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  • Data Movement and the Decision Matrix

    - by BuckWoody
    Maybe it’s my military background, or maybe I’ve always had this predilection, but I like to use two devices when I need to make a complex decision: A checklist and a decision matrix. I like to use a checklist because it ensures that I remember the big bits of what I need to do, and brings up questions or areas that I didn’t think about when evaluating options for the decision. And the decision matrix – that’s the thing I use to actually lay out those options. It’s simply a spreadsheet-like grid (I use Excel, but paper and pencil works as well) that lays out the requirements or advantages for the decision across the top, and the options I have on the left-hand side. Then in the “cells” I put whether or not that option on the left will meet the requirement in that column. I then simply “weight” each cell to organize the choices by best-fit. The right answer (or answers) will float right to the top. I was asked yesterday about options for moving data in SQL Server to another system. There are just dozens of ways to do this, from bcp to Replication, each with certain advantages and costs. But asking the questions for the top row first helped me show the person that it isn’t a particular technology that is important, it’s laying out those requirements and thinking about which elements are more important than the other. For instance, is it more important to have the data moved all the time, or is it OK if that happens once in a while? Does the data have to move in two directions or just one? All of these will help that answer jump right out. Try it sometime – it’s a great learning exercise, since it will force you to focus on filling out the matrix. The answer is out there, Neo. Share this post: email it! | bookmark it! | digg it! | reddit! | kick it! | live it!

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  • Oracle Unveils AutoVue Release 20.1

    - by prasenjit.niyogi(at)oracle.com
    We are extremely pleased to announce the availability of Oracle's AutoVue Release 20.1. AutoVue 20.1 is the latest major release of the family of Enterprise Visualization solutions from Oracle. Highlights of the release include: Unparalleled new format support and enhancements for 3D CAD, 2D, CAD, ECAD and PDF documents New capabilities that support end-to-end design to manufacture processes in the Electronics & High Tech space, that allow manufacturing engineers to perform accurate manufacturability reviews through better support for variants, overlays and polarity Significant printing enhancements, such as printing of markup notes; support for Excel file print settings; and print in grayscale; which serve to optimize paper-based business processes Powerful integration enablement capabilities to extend visualization into existing enterprise architectures and systems; including AutoVue Hotspots that enable visual navigation and action by linking visual data to structured enterprise data, and new AutoVue Document Print Services (DPS) to enrich enterprise applications with format and platform agnostic printing of any document type Improvements for cost-effective AutoVue deployment and administration, including support for virtualization Release 20.1 Webcast - Attend the webcast on April 13th at 12:00 pm EST to discover what is new and exciting in the latest release. Encourage your customers, prospects, and partners to attend. Title: Oracle Unveils AutoVue Release 20.1 Channel: Oracle AutoVue Channel Register Here: http://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/26282 To discover more about the latest release, and to find out what the customers and partners are saying about the value of this offering, check out the: What's New is AutoVue 20.1 Datasheet You can also learn all about the latest format support here AutoVue 20.1 Format Support Sheet We look forward to seeing you at the webcast. If you have any questions feel free to ask, and we will answer it in this forum. Enjoy AutoVue 20.1!

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  • Scripting language for filling out web form

    - by ityler22
    I have a job as an intern at a technology company, I was given the unfortunate job of performing some data entry into our web management system. The information entered into the web form is stored in a MySQL DB. Upon receiving the data I realized I would have to submit this online form about 1000 different times all consisting of about 10 different text fields / check boxes per form. (So in other words, would be completely mind numbing and be a ridiculous waste of time and resources, or so I thought...) Having used databases a good bit prior to this, my immediate reaction was to just write a short MySQL script to bulk import all of the data, especially since it was already presented to me in an excel spreadsheet ready to go. Thought it may have been some sort of a test since it seemed too obvious. I wrote the script which consisted of about 10 lines of code but was then informed I couldn't be trusted with MySQL Admin privileges to run said script. So my next thought would be to write a script to just enter the information through the web form (Which will take ten times longer but it's what I have to) Being unfamiliar with scripting of this nature (seems like I would need something similar to a bot, but the good kind) I was unsure of how to proceed to do this. Is there a preferred language to use to enter the data i have into the web form I do have access to? I'm not particularly looking for this to be done for me by any means just a nice point in the right direction as far as what scripting language to use and how to pair that with the data I have that needs to be entered. Thanks for the help/ valuable input! EDIT: Is there a way to perform this using perl without having access to place any files on the server? Would I be able to run some Javascript loops to pull the data out of .csv or just a .txt format with line delimiters and insert it into the web form?

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  • Perspective Is Everything

    - by juanlarios
    Sitting on a window seat on my way back from Seattle I looked out the window and saw the large body of water. I was reminded of childhood memories of running as hard as I could through burning hot sand with the anticipation of the splash of the ocean. Looking out the window the water appeared like a sheet draped over land. I couldn’t help but ponder how perspective changes everything.  Over the last several days I had a chance to attend the MVP Summit in Redmond. I had a great time with fellow MVP’s and the SharePoint Product Group. Although I can’t say much about what was discussed and what is coming in the future, I want to share some realizations I had while experiencing the MVP summit.  The SharePoint Product is ever-improving, full of innovation but also a reactionary embodiment of MVP, client and market feedback. There are several features that come to mind that clients complain about where I have felt helpless in informing them that the features are not as mature as they would like it. Together, we figure out a way to make it work and deal with the limitations. It became clear that there are features that have taken a different purpose in the market place from the original vision. The SP Product group is working hard to react to these changes in vision and make SharePoint better for real life implementations.  It is easy to think that SharePoint should be all things to all people. In reality there are products that are very detailed in specific composites, they do this one thing well but severely lack in other areas.  Its easy sometimes to say, “What was Microsoft thinking with this feature?” the Product group is doing all they can to make the moving pieces better and dealing with challenges with having all of them work together.  Sometimes the features don’t fully embody the vision because of the many challenges, but trust me when I say the product group is really focused on delivery and innovation.  As I was speaking with a fellow MVP throughout the session, we spoke about the iPad 2(ironically announced this past week during the MVP summit) and Microsoft’s possible product answer; I realized the days of reactionary products from MS is over. There are many users that will remember Vista and the painful execution in that product, but there has been a lot of success in Windows 7. There was no rush for a reactionary answer to the Nintendo Wii, as a result a ground breaking and game changing product was brought to market, the XBOX –Kinect! I can’t say much here, but it’s safe to say, expect innovation, and execution of products and technology that will change the market instead of react to them!       There are many things I learned and I would love to share that have to do with perspective, technology, etc… but this is far as I can go in details. This might not be new to you or specifically the message that was shared during the summit. These are just my impressions of the event and the spirit of future vision. Great things ahead!

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  • XNA 2D Board game - trouble with the cursor

    - by Adorjan
    I just have started making a simple 2D board game using XNA, but I got stuck at the movement of the cursor. This is my problem: I have a 10x10 table on with I should use a cursor to navigate. I simply made that table with the spriteBatch.Draw() function because I couldn't do it on another way. So here is what I did with the cursor: public override void LoadContent() { ... mutato.Position = new Vector2(X, Y); //X=103, Y=107; mutato.Sebesseg = 45; ... mutato.Initialize(content.Load<Texture2D>("cursor"),mutato.Position,mutato.Sebesseg); ... } public override void HandleInput(InputState input) { if (input == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("input"); // Look up inputs for the active player profile. int playerIndex = (int)ControllingPlayer.Value; KeyboardState keyboardState = input.CurrentKeyboardStates[playerIndex]; if (input.IsPauseGame(ControllingPlayer) || gamePadDisconnected) { ScreenManager.AddScreen(new PauseMenuScreen(), ControllingPlayer); } else { // Otherwise move the player position. if (keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Down)) { Y = (int)mutato.Position.Y + mutato.Move; } if (keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Up)) { Y = (int)mutato.Position.Y - mutato.Move; } if (keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Left)) { X = (int)mutato.Position.X - mutato.Move; } if (keyboardState.IsKeyDown(Keys.Right)) { X = (int)mutato.Position.X + mutato.Move; } } } public override void Draw(GameTime gameTime) { mutato.Draw(spriteBatch); } Here's the cursor's (mutato) class: using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Linq; using System.Text; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework; using Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Graphics; namespace Battleship.Components { class Cursor { public Texture2D Cursortexture; public Vector2 Position; public int Move; public void Initialize(Texture2D texture, Vector2 position,int move) { Cursortexture = texture; Position = position; Move = move; } public void Update() { } public void Draw(SpriteBatch spriteBatch) { spriteBatch.Draw(Cursortexture, Position, Color.White); } } } And here is a part of the InputState class where I think I should change something: public bool IsNewKeyPress(Keys key, PlayerIndex? controllingPlayer, out PlayerIndex playerIndex) { if (controllingPlayer.HasValue) { // Read input from the specified player. playerIndex = controllingPlayer.Value; int i = (int)playerIndex; return (CurrentKeyboardStates[i].IsKeyDown(key) && LastKeyboardStates[i].IsKeyUp(key)); } } If I leave the movement operation like this it doesn't have any sense: X = (int)mutato.Position.X - mutato.Move; However if I modify it to this: X = (int)mutato.Position.X--; it moves smoothly. Instead of this I need to move the cursor by fields (45 pixels), but I don't have any idea how to manage it.

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  • Managing products on a an ecommerce site [closed]

    - by John
    I've had a site that sells widgets for many years. I do not inventory my widgets, but the cost of adding them to the site and makings sure the site is current is becoming cost prohibitive. Here are the facts: I sell a single class of widget. I have about 50,000 widgets on my site. I have about 100 vendors that create and dropship the products when they get an order from me via email. Each vendor carries from 50 to 5000 types of widgets. Vendors all have websites with images and descriptions of their products. Each widget is produced in limited supply and usually sell out in 1-5 years. Prices of the widget often go up, sometimes more than 50% before they sell out. My vendors aren't very tech sophisticated. They have websites with their products, but most can't supply an api or database dump. Their websites usually display retail prices to the public, but I login or refer to a price list (usually excel) for wholesale prices. As it stands now, I hire local people to add and describe each widget to our website. It usually takes a person 4 minutes to add a widget to the site. This doesn't include moving to a new vendor. I feel like the upload/edit process is as good as it can get via a form/website. The problem is that it is getting very expensive to upload and keep the widget inventory current. I often get orders for something after it's sold out from the vendor or the price is wrong. This seems like it would be a problem in many industries. Can anyone suggest the cheapest way to upload inventory and ensure prices are current from my vendors? I'm assuming it will involve outsourcing, but I would like ideas on how to setup the compensation model.

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  • Ask the Readers: What Do You Have Set as Your Homepage?

    - by Mysticgeek
    When if comes to setting a homepage in your browser, it’s really based on personal preference. Today we want to know what you have set as your homepage in your favorite browser. Browser Homepage There are a lot of search sites that allow you to customize your homepage such as iGoogle, MSN, and Yahoo. Some people enjoy having a homepage set up as a dashboard of sorts. While others like simplicity and set it to Google or leave it blank. Not surprisingly in a small office or corporation you will see a lot of workstations set to MSN or the company SharePoint site. Unfortunately, a lot of free software tries to change you default homepage as well, like in this example when installing Windows Live Essentials. Make sure to avoid this by not rushing through software install wizards, and carefully opt out of such options. What is set as your homepage in your favorite web browser…both for work and at home? Leave us a comment and join in the discussion! Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Ask the Readers: Which Web Browser Do You Use?How-To Geek Comment PolicyMysticgeek Blog: A Look at Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 on Windows XPSet the Default Browser on Ubuntu From the Command LineAnnouncing the How-To Geek Forums 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 Xobni Plus for Outlook All My Movies 5.9 CloudBerry Online Backup 1.5 for Windows Home Server Snagit 10 Get a free copy of WinUtilities Pro 2010 World Cup Schedule Boot Snooze – Reboot and then Standby or Hibernate Customize Everything Related to Dates, Times, Currency and Measurement in Windows 7 Google Earth replacement Icon (Icons we like) Build Great Charts in Excel with Chart Advisor

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  • We have our standards, and we need them

    - by Tony Davis
    The presenter suddenly broke off. He was midway through his section on how to apply to the relational database the Continuous Delivery techniques that allowed for rapid-fire rounds of development and refactoring, while always retaining a “production-ready” state. He sighed deeply and then launched into an astonishing diatribe against Database Administrators, much of his frustration directed toward Oracle DBAs, in particular. In broad strokes, he painted the picture of a brave new deployment philosophy being frustratingly shackled by the relational database, and by especially by the attitudes of the guardians of these databases. DBAs, he said, shunned change and “still favored tools I’d have been embarrassed to use in the ’80′s“. DBAs, Oracle DBAs especially, were more attached to their vendor than to their employer, since the former was the primary source of their career longevity and spectacular remuneration. He contended that someone could produce the best IDE or tool in the world for Oracle DBAs and yet none of them would give a stuff, unless it happened to come from the “mother ship”. I sat blinking in astonishment at the speaker’s vehemence, and glanced around nervously. Nobody in the audience disagreed, and a few nodded in assent. Although the primary target of the outburst was the Oracle DBA, it made me wonder. Are we who work with SQL Server, database professionals or merely SQL Server fanbois? Do DBAs, in general, have an image problem? Is it a good career-move to be seen to be holding onto a particular product by the whites of our knuckles, to the exclusion of all else? If we seek a broad, open-minded, knowledge of our chosen technology, the database, and are blessed with merely mortal powers of learning, then we like standards. Vendors of RDBMSs generally don’t conform to standards by instinct, but by customer demand. Microsoft has made great strides to adopt the international SQL Standards, where possible, thanks to considerable lobbying by the community. The implementation of Window functions is a great example. There is still work to do, though. SQL Server, for example, has an unusable version of the Information Schema. One cast-iron rule of any RDBMS is that we must be able to query the metadata using the same language that we use to query the data, i.e. SQL, and we do this by running queries against the INFORMATION_SCHEMA views. Developers who’ve attempted to apply a standard query that works on MySQL, or some other database, but doesn’t produce the expected results on SQL Server are advised to shun the Standards-based approach in favor of the vendor-specific one, using the catalog views. The argument behind this is sound and well-documented, and of course we all use those catalog views, out of necessity. And yet, as database professionals, committed to supporting the best databases for the business, whatever they are now and in the future, surely our heart should sink somewhat when we advocate a vendor specific approach, to a developer struggling with something as simple as writing a guard clause. And when we read messages on the Microsoft documentation informing us that we shouldn’t rely on INFORMATION_SCHEMA to identify reliably the schema of an object, in SQL Server!

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  • SQL Saturday #220 Atlanta May 2013!

    - by Most Valuable Yak (Rob Volk)
    If you love SQL Server training and are near the Atlanta area, or just love us so much you're willing to travel here, please come join us for: SQL SATURDAY #220! The main event is Saturday, May 18.  The event is free, with a $10.00 lunch fee.  The main page has more details here: http://www.sqlsaturday.com/220/eventhome.aspx We are also offering pre-conference sessions on Friday, May 17, by 5 world-renowned presenters: Denny Cherry: SQL Server Security Register! Site Twitter Adam Machanic: Surfing the Multicore Wave: Processors, Parallelism, and Performance Register! Site Twitter Stacia Misner: Languages of BI Register! Site Twitter Bill Pearson: Practical Self-Service BI with PowerPivot for Excel Register! Site Twitter Eddie Wuerch: The DBA Skills Upgrade Toolkit Register! Site Twitter         We have an early bird registration price of $119 until noon EST Friday, March 22.  After that the price goes to $149, a STEAL when you compare it to the PASS Summit price. :) Please click on the links to register and for more information.  You can also follow the hash tag #SQLSatATL on Twitter for more news about this event. Can't wait to see you all there!

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  • IIM Calcutta &ndash; EPBM14 &ndash; Campus Visit &ndash; Day 3 &ndash; Kali Temple, IS &amp; Strateg

    - by Ram Shankar Yadav
    Hey folks~ Today was one of the most happening day for us, we got up @ 5 AM and did our daily morning chores and left hostel room by 5:35 AM. So why we got up so early??? Okay we planned a visit to Kali Temple at KaliGhat! So till everyone assembles, we took few pics on the Lake Deck. We left Joka campus at 6 AM and reached Kali temple at 6:50 AM. Kali temple is very famous in Kolkata, but the frankly speaking it’s one of the most unorganised one for sure~! After darshan, we got back into our Taxis and headed for breakfast at Gupta Brothers Restaurant. We enjoyed “doodh-jalebi”, “Kachori-sabzi” and rasogullas there~! While coming back, one of our Taxi’s excel broken and we waited for the first to come back and take us to Campus. After coming back to campus, we attended our sessions on IS & Strategy on ITC eChaupal and Transactional Cost and Vertical Integration(TCVI). After our classed we had “Dinner Party” organised by IIMC, and we enjoyed it thoroughly, and many of us took this as an opportunity to share our biz card and talk to Professors. Overall it’s was a rocking day!! Stay tuned for more… Cheers, ram :)   Photo Album :

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  • Is learning how to use C (or C++) a requirement in order to be a good (excellent) programmer?

    - by blueberryfields
    When I first started to learn how to program, real programmers could write assembly in their sleep. Any serious schooling in computer science would include a hefty bit of training and practice in programming using assembly. That has since changed, to the point where I see Computer Science degrees with assembly, if included at all, is relegated to one assignment, and one chapter, for a total of two weeks' work out of 4 years' schooling. C/C++ programming seems to have followed a similar path. I'm no longer surprised to interview university graduates who have not spent more than two weeks programming in C++, and have only read of C in a book somewhere. While the most serious CS degrees still seem to include significant time learning and using one or both of the languages, the trend is clearly towards less enforced C/C++ in school. It's clearly possible to make a career producing good work without ever reading or writing a single line of C or C++ code. Given all of that, is learning the two languages worth the effort? Are they at all required to excel? (beyond the obvious, non-language specific advice, such as "a good selection of languages is probably important for a comprehensive education", and "it's probably a good idea to keep trying out and learning new languages throughout a programmers' career, just to stretch the gray cells")

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  • Representing Mauritius in the 2013 Bench Games

    Only by chance I came across an interesting option for professionals and enthusiasts in IT, and quite honestly I can't even remember where I caught attention of Brainbench and their 2013 Bench Games event. But having access to 600+ free exams in a friendly international intellectual competition doesn't happen to be available every day. So, it was actually a no-brainer to sign up and browse through the various categories. Most interestingly, Brainbench is not only IT-related. They offer a vast variety of fields in their Test Center, like Languages and Communication, Office Skills, Management, Aptitude, etc., and it can be a little bit messy about how things are organised. Anyway, while browsing through their test offers I added a couple of exams to 'My Plan' which I would give a shot afterwards. Self-assessments Actually, I took the tests based on two major aspects: 'Fun Factor' and 'How good would I be in general'... Usually, you have to pay for any kind of exams and given this unique chance by Brainbench to simply train this kind of tests was already worth the time. Frankly speaking, the tests are very close to the ones you would be asked to do at Prometric or Pearson Vue, ie. Microsoft exams, etc. Go through a set of multiple choice questions in a given time frame. Most of the tests I did during the Bench Games were based on 40 questions, each with a maximum of 3 minutes to answer. Ergo, one test in maximum 2 hours - that sounds feasible, doesn't it? The Measure of Achievement While the 2013 Bench Games are considered a worldwide friendly competition of knowledge I was really eager to get other Mauritians attracted. Using various social media networks and community activities it all looked quite well at the beginning. Mauritius was listed on rank #19 of Most Certified Citizens and rank #10 of Most Master Level Certified Nation - not bad, not bad... Until... the next update of the Bench Games Leaderboard. The downwards trend seemed to be unstoppable and I couldn't understand why my results didn't show up on the Individual Leader Board. First of all, I passed exams that were not even listed and second, I had better results on some exams listed. After some further information from the organiser it turned out that my test transcript wasn't available to the public. Only then results are considered and counted in the competition. During that time, I actually managed to hold 3 test results on the Individuals... Other participants were merciless, eh, more successful than me, produced better test results than I did. But still I managed to stay on the final score board: An 'exotic' combination of exam, test result, country and person itself Representing Mauritius and the Visual FoxPro community in that fun event. And although I mainly develop in Visual FoxPro 9.0 SP2 and C# using .NET Framework from 2.0 to 4.5 since a couple of years I still managed to pass on Master Level. Hm, actually my Microsoft Certified Programmer (MCP) exams are dated back in June 2004 - more than 9 years ago... Look who got lucky... As described above I did a couple of exams as time allowed and without any preparations, but still I received the following mail notification: "Thank you for recently participating in our Bench Games event.  We wanted to inform you that you obtained a top score on our test(s) during this event, and as a result, will receive a free annual Brainbench subscription.  Your annual subscription will give you access to all our tests just like Bench Games, but for an entire year plus additional benefits!" -- Leader Board Notification from Brainbench Even fun activities get rewarded sometimes. Thanks to @Brainbench_com for the free annual subscription based on my passed 2013 Bench Games Master Level exam. It would be interesting to know about the total figures, especially to see how many citizens of Mauritius took part in this year's Bench Games. Anyway, I'm looking forward to be able to participate in other challenges like this in the future.

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  • Advice on designing web application with a 40+ year lifetime

    - by user2708395
    Scenario Currently, I am apart of a health care project whose main requirement is to capture data with unknown attributes using user generated forms by health care providers. The second requirement is that data integrity is key and that the application will be used for 40+ years. We are currently migrating the client's data from the past 40 years from various sources (Paper, Excel, Access, etc...) to the database. Future requirements are: Workflow management of forms Schedule management of forms Security/Role based management Reporting engine Mobile/Tablet support Situation Only 6 months in, the current (contracted) architect/senior programmer has taken the "fast" approach and has designed a poor system. The database is not normalized, the code is coupled, the tiers have no dedicated purpose and data is starting to go missing since he has designed some beans to perform "deletes" on the database. The code base is extremely bloated and there are jobs just to synchronize data since the database is not normalized. His approach has been to rely on backup jobs to restore missing data and doesn't seem to believe in re-factoring. Having presented my findings to the PM, the architect will be removed when his contract ends. I have been given the task to re-architect this application. My team consists of me and one junior programmer. We have no other resources. We have been granted a 6-month requirement freeze in which we can focus on re-building this system. I suggested using a CMS system like Drupal, but for policy reasons at the client's organization, the system must be built from scratch. This is the first time that I will be designing a system with a 40+ lifespan. I have only worked on projects with 3-5 year lifespans, so this situation is very new, yet exciting. Questions What design considerations will make the system more "future proof"? What experiences have you had in designing such systems - both failures and successes? What questions should be asked to the client/PM to make the system more "future proof"?

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  • XNA WP7 Texture memory and ContentManager

    - by jlongstreet
    I'm trying to get my WP7 XNA game's memory under control and under the 90MB limit for submission. One target I identified was UI textures, especially fullscreen ones, that would never get unloaded. So I moved UI texture loads to their own ContentManager so I can unload them. However, this doesn't seem to affect the value of Microsoft.Phone.Info.DeviceExtendedProperties.GetValue("ApplicationCurrentMemoryUsage"), so it doesn't look like the memory is actually being released. Example: splash screens. In Game.LoadContent(): Application.Instance.SetContentManager("UI"); // set the current content manager for (int i = 0; i < mSplashTextures.Length; ++i) { // load the splash textures mSplashTextures[i] = Application.Instance.Content.Load<Texture2D>(msSplashTextureNames[i]); } // set the content manager back to the global one Application.Instance.SetContentManager("Global"); When the initial load is done and the title screen starts, I do: Application.Instance.GetContentManager("UI").Unload(); The three textures take about 6.5 MB of memory. Before unloading the UI ContentManager, I see that ApplicationCurrentMemoryUsage is at 34.29 MB. After unloading the ContentManager (and doing a full GC.Collect()), it's still at 34.29 MB. But after that, I load another fullscreen texture (for the title screen background) and memory usage still doesn't change. Could it be keeping the memory for these textures allocated and reusing it? edit: very simple test: protected override void LoadContent() { // Create a new SpriteBatch, which can be used to draw textures. spriteBatch = new SpriteBatch(GraphicsDevice); PrintMemUsage("Before texture load: "); // TODO: use this.Content to load your game content here red = this.Content.Load<Texture2D>("Untitled"); PrintMemUsage("After texture load: "); } private void PrintMemUsage(string tag) { Debug.WriteLine(tag + Microsoft.Phone.Info.DeviceExtendedProperties.GetValue("ApplicationCurrentMemoryUsage")); } protected override void Update(GameTime gameTime) { // Allows the game to exit if (GamePad.GetState(PlayerIndex.One).Buttons.Back == ButtonState.Pressed) this.Exit(); // TODO: Add your update logic here if (count++ == 100) { GC.Collect(); GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers(); PrintMemUsage("Before CM unload: "); this.Content.Dispose(); GC.Collect(); GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers(); PrintMemUsage("After CM unload: "); red = null; spriteBatch.Dispose(); GC.Collect(); GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers(); PrintMemUsage("After SpriteBatch Dispose(): "); } base.Update(gameTime); } protected override void Draw(GameTime gameTime) { GraphicsDevice.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue); // TODO: Add your drawing code here if (red != null) { spriteBatch.Begin(); spriteBatch.Draw(red, new Vector2(0,0), Color.White); spriteBatch.End(); } base.Draw(gameTime); } This prints something like (it changes every time): Before texture load: 7532544 After texture load: 10727424 Before CM unload: 9875456 After CM unload: 9953280 After SpriteBatch Dispose(): 9953280

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  • Is there a product planning tool that has these specific features? [closed]

    - by acjohnson55
    I am working on a web startup in the early stages, and we are struggling a bit to manage the scope and scheduling of our product. We have loads of high-level features in the pipeline, but we need a good way of scheduling them for release iterations and breaking them into actual tasks that can be scheduled (that could be a separate tool, but integration would be preferred). I would say that our product can be pretty cleanly divided into "aspects", and we want to be able to separate features by the aspect to which they apply. Perhaps most importantly, it should be really simple to create and move features between target release points. We don't have physical space for a war room type setup, so whatever we settle upon should ideally have a cloud-type web interface. Right now, we're using Excel to make a grid of product aspects vs. target releases, and we store features at the intersections. But this is not providing a good way of indexing tasks to those features or being able to move them around. I would much rather have something that automates the grid overview. I'm less interested in something that helps with low-level scheduling than I am in something that is good at organizing the product plan at the long-term, high-level view. Is there a product planning tool out there that matches these specifications?

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  • Using Private Extension Galleries in Visual Studio 2012

    - by Jakob Ehn
    Note: The installer and the complete source code is available over at CodePlex at the following location: http://inmetavsgallery.codeplex.com   Extensions and addins are everywhere in the Visual Studio ALM ecosystem! Microsoft releases new cool features in the form of extensions and the list of 3rd party extensions that plug into Visual Studio just keeps growing. One of the nice things about the VSIX extensions is how they are deployed. Microsoft hosts a public Visual Studio Gallery where you can upload extensions and make them available to the rest of the community. Visual Studio checks for updates to the installed extensions when you start Visual Studio, and installing/updating the extensions is fast since it is only a matter of extracting the files within the VSIX package to the local extension folder. But for custom, enterprise-specific extensions, you don’t want to publish them online to the whole world, but you still want an easy way to distribute them to your developers and partners. This is where Private Extension Galleries come into play. In Visual Studio 2012, it is now possible to add custom extensions galleries that can point to any URL, as long as that URL returns the expected content of course (see below).Registering a new gallery in Visual Studio is easy, but there is very little documentation on how to actually host the gallery. Visual Studio galleries uses Atom Feed XML as the protocol for delivering new and updated versions of the extensions. This MSDN page describes how to create a static XML file that returns the information about your extensions. This approach works, but require manual updates of that file every time you want to deploy an update of the extension. Wouldn’t it be nice with a web service that takes care of this for you, that just lets you drop a new version of your VSIX file and have it automatically detect the new version and produce the correct Atom Feed XML? Well search no more, this is exactly what the Inmeta Visual Studio Gallery Service does for you :-) Here you can see that in addition to the standard Online galleries there is an Inmeta Gallery that contains two extensions (our WIX templates and our custom TFS Checkin Policies). These can be installed/updated i the same way as extensions from the public Visual Studio Gallery. Installing the Service Download the installler (Inmeta.VSGalleryService.Install.msi) for the service and run it. The installation is straight forward, just select web site, application pool and (optional) a virtual directory where you want to install the service.   Note: If you want to run it in the web site root, just leave the application name blank Press Next and finish the installer. Open web.config in a text editor and locate the the <applicationSettings> element Edit the following setting values: FeedTitle This is the name that is shown if you browse to the service using a browser. Not used by Visual Studio BaseURI When Visual Studio downloads the extension, it will be given this URI + the name of the extension that you selected. This value should be on the following format: http://SERVER/[VDIR]/gallery/extension/ VSIXAbsolutePath This is the path where you will deploy your extensions. This can be a local folder or a remote share. You just need to make sure that the application pool identity account has read permissions in this folder Save web.config to finish the installation Open a browser and enter the URL to the service. It should show an empty Feed page:   Adding the Private Gallery in Visual Studio 2012 Now you need to add the gallery in Visual Studio. This is very easy and is done as follows: Go to Tools –> Options and select Environment –> Extensions and Updates Press Add to add a new gallery Enter a descriptive name, and add the URL that points to the web site/virtual directory where you installed the service in the previous step   Press OK to save the settings. Deploying an Extension This one is easy: Just drop the file in the designated folder! :-)  If it is a new version of an existing extension, the developers will be notified in the same way as for extensions from the public Visual Studio gallery: I hope that you will find this sever useful, please contact me if you have questions or suggestions for improvements!

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  • Bowing to User Experience

    As a consumer of geeky news it is hard to check my Google Reader without running into two or three posts about Apples iPad and in particular the changes to the developer guidelines which seemingly restrict developers to using Apples Xcode tool and Objective-C language for iPad apps. One of the alternatives to Objective-C affected, is MonoTouch, an option with some appeal to me as it is based on the Mono implementation of C#. Seemingly restricted is the key word here, as far as I can tell, no official announcement has been made about its fate. For more details around MonoTouch for iPhone OS, check out Miguel de Icazas post: http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2010/Apr-28.html. These restrictions have provoked some outrage as the perception is that Apple is arrogantly restricting developers freedom to create applications as they choose and perhaps unwittingly shortchanging iPhone/iPad users who wont benefit from these now never-to-be-made great applications. Apples response has mostly been to say they are concentrating on providing a certain user experience to their customers, and to do this, they insist everyone uses the tools they approve. Which isnt a surprising line of reasoning given Apple restricts the hardware used and content of the apps already. The vogue term for this approach is curated, as in a benevolent museum director selecting only the finest artifacts for display or a wise gardener arranging the plants in a garden just so. If this is what a curated experience is like it is hard to argue that consumers are not responding. My iPhone is probably the most satisfying piece of technology I own. Coming from the Razr, it really was an revolution in how the form factor, interface and user experience all tied together. While the curated approach reinvented the smart phone genre, it is easy to forget that this is not a new approach for Apple. Macbooks and Macs are Apple hardware that run Apple software. And theyve been successful, but not quite in the same way as the iPhone or iPad (based on early indications). Why not? Well a curated approach can only be wildly successful if the curator a) makes the right choices and b) offers choices that no one else has. Although its advantages are eroding, the iPhone was different from other phones, a unique, focused, touch-centric experience. The iPad is an attempt to define another category of computing. Macs and Macbooks are great devices, but are not fundamentally a different user experience than a PC, you still have windows, file folders, mouse and keyboard, and similar applications. So the big question for Apple is can they hold on to their market advantage, continuing innovating in user experience and stay on top? Or are they going be like Xerox, and the rest of the world says thank you for the windows metaphor, now let me implement that better? It will be exciting to watch, with Android already a viable competitor and Microsoft readying Windows Phone 7. And to close the loop back to the restrictions on developing for iPhone OS. At this point the main target appears to be Adobe and Adobe Flash. Apples calculation is that a) they dont need those developers or b) the developers they want will learn Apples stuff anyway. My guess is that they are correct; that as much as I like the idea of developers having more options, I am not going to buy a competitors product to spite Apple unless that product is just as usable. For a non-technical consumer, I dont know that this conversation even factors into the buying decision. If it did, wed be talking about how Microsoft is trying to retake a slice of market share from the behemoth that is Linux.Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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  • Should I expect my peers to read or practice on a regular basis? [closed]

    - by Joshua Smith
    I've been debating asking this question for some time. Based several of the comments I read in this question I decided I had to ask. This feels like I'm stating the obvious, but I believe that regular reading (of books, blogs, StackOverflow, whatever) and/or practice are required just to stay current (let alone excel) in whichever stack you use to pay the bills, not to mention playing with things outside your comfort zone to learn new ways of doing things. Yet, I virtually never see this from many of my peers. Even when I go out of my way to point out useful (and almost always free) learning material, I quite often get a sense of total apathy from those I'm speaking to. I'd even go so far as to say that if someone doesn't try to improve (or at least stay current), they'll atrophy as technology advances and actually become less useful to the company. I don't expect people to spend hours a day studying or practicing. I have two young kids and hours of practice simply aren't feasible. Still, I find some time; perhaps on the train, at lunch, in bed for a few minutes, whatever. I'm willing to believe this is arrogance or naivete on my part, but I'd like to hear what the community has to say. So here's my question: Should I expect (and encourage) the same from my peers, or just keep my mouth shut and do my own thing?

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  • Selenium &ndash; Use Data Driven tests to run in multiple browsers and sizes

    - by Aligned
    Originally posted on: http://geekswithblogs.net/Aligned/archive/2013/11/04/selenium-ndash-use-data-driven-tests-to-run-in-multiple.aspxSelenium uses WebDriver (or is it the same? I’m still learning how it is connected) to run Automated UI tests in many different browsers. For example, you can run the same test in Chrome and Firefox and in a smaller sized Chrome browser. The permutations can grow quickly. One way to get them to run in MStest is to create  a test method for each test (ie ChromeDeleteItem_Small, ChromeDeleteItem_Large, FFDeleteItem_Small, FFDeleteItem_Large) that each call  the same base method, passing in the browser and size you’d like. This approach was causing a lot of duplicate code, so I decided to use the data driven approach, common to Coded UI or Unit test methods. 1. Create a class with a test method. 2. Create a csv with two columns: BrowserType, BrowserSize 3. Add rows for each permutation: Chrome, Large | Chrome, Small | Firefox, Large | Firefox, Small | IE, Large | IE, Small | *** 4. Add the csv to the Visual Studio Project. 5. Set the Copy to output directory to Copy always 6. Add the attribute: [DataSource("Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.DataSource.CSV", "|DataDirectory|\\TestMatrix.csv", "TestMatrix#csv", DataAccessMethod.Sequential), DeploymentItem("TestMatrix.csv")] 7. Run the test in the test explorer Example:[CodedUITest] public class AllTasksTests : TasksTestBase { [TestMethod] [TestCategory("Tasks")] [DataSource("Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.DataSource.CSV", "|DataDirectory|\\TestMatrix.csv", "TestMatrix#csv", DataAccessMethod.Sequential), DeploymentItem("TestMatrix.csv")] public void CreateTask() { this.PrepForDataDrivenTest(); base.CreateTaskTest("New Task"); } } protected void PrepForDataDrivenTest() { var browserType = this.ParseBrowserType(Context.DataRow["BrowserType"].ToString()); var browserSize = this.ParseBrowserSize(Context.DataRow["BrowserSize"].ToString()); this.BrowserType = browserType; this.BrowserSize = browserSize; Trace.WriteLine("browser: " + browserType.ToString()); Trace.WriteLine("browser size: " + browserSize.ToString()); } /// <summary> /// Get the enum value from the string /// </summary> /// <param name="browserType">Chrome, Firefox, or IE</param> /// <returns>The browser type.</returns> private BrowserType ParseBrowserType(string browserType) { return (UITestFramework.BrowserType)Enum.Parse(typeof(UITestFramework.BrowserType), browserType, true); } /// <summary> /// Get the browser size enum value from the string /// </summary> /// <param name="browserSize">Small, Medium, Large</param> /// <returns>the browser size</returns> private BrowserSizeEnum ParseBrowserSize(string browserSize) { return (BrowserSizeEnum)Enum.Parse(typeof(BrowserSizeEnum), browserSize, true); }/// <summary> /// Change the browser to the size based on the enum. /// </summary> /// <param name="browserSize">The BrowserSizeEnum value to resize the window to.</param> private void ResizeBrowser(BrowserSizeEnum browserSize) { switch (browserSize) { case BrowserSizeEnum.Large: this.driver.Manage().Window.Maximize(); break; case BrowserSizeEnum.Medium: this.driver.Manage().Window.Size = new Size(800, this.driver.Manage().Window.Size.Height); break; case BrowserSizeEnum.Small: this.driver.Manage().Window.Size = new Size(500, this.driver.Manage().Window.Size.Height); break; default: break; } }/// <summary> /// Browser sizes for automation testing /// </summary> public enum BrowserSizeEnum { /// <summary> /// Large size, Maximized to the desktop /// </summary> Large, /// <summary> /// Similar to tablets /// </summary> Medium, /// <summary> /// Phone sizes... 610px and smaller /// </summary> Small } Hope it helps!

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  • Hyper-V for Developers Part 1 Internal Networks

    Over the last year, weve been working with Microsoft to build training and demo content for the next version of Office Communications Server code-named Microsoft Communications Server 14.  This involved building multi-server demo environments in Hyper-V, getting them running on demo servers which we took to TechEd, PDC, and other training events, and sometimes connecting the demo servers to the show networks at those events.  ITPro stuff that should scare the hell out of a developer! It can get ugly when I occasionally have to venture into ITPro land.  Lets leave it at that. Having gone through this process about 10 to 15 times in the last year, I finally have it down.  This blog series is my attempt to put all that knowledge in one place if anything, so I can find it somewhere when I need it again.  Ill start with the most simple scenario and then build on top of it in future blog posts. If youre an ITPro, please resist the urge to laugh at how trivial this is. Internal Hyper-V Networks Lets start simple.  An internal network is one that intended only for the virtual machines that are going to be on that network it enables them to communicate with each other. Create an Internal Network On your host machine, fire up the Hyper-V Manager and click the Virtual Network Manager in the Actions panel. Select Internal and leave all the other default values. Give the virtual network a name, and leave all the other default values. After the virtual network is created, open the Network and Sharing Center and click Change Adapter Settings to see the list of network connections. The only thing I recommend that you do is to give this connection a friendly label, e.g. Hyper-V Internal.  When you have multiple networks and virtual networks on the host machines, this helps group the networks so you can easily differentiate them from each other.  Otherwise, dont touch it, only bad things can happen. Connect the Virtual Machines to the Internal Network Im assuming that you have more than 1 virtual machine already configured in Hyper-V, for example a Domain Controller, and Exchange Server, and a SharePoint Server. What you need to do is basically plug in the network to the virtual machine.  In order to do this, the machine needs to have a virtual network adapter.  If the VM doesnt have a network adapter, open the VMs Settings and click Add Hardware in the left pane.  Choose the virtual network to which to bind the adapter to. If you already have a virtual network adapter on the VM, simply connect it to the virtual network. Assign IP Addresses to the Virtual Machines on the Internal Network Open the Network and Sharing Center on your VM, there should only be 1 network at this time.  Open the Properties of the connection, select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4) and hit Properties. In this environment, Im assigning IP addresses as 192.168.0.xxx.  This particular VM has an IP address of 192.168.0.40 with a subnet mask of 255.255.255.0, and a DNS Server of 192.168.0.18.  DNS is running on the Domain Controller VM which has an IP address of 192.168.0.18. Repeat this process on every VM in your environment, obviously assigning a unique IP address to each.  In an environment with a domain controller, you should now be able to ping the machines from each other. What Next? After completing this process, heres what you still cannot do: Access the internet from any of the VMs Remote desktop to a VM from the host Remote desktop to a VM over the network In the next post, well take a look configuring an External network adapter on the virtual machines.  Well then build on top of that so that you can RDP into the VMs from the host machine and over the network.Did you know that DotNetSlackers also publishes .net articles written by top known .net Authors? We already have over 80 articles in several categories including Silverlight. Take a look: here.

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  • SQL Server 2008 R2 Launch Event - Montreal

    - by guybarrette
    If you’re into SQL Server, you may want to attend the free 2008 R2 launch event that will take place on May 26th, 2010 in Montreal. Agenda: 8:00 - 9:00am : Registration and Breakfast 9:00 – 9:15am:  Welcome and Introductions 9:15 – 10:00am:  Keynote Presentation 10:00 - 10:15am: Morning break 10:15 – 11:45am: SQL Server Presentation 11:45 – 12:45pm: Lunch 12:45 – 1:45pm: Track Session 1 1:45 – 2:45pm: Track Session 2 2:45 – 3:00pm: Afternoon break 3:00 - 4:00pm: Track Session 3 Track Descriptions DBA TRACK Session 1: Ensure Business Continuity with SQL Server 2008 R2,  Windows Server 2008 & Hyper-V Live Migration Session 2: Simplify management of your SQL Server data platform with Multi-server Management Session 3: Deliver unprecedented access to business-critical data at a lower TCO with SQL Server 2008 R2 Parallel Data Warehouse BI TRACK Session1: Enable Managed Self-service BI with Power Pivot for Excel and SharePoint 2010 Session 2: Achieve Rapid Reporting with Reporting Services and Report Builder 3.0 Session 3: Importance of Master Data Management Dev - Visual Studio TRACK Session 1: Developing SQL Applications with Visual Studio 2010 Session 2:Managing Change for SQL Server applications using Team Foundation Server  Session 3: Targeting SQL Azure using Visual Studio   Register here var addthis_pub="guybarrette";

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  • Majoring in computer science, but i'm not to sure I'm in the right field [closed]

    - by user74340
    Throught out my high school years and first year in college, I never thought of studying computer science. I studied biology and chemistry during my first year, and I didn't like the research, nor any type of medical professionals. So I took an introductory CS course, and loved the diverse roles this field can have. So I declare CS as my major. I finished first, and second year CS courses. Then now, I'm doing my co-op(intern) as a web developer. During my first and second year, I was always just an average student. My grades is around low B. But I put so much effort to understand my course' materials. I see many brilliants peers who not only excel at what they do, but have the passion. So I always doubt myself if I don't belong in this field. I'm not good at math, I usually get Cs on my math courses. My internship (a corporate developer job) is okay. But doesn't want to work like this after my graduation). Some aspects of CS that I like is HCI. In my experience in programming, and group projects, I enjoyed designing User interface, and thinking of user experience. I'm also thinking of taking some psychology courses.. I would appreciate any criticism, or advices.

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  • Can I make a business in teaching home users Ubuntu [on hold]

    - by Dorgaldir
    I was thinking about a way to bring Ubuntu to the bigger public, since it has great advantages for people in the lower income class that only use a PC for basic usage. They pay for a windows licence without actually needing windows because 95% of what they do is in a browser and the other 5% is typing a word document or making a simpel Excel sheet. So for these people something like Ubuntu is ideal, they can prolong the life of their old PC or laptop with Ubuntu and thus saving extra money. And as we all know, saving money is not only interesting for the lowest of income but for most of us. But when I talk to people they don't want to use Ubuntu because they know Windows and they don't know this, they'll complain about having to adapt to windows 8 but adapting to Ubuntu seems a bridge too far. But what if someone in the neighborhood gave simple Ubuntu courses. Teaching people about Ubuntu, stuff like: What is an OS What is Ubuntu How do I obtain Ubuntu How do I install Ubuntu How do I set up my email in Ubuntu How do I make a text document in Ubuntu How do I update my facebook wall in Ubuntu ... Simple basic PC usage, but within Ubuntu. But as much as I would like to work for free all day, I can't do this for free for people outside of my social circle. So I was wondering if it is possible to make a business and make money with giving Ubuntu courses, or are their steps to be taken before this is possible. However... Do I need an Ubuntu or Canonical license? Do I need to get a certificate? Do I have to make some kind of deal or contract with Canonical? Just to be clear this is all just an idea in my head at this point, I'm just gathering information. I'm not a teacher at a school, just a programmer that is thinking about options in life. Thanks in advance!

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  • Writing better timesheet

    - by gunbuster363
    Recently, my company started to require us to fill out a monthly timesheet, writing down everything you do in office. A timesheet contain 29-31 days, depends on the number of days of the month. I need to write the things I did in every row of the excel file, which represent a day. This timesheet embarrasses me, because something like this can happen: I spent Monday writing a program, and the program was done. Because my boss didn't give me other program to write, basically I am just sitting there and pretending I am busy in the following days before my boss gives me another assignment. Of course I should not write it in the timesheet as it is. I can write it in the timesheet that I write the program using 4 days, but it makes me feel very inefficient. I can separate the process into 1) write the program, 2)deploy the program, 3)test the program, but that can make the process so long like 3 weeks, really. Have you encountered such a situation? How would you deal with this? EDIT: some people said I should be more proactive about asking for more assignments, but here is the situation: the boss of my boss gives some jobs to my boss, then my boss gives the jobs to me, sometimes I can also see my boss being quite less busy. One of my colleagues said that I should not ask for another assignment in a proactive manner, because it would be a headache for my boss to think a job out of nowhere for me. I don't want the things turn out like that, really.

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  • Characteristics, what's the inverse of (x*(x+1))/2? [closed]

    - by Valmond
    In my game you can spend points to upgrade characteristics. Each characteristic has a formula like: A) out = in : for one point spent, one pont gained (you spend 1 point on Force so your force goes from 5 to 6) B) out = last level (starting at 1) : so the first point spent earns you 1 point, the next point spent earns you an additional 2 and so on (+3,+4,+5...) C) The inverse of B) : You need to spend 1 point to earn one, then you need to spend 2 to earn another one and so on. I have already found the formula for calculating the actual level of B when points spent = x : charac = (x*(x+1))/2 But I'd like to know what the "reverse" version of B) (usable for C) is, ie. if I have spent x points, how many have I earned if 1 spent gives 1, 1+2=3 gives 2, 1+2+3=6 gives 3 and so on. I know I can just calculate the numbers but I'd like to have the formula because its neater and so that I can stick it in an excel sheet for example... Thanks! ps. I think I have nailed it down to something like charac = sqrt( x*m +k) but then I'm stuck doing number guessing for k and m and I feel I might be wrong anyway as I get close but never hits the spot.

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