• OWB 11gR2 &ndash; OMB and File Editing

  - by David Allan

  Here we will see how we can use the IDE for editing OMB scripts. The 11gR2 release is based on the common Oracle platform IDE used also by JDeveloper. It comes with a bunch of standard behavior for editing and rendering code. One of the lesser known things is that if you drop a text file into OWB you can edit it. So you can drop your tcl scripts right into OWB and edit in-place, and don’t need another IDE like Eclipse just for this task. Cool, so you have the file here. There may be no line numbers, you can toggle line numbers on by right clicking in the gutter. If we edit the file within the OWB IDE, the save is a little different from normal. OWB doesn’t normally manipulate files so things like ctrl-s to save, saves the OWB objects, but if you edit a file the closing of the file will ask if you want to save it – check it out. Now we enter the realm of ‘he who dares’…. Note the IDE doesn’t know about tcl files out of the box, so you see above there is no syntax highlighting. The code is identified by the extension… .java is java, .html is HTML etc. With OWB, the OMB scripts are tcl, we usually have .tcl extension on these files. One of the things we can do to trick up the syntax highlighting is to simply rename the file to have a .java suffix, then all of a sudden we get syntax highlighting, see the illustration here where side by side we see a the file with a .java extension and a .tcl extension. Not ideal pretending to be .java but gets us a way to having something more useful than notepad. We can then change the syntax highlighting such that we get Eclipse like highlighting within the IDE from the Tools Preferences option; You then get the Eclipse like rendering albeit using a little tweak on the file names… Might be useful if you are doing any kind of heavy duty OMB script development and just want a single IDE. The OMBPlus panel is then at hand for executing and testing it out.

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• OpenGL position from depth is wrong

  - by CoffeeandCode

  My engine is currently implemented using a deferred rendering technique, and today I decided to change it up a bit. First I was storing 5 textures as so: DEPTH24_STENCIL8 - Depth and stencil RGBA32F - Position RGBA10_A2 - Normals RGBA8 x 2 - Specular & Diffuse I decided to minimize it and reconstruct positions from the depth buffer. Trying to figure out what is wrong with my method currently has not been fun :/ Currently I get this: which changes whenever I move the camera... weird Vertex shader really simple #version 150 layout(location = 0) in vec3 position; layout(location = 1) in vec2 uv; out vec2 uv_f; void main(){ uv_f = uv; gl_Position = vec4(position, 1.0); } Fragment shader Where the fun (and not so fun) stuff happens #version 150 uniform sampler2D depth_tex; uniform sampler2D normal_tex; uniform sampler2D diffuse_tex; uniform sampler2D specular_tex; uniform mat4 inv_proj_mat; uniform vec2 nearz_farz; in vec2 uv_f; ... other uniforms and such ... layout(location = 3) out vec4 PostProcess; vec3 reconstruct_pos(){ float z = texture(depth_tex, uv_f).x; vec4 sPos = vec4(uv_f * 2.0 - 1.0, z, 1.0); sPos = inv_proj_mat * sPos; return (sPos.xyz / sPos.w); } void main(){ vec3 pos = reconstruct_pos(); vec3 normal = texture(normal_tex, uv_f).rgb; vec3 diffuse = texture(diffuse_tex, uv_f).rgb; vec4 specular = texture(specular_tex, uv_f); ... do lighting ... PostProcess = vec4(pos, 1.0); // Just for testing } Rendering code probably nothing wrong here, seeing as though it always worked before this->gbuffer->bind(); gl::Clear(gl::COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | gl::DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT); gl::Enable(gl::DEPTH_TEST); gl::Enable(gl::CULL_FACE); ... bind geometry shader and draw models and shiz ... gl::Disable(gl::DEPTH_TEST); gl::Disable(gl::CULL_FACE); gl::Enable(gl::BLEND); ... bind textures and lighting shaders shown above then draw each light ... gl::BindFramebuffer(gl::FRAMEBUFFER, 0); gl::Clear(gl::COLOR_BUFFER_BIT | gl::DEPTH_BUFFER_BIT); gl::Disable(gl::BLEND); ... bind screen shaders and draw quad with PostProcess texture ... Rinse_and_repeat(); // not actually a function ;) Why are my positions being output like they are?

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• Walmart's Mobile Self-Checkout

  - by David Dorf

  Reuters recently reported that Walmart was testing an iPhone-based self-checkout at a store near its headquarters.  Consumers scan items as they're placed in the physical basket, then the virtual basket is transferred to an existing self-checkout station where payment is tendered.  A very solid solution, but not exactly original. Before we go further, let's look at the possible cost savings for Walmart.  According to the article: Pushing more shoppers to scan their own items and make payments without the help of a cashier could save Wal-Mart millions of dollars, Chief Financial Officer Charles Holley said on March 7. The company spends about $12 million in cashier wages every second at its Walmart U.S. stores. Um, yeah. Using back-of-the-napkin math, I calculated Walmart's cashiers are making $157k per hour.  A more accurate statement would be saving $12M per year for each second saved on the average transaction time.  So if this self-checkout approach saves 2 seconds per transaction on average, Walmart would save $24M per year on labor.  Maybe.  Sometimes that savings will be used to do other tasks in the store, so it may not directly translate to less employees. When I saw this approach demonstrated in Sweden, there were a few differences, which may or may not be in Walmart's plans.  First, the consumers were identified based on their loyalty card.  In order to offset the inevitable shrink, retailers need to save on labor but also increase basket size, typically via in-aisle promotions.  As they scan items, retailers should target promos, and that's easier to do if you know some shopping history.  Last I checked, Walmart had no loyalty program. Second, at the self-checkout station consumers were randomly selected for an audit in which they must re-scan all the items just like you do at a typical self-checkout.  If you were found to be stealing, your ability to use the system can be revoked.  That's a tough one in the US, especially when the system goes wrong, either by mistake or by lying.  At least in my view, the Swedes are bit more trustworthy than the people of Walmart. So while I think the idea of mobile self-checkout has merit, perhaps its not right for Walmart.

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• Oracle Manageability Presentations at Collaborate 2012

  - by Get_Specialized!

  Attending the Collaborate 2012 event, April 22-26th in Las Vegas, and interested in learning more about becoming specialized on Oracle Manageability? Be sure and checkout these sessions below presented by subject matter experts while your onsite. Set up a meeting or be one of the first Oracle Partners onsite to ask me, and we'll request one of the limited FREE Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c partner certification exam vouchers for you. Can't travel this year? the  COLLABORATE 12 Plug Into Vegas may be another option for you to attend from your own desk presentations like session #489 Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c: What's Changed? What's New? presented by Oracle Specialized Partners like ROLTA   Session ID Title Presented by Day/Time 920 Enterprise Manager 12c Cloud Control: New Features and Best Practices Dell Sun 9536 Release 12 Apps DBA 101 Justadba, LLC Mon 932 Monitoring Exadata with Cloud Control Oracle Mon 397 OEM Cloud Control Hands On Performance Tuning Mon 118 Oracle BI Sys Mgmt Best Practices & New Features Rittman Mead Consulting Mon 548 High Availability Boot Camp: RAC Design, Install, Manage Database Administration, Inc Mon 926 The Only Complete Cloud Management Solution -- Oracle Enterprise Manager Oracle Mon 328 Virtualization Boot Camp Dell Mon 292 Upgrading to Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c - Best Practices Southern Utah University Mon 793 Exadata 101 - What You Need to Know Rolta Tues 431 & 1431 Extreme Database Administration: New Features for Expert DBAs Oracle Tue Wed 521 What's New for Oracle WebLogic Management: Capabilities that Scripting Cannot Provide Oracle Thu 338 Oracle Real Application Testing: A look under the hood PayPal Tue 9398 Reduce TCO Using Oracle Application Management Suite for Oracle E-Business Suite Oracle Tue 312 Configuring and Managing a Private Cloud with Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c Dell Tue 866 Making OEM Sing and Dance with EMCLI Portland General Electric Tue 533 Oracle Exadata Monitoring: Engineered Systems Management with Oracle Enterprise Manager Oracle Wed 100600 Optimizing EnterpriseOne System Administration Oracle Wed 9565 Optimizing EBS on Exadata Centroid Systems Wed 550 Database-as-a-Service: Enterprise Cloud in Three Simple Steps Oracle Wed 434 Managing Oracle: Expert Panel on Techniques and Best Practices Oracle Partners: Dell, Keste, ROLTA, Pythian Wed 9760 Cloud Computing Directions: Understanding Oracle's Cloud AT&T Wed 817 Right Cloud: Use Oracle Technologies to Avoid False Cloud Visual Integrator Consulting Wed 163 Forgetting something? Standardize your database monitoring environment with Enterprise Manager 11g Johnson Controls Wed 489 Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c: What's Changed? What's New? ROLTA Thu    

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• Setting up port forwarding for 7000 appliance VM in VirtualBox

  - by uejio

  I've been using the 7000 appliance VM for a lot of testing lately and relied on others to set up the networking for the VM for me, but finally, I decided to take the dive and do it myself.  After some experimenting, I came up with a very brief number of steps to do this all using the VirtualBox CLI instead of the GUI. First download the VM image and unpack it somewhere.  I put it in /var/tmp. Then, set your VBOX_USER_HOME to some place with lots of disk space and import the VM: export VBOX_USER_HOME=/var/tmp/MyVirtualBoxVBoxManage import /var/tmp/simulator/vbox-2011.1.0.0.1.1.8/Sun\ ZFS\ Storage\ 7000.ovf (go get a cup of tea...) Then, set up port forwarding of the VM appliance BUI and shell:First set up port as NAT:VBoxManage modifyvm Sun_ZFS_Storage_7000 --nic1 nat Then set up rules for port forwarding (pick some unused port numbers):VBoxManage modifyvm Sun_ZFS_Storage_7000 --natpf1 "guestssh,tcp,,4622,,22"VBoxManage modifyvm Sun_ZFS_Storage_7000 --natpf1 "guestbui,tcp,,46215,,215" Verify the settings using:VBoxManage showvminfo Sun_ZFS_Storage_7000 | grep -i nic Start the appliance:$ VBoxHeadless --startvm Sun_ZFS_Storage_7000 & Connect to it using your favorite RDP client.  I use a Sun Ray, so I use the Sun Ray Windows Connector client: $ /opt/SUNWuttsc/bin/uttsc -g 800x600 -P <portnumber> <your-hostname> & The portnumber is displayed in the output of the --startvm command.(This did not work after I updated to VirtualBox 4.1.12, so maybe at this point, you need to use the VirtualBox GUI.) It takes a while to first bring up the VM, so please be patient. The longest time is in loading the smf service descriptions, but fortunately, that only needs to be done the first time the VM boots.  There is also a delay in just booting the appliance, so give it some time. Be sure to set the NIC rule on only one port and not all ports otherwise there will be a conflict in ports and it won't work. After going through the initial configuration screen, you can connect to it using ssh or your browser: ssh -p 45022 root@<your-host-name> https://<your-host-name>:45215 BTW, for the initial configuration, I only had to set the hostname and password.  The rest of the defaults were set by VirtualBox and seemed to work fine.

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• My Automated NuGet Workflow

  - by Wes McClure

  When we develop libraries (whether internal or public), it helps to have a rapid ability to make changes and test them in a consuming application. Building Setup the library with automatic versioning and a nuspec Setup library assembly version to auto increment build and revision AssemblyInfo –> [assembly: AssemblyVersion("1.0.*")] This autoincrements build and revision based on time of build Major & Minor Major should be changed when you have breaking changes Minor should be changed once you have a solid new release During development I don’t increment these Create a nuspec, version this with the code nuspec - set version to <version>$version$</version> This uses the assembly’s version, which is auto-incrementing Make changes to code Run automated build (ruby/rake) run “rake nuget” nuget task builds nuget package and copies it to a local nuget feed I use an environment variable to point at this so I can change it on a machine level! The nuget command below assumes a nuspec is checked in called Library.nuspec next to the csproj file $projectSolution = 'src\\Library.sln' $nugetFeedPath = ENV["NuGetDevFeed"] msbuild :build => [:clean] do |msb| msb.properties :configuration => :Release msb.targets :Build msb.solution = $projectSolution end task :nuget => [:build] do sh "nuget pack src\\Library\\Library.csproj /OutputDirectory " + $nugetFeedPath end Setup the local nuget feed as a nuget package source (this is only required once per machine) Go to the consuming project Update the package Update-Package Library or Install-Package TLDR change library code run “rake nuget” run “Update-Package library” in the consuming application build/test! If you manually execute any of this process, especially copying files, you will find it a burden to develop the library and will find yourself dreading it, and even worse, making changes downstream instead of updating the shared library for everyone’s sake. Publishing Once you have a set of changes that you want to release, consider versioning and possibly increment the minor version if needed. Pick the package out of your local feed, and copy it to a public / shared feed! I have a script to do this where I can drop the package on a batch file Replace apikey with your nuget feed's apikey Take out the confirm(s) if you don't want them @ECHO off echo Upload %1? set /P anykey="Hit enter to continue " nuget push %1 apikey set /P anykey="Done " Note: helps to prune all the unnecessary versions during testing from your local feed once you are done and ready to publish TLDR consider version number run command to copy to public feed

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• Precise Touch Screen Dragging Issue: Trouble Aligning with the Finger due to Different Screen Resolution

  - by David Dimalanta

  Please, I need your help. I'm trying to make a game that will drag-n-drop a sprite/image while my finger follows precisely with the image without being offset. When I'm trying on a 900x1280 (in X [900] and Y [1280]) screen resolution of the Google Nexus 7 tablet, it follows precisely. However, if I try testing on a phone smaller than 900x1280, my finger and the image won't aligned properly and correctly except it still dragging. This is the code I used for making a sprite dragging with my finger under touchDragged(): x = ((screenX + Gdx.input.getX())/2) - (fruit.width/2); y = ((camera_2.viewportHeight * multiplier) - ((screenY + Gdx.input.getY())/2) - (fruit.width/2)); This code above will make the finger and the image/sprite stays together in place while dragging but only works on 900x1280. You'll be wondering there's camera_2.viewportHeight in my code. Here are for two reasons: to prevent inverted drag (e.g. when you swipe with your finger downwards, the sprite moves upward instead) and baseline for reading coordinate...I think. Now when I'm adding another orthographic camera named camera_1 and changing its setting, I recently used it for adjusting the falling object by meter per pixel. Also, it seems effective independently for smartphones that has smaller resolution and this is what I used here: show() camera_1 = new OrthographicCamera(); camera_1.viewportHeight = 280; // --> I set it to a smaller view port height so that the object would fall faster, decreasing the chance of drag force. camera_1.viewportWidth = 196; // --> Make it proportion to the original screen view size as possible. camera_1.position.set(camera_1.viewportWidth * 0.5f, camera_1.viewportHeight * 0.5f, 0f); camera_1.update(); touchDragged() x = ((screenX + (camera_1.viewportWidth/Gdx.input.getX()))/2) - (fruit.width/2); y = ((camera_1.viewportHeight * multiplier) - ((screenY + (camera_1.viewportHeight/Gdx.input.getY()))/2) - (fruit.width/2)); But the result instead of just following the image/sprite closely to my finger, it still has a space/gap between the sprite/image and the finger. It is possibly dependent on coordinates based on the screen resolution. I'm trying to drag the blueberry sprite with my finger. My expectation did not met since I want my finger and the sprite/image (blueberry) to stay close together while dragging until I release it. Here's what it looks like: I got to figure it out how to make independent on all screen sizes by just following the image/sprite closely to my finger while dragging even on most different screen sizes instead.

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• How to suggest using an ORM instead of stored procedures?

  - by Wayne M

  I work at a company that only uses stored procedures for all data access, which makes it very annoying to keep our local databases in sync as every commit we have to run new procs. I have used some basic ORMs in the past and I find the experience much better and cleaner. I'd like to suggest to the development manager and rest of the team that we look into using an ORM Of some kind for future development (the rest of the team are only familiar with stored procedures and have never used anything else). The current architecture is .NET 3.5 written like .NET 1.1, with "god classes" that use a strange implementation of ActiveRecord and return untyped DataSets which are looped over in code-behind files - the classes work something like this: class Foo { public bool LoadFoo() { bool blnResult = false; if (this.FooID == 0) { throw new Exception("FooID must be set before calling this method."); } DataSet ds = // ... call to Sproc if (ds.Tables[0].Rows.Count > 0) { foo.FooName = ds.Tables[0].Rows[0]["FooName"].ToString(); // other properties set blnResult = true; } return blnResult; } } // Consumer Foo foo = new Foo(); foo.FooID = 1234; foo.LoadFoo(); // do stuff with foo... There is pretty much no application of any design patterns. There are no tests whatsoever (nobody else knows how to write unit tests, and testing is done through manually loading up the website and poking around). Looking through our database we have: 199 tables, 13 views, a whopping 926 stored procedures and 93 functions. About 30 or so tables are used for batch jobs or external things, the remainder are used in our core application. Is it even worth pursuing a different approach in this scenario? I'm talking about moving forward only since we aren't allowed to refactor the existing code since "it works" so we cannot change the existing classes to use an ORM, but I don't know how often we add brand new modules instead of adding to/fixing current modules so I'm not sure if an ORM is the right approach (too much invested in stored procedures and DataSets). If it is the right choice, how should I present the case for using one? Off the top of my head the only benefits I can think of is having cleaner code (although it might not be, since the current architecture isn't built with ORMs in mind so we would basically be jury-rigging ORMs on to future modules but the old ones would still be using the DataSets) and less hassle to have to remember what procedure scripts have been run and which need to be run, etc. but that's it, and I don't know how compelling an argument that would be. Maintainability is another concern but one that nobody except me seems to be concerned about.

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• Question about BoundingSpheres and Ray intersections

  - by NDraskovic

  I'm working on a XNA project (not really a game) and I'm having some trouble with picking algorithm. I have a few types of 3D models that I draw to the screen, and one of them is a switch. So I'm trying to make a picking algorithm that would enable the user to click on the switch and that would trigger some other function. The problem is that the BoundingSphere.Intersect() method always returns null as result. This is the code I'm using: In the declaration section: ` //Basic matrices private Matrix world = Matrix.CreateTranslation(new Vector3(0, 0, 0)); private Matrix view = Matrix.CreateLookAt(new Vector3(10, 10, 10), new Vector3(0, 0, 0), Vector3.UnitY); private Matrix projection = Matrix.CreatePerspectiveFieldOfView(MathHelper.ToRadians(45), 800f / 600f, 0.01f, 100f); //Collision detection variables Viewport mainViewport; List<BoundingSphere> spheres = new List<BoundingSphere>(); Ray ControlRay; Vector3 nearPoint, farPoint, nearPlane, farPlane, direction; ` And then in the Update method: ` nearPlane = new Vector3((float)Mouse.GetState().X, (float)Mouse.GetState().Y, 0.0f); farPlane = new Vector3((float)Mouse.GetState().X, (float)Mouse.GetState().Y, 10.0f); nearPoint = GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Unproject(nearPlane, projection, view, world); farPoint = GraphicsDevice.Viewport.Unproject(farPlane, projection, view, world); direction = farPoint - nearPoint; direction.Normalize(); ControlRay = new Ray(nearPoint, direction); if (spheres.Count != 0) { for (int i = 0; i < spheres.Count; i++) { if (spheres[i].Intersects(ControlRay) != null) { Window.Title = spheres[i].Center.ToString(); } else { Window.Title = "Empty"; } } ` The "spheres" list gets filled when the 3D object data gets loaded (I read it from a .txt file). For every object marked as switch (I use simple numbers to determine which object is to be drawn), a BoundingSphere is created (center is on the coordinates of the 3D object, and the diameter is always the same), and added to the list. The objects are drawn normally (and spheres.Count is not 0), I can see them on the screen, but the Window title always says "Empty" (of course this is just for testing purposes, I will add the real function when I get positive results) meaning that there is no intersection between the ControlRay and any of the bounding spheres. I think that my basic matrices (world, view and projection) are making some problems, but I cant figure out what. Please help.

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• Cheating on Technical Debt

  - by Tony Davis

  One bad practice guaranteed to cause dismay amongst your colleagues is passing on technical debt without full disclosure. There could only be two reasons for this. Either the developer or DBA didn’t know the difference between good and bad practices, or concealed the debt. Neither reflects well on their professional competence. Technical debt, or code debt, is a convenient term to cover all the compromises between the ideal solution and the actual solution, reflecting the reality of the pressures of commercial coding. The one time you’re guaranteed to hear one developer, or DBA, pass judgment on another is when he or she inherits their project, and is surprised by the amount of technical debt left lying around in the form of inelegant architecture, incomplete tests, confusing interface design, no documentation, and so on. It is often expedient for a Project Manager to ignore the build-up of technical debt, the cut corners, not-quite-finished features and rushed designs that mean progress is satisfyingly rapid in the short term. It’s far less satisfying for the poor person who inherits the code. Nothing sends a colder chill down the spine than the dawning realization that you’ve inherited a system crippled with performance and functional issues that will take months of pain to fix before you can even begin to make progress on any of the planned new features. It’s often hard to justify this ‘debt paying’ time to the project owners and managers. It just looks as if you are making no progress, in marked contrast to your predecessor. There can be many good reasons for allowing technical debt to build up, at least in the short term. Often, rapid prototyping is essential, there is a temporary shortfall in test resources, or the domain knowledge is incomplete. It may be necessary to hit a specific deadline with a prototype, or proof-of-concept, to explore a possible market opportunity, with planned iterations and refactoring to follow later. However, it is a crime for a developer to build up technical debt without making this clear to the project participants. He or she needs to record it explicitly. A design compromise made in to order to hit a deadline, be it an outright hack, or a decision made without time for rigorous investigation and testing, needs to be documented with the same rigor that one tracks a bug. What’s the best way to do this? Ideally, we’d have some kind of objective assessment of the level of technical debt in a software project, although that smacks of Science Fiction even as I write it. I’d be interested of hear of any methods you’ve used, but I’m sure most teams have to rely simply on the integrity of their colleagues and the clear perceptions of the project manager… Cheers, Tony.

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• Java Embedded Releases

  - by Tori Wieldt

  Oracle today announced a new product in its Java Platform, Micro Edition (Java ME) product portfolio, Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2, a complete client Java runtime Optimized for resource-constrained, connected, embedded systems.  Also, Oracle is releasing Oracle Java Wireless Client 3.2, Oracle Java ME Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.2. Oracle also announced Oracle Java Embedded Suite 7.0 for larger embedded devices, providing a middleware stack for embedded systems. Small is the new big! Introducing Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2  Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 is designed and optimized to meet the unique requirements of small embedded, low power devices such as micro-controllers and other resource-constrained hardware without screens or user interfaces. These include: On-the-fly application downloads and updates Remote operation, often in challenging environments Ability to add new capabilities without impacting the existing functions Support for hardware with as little as 130 kB RAM and 350 kB ROM Oracle Java Wireless Client 3.2 Oracle Java Wireless Client 3.2 is built around an optimized Java ME implementation that delivers a feature-rich application environment for mass-market mobile devices. This new release: Leverages standard JSRs, Oracle optimizations/APIs and a flexible porting layer for device specific customizations, which are tuned to device/chipset requirements Supports advanced tooling functions, such as memory and network monitoring and on-device tooling Offers new support for dual SIM functionality, which is highly useful for mass-market devices supported by multiple carriers with multiple phone connections Oracle Java ME SDK 3.2 Oracle Java ME SDK 3.2 provides a complete development environment for both Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 and Oracle Java Wireless Client 3.2. Available for download from OTN, The latest version includes: Small embedded device support In-field and remote administration and debugging Java ME SDK plug-ins for Eclipse and the NetBeans Integrated Development Environment (IDE), enabling more application development environments for Java ME developers. A new device skin creator that developers can use to generate their custom device skins for testing their applications. Oracle Embedded Suite 7.0 The Oracle Java Embedded Suite is a new packaged solution from Oracle (including Java DB, GlassFish for Embedded Suite, Jersey Web Services Framework, and Oracle Java SE Embedded 7 platform), created to provide value added services for collecting, managing, and transmitting data to and from other embedded devices.The Oracle Java Embedded Suite is a complete device-to-data center solution subset for embedded systems.  See Java Me and Java Embedded in Action Java ME and Java Embedded technologies will be showcased for developers at JavaOne 2012 in over 60 conference sessions and BOFs, as well as in the JavaOne Exhibition Hall. For business decision makers, the new event Java Embedded @ JavaOne you learn more about Java Embedded technologies and solutions.

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• Would someone please explain Octree Collisions to me?

  - by A-Type

  I've been reading everything I can find on the subject and I feel like the pieces are just about to fall into place, but I just can't quite get it. I'm making a space game, where collisions will occur between planets, ships, asteroids, and the sun. Each of these objects can be subdivided into 'chunks', which I have implemented to speed up rendering (the vertices can and will change often at runtime, so I've separated the buffers). These subdivisions also have bounding primitives to test for collision. All of these objects are made of blocks (yeah, it's that kind of game). Blocks can also be tested for rough collisions, though they do not have individual bounding primitives for memory reasons. I think the rough testing seems to be sufficient, though. So, collision needs to be fairly precise; at block resolution. Some functions rely on two blocks colliding. And, of course, attacking specific blocks is important. Now what I am struggling with is filtering my collision pairs. As I said, I've read a lot about Octrees, but I'm having trouble applying it to my situation as many tutorials are vague with very little code. My main issues are: Are Octrees recalculated each frame, or are they stored in memory and objects are shuffled into different divisions as they move? Despite all my reading I still am not clear on this... the vagueness of it all has been frustrating. How far do Octrees subdivide? Planets in my game are quite large, while asteroids are smaller. Do I subdivide to the size of the planet, or asteroid (where planet is in multiple divisions)? Or is the limit something else entirely, like number of elements in the division? Should I load objects into the octrees as 'chunks' or in the whole, then break into chunks later? This could be specific to my implementation, I suppose. I was going to ask about how big my root needed to be, but I did manage to find this question, and the second answer seems sufficient for me. I'm afraid I don't really get what he means by adding new nodes and doing subdivisions upon adding new objects, probably because I'm confused about whether the tree is maintained in memory or recalculated per-frame.

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• More Maintenance Plan Weirdness

  - by AjarnMark

  I’m not a big fan of the built-in Maintenance Plan functionality in SQL Server.  I like the interface in SQL 2005 better than 2000 (it looks more like building an SSIS package) but it’s still a bit of a black box.  You don’t really know what commands are being run based on the selections you have made, and you can easily make some unwise choices without realizing it, such as shrinking your database on a regular basis.  I really prefer to know exactly what commands and with which options are being run on my servers. Recently I had another very strange thing happen with a Maintenance Plan, this time in SQL 2005, SP3.  I inherited this server and have done a bit of cleanup on it, but had not yet gotten around to replacing the Maintenance Plans with all my own scripts.  However, one of the maintenance plans which was just responsible for doing LOG backups was running more frequently than that system needed, and I thought I would just tweak the schedule a bit.  So I opened the Maintenance Plan and edited the properties of the Subplan, setting a new schedule, saved it and figured all was good to go.  But the next execution of the Scheduled Job that triggers the Maintenance Plan code failed with an error about the Owner of the job.  Specifically the error was, “Unable to determine if the owner (OldDomain\OldDBAUserID) of job MaintenancePlanName.Subplan has server access (reason: Could not obtain information about Windows NT group/user 'OldDomain\OldDBAUserID’..”  I was really confused because I had previously updated all of the jobs to have current accounts as the owners.  At first I thought it was just a fluke, but it happened on the next scheduled cycle so I investigated further and sure enough, that job had the old DBA’s account listed as the owner.  I fixed it and the job successfully ran to completion. Now, I don’t really like mysteries like that, so I did some more testing and verified that, sure enough, just editing the Subplan schedule and saving the Maintenance Job caused the Scheduled Job to be recreated with the old credentials.  I don’t know where it is getting those credentials, but I can only assume that it is the same as the original creator of the Maintenance Plan, and for some reason it insists on using that ID for the job owner.  I looked through the options in SSMA and could not find anything would let me easily set the value that I wanted it to use.  I suspect that if I did something like executing sp_changeobjectowner against the Maintenance Plan that it would use that new ID instead.  I’m sure that there is good reason that it works this way, but rather than mess around with it much more, I’m just going to spend my time rolling out my replacement scripts instead. Chalk this little hidden oddity up as yet one more reason I’m not a fan of Maintenance Plans.

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• Are there any concerns with using a static read-only unit of work so that it behaves like a cache?

  - by Rowan Freeman

  Related question: How do I cache data that rarely changes? I'm making an ASP.NET MVC4 application. On every request the security details about the user will need to be checked with the area/controller/action that they are accessing to see if they are allowed to view it. The security information is stored in the database. For example: User Permission UserPermission Action ActionPermission A "Permission" is a token that is applied to an MVC action to indicate that the token is required in order to access the action. Once a user is given the permission (via the UserPermission table) then they have the token and can therefore access the action. I've been looking in to how to cache this data (since it rarely changes) so that I'm only querying in-memory data and not hitting a database (which is a considerable performance hit at the moment). I've tried storing things in lists, using a caching provider but I either run in to problems or performance doesn't improve. One problem that I constantly run in to is that I'm using lazy loading and dynamic proxies with EntityFramework. This means that even if I ToList() everything and store them somewhere static, the relationships are never populated. For example, User.Permissions is an ICollection but it's always null. I don't want to Include() everything because I'm trying to keep things simple and generic (and easy to modify). One thing I know is that an EntityFramework DbContext is a unit of work that acts with 1st-level caching. That is, for the duration of the unit of work, everything that is accessed is cached in memory. I want to create a read-only DbContext that will exist indefinitely and will only be used to read about permission data. Upon testing this it worked perfectly; my page load times went from 200ms+ to 20ms. I can easily force the data to refresh at certain intervals or simply leave it to refresh when the application pool is recycled. Basically it will behave like a cache. Note that the rest of the application will interact with other contexts that exist per request as normal. Is there any disadvantage to this approach? Could I be doing something different?

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• Size doesn't matter

  - by ssoolsma

  Whenever I start a new project I *always* break up my code in different projects. Also known as n-tier solution. The scale of  the project doesn't matter, but make sure that each project is responsible for himself (or herself if you prefer). I make sure that i ....At least thought about how the project should work on the toilet or in a project team meeting.Have a solution directory and create my projects within. I like to name my project (and it's folders by the namespaces). For instance: When i'm creating a piece of (web)software called: ChuckNorris, i always include the software name in my projects. Start off with designing the DataAccess project. I name it: ChuckNorris.DataAccess which lets me easily identify the project incase the project scales alot.Build the classes which represent the database structure. Don't stop working on a class untill it's finished for now. Also, don't over-do the methods. Build stuff only when it's needed, and not think: "Hm, that would be cool to have". Cause most of the time you end up with unused code, and we don't want that.Build a unittest project and make sure you create the folder inside the project that it's testing. So, create the ChuckNorris.DataAccess.UnitTest project inside the folder of the dataaccess project. I would suggest using the nUnit testframework.Incase you though, hm i skip unittest: Don't! Just build it - it will safe you alot of time later onNow, read 5 again. Build that bloody unittest. Don't skip. (i cant emphasize this enough)Now, every class in the dataaccess project is responsible for itself. They don't rely on each other. This is where we use the BusinessLogic project for. Start creating the ChuckNorris.BusinessLogic project. (not inside the data-access project ofcourse, but withing the ChuckNorris folder.Combine stuff from data-access. This usual involves alot of copying the data-access classes and feels silly at first. (we'll get to that later on)Now you come up to a point of creating a service project. You might not always see why to use it, but see it as a way to expose your businesslogic to any application (including your own). Sometimes i use it as a so-called "Factory". Every call goes through this factory, so that's the only thing i'm exposing to any program, and make sure that those methods are the only ones that I allow you to invoke.Build any UI (website, phoneapp, forms application, silverlight, wpf or whatever) and reference it to you service project. Fall in love (cough) with this approach.It's possible that it doesn't seem to make much sense, and very incomplete. Well, that last part is correct. Next post will go in to detail of setting up your Data-Access project and use the entity framework.

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• Black screen on latest Nvidia Cards when starting LightDM/Ubuntu

  - by Luis Alvarado

  Today I installed an Nvidia GT440 on my computer, changing the one that existed there, an Nvidia 9500GT. After changing it I started getting a problem where the screen just went black when loading the lightdm login screen (Where I punt my user and password). The thing is, if I disconnect the VGA cable and connect it again I get to see the lightdm greeter and everything works perfect. The problem is that I have to connect/disconnect every time I reboot the PC. I tried installing the 285.xx drivers. Same problem. I removed the Nvidia drivers installed with Jockey, rebooted, same problem. I install the current 280.xx again, same problem. After all that I installed a fresh install of Ubuntu, selected to install the Nvidia drivers while installing it from the livecd. After booting the same problem appeared. Dmesg does not say anything wrong about it. Same goes for the log from Jockey. What else should I check or what to do to solve it. Just to clarify, this does not happen BEFORE the lightdm greeter appears. Am guessing before the actual use of the video card with X starts with all the 2D/3D stuff that is used in ligthdm and unity. I can use any tty and even see the Ubuntu logo when starting. UPDATE: When I open a game in fullscreen the problem appears again. I have to unplug the monitor cable and plug it back in to see the game. Then when I quit the game I have to do it again to see the desktop. UPDATE 2: Today I bought a HDMI cable, connected the video card to the TV am testing it with and it actually did log in correctly without any black screen but it shows the resolution a little over the actual size of the screen. So I see only half of the launcher since the left side of it is hidden outside of the real resolution and the top bar is beyond the resolution. So the black screen is related to the VGA connection.

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• Wireframing: A Day In the Life of UX Workshop at Oracle

  - by ultan o'broin

  The Oracle Applications User Experience team's Day in the Life (DITL) of User Experience (UX) event was run in Oracle's Redwood Shores HQ for Oracle Usability Advisory Board (OUAB) members. I was charged with putting together a wireframing session, together with Director of Financial Applications User Experience, Scott Robinson (@scottrobinson). Example of stunning new wireframing visuals we used on the DITL events. We put on a lively show, explaining the basics of wireframing, the concepts, what it is and isn't, considerations on wireframing tool choice, and then imparting some tips and best practices. But the real energy came when the OUAB customers and partners in the room were challenge to do some wireframing of their own. Wireframing is about bringing your business and product use cases to life in real UX visual terms, by creating a low-fidelity drawing to iterate and agree on in advance of prototyping and coding what is to be finally built and rolled out for users. All the best people wireframe. Leonardo da Vinci used "cartoons" on some great works, tracing outlines first and using red ochre or charcoal dropped through holes in the tracing parchment onto the canvas to outline the subject. (Image distributed under Wikimedia commons license) Wireframing an application's user experience design enables you to: Obtain stakeholder buy-in. Enable faster iteration of different designs. Determine the task flow navigation paths (in Oracle Fusion Applications navigation is linked with user roles). Develop a content strategy (readability, search engine optimization (SEO) of content, and so on) Lay out the pages, widgets, groups of features, and so on. Apply usability heuristics early (no replacement for usability testing, but a great way to do some heavy-lifting up front). Decide upstream which functional user experience design patterns to apply (out of the box solutions that expedite productivity). Assess which Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) or equivalent technology components can be used (again, developer productivity is enhanced downstream). We ran a lively hands-on exercise where teams wireframed a choice of application scenarios using the time-honored tools of pen and paper. Scott worked the floor like a pro, pointing out great use of features, best practices, innovations, and making sure that the whole concept of wireframing, the gestalt, transferred. "We need more buttons!" The cry of the energized. Not quite. The winning wireframe session (online shopping scenario) from the Applications UX DITL event shown. Great fun, great energy, and great teamwork were evident in the room. Naturally, there were prizes for the best wireframe. Well, actually, prizes were handed out to the other attendees too! An exciting, slightly different aspect to delivery of this session made the wireframing event one of the highlights of the day. And definitely, something we will repeat again when we get the chance. Thanks to everyone who attended, contributed, and helped organize.

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• A starting point for Use Cases and User Stories

  - by Mike Benkovich

  Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/benko/archive/2013/07/23/a-starting-point-for-use-cases-and-user-stories.aspxSoftware is a challenging business and is rife with opportunities to go wrong. Over the years a number of methodologies have evolved to help make sure that things go right. In an effort to contribute to this I’ve created a list of user stories that I think should be included and sometimes are just assumed. Note this is a work in progress, so I’m looking for your feedback. I’m curious what you would add or change in my list. · As a DBA I am working with a Normalized data model that reflects an agreed upon logical model for the system · As a DBA I am using consistent names for my fields which match the naming standards of my organization · As a DBA my model supports simple CRUD operations against all the entities · As an Application Architect the UI has been validated against the Business requirements and a complete set of user story’s have been created · As an Application Architect the database model has been validated against the UI · As an Application Architect we have a logical business model that describes all the known and/or expected usage of the system during the software’s expected lifecycle · As an Application Architect we have a Deployment diagram that describes how the application components will be deployed · As an Application Architect we have a navigation diagram that describes the typical application flow · As an Application Architect we have identified points of interaction which describes how the UI interacts with the services and the data storage · As an Application Architect we have identified external systems which may now or in the future use the data of this application and have adapted the logical model to include these interactions · As an Application Architect we have identified existing systems and tools that can be extended and/or reused to help this application achieve it’s business goals · As a Project Manager all team members understand the goals of each release and iteration as they are planned · As a Project Manager all team members understand their role and the roles of others · As a Project Manager we have support of the business to do the right thing even if it is not the expedient thing · As a Test/QA Analyst we have created a simulation environment for testing the system which does not use sensitive data and accurately reflects the scenarios of all the data that will be supported by the system · As a Test/QA Analyst we have identified the matrix of supported clients used to access the system including the likely browsers, mobile devices and other interfaces to work with the application · As a Test/QA Analyst we have created exit criteria for each user story that match the requirements of the business story that was used to create them · As a Test/QA Analyst we have access to a Test environment that is isolated from production and staging environments · As a Test/QA Analyst there we have a way to reset the environment so we can rerun tests when a new version of the software becomes available · As a Test/QA Analyst I am able to automate portions of the test process Thoughts? -mike

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• How to become a good team player?

  - by Nick

  I've been programming (obsessively) since I was 12. I am fairly knowledgeable across the spectrum of languages out there, from assembly, to C++, to Javascript, to Haskell, Lisp, and Qi. But all of my projects have been by myself. I got my degree in chemical engineering, not CS or computer engineering, but for the first time this fall I'll be working on a large programming project with other people, and I have no clue how to prepare. I've been using Windows all of my life, but this project is going to be very unix-y, so I purchased a Mac recently in the hopes of familiarizing myself with the environment. I was fortunate to participate in a hackathon with some friends this past year -- both CS majors -- and excitingly enough, we won. But I realized as I worked with them that their workflow was very different from mine. They used Git for version control. I had never used it at the time, but I've since learned all that I can about it. They also used a lot of frameworks and libraries. I had to learn what Rails was pretty much overnight for the hackathon (on the other hand, they didn't know what lexical scoping or closures were). All of our code worked well, but they didn't understand mine, and I didn't understand theirs. I hear references to things that real programmers do on a daily basis -- unit testing, code reviews, but I only have the vaguest sense of what these are. I normally don't have many bugs in my little projects, so I have never needed a bug tracking system or tests for them. And the last thing is that it takes me a long time to understand other people's code. Variable naming conventions (that vary with each new language) are difficult (__mzkwpSomRidicAbbrev), and I find the loose coupling difficult. That's not to say I don't loosely couple things -- I think I'm quite good at it for my own work, but when I download something like the Linux kernel or the Chromium source code to look at it, I spend hours trying to figure out how all of these oddly named directories and files connect. It's a programming sin to reinvent the wheel, but I often find it's just quicker to write up the functionality myself than to spend hours dissecting some library. Obviously, people who do this for a living don't have these problems, and I'll need to get to that point myself. Question: What are some steps that I can take to begin "integrating" with everyone else? Thanks!

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• Who should control navigation in an MVVM application?

  - by SonOfPirate

  Example #1: I have a view displayed in my MVVM application (let's use Silverlight for the purposes of the discussion) and I click on a button that should take me to a new page. Example #2: That same view has another button that, when clicked, should open up a details view in a child window (dialog). We know that there will be Command objects exposed by our ViewModel bound to the buttons with methods that respond to the user's click. But, what then? How do we complete the action? Even if we use a so-called NavigationService, what are we telling it? To be more specific, in a traditional View-first model (like URL-based navigation schemes such as on the web or the SL built-in navigation framework) the Command objects would have to know what View to display next. That seems to cross the line when it comes to the separation of concerns promoted by the pattern. On the other hand, if the button wasn't wired to a Command object and behaved like a hyperlink, the navigation rules could be defined in the markup. But do we want the Views to control application flow and isn't navigation just another type of business logic? (I can say yes in some cases and no in others.) To me, the utopian implementation of the MVVM pattern (and I've heard others profess this) would be to have the ViewModel wired in such a way that the application can run headless (i.e. no Views). This provides the most surface area for code-based testing and makes the Views a true skin on the application. And my ViewModel shouldn't care if it displayed in the main window, a floating panel or a child window, should it? According to this apprach, it is up to some other mechanism at runtime to 'bind' what View should be displayed for each ViewModel. But what if we want to share a View with multiple ViewModels or vice versa? So given the need to manage the View-ViewModel relationship so we know what to display when along with the need to navigate between views, including displaying child windows / dialogs, how do we truly accomplish this in the MVVM pattern?

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• Give a session on C++ AMP – here is how

  - by Daniel Moth

  Ever since presenting on C++ AMP at the AMD Fusion conference in June, then the Gamefest conference in August, and the BUILD conference in September, I've had numerous requests about my material from folks that want to re-deliver the same session. The C++ AMP session I put together has evolved over the 3 presentations to its final form that I used at BUILD, so that is the one I recommend you base yours on. Please get the slides and the recording from channel9 (I'll refer to slide numbers below). This is how I've been presenting the C++ AMP session: Context (slide 3, 04:18-08:18) Start with a demo, on my dual-GPU machine. I've been using the N-Body sample (for VS 11 Developer Preview). (slide 4) Use an nvidia slide that has additional examples of performance improvements that customers enjoy with heterogeneous computing. (slide 5) Talk a bit about the differences today between CPU and GPU hardware, leading to the fact that these will continue to co-exist and that GPUs are great for data parallel algorithms, but not much else today. One is a jack of all trades and the other is a number cruncher. (slide 6) Use the APU example from amd, as one indication that the hardware space is still in motion, emphasizing that the C++ AMP solution is a data parallel API, not a GPU API. It has a future proof design for hardware we have yet to see. (slide 7) Provide more meta-data, as blogged about when I first introduced C++ AMP. Code (slide 9-11) Introduce C++ AMP coding with a simplistic array-addition algorithm – the slides speak for themselves. (slide 12-13) index<N>, extent<N>, and grid<N>. (Slide 14-16) array<T,N>, array_view<T,N> and comparison between them. (Slide 17) parallel_for_each. (slide 18, 21) restrict. (slide 19-20) actual restrictions of restrict(direct3d) – the slides speak for themselves. (slide 22) bring it altogether with a matrix multiplication example. (slide 23-24) accelerator, and accelerator_view. (slide 26-29) Introduce tiling incl. tiled matrix multiplication [tiling probably deserves a whole session instead of 6 minutes!]. IDE (slide 34,37) Briefly touch on the concurrency visualizer. It supports GPU profiling, but enhancements specific to C++ AMP we hope will come at the Beta timeframe, which is when I'll be spending more time talking about it. (slide 35-36, 51:54-59:16) Demonstrate the GPU debugging experience in VS 11. Summary (slide 39) Re-iterate some of the points of slide 7, and add the point that the C++ AMP spec will be open for other compiler vendors to implement, even on other platforms (in fact, Microsoft is actively working on that). (slide 40) Links to content – see slide – including where all your questions should go: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/parallelcppnative/threads.   "But I don't have time for a full blown session, I only need 2 (or just 1, or 3) C++ AMP slides to use in my session on related topic X" If all you want is a small number of slides, you can take some from the session above and customize them. But because I am so nice, I have created some slides for you, including talking points in the notes section. Download them here. Comments about this post by Daniel Moth welcome at the original blog.

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