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  The Role of Coding Skills in Advancing Tech Careers

In the fast-changing technical landscape of today, coding is not a unique advantage; it's a basic necessity. From a software engineer to a data analyst or digital marketer, being able to code will greatly expand the opportunities one has for their careers and how effective they can be in their jobs. This essay discusses how coding skills help one's career in the tech field and gives the basic concept of coding: objects, a building block for any modern programming language. 1. Creates Employment ...

   CODING,OOP,OBJECT     2024-05-04 14:27:42

  Java vs F#

Dr Cliff Click of Azul Systems, specialists in manycore JVM systems, recently published a blog post about the performance of Java compared primarily to C and C++ but also discussing C# and .NET. Three of Cliff's comments are of particular interest:Under the heading "Places where C/C++ beats Java for obvious reasons":"Value Types, such as a 'Complex' type require a full object in Java." - Dr Cliff ClickWhat Cliff forgot to mention is that .NET also provides value types and a far more compell...

   Java,F#,Performance,JVM     2012-03-07 05:07:31

  Erlang Style Concurrency

Introduction On an evolutionary scale of innovation from one to ten (one being Bloomberg and Citi Group, eight being Google and Cirque Du Soleil, and ten being the company you couldn't imagine in your wildest dreams), the company I work for is about a three1. Being employed by this bastion of ingenuity affords me certain opportunities I can't get elsewhere. For example, every developer gets to interview potential...

   Erlang,Concurrency,Lock,Message,Innovation     2012-01-03 10:44:44

  How Query Optimizer Works in RDBMS

In a previous post, we discussed how the various relational operators are implemented in relational database systems. If you have read that post, you probably still remember that there are a few alternative implementations for every operator. Thus, how should RDBMS determine which algorithm (or implementation) to use? Obviously, to optimize the performance for any query, RDBMS has to select the correct the algorithm based on the query. It would not be desirable to always use the same algori...

   DATABASE,DATABASE DESIGN,DATABASE OPTIMIZATION     2019-04-20 07:26:32

  Supercolliding a PHP array

Did you know that inserting 2^16 = 65536 specially crafted values into a normal PHP array can take 30 seconds? Normally this would take only 0.01 seconds. This is the code to reproduce it: <?php echo '<pre>'; $size = pow(2, 16); // 16 is just an example, could also be 15 or 17 $startTime = microtime(true); $array = array(); for ($key = 0, $maxKey = ($size - 1) * $size; $key <= $maxKey; $key += $size) { $array[$key] = 0; } $endTime = microtime(true); echo 'Inserting...

   PHP,Array,hashtable,Slow,Colliding     2011-12-29 09:02:01

  Uber’s audio recording plan in Brazil and Mexico

Uber has recently come out with a plan to introduce a new feature to its App in Brazil and Mexico. The feature will record the conversations between the driver and the passenger, with their consent. But consent here is a bit tricky. Basically, if the driver decides to turn on the recording feature, they are not obligated to warn the passenger and vice versa. Once the recording has been made and submitted to support for some kind of violation, neither of the two parties will have the ability...

   UBER,SECURITY,PRIVACY,VOICE RECORDING APP,NEW FEATURE     2019-11-21 09:20:36

  "Programmer" is an Overgeneralization

"Beware of bugs in the above code; I have only proved it correct, not tried it." - Donald Knuth Earlier today, I came across a post during a google-fu session that claimed that no one should use the C++ standard library function make_heap, because almost nobody uses it correctly. I immediately started mentally ranting about how utterly ridiculous this claim is, because anyone whose gone to a basic algorithm class would know how to properly use make_heap. Then I started thinking about all the ...

   Programmer,Overgeneration,Overload     2012-03-13 08:13:16

  Javascript Frameworks Are Too Small

A while back I stumbled upon a great post by Jean-Baptiste Queru. It describes the incredible depth of the modern technology stack. Layers upon layers of complex science, hardware, and software, each layer creating a simpler abstraction around the previous. This ultimately enables our paltry human brains to create amazing things that would otherwise be impossible (or really difficult). This is, in my opinion, the lifeblood of modern software development. For some reason, however, when i...

   JavaScript,Framework,Size,Small,jQuery     2012-01-10 07:20:59

  Taking Precautions to Avoid Shady VPN Providers

VPNs or virtual private networks are virtual tunnels that obscure your IP address, routing your internet traffic through a server located in a country of your choice, in an encrypted and anonymous way. Using a VPN allows you to: secure your sensitive data from hackers obscure the IP address so you can see content not available in your country avoid websites you routinely surf (e.g., Facebook) noticing a different IP address when you are traveling, and asking you to verify your identity bypass t...

   VPN,NETWORKING     2019-02-19 07:26:26

  JavaScript-style object literals in PHP

The object literal notation in JavaScript looks like: var fido = {name: "Fido", barks: true}; or var fido = {}; fido.name = "Fido"; fido.barks = true; From assoc arrays to objects In PHP you would call that an associative array. $fido = array( 'name' => "Fido", 'barks' => true ); And you can easily make it an object too: $fido = (object)$fido; echo gettype($fido); // "object" Or if you want to start with a blank object and add stuff to it: $fido = (object)array(); or $fido...

   PHP,JavaScript,Object,Function call,Self vs this     2011-11-30 11:11:45