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• Calculating a circle or sphere along a vector

  - by Sparky

  Updated this post and the one at Math SE (http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/127866/calculating-a-circle-or-sphere-along-a-vector), hope this makes more sense. I previously posted a question (about half an hour ago) involving computations along line segments, but the question and discussion were really off track and not what I was trying to get at. I am trying to work with an FPS engine I am attempting to build in Java. The problem I am encountering is with hitboxing. I am trying to calculate whether or not a "shot" is valid. I am working with several approaches and any insight would be helpful. I am not a native speaker of English nor skilled in Math so please bear with me. Player position is at P0 = (x0,y0,z0), Enemy is at P1 = (x1,y1,z1). I can of course compute the distance between them easily. The target needs a "hitbox" object, which is basically a square/rectangle/mesh either in front of, in, or behind them. Here are the solutions I am considering: I have ruled this out...doesn't seem practical. [Place a "hitbox" a small distance in front of the target. Then I would be able to find the distance between the player and the hitbox, and the hitbox and the target. It is my understanding that you can compute a circle with this information, and I could simply consider any shot within that circle a "hit". However this seems not to be an optimal solution, because it requires you to perform a lot of calculations and is not fully accurate.] Input, please! Place the hitbox "in" the player. This seems like the better solution. In this case what I need is a way to calculate a circle along the vector, at whatever position I wish (in this case, the distance between the two objects). Then I can pick some radius that encompasses the whole player, and count anything within this area a "hit". I am open to your suggestions. I'm trying to do this on paper and have no familiarity with game engines. If any software folk out there think I'm doing this the hard way, I'm open to help! Also - Anyone with JOGL/LWJGL experience, please chime in. Is this making sense?

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• New grad; To overcome complete lack of experience, should I ditch a creative pet project in lieu of one that would demonstrate more applicable skills?

  - by Hart Simha

  I am currently working on a project on github that I think would be a good demonstration of my initiative, creativity and enthusiasm. It is an educational game I am developing in pygame that enables the user to learn to improve their development productivity by using vim, specifically with python, though learning to code faster with vim should be transferable to any language. I think this is something that might have a mass appeal and benefit to a lot of people in a measurable way. -However- I am graduating from college in a month (my degree is computer science with a minor in English), with no experience that is relevant to helping me get any kind of job in the field, and a gpa that doesn't tout my merits. I could pursue a career in game development, but it's not necessarily what I'm most interested in, and see myself applying to startups around the country. To the places I am looking at applying, showing that I have experience with pygame is going to be largely irrelevant, except in demonstration of my ability to code, period. A lot of skills that ARE more marketable, such a data modeling, GIS, mobile application, development, javascript, .net framework, and various web development technologies, are not going to be showcased by this project (on the upside, employers do like to see familiarity with git and python). I'm wondering if I should sink all my free time in the next couple of months into this project, since I'm motivated and interested in it, and if the value of being able to demonstrate ambition and 'good ideas' (for lack of a better term, and in my own opinion) will compensate for the absence of demonstrating more sought-after skills. I am probably at a point where I should either commit fully to this project now, or put it on the backburner in favor of something else, and I am leaning towards continuing with what I am already working on, because I think it's a great idea, and something achievable to me with enough dedication over the next couple months. But the most important thing to me is being able to get a job out of college, which I am exceedingly concerned about as the professional landscape which I am navigating for the first time is a lot more intimidating than I could have anticipated, with almost every job (even short-term contract positions) requiring years of experience which I lack. So in brief, the common denominator to answering the question "How can I overcome experience requirements for a job" seems to be "Show off your own project." I want to know WHICH project I should work on to best increase my chances of getting a job out of college, keeping in mind that I have no experience. I believe this question is applicable to any new grad that lacks demonstrable experience.

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• password incorrect 3 times + suspected failed update

  - by Cheese

  I have been lurking your site for the past few hours, and have found myself in a bit of a pickle. Visiting my parents, I discover that neither computer, nor laptop work. Long story short, I've got the laptop working, but have completely fudged up the computer. I am a n00b, but I was at least willing to give it a go. The comp originally had ubuntu 11.10 installed, later updated to 12.04. We have cds for both. I do not understand what the initial problem was for my parents, but somehow when I turned on the computer, it worked for me. Soon after, I was nagged to install the latest updates. So, I spent the next half an hour wondering why the updates kept on asking for 11.04 cdroms, until I realised that you could turn off the cdrom necessity. After doing this via console, I installed some of the smaller updates, before being told to do a partial update. This failed a few times, and ended up freezing whilst reinstalling drivers. After a hard restart I continued to type whatever I could find on the forum into the console. At some point, the console started saying that I had 3 incorrect password inputs, and sudo commands stopped altogether. I found another thread discussing this; but people kept on suggesting changing passwords (which I did to no avail) or other things that made use of sudo (which I am locked out of, although I am technically the admin) I found myself somehow on the Ctrl+Alt+F1 console, and after being utterly confused (and Ctrl+AltF5 failing for me), another hard reset occurred. Somewhere along the way I created a USB start up for 14.04, (but this does not seem to work) Now I am left with an admin (and guest) account that log in but have blank screens (with only the desktop background showing) and I can't do anything in the console because I'm locked out. Interestingly, the console now says that I am running 14.04 although all updates said they had failed. Aside from the obvious lessons I have learnt (don't fiddle about in the console when you have no idea what you're doing "Dog wearing safety glasses "I have no idea what I am doing" GIF would be inserted here ) Is there any way I can redeem this almighty muck up? A million thanks for any help!

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• How to appear very professional on my first freelance project?

  - by iamserious

  I need some help on appearing very professional on my first freelance project. How / What should you do to achieve this? Background: I started as a full time web developer 18 months ago, two promotions later I am now a senior software engineer. I've never had any problems with designing / developing / coding a complicated system. I thought I could use some help for Christmas and I started bidding for a project and now I have one - from a very reputable lawyers association in London. I have no problem dealing with the actual implementation of the system, but I have no idea how to appear professional throughout the whole process. About the project: This lawyers association are starting a distant training courses and in addition to having a website to show off all their clients etc, they want a students area where their students would log in, download course materials allocated to them etc.. and an admin section where they assign courses to students / create new ones / upload materials etc.. Questions breakdown: 1) How should I start with the requirement gathering? Is using scrum a good idea, or should I use something like Volere Template - and what should I do with it? should I submit a copy to the client etc.. 2) How often should I meet the client? Would once a fortnight would be good? 3) What are the processes / protocols that I need to follow so that they would be satisfied with me and think that I am very professional 4) How much should I charge for the product? 5) How should I get a quote / contract / receipt for the whole project? 6) What are the steps that professional freelancers go through, during the life cycle of a project? My Research so far Looking at How much should I charge doesn't help.. I live in London, zone 1, though I have no idea how much a project of this size would cost. Help on this would be appreciated. How to be professional articles talks about the work / time management etc and not the actual process, what would real people do etc.. it's like academia theory, but not practical. If this needs revising, please let me know, do not close it because of whatever reason, I will edit the question or details to fit the needs. Thanks for reading a lengthy question.

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• openGL textures in bitmap mode

  - by evenex_code

  For reasons detailed here I need to texture a quad using a bitmap (as in, 1 bit per pixel, not an 8-bit pixmap). Right now I have a bitmap stored in an on-device buffer, and am mounting it like so: glBindBuffer(GL_PIXEL_UNPACK_BUFFER, BFR.G[(T+1)%2]); glTexImage2D(GL_TEXTURE_2D, 0, GL_RGB, W, H, 0, GL_COLOR_INDEX, GL_BITMAP, 0); The OpenGL spec has this to say about glTexImage2D: "If type is GL_BITMAP, the data is considered as a string of unsigned bytes (and format must be GL_COLOR_INDEX). Each data byte is treated as eight 1-bit elements..." Judging by the spec, each bit in my buffer should correspond to a single pixel. However, the following experiments show that, for whatever reason, it doesn't work as advertised: 1) When I build my texture, I write to the buffer in 32-bit chunks. From the wording of the spec, it is reasonable to assume that writing 0x00000001 for each value would result in a texture with 1-px-wide vertical bars with 31-wide spaces between them. However, it appears blank. 2) Next, I write with 0x000000FF. By my apparently flawed understanding of the bitmap mode, I would expect that this should produce 8-wide bars with 24-wide spaces between them. Instead, it produces a white 1-px-wide bar. 3) 0x55555555 = 1010101010101010101010101010101, therefore writing this value ought to create 1-wide vertical stripes with 1 pixel spacing. However, it creates a solid gray color. 4) Using my original 8-bit pixmap in GL_BITMAP mode produces the correct animation. I have reached the conclusion that, even in GL_BITMAP mode, the texturer is still interpreting 8-bits as 1 element, despite what the spec seems to suggest. The fact that I can generate a gray color (while I was expecting that I was working in two-tone), as well as the fact that my original 8-bit pixmap generates the correct picture, support this conclusion. Questions: 1) Am I missing some kind of prerequisite call (perhaps for setting a stride length or pack alignment or something) that will signal to the texturer to treat each byte as 8-elements, as it suggests in the spec? 2) Or does it simply not work because modern hardware does not support it? (I have read that GL_BITMAP mode was deprecated in 3.3, I am however forcing a 3.0 context.) 3) Am I better off unpacking the bitmap into a pixmap using a shader? This is a far more roundabout solution than I was hoping for but I suppose there is no such thing as a free lunch.

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• Properly create centered vertical navigation list with a hover image on both sides?

  - by Damainman

  I have a navigation list I placed inside of a , I am attempting to get an image that appears on both sides of a link when you hover. Basically a an arrow on each side of the link. I have managed to get the effect I am looking for with: <ul> <li style=""> <a href="#">Services</a> </li> <li> <a href="#">About</a> </li> <li> <a href="#">Media</a> </li> <li> <a href="#">FAQ</a> </li> <li> <a href="#">Portfolio</a> </li> <li> <a href="#">Contact</a> </li> </ul> .nav ul{ list-style:none; text-align:center; } .nav li:hover a:before, .nav li:hover a:after { content:url(../images/nav_bullet.png); } The end result will look like the following but with the list centered: link >> Hovered Link << link However I am not sure if that is the best way of going about it, and the image is too close to the text. I tried placing a margin and padding but that didn't work. To top of it off, the image is not vertically centered with the link text. Anyone know of a proper way to do this as I am just going by trial and error? Thank you in advance!

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• How to run WordPress and Java web app running on Tomcat on the same server?

  - by Chantz

  I have to run a WordPress site served via Apache2 & Java-based webapp using Tomcat on the same server. When users come to example.com or example.com/public-pages they need to served from WordPress but when they come to example.com/private-pages they need to be served from the Tomcat. I have asked this question on serverfault where they suggested using different port, different IP & sub-domain. I want to go for different port solution since it will mean I need to buy only one SSL certificate. I tried doing the reverse proxy method by having the following in my default-ssl.conf <VirtualHost _default_:443> ServerAdmin webmaster@localhost ServerName localhost:443 DocumentRoot /var/www <Directory /var/www> #For Wordpress Options FollowSymLinks AllowOverride All </Directory> <Proxy *> Order deny,allow Allow from all </Proxy> ProxyRequests Off ProxyPass /private-pages ajp://localhost:8009/ ProxyPassReverse /private-pages ajp://localhost:8009/ SSLEngine on SSLProxyEngine On SSLCertificateFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.crt SSLCertificateKeyFile /etc/apache2/ssl/apache.key </VirtualHost> As you have noticed I am using mod_proxy_ajp in Apache2 for this. And that my Tomcat is listening to port 8009 and then serving content. So now when I go to example.com/private-pages I am seeing the content from my Tomcat. But 2 issues are happening. All my static resources are getting 404-ed, so none of my images, CSS, js are getting loaded. I see that the browser is requesting for the resources using URL example.com/css/* This will clearly not work because it translates to example.com:80/css/* instead of example.com:8009/css/* & there are no such resources in the WordPress directory. If I go to example.com/private-pages/abcd I am somehow kicked to the WordPress site (which obviously displays a 404 page). I can understand why #1 is happening but have no clue why the #2 is happening. Regardless, if there is another clean solution for resolving this, I would appreciate y'alls help.

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• How / Where can I host my Java web application? [closed]

  - by Huliax

  Possible Duplicate: How to find web hosting that meets my requirements? In case you want to skip to the crux of my inquiry just read the bold type. I just finished my CS degree (at 39 years old :-)). For my final project I designed and built a system that can provide local positioning / location awareness to mobile wifi devices (only have Android client thus far). The server receives data from clients, processes it, and responds to the clients with a messages containing information about their respective locations. I would like to continue the project (perhaps release as open source but that is a different discussion). Thus far my server application has been running on the CS department's hardware where I could pretty much do whatever I wanted. I'm getting kicked off that system in a few weeks so I have to find a new home for my server application. I need a host that will let me run my Java server (along w/ mySQL db) -- preferably on the cheap since I haven't yet got a job. I have very little experience with the "real world" of web development / hosting. I'm having trouble figuring out what kind of hosting service will let me run my application as is. If that turns out to be a tall order then I need to know what my options are for changing thing so that I can get up and running with some hosting. As an aside, I'm also researching whether or not I should rewrite this in a different language. Trying to figure out if there is a substantially better (for whatever reason) one for what I'm doing. This might also potentially have a bearing on my hosting needs. One possibility is to write the server in something more widely accepted by hosting services. I have been searching for answers to my question and haven't found quite what I'm looking for. Part of the problem might be that I don't know exactly what terminology to use. If there is a good answer to this question elsewhere please feel free to point me towards it. Thanks for help / advice.

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• Automatically change resolution when not in dock

  - by jwir3

  I have Ubuntu 11.04 (yep, I know it's old news) on my Lenovo W520. At home, I have a dock with dual monitors. I have a pretty decent setup - things work almost perfectly (hence the reason I'm reluctant to upgrade... that and I'm not 100% sold on Unity). Anyway, the only annoyance I have is that when I'm on travel, I use the laptop screen. When I un-dock the laptop, I need to manually go into nvidia x-server settings and change the resolution from 'Auto' to 1920x1200, or it will think I have two screens, and my mouse pointer will be able to go way off the left side of the screen. This isn't a big deal, but I need to do it every time I restart the x-server (so if I reboot, or have to kill it, etc...) What would be really nice is if there was a way for it to automatically detect whether or not there is external monitors (which it seems to do already), and switch into the mode I select, depending on which monitors are connected. Is there any way to accomplish this? I've posted my xorg.conf file for reference. # nvidia-settings: X configuration file generated by nvidia-settings # nvidia-settings: version 270.29 (buildd@allspice) Fri Feb 25 14:42:07 UTC 2011 # nvidia-xconfig: X configuration file generated by nvidia-xconfig # nvidia-xconfig: version 275.19 ([email protected]) Tue Jul 12 18:35:38 PDT 2011 #Section "Monitor" # Identifier "Monitor1" # VendorName "Lenovo" # ModelName "ThinkpadLCD" # #HorizSync 28.0 - 33.0 # #VertRefresh 43.0 - 72.0 # #Option "DPMS" #EndSection Section "ServerLayout" Identifier "Layout0" Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0 InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard" InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer" Option "Xinerama" "0" EndSection Section "InputDevice" Identifier "Mouse0" Driver "mouse" Option "Protocol" "auto" Option "Device" "/dev/psaux" Option "Emulate3Buttons" "no" Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5" EndSection Section "InputDevice" # generated from default Identifier "Keyboard0" Driver "kbd" EndSection Section "Monitor" Identifier "Monitor0" VendorName "Unknown" ModelName "DELL U2410" HorizSync 30.0 - 81.0 VertRefresh 56.0 - 76.0 Option "DPMS" EndSection Section "Device" Identifier "Device0" Driver "nvidia" VendorName "NVIDIA Corporation" BoardName "Quadro 1000M" Option "RegistryDwords" "EnableBrightnessControl=1" EndSection Section "Screen" # Removed Option "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+120, DFP-6: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0" # Removed Option "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +0+120, DFP-5: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0" # Removed Option "metamodes" "DFP-0: nvidia-auto-select +1920+419, DFP-5: nvidia-auto-select +3840+0, DFP-6: nvidia-auto-select +0+0" # Removed Option "metamodes" "DFP-5: nvidia-auto-select +0+0, DFP-6: 1920x1200 +1920+0" Identifier "Screen0" Device "Device0" Monitor "Monitor0" DefaultDepth 24 Option "NoLogo" "True" Option "TwinViewXineramaInfoOrder" "DFP-0" Option "TwinView" "1" Option "metamodes" "DFP-5: nvidia-auto-select +1920+0, DFP-6: 1920x1200 +0+0" SubSection "Display" Depth 24 EndSubSection EndSection

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• Cannot boot from K/Ubuntu install disk on my UEFI system

  - by user93241

  I just got a new system and have been trying to get it set up w/ Win7 & Kubuntu dual-boot, but I've got a major problem. The BIOS of my motherboard (an Asus Crosshair 990FX) is strictly UEFI -- there is no legacy support mode available. I've been reading up on how to get Kubuntu installed in UEFI mode but no matter what I try I cannot seem to even boot into my install CD/USB key properly. I can get as far as the selection screen ("Try Kubuntu", "Install Kubuntu"...) but this screen starts off not appearing correctly. If I try moving the cursor around it sometimes seems to correct itself and show me my choices. But once I select "Try Kubuntu" it starts loading, the screen goes black and then proceeds to flicker -- about once every 5-10 seconds or so. This continues indefinitely. I've tried this with both Kubuntu & Ubuntu installation media, even the AMD64+Mac Ubuntu variety that is supposed to be a lot more flexible w.r.t. UEFI. The only hint I've had that the system might have booted correctly is a little drum sound that plays when booting from the Ubuntu install disk. Well, that and the fact that when I hit my system's power button it seems to shut down correctly, even ejecting the CD at the end. This might be a video driver issue; my system has two nVidia 550's, one of which is attached to my primary monitor. (The secondary isn't hooked up yet.) I'll keep looking over similar questions but any advice would be greatly appreciated. UPDATE: I've tried booting into my 12.04 install CD twice now, each time using two different options supplied by my BIOS. One seemed to offer the ability to boot into my CD under UEFI mode -- this didn't even produce the initial boot menu. The other method offers the ability to boot into my CD NOT under UEFI mode. This DOES produce the boot menu, but after this point it seems I still cannot get to a proper video mode to see what's going on.

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• Could I be going crazy with Event Handlers? Am I going the "wrong way" with my design?

  - by sensae

  I guess I've decided that I really like event handlers. I may be suffering a bit from analysis paralysis, but I'm concerned about making my design unwieldy or running into some other unforeseen consequence to my design decisions. My game engine currently does basic sprite-based rendering with a panning overhead camera. My design looks a bit like this: SceneHandler Contains a list of classes that implement the SceneListener interface (currently only Sprites). Calls render() once per tick, and sends onCameraUpdate(); messages to SceneListeners. InputHandler Polls the input once per tick, and sends a simple "onKeyPressed" message to InputListeners. I have a Camera InputListener which holds a SceneHandler instance and triggers updateCamera(); events based on what the input is. AgentHandler Calls default actions on any Agents (AI) once per tick, and will check a stack for any new events that are registered, dispatching them to specific Agents as needed. So I have basic sprite objects that can move around a scene and use rudimentary steering behaviors to travel. I've gotten onto collision detection, and this is where I'm not sure the direction my design is going is good. Is it a good practice to have many, small event handlers? I imagine going the way I am that I'd have to implement some kind of CollisionHandler. Would I be better off with a more consolidated EntityHandler which handles AI, collision updates, and other entity interactions in one class? Or will I be fine just implementing many different event handling subsystems which pass messages to each other based on what kind of event it is? Should I write an EntityHandler which is simply responsible for coordinating all these sub event handlers? I realize in some cases, such as my InputHandler and SceneHandler, those are very specific types of events. A large portion of my game code won't care about input, and a large portion won't care about updates that happen purely in the rendering of the scene. Thus I feel my isolation of those systems is justified. However, I'm asking this question specifically approaching game logic type events.

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• Can you work for the big (Google, Microsoft, Facebook etc.) without getting too much involved?

  - by Developer Art

  Having seen people talking about interviewing and working for the big companies, I keep wondering how much are you expected to actually get involved in there. 1) That's because I keep seeing folks from Google and Microsoft and others writing in forums, blogging, tweeting, speaking at conferences and seemingly doing this on the 24/7/365 basis from their office, apartment, hotel and even plane. Are you really expected to commit that much if you come to work for them? Do they want you to think about your work while you're eating, sleeping, taking a shower, making love and so on? Can you in fact "switch off" at five and go home forgetting everything? Perhaps you have a hobby, family life, kids, friends, personal projects anyone? Is it so that if you work for the big then you're expected not to have any life outside of the company? You can't develop own projects, have own clients and just have another life? 2) One other thing is the work contracts the big use. I've heard for instance that when you join Microsoft you need to provide a list of projects you're currently working on and after that anything new you'll come up with during your employment automatically belongs to the company. Are all of the big doing this? Can you deny signing a contract until such clause is removed or with the big it is "take it or leave it" because the legal department won't accept any change? Can you make them write the contract in that manner that they step away from anything you've developed in your private time? Of all the big I have only been at SAP during my internship. Lately while browsing through the old papers I've found my old contact which stipulated they owned everything I developed or invented during my employment, which I would never have signed these days. On a side note I don't think I would return to SAP since I remember most people there were clueless and provided the impression they were simply sitting out their years waiting for the retirement. But anyway, what do the other big put in their contracts? How far do you get involved when you go working for the big? Or perhaps fully committed with your body and soul? P.S. I'm not planning to join any of them I'm just curious.

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• How to do proper Alpha in XNA?

  - by Soshimo

  Okay, I've read several articles, tutorials, and questions regarding this. Most point to the same technique which doesn't solve my problem. I need the ability to create semi-transparent sprites (texture2D's really) and have them overlay another sprite. I can achieve that somewhat with the code samples I've found but I'm not satisfied with the results and I know there is a way to do this. In mobile programming (BREW) we did it old school and actually checked each pixel for transparency before rendering. In this case it seems to render the sprite below it blended with the alpha above it. This may be an artifact of how I'm rendering the texture but, as I said before, all examples point to this one technique. Before I go any further I'll go ahead and paste my example code. public void Draw(SpriteBatch batch, Camera camera, float alpha) { int tileMapWidth = Width; int tileMapHeight = Height; batch.Begin(SpriteSortMode.Texture, BlendState.AlphaBlend, SamplerState.PointWrap, DepthStencilState.Default, RasterizerState.CullNone, null, camera.TransformMatrix); for (int x = 0; x < tileMapWidth; x++) { for (int y = 0; y < tileMapHeight; y++) { int tileIndex = _map[y, x]; if (tileIndex != -1) { Texture2D texture = _tileTextures[tileIndex]; batch.Draw( texture, new Rectangle( (x * Engine.TileWidth), (y * Engine.TileHeight), Engine.TileWidth, Engine.TileHeight), new Color(new Vector4(1f, 1f, 1f, alpha ))); } } } batch.End(); } As you can see, in this code I'm using the overloaded SpriteBatch.Begin method which takes, among other things, a blend state. I'm almost positive that's my problem. I don't want to BLEND the sprites, I want them to be transparent when alpha is 0. In this example I can set alpha to 0 but it still renders both tiles, with the lower z ordered sprite showing through, discolored because of the blending. This is not a desired effect, I want the higher z-ordered sprite to fade out and not effect the color beneath it in such a manner. I might be way off here as I'm fairly new to XNA development so feel free to steer me in the correct direction in the event I'm going down the wrong rabbit hole. TIA

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• SMTP POP3 & PST. Acronyms from Hades.

  - by mikef

  A busy SysAdmin will occasionally have reason to curse SMTP. It is, certainly, one of the strangest events in the history of IT that such a deeply flawed system, designed originally purely for campus use, should have reached its current dominant position. The explanation was that it was the first open-standard email system, so SMTP/POP3 became the internet standard. We are, in consequence, dogged with a system with security weaknesses so extreme that messages are sent in plain text and you have no real assurance as to who the message came from anyway (SMTP-AUTH hasn't really caught on). Even without the security issues, the use of SMTP in an office environment provides a management nightmare to all commercial users responsible for complying with all regulations that control the conduct of business: such as tracking, retaining, and recording company documents. SMTP mail developed from various Unix-based systems designed for campus use that took the mail analogy so literally that mail messages were actually delivered to the users, using a 'store and forward' mechanism. This meant that, from the start, the end user had to store, manage and delete messages. This is a problem that has passed through all the releases of MS Outlook: It has to be able to manage mail locally in the dreaded PST file. As a stand-alone system, Outlook is flawed by its neglect of any means of automatic backup. Previous Outlook PST files actually blew up without warning when they reached the 2 Gig limit and became corrupted and inaccessible, leading to a thriving industry of 3rd party tools to clear up the mess. Microsoft Exchange is, of course, a server-based system. Emails are less likely to be lost in such a system if it is properly run. However, there is nothing to stop users from using local PSTs as well. There is the additional temptation to load emails into mobile devices, or USB keys for off-line working. The result is that the System Administrator is faced by a complex hybrid system where backups have to be taken from Servers, and PCs scattered around the network, where duplication of emails causes storage issues, and document retention policies become impossible to manage. If one adds to that the complexity of mobile phone email readers and mail synchronization, the problem is daunting. It is hardly surprising that the mood darkens when SysAdmins meet and discuss PST Hell. If you were promoted to the task of tormenting the souls of the damned in Hades, what aspects of the management of Outlook would you find most useful for your task? I'd love to hear from you. Cheers, Michael

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• Should we persist with an employee still writing bad code after many years?

  - by user94986

  I've been assigned the task of managing developers for a well-established company. They have a single developer who specialises in all their C++ coding (since forever), but the quality of the work is abysmal. Code reviews and testing have revealed many problems, one of the worst being memory leaks. The developer has never tested his code for leaks, and I discovered that the applications could leak many MBs with only a minute of use. User's were reporting huge slowdowns, and his take was, "it's nothing to do with me - if they quit and restart, it's all good again." I've given him tools to detect and trace the leaks, and sat down with him for many hours to demonstrate how the tools are used, where the problems occur, and what to do to fix them. We're 6 months down the track, and I assigned him to write a new module. I reviewed it before it was integrated into our larger code base, and was dismayed to discover the same bad coding as before. The part that I find incomprehensible is that some of the coding is worse than amateurish. For example, he wanted a class (Foo) that could populate an object of another class (Bar). He decided that Foo would hold a reference to Bar, e.g.: class Foo { public: Foo(Bar& bar) : m_bar(bar) {} private: Bar& m_bar; }; But (for other reasons) he also needed a default constructor for Foo and, rather than question his initial design, he wrote this gem: Foo::Foo() : m_bar(*(new Bar)) {} So every time the default constructor is called, a Bar is leaked. To make matters worse, Foo allocates memory from the heap for 2 other objects, but he didn't write a destructor or copy constructor. So every allocation of Foo actually leaks 3 different objects, and you can imagine what happened when a Foo was copied. And - it only gets better - he repeated the same pattern on three other classes, so it isn't a one-off slip. The whole concept is wrong on so many levels. I would feel more understanding if this came from a total novice. But this guy has been doing this for many years and has had very focussed training and advice over the past few months. I realise he has been working without mentoring or peer reviews most of that time, but I'm beginning to feel he can't change. So my question is, would you persist with someone who is writing such obviously bad code?

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• How can you tell whether to use Composite Pattern or a Tree Structure, or a third implementation?

  - by Aske B.

  I have two client types, an "Observer"-type and a "Subject"-type. They're both associated with a hierarchy of groups. The Observer will receive (calendar) data from the groups it is associated with throughout the different hierarchies. This data is calculated by combining data from 'parent' groups of the group trying to collect data (each group can have only one parent). The Subject will be able to create the data (that the Observers will receive) in the groups they're associated with. When data is created in a group, all 'children' of the group will have the data as well, and they will be able to make their own version of a specific area of the data, but still linked to the original data created (in my specific implementation, the original data will contain time-period(s) and headline, while the subgroups specify the rest of the data for the receivers directly linked to their respective groups). However, when the Subject creates data, it has to check if all affected Observers have any data that conflicts with this, which means a huge recursive function, as far as I can understand. So I think this can be summed up to the fact that I need to be able to have a hierarchy that you can go up and down in, and some places be able to treat them as a whole (recursion, basically). Also, I'm not just aiming at a solution that works. I'm hoping to find a solution that is relatively easy to understand (architecture-wise at least) and also flexible enough to be able to easily receive additional functionality in the future. Is there a design pattern, or a good practice to go by, to solve this problem or similar hierarchy problems? EDIT: Here's the design I have: The "Phoenix"-class is named that way because I didn't think of an appropriate name yet. But besides this I need to be able to hide specific activities for specific observers, even though they are attached to them through the groups. A little Off-topic: Personally, I feel that I should be able to chop this problem down to smaller problems, but it escapes me how. I think it's because it involves multiple recursive functionalities that aren't associated with each other and different client types that needs to get information in different ways. I can't really wrap my head around it. If anyone can guide me in a direction of how to become better at encapsulating hierarchy problems, I'd be very glad to receive that as well.

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• SharePoint 2010 HierarchicalConfig Caching Problem

  - by Damon

  We've started using the Application Foundations for SharePoint 2010 in some of our projects at work, and I came across a nasty issue with the hierarchical configuration settings.  I have some settings that I am storing at the Farm level, and as I was testing my code it seemed like the settings were not being saved - at least that is what it appeared was the case at first.  However, I happened to reset IIS and the settings suddenly appeared.  Immediately, I figured that it must be a caching issue and dug into the code base.  I found that there was a 10 second caching mechanism in the SPFarmPropertyBag and the SPWebAppPropertyBag classes.  So I ran another test where I waited 10 seconds to make sure that enough time had passed to force the caching mechanism to reset the data.  After 10 minutes the cache had still not cleared.  After digging a bit further, I found a double lock check that looked a bit off in the GetSettingsStore() method of the SPFarmPropertyBag class: if (_settingStore == null || (DateTime.Now.Subtract(lastLoad).TotalSeconds) > cacheInterval)) { //Need to exist so don't deadlock. rrLock.EnterWriteLock(); try { //make sure first another thread didn't already load... if (_settingStore == null) { _settingStore = WebAppSettingStore.Load(this.webApplication); lastLoad = DateTime.Now; } } finally { rrLock.ExitWriteLock(); } } What ends up happening here is the outer check determines if the _settingStore is null or the cache has expired, but the inner check is just checking if the _settingStore is null (which is never the case after the first time it's been loaded).  Ergo, the cached settings are never reset.  The fix is really easy, just add the cache checking back into the inner if statement. //make sure first another thread didn't already load... if (_settingStore == null || (DateTime.Now.Subtract(lastLoad).TotalSeconds) > cacheInterval) { _settingStore = WebAppSettingStore.Load(this.webApplication); lastLoad = DateTime.Now; } And then it starts working just fine. as long as you wait at least 10 seconds for the cache to clear.

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• Boot error aftter clean Ubuntu 13.04 install: [Reboot and select proper boot device]

  - by IcarusNM

  I am having the same problem as this guy where a fresh Ubuntu install completes beautifully but will not boot. I get the ASUS (?) "Reboot and select proper boot device" error, first with Xubuntu 13.10 and after finally giving up there, and Xubuntu 13.4, I am back to regular Ubuntu 13.4. ASUS motherboard Z77, Intel chipset. Standard internal SATA 500GB HD. 64-bit. All-new hardware less than 3 months old. It was running Ubuntu 12.04LTC great until I tried this upgrade. I have re-installed from scratch every which way: with LVM, without LVM; with the default partitions, with my own partitions. With ext3 or ext4. Alongside; replace; upgrade. No difference. On the last two tries, I have booted afterward from the same USB stick, downloaded and run boot-repair, and now I guess I am off to the boot-repair support email with my URLs from that. It did all kinds of cool stuff but ultimately made no difference. I never got anything like this with Ubuntu 12.04. I've now probably re-installed Ubuntu 13.04 ten times slightly different ways. I finally found how to skip the language packs, so at least that sped things up! :) This starts from the ubuntu-13.04-desktop-amd64.iso and UNetbootin as suggested on the official instructions for USB thumb drive creation from OSX. That part all works fine (booting the USB on the PC and trying Ubuntu and/or installing from there on the PC HD.) I have no CD drive on this PC, but I suppose I could get one. I would rather find some Linux install that works from USB like I've always done. After running boot-repair twice, in the ASUS BIOS I now see three different UEFI boot options in the priority list, and they are all labeled exactly the same: ubuntu (P6: WDC WD5000AAKX-00U6AA0) Then there's a non-UEFI option: P6: WDC WD5000AAKX-00U6AA0 (476940MB) And a fifth option appeared after the first boot-repair: Windows Boot Manager (P6: WDC WD5000AAKX-00U6AA0) I have tried all 5 of these, and I get exactly the same error. I have never had Windows installed on this HD. ASUS is calling it Windows Boot Manaer but I presume that's a mistaken label for whatever boot-repair did. I can boot on USB and run GParted and it looks great. The partitions all look normal. I found another case of this online with no solution posted. I can't find much about it online. Needs a Master Boot Record wipe/redo?? I'm not sure how.

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• New laptop, Windows 8.1, attempting dual install. Ubuntu installer doesn't 'see' existing OS

  - by Flaminica

  Though I've used Ubuntu for a few years, I'm new to installation. Previously I had help and now I'm doing it alone (moved across the world). Windows 8.1 came preinstalled on my new laptop (Toshiba Satellite C70-A-17C - Core i5, 8 GB RAM, 750 GB HDD). I have already followed a few steps I found online to prepare for a dual install (with Ubuntu 14.04). I backed up Windows, created a bootable Ubuntu USB and DVD (just in case one didn't work), turned off fast boot and secure boot, and shrunk C:/. The new unallocated drive portion is 292.97 GB. After shrinking C:/, I restarted Windows a couple of times to make sure everything was working fine (it is). I then attempted to install with the Ubuntu live USB. However, the Ubuntu installer doesn't see that Windows 8.1 is already installed. I don't understand, and don't want to mess with Ubuntu partitioning when I don't know where the partitions will be created. My concern is that, if I go further with the installation process, Windows might be overwritten or compromised in some way. I then tried to reboot using the Ubuntu live DVD, thinking I might get a different result. However, I can't figure out how to make the laptop boot from the CD drive. I went into the BIOS and found no option there, either. Any help is very appreciated! EDIT: Looks like I can't link directly to each photo. Here is my album of screenshots: http://imgur.com/a/zChCo Here you can see that there's no option to boot from CD drive, only USB. Everything looks okay so far. I don't understand this. Ubuntu has not yet been installed. Unmounting partitions? (I chose 'no'.) Even though the laptop came pre-installed with Windows 8.1, the Ubuntu USB installer can't see it. I chose 'something else'. I need to pick and format partitions. I scrolled down and took a second shot to include all information. Completely lost and cancelled installation.

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• Is it reasonable to insist on reproducing every defect before diagnosing and fixing it?

  - by amphibient

  I work for a software product company. We have large enterprise customers who implement our product and we provide support to them. For example, if there is a defect, we provide patches, etc. In other words, It is a fairly typical setup. Recently, a ticket was issued and assigned to me regarding an exception that a customer found in a log file and that has to do with concurrent database access in a clustered implementation of our product. So the specific configuration of this customer may well be critical in the occurrence of this bug. All we got from the customer was their log file. The approach I proposed to my team was to attempt to reproduce the bug in a similar configuration setup as that of the customer and get a comparable log. However, they disagree with my approach saying that I should not need to reproduce the bug (as that is overly time-consuming and will require simulating a server cluster on VMs) and that I should simply "follow the code" to see where the thread- and/or transaction-unsafe code is and put the change working off of a simple local development, which is not a cluster implementation like the environment from which the occurrence of the bug originates. To me, working out of an abstract blueprint (program code) rather than a concrete, tangible, visible manifestation (runtime reproduction) seems like a difficult working environment (for a person of normal cognitive abilities and attention span), so I wanted to ask a general question: Is it reasonable to insist on reproducing every defect and debug it before diagnosing and fixing it? Or: If I am a senior developer, should I be able to read (multithreaded) code and create a mental picture of what it does in all use case scenarios rather than require to run the application, test different use case scenarios hands on, and step through the code line by line? Or am I a poor developer for demanding that kind of work environment? Is debugging for sissies? In my opinion, any fix submitted in response to an incident ticket should be tested in an environment simulated to be as close to the original environment as possible. How else can you know that it will really remedy the issue? It is like releasing a new model of a vehicle without crash testing it with a dummy to demonstrate that the air bags indeed work. Last but not least, if you agree with me: How should I talk with my team to convince them that my approach is reasonable, conservative and more bulletproof?

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• Wired connection not being recognized

  - by maxifick

  I'm on Ubuntu Maverick (10.10). I've read a few threads regarding wired connection problems, but haven't found a solution yet. The problem appears after I connect to a wireless network. When I disconnect wireless and plug in an internet cable, the wired connection is not recognized at all. Even the socket appears dead (there are no diodes flashing). The only solution so far seems to be restarting the computer. Network Manager then tries to connect to a Wi-Fi, but the wired connection is listed and working. I've tried sudo restart network-manager, but that doesn't solve anything. After a while, available wireless networks start appearing, but the wired still doesn't. Any ideas? Thanks in advance. Edit: Here is the dmesg output after switching off Wi-Fi and then plugging the internet cable. [18200.623543] Restarting tasks ... done. [18200.648422] video LNXVIDEO:00: Restoring backlight state [18200.707580] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: phy I/O error [18200.707715] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: phy I/O error [18200.707819] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: phy I/O error [18200.707922] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: phy I/O error [18200.708025] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: phy I/O error [18200.708127] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: phy I/O error [18200.708229] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: phy I/O error [18200.708332] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: phy I/O error [18200.708824] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: enabling interface [18200.709587] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready [18202.662422] EXT4-fs (sda9): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,commit=0 [18203.324061] EXT4-fs (sda9): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro,user_xattr,commit=0 [18211.193137] eth1: no IPv6 routers present [18212.844649] usb 5-1: new low speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 5 [18213.017235] input: USB Optical Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.0/usb5/5-1/5-1:1.0/input/input16 [18213.017499] generic-usb 0003:0461:4D17.0004: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Mouse [USB Optical Mouse] on usb-0000:00:13.0-1/input0 After system restart, dmesg says this: [ 19.802126] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: enabling interface [ 19.802394] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready [ 20.812533] device eth0 entered promiscuous mode [ 21.495547] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex, flow control rx [ 21.495677] sky2 0000:02:00.0: eth0: Link is up at 100 Mbps, full duplex, flow control rx [ 21.496574] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready

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• Wifi problems with Ubuntu 13.10

  - by Sparrowhawk4

  I should probably say straight off that I am brand new to Ubuntu. I installed 13.10 alongside Windows 7 a couple of days ago and I've managed to clear up all the little problems, apart from with the wifi. My internet is fine using an ethernet cable. I can connect to the wifi, and it tells me that the signal is good, but for the vast majority of the time I can't load anything, and system monitor tells me that I am sending and receiving nothing. The problem is somewhere in Ubuntu. It works fine on Windows 7, my Android phone and all of my flatmates laptops. I know I'm not the only one with this problem, but the fixes I've seen either don't work or I don't understand them enough to carry them out. Help? EDIT: from lspci command as requested 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07) 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07) 00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07) 00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03) 00:1a.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03) 00:1a.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03) 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03) 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03) 00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) 00:1d.1 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03) 00:1d.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03) 00:1d.3 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03) 00:1d.7 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03) 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93) 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801IBM/IEM (ICH9M/ICH9M-E) 4 port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 03) 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03) 00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) Thermal Subsystem (rev 03) 02:00.0 Network controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8191SEvA Wireless LAN Controller (rev 10) 03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)

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• What is hiberfil.sys and How Do I Delete It?

  - by The Geek

  You’re no doubt reading this article because there’s a gigantic hiberfil.sys file sitting in the root of your drive, and you want to get rid of it to free up some space… but you can’t! Luckily, you actually can delete it, and today we’ll show you how. The more memory you have in your PC, the bigger the file will be. So What is hiberfil.sys Anyway? Windows has two power management modes that you can choose from: one is Sleep Mode, which keeps the PC running in a low power state so you can almost instantly get back to what you were working on. The other is Hibernate mode, which completely writes the memory out to the hard drive, and then powers the PC down entirely, so you can even take the battery out, put it back in, start back up, and be right back where you were. Hibernate mode uses the hiberfil.sys file to store the the current state (memory) of the PC, and since it’s managed by Windows, you can’t delete the file. So if you never use it, and want to disable Hibernate mode, keep reading. Personally I stick with Sleep Mode the vast majority of the time, but I do use Hibernate quite often. Disable Hibernate (and Delete hiberfil.sys) in Windows 7 or Vista You’ll need to open an administrator mode command prompt by right-clicking on the command prompt in the start menu, and then choosing Run as Administrator. Once you’re there, type in the following command: powercfg -h off You should immediately notice that the Hibernate option is gone from the Shut down menu. You’ll also notice that the file is magically gone! For more about dealing with Hibernate like setting how long it takes to head into Hibernate mode, you can check out our article on How to Manage Hibernate Mode in Windows 7. Disabling Hibernate Mode in Windows XP It’s a lot easier in Windows XP to get rid of Hibernate mode… in fact, we’ve already covered it before, but we’ll cover it again. Just head into Control Panel –> Power Options, and then find the Hibernate tab. Uncheck the box, reboot your PC, and then you can delete the hiberfil.sys file. Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips How to Delete a System File in Windows 7 or VistaDisable Delete Confirmation Dialog in Windows 7 or VistaClear IE7 Browsing History From the Command LineHide, Delete, or Destroy the Recycle Bin Icon in Windows 7 or VistaClear the Auto-Complete Email Address Cache in Outlook TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Registry Mechanic 9 for Windows PC Tools Internet Security Suite 2010 Whoa ! Use Printflush to Solve Printing Problems Icelandic Volcano Webcams Open Multiple Links At One Go NachoFoto Searches Images in Real-time Office 2010 Product Guides

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• Multiple Problems Installing 12.04, now can't use Windows

  - by user87997

  First I tried using the 32-bit wubi.exe installer from the main Ubuntu website. It worked fine, dual booted with Windows 7 and all. I tried installing several applications and got errors. After searching for a little while for a fix, I found that someone else had solved the problem by uninstalling the 32-bit version and installing 64-bit Ubuntu. Apparently there is no wubi.exe installer for the 64-bit version, so I used LinuxLive to put the iso file onto a USB drive. I changed my the boot order in BIOS to check the USB first. It did, and I got into the Ubuntu installer just fine. Everything was working fine, but then I got an error that GRUB could not be installed. I chose "install manually later" or something like that. Immediately, the installer said it was done and ready for a reboot. At this point, my USB is still in the computer. The computer reboots...and it's back at the installer for the USB. I look up what's going on here, and someone says in a thread they solved it by selecting "Try Ubuntu" then installing it via a shortcut on the desktop. I assumed that Ubuntu simply hadn't installed and it would be safe to try again, so I did. It finished installing, this time I chose a different partition that wasn't being used. The thread also said to reinstall grub to the mounted drive, so I did that. Next I took out my USB and rebooted. I get stuck on the GRUB GNU loader, v.1.99 or something I believe it says at the top. I can't do anything, and it doesn't detect Windows 7 OR Ubuntu. When I check partitions, I have two 43 GB partitions that both have the same files in them (I'm assuming those are the two Ubuntu installations), and can only run Ubuntu off of my USB-- and can't run Windows 7 at all, however from within Ubuntu the windows 7 filesystem and files can still be seen. I have no idea what to do now. I used Ubuntu in the past (9.xx) and never had these sorts of problems! Please help. And sorry for the wall of text.

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• What's the best way to cache a growing database table for html generation?

  - by McLeopold

  I've got a database table which will grow in size by about 5000 rows a hour. For a key that I would be querying by, the query will grow in size by about 1 row every hour. I would like a web page to show the latest rows for a key, 50 at a time (this is configurable). I would like to try and implement memcache to keep database activity low for reads. If I run a query and create a cache result for each page of 50 results, that would work until a new entry is added. At that time, the page of latest results gets new result and the oldest results drops off. This cascades down the list of cached pages causing me to update every cache result. It seems like a poor design. I could build the cache pages backwards, then for each page requested I should get the latest 2 pages and truncate to the proper length of 50. I'm not sure if this is good or bad? Ideally, the mechanism I use to insert a new row would also know how to invalidate the proper cache results. Has someone already solved this problem in a widely acceptable way? What's the best method of doing this? EDIT: If my understanding of the MYSQL query cache is correct, it has table level granularity in invalidation. Given the fact that I have about 5000 updates before a query on a key should need to be invalidated, it seems that the database query cache would not be used. MS SQL caches execution plans and frequently accessed data pages, so it may do better in this scenario. My query is not against a single table with TOP N. One version has joins to several tables and another has sub-selects. Also, since I want to cache the html generated table, I'm wondering if a cache at the web server level would be appropriate? Is there really no benefit to any type of caching? Is the best advice really to just allow a website site query to go through all the layers and hit the database every request?

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